Lady Gaga was arguably the biggest popstar in the world at the time of BTW's release and that still dove from 215k first week (note: higher than Coldplay's opening) to 67k second week (note: similar to or lower than Coldplay are likely to get this week). I really don't think any album, regardless of the size of the act, will sustain six-figure sales outside of the very last few weeks of the year for quite a long time. I didn't expect Coldplay to be an exception. Maybe my expectations are just really low.

 

Note that all 5 (Jessie, Foos, Gaga, Ed and Noel) of the other non-21 albums to have topped 100k in a week this year have only had the one week over the mark. 21 had twelve weeks but there's really no point in even bringing 21 into the discussion, such is its insane dominance of the albums market this year.

 

Even if Coldplay had much higher first week sales I would still have never expected them to remain over 100k in their second week. That's just not something that's going to happen any more. I'm more worried about how Coldplay will hold up ignoring their first week sales.

Edited November 4, 201114 yr by Bré

Hopefully they hold up well, after this week and next all the people who never buy music will be in HMV, lets hope Coldplay is one of the albums they add to their shopping list.December always anoys me in record stores like HMV...full of idiots who never buy music for the other 46 weeks of the year pushing you out of the way to get the latest Westlife or M.Buble album...grrr!!!

 

I forgot the Foo Fighters sold over 100k with their new album in April - thats great looking back now....

Lady Gaga was arguably the biggest popstar in the world at the time of BTW's release and that still dove from 215k first week (note: higher than Coldplay's opening) to 67k second week (note: similar to or lower than Coldplay are likely to get this week). I really don't think any album, regardless of the size of the act, will sustain six-figure sales outside of the very last few weeks of the year for quite a long time. I didn't expect Coldplay to be an exception. Maybe my expectations are just really low.

 

Note that all 5 (Jessie, Foos, Gaga, Ed and Noel) of the other non-21 albums to have topped 100k in a week this year have only had the one week over the mark. 21 had twelve weeks but there's really no point in even bringing 21 into the discussion, such is its insane dominance of the albums market this year.

 

Even if Coldplay had much higher first week sales I would still have never expected them to remain over 100k in their second week. That's just not something that's going to happen any more. I'm more worried about how Coldplay will hold up ignoring their first week sales.

 

I know you keep comparing Mylo Xyloto to Born This Way, but actually everyone was kind of disappoointed with Gaga's second week sales drop as well.

But both albums are big "success" of course, there is no denying in that. It's just that there is different levels of "success" and Coldplay aren't necesseraly on the top level with this album.

 

Actually, do we have the percentage drop on second week for the 5 albums you mention ? Yes they all fell under the 100k mark o, second week, but they didn't all open over the 200k mark either, so you can only compare the percentages if you want to see who is maintaining better.

Lady Gaga 215 67 69%

Jessie J 105 54 48%

Foo Fighters 114 41 65%

Ed Sheeran 102 47 54%

Noel Gallagher 122 70 38%

 

Lady Gaga and Foo Fighters dropped around 2/3, Ed and Jessie around a half and Noel held up really well in comparison to the rest. I'd imagine Coldplay will also have a drop around 2/3. Were people actually expecting that much more? If they were I think it was totally unrealistic. They aren't *that* huge anymore. Their last album has sold 1.3m copies, around half of what their previous three have sold, so in a worse climate if Mylo Xyloto gets over a million sales then it's done really well. We aren't in the Xmas market yet and reviews and general word of mouth say that this album is their worst yet. Anyone thinking it would sell near 100k again this week is, IMO, totally deluded.

Just done a bit of research.

 

Before this year, these were the last 5 albums to debut with over 200k outside the Xmas period. It's not including the last Coldplay album because it wasn't on sale for a full week so wouldn't be a fair comparison.

 

Scissor Sisters - TD 288 134 53%

Kings of Leon - OBTN 220 108 51%

Oasis - DOYS 200 56 75%

Arctic Monkeys - FYN 227 81 64%

Killers - ST 268 82 69%

 

All of them had a drop of over 50%, so of the last 8 (including the Adele, Coldplay and Gaga albums from this year) Coldplay will probably slot in the middle in 4th/5th!

Thanks for all those figures ! Pretty interesting read :)

Lady Gaga was arguably the biggest popstar in the world at the time of BTW's release and that still dove from 215k first week (note: higher than Coldplay's opening) to 67k second week (note: similar to or lower than Coldplay are likely to get this week). I really don't think any album, regardless of the size of the act, will sustain six-figure sales outside of the very last few weeks of the year for quite a long time. I didn't expect Coldplay to be an exception. Maybe my expectations are just really low.

A dove is a bird. I think the English (rather than American) word you're looking for is dived.

Lady Gaga 215 67 69%

Jessie J 105 54 48%

Foo Fighters 114 41 65%

Ed Sheeran 102 47 54%

Noel Gallagher 122 70 38%

 

Lady Gaga and Foo Fighters dropped around 2/3, Ed and Jessie around a half and Noel held up really well in comparison to the rest. I'd imagine Coldplay will also have a drop around 2/3. Were people actually expecting that much more? If they were I think it was totally unrealistic. They aren't *that* huge anymore. Their last album has sold 1.3m copies, around half of what their previous three have sold, so in a worse climate if Mylo Xyloto gets over a million sales then it's done really well. We aren't in the Xmas market yet and reviews and general word of mouth say that this album is their worst yet. Anyone thinking it would sell near 100k again this week is, IMO, totally deluded.

 

 

Fair enough about the drop in sales, but I totally disagree with you when you say Coldplay aren't *that* huge anymore - they are the biggest band in the world. Last December when 'Christmas Lights' was released on the first December it went top 10 on itunes here and in America simply on name alone - thats the sign of a massive name imo.

This may be Adele's last week in top 10 for 21 this week with Subo, Cher, Pixie, The Wanted & Birdy releasing, all top 10 surely.

Indeed for this week, but its sales have stayed steady between 20-30k and will only increase due to christmas and the airplay for the new sinlge - 'Rumour has it' over the next month. I'm certain it will be in the xmas top 10 and sell 100k for at least 2/3 weeks in the next 8 weeks! Who knows what its overall sales will be for 2011!

Fair enough about the drop in sales, but I totally disagree with you when you say Coldplay aren't *that* huge anymore - they are the biggest band in the world. Last December when 'Christmas Lights' was released on the first December it went top 10 on itunes here and in America simply on name alone - thats the sign of a massive name imo.

What I mean is they aren't as huge as they once were. In 2005-6 was when they were at their biggest and they're not as big anymore. They may still be the biggest band in the world, but that's more because no one has overtaken them rather than they've remained at the peak of popularity. They're coming off an album that alienated part of their fanbase and only sold half as much than their previous three, and they're no longer as much of a radio and video play staple as they once were, and they're also from a genre which isn't as dominant as it has been at any point over the last 12 years. Mylo Xyloto has been released in a poorer sales climate than their previous albums have and is regarded as their worst album, and we're also now more in an age where music is so available without buying the album, so people can see for themselves if they're going to like it or not. To me, all of these factors mean that they were never going to spend another week over 100k and if it reaches 1 million sales it will have done very well.

Indeed for this week, but its sales have stayed steady between 20-30k and will only increase due to christmas and the airplay for the new sinlge - 'Rumour has it' over the next month. I'm certain it will be in the xmas top 10 and sell 100k for at least 2/3 weeks in the next 8 weeks! Who knows what its overall sales will be for 2011!

 

Oh yes definitely it'll be back 100%. Just might be out of top 10 this week for the first time since released in January :o

Indeed, I understand your point now. Although I think that happens with ALL massive acts no matter what - even Oasis and Robbie Williams who were the massive sellers this time 10 years ago but they still decreased gradually in popularity with each album. 2005/06 was the biggest time for Coldplay with the release of their most popular album.

 

I personally think Mylo Xylo is a cracking album and it will be interesting to see how it sells over the next few months. Its success will depend on getting an official pre-christmas release and video for Princess of China though.

Mylo Xyloto is only their 'worst album' by a bit according to the critics - AROBTTH has a score of 80 on Metacritic, X&Y and VLVODAAHF both have 72 and MX has 65 (which is still 'generally positive'). I wouldn't really count that as a factor in it not doing as well as their other albums but your other points are all valid.

Mylo Xyloto is only their 'worst album' by a bit according to the critics - AROBTTH has a score of 80 on Metacritic, X&Y and VLVODAAHF both have 72 and MX has 65 (which is still 'generally positive'). I wouldn't really count that as a factor in it not doing as well as their other albums but your other points are all valid.

Not only by critics, but also by the public. The user score on Metacritic is lower than their others too, and on Amazon (joint lowest with X&Y). On forums I go on, the general reaction seems to be worse too, and the sound quality is a particular common complaint.

Not only by critics, but also by the public. The user score on Metacritic is lower than their others too, and on Amazon (joint lowest with X&Y). On forums I go on, the general reaction seems to be worse too, and the sound quality is a particular common complaint.

 

It's worse, but it's not BAD. I don't really think a lesser-but-still-positive reception will put that many people off, surely people will just see it as a positive reception anyway? It's only really if it was getting critically and publicly panned that I think reception would be a problem (see Lou Reed/Metallica).

Edited November 5, 201114 yr by Bré