Sweary Azealia sells more than Little Mix

 

The expletive-ridden underground rap hit 212 by Azealia Banks sold more copies (383,000) than Wings, the big comeback single from X Factor winners Little Mix (372,000). Perhaps because only Azealia's song has the approval of both Jay-Z and 10 Downing Street.

 

Never knowingly outsold

 

John Lewis remained more influential in the charts than they had any right to be. Their interesting-song-by-boring-person campaigns helped sell 335,000 copies of The Power Of Love and Never Tear Us Apart. In next year's campaign, 212 will be sung by 16-year-old elfin warbler Birdy.

 

Who didn't win the midweeks battle?

 

Eight songs were No 1 in the Official Midweek Chart on Wednesday but had lost out by Sunday. They were by Bruno Mars, One Direction, Amelia Lily, P!nk, The Wanted, Calvin Harris ft. Ne-Yo and Alyssa Reid ft Jump Smokers. Bunch of losers.

 

More Malcolm Tucker, please

 

In 2012, more people bought The Thick Of It complete box set than Call The Midwife, Celebrity Juice Too Juicy For TV 2 or Top Gear The Worst Car In History. Please can Christmas TV be adjusted accordingly.

 

The video faithful

 

Last week 44 people bought films on VHS. Their purchases included: The Lion King, The Grinch, Peter Pan and The Muppet Christmas Carol.

 

Olly Murs is really flying high

 

Olly Murs sold more copies (353,000) of his new record than Rihanna sold of hers (317,000). That's Rihanna, who spent an estimated $5m flying journalists around the world in promotion of the record and Olly Murs, who looks like a spoon.

 

The return of the young British artists

 

The best selling album released this year was Emeli Sandé's Our Version Of Events, followed by Born To Die by Lana Del Rey, Babel by Mumford and Sons, Take Me Home by One Direction and Right Place Right Time by Olly Murs. None of these artists are over 30, and all except Lana are from the UK.

 

The X Factor means nothing

 

Tulisa sold fewer albums in 2012 (23,000) than Kendrick Lamar, First Aid Kit and Django Django. She was on the biggest TV show on the country every week, and even got up from behind the judges desk to perform her amorphous single but Tulisa still managed to sell less records than these Guardian favourites, as well as her cousin and former N-Dubz bandmate, Dappy.

 

You can give music away and still sell it

 

The Weeknd's album Trilogy sold 90,000 in the US in its first week. Despite that fact that it was almost entirely made up of songs that are available for free on his first three download-only EPs.

 

Data: The Official Charts Company

 

John Lewis remained more influential in the charts than they had any right to be. Their interesting-song-by-boring-person campaigns helped sell 335,000 copies of The Power Of Love and Never Tear Us Apart. In next year's campaign, 212 will be sung by 16-year-old elfin warbler Birdy.

!!!

 

But as usual, The Guardian just being mardy, miserable and old just for the sake of it. I personally think 2012 was back on track to being a great year musically. A lot of my EOY top 40 this year would probably have finished top 20 had they been scattered over this year and last year. (If you know what I mean :P)

queenzealia!

2012 is one of my favourite years for music, so anyone who makes a mockery out of it or undermines it will not be welcomed in my eyes! -_- :kink:

 

The article is a little bit miserable but most of the points that are made in the article are valid at the same time. :P

Amazing.

2012 is one of my favourite years for music, so anyone who makes a mockery out of it or undermines it will not be welcomed in my eyes! -_- :kink:

 

I'd better hold my tongue then... :lol:

Tulisa sold fewer albums in 2012 (23,000) than Kendrick Lamar, First Aid Kit and Django Django. She was on the biggest TV show on the country every week, and even got up from behind the judges desk to perform her amorphous single but Tulisa still managed to sell less records than these Guardian favourites, as well as her cousin and former N-Dubz bandmate, Dappy.

Awesome :lol: Django Django FTW

 

queenzealia!

 

no lies detected

Brilliant piece.

I agree with everything said.

 

 

 

Of course, another annoying crap from The "I-hate-mainstream-music" Guardian. Sorry for sounding ignorant but seriously, that verdict of 2011 by somebody of The Guardian was the worst thing I've ever read by far last year. This one isn't as terrible actually, still bad though. :(

Edited December 28, 201212 yr by FM11

I think Little Mix have done quite well, when you compare Wings to all of the other X Factor songs from 2011 contestants it is the biggest selling and probably the best. It is all well and good comparing it to 212, but that's one of the biggest dance/rap songs of the year and that Wings is even close to it makes it successful.

Brilliant - all fair comments, bar the diss at Rihanna; "Diamonds" is sure to out-sell "Troublemaker" in the long run.

Of course, another annoying crap from The "I-hate-mainstream-music" Guardian. Sorry for sounding ignorant but seriously, that verdict of 2011 by somebody of The Guardian was the worst thing I've ever read by far last year. This one isn't as terrible actually, still bad though. :(

 

Could I have a link please? Cheers! :D

I don't actually see how ANY of that is 'unfair' or 'grumpy'? most of the points are interesting and well made!

There's a few problems with the article:

 

Firstly, 212 is in no way an underground song. It never was. It's a mainstream dance-pop song, it sounds similar to some stuff that Pitbull and LMFAO have released, and Azealia is signed to the same record label as 50 Cent, Eminem, Black Eyed Peas, LMFAO, etc, so has a big marketing team behind her. And with such a mainstream-sounding song, it's not a surprise it did well. It's more chart-ready than Wings imo.

 

Secondly, it's hardly surprising that Kendrick Lamar sold that much. He's amazing, and has had a lot of hype for quite a long time.

 

I do agree that X Factor doesn't have the influence on the charts that people make out. I see so many people complaining about X Factor "dominating" the charts, but it really doesn't. There's probably been some weeks this year with no X Factor songs in the entire top 100, and even in X Factor season there's not usually more than a few in the top 100. That's not "dominating" the chart at all.

Edited December 28, 201212 yr by Eric_Blob

Wings will probably pass 212 in the next few weeks

Pretty sure '212' was underground to begin with. It was around for AGES before it became a hit.

Brilliant article, although I'm not quite sure where the Olly / Rihanna sales figures came from. That fact about Tulisa is quite wonderful.

For the "you can give music away for free" bit, maybe they could've used Too Close by Alex Clare as an example. I'm pretty sure that was up for free download once.

 

Pretty sure '212' was underground to begin with. It was around for AGES before it became a hit.

 

Well, they started playing it on Radio 1 in late summer 2011. I don't know how long it was around before that. But even if it was an underground hit, it probably was only in the US, I never heard of the song until I heard it on the radio, and musically the song is just standard pop, so still made with the intention to be consumed by the masses and get her a record deal (it has the same beat as Calle Ocho by Pitbull and I'm In Miami Bitch by LMFAO, so it's a tried-and-tested formula for success). But, I mean, of course her management are going to feed the media some story about her making it on her own or whatever.

 

I know I'm sounding quite bitter here. The song is very catchy, I don't hate it that much. :lol: But her rise to fame is so fake imo. And it pisses me off how fans of rock/alternative music like her for some reason.

Edited December 28, 201212 yr by Eric_Blob

The Rihanna/Olly Murs thing is frankly terribly misleading. "That's Rihanna, who spent an estimated $5m flying journalists around the world in promotion of the record" wouldn't that give you an idea that this promotion was to sell the album GLOBALLY? In which case Rihanna (1.6million world wide) Olly Murs (about 10 more copies than his UK sales :P).