If Rihanna wanted a #1 in Q1, she could easily have done it with a traditional release. All she'd need to do is have an album pre-order, have 'Work' lead into the album for a few weeks before the album and release the physical and digital at the same time. But I really think she's past that, she doesn't care.

Rihanna's doing just fine all things considered. Especially as most popstars couldn't take a 3 year break between albums and still be this relevant.

Still a big lead for ZAYN. I can see Work beating Jonas to #2 soon.

It's a shame to see such a tragic downfall for Rihanna. To think she was the biggest star in the world at one point, and now this.

She would have easily got #1 if she included 45S, AO and BBHMM on the album

Edited February 2, 201610 yr by Hadji

^ No she wouldn't have :P

 

Jonas Blue outsold Rihanna by 1.5k yesterday, and Shawn outsold her by 800 copies too, and this is with a day of Spotify missing which would also probably put Justin ahead with Love Yourself. Can't see her being lower than #5 though on Friday.

^ No she wouldn't have :P

 

Jonas Blue outsold Rihanna by 1.5k yesterday, and Shawn outsold her by 800 copies too, and this is with a day of Spotify missing which would also probably put Justin ahead with Love Yourself. Can't see her being lower than #5 though on Friday.

I'm on about her album

I'm on about her album

 

I know :P

Going to be close between Sia and David Bowie in the Album chart.

 

Wonder whether Rihanna will even stay Top 5 (in Albums).

Okay I'm bored of seeing people slamming or justifying Rihanna's numbers. It is literally quite impossible to gauge the impact of ANTI's unconventional album release on the sales. The market dynamics and consumer behaviour cannot just be analysed by some simplistic layman thinking such as "oh but REAL fans would still buy the album anyway!" quoted earlier in this thread. There are genuinely hundreds more factors at play here, it is more complicated than that. Everybody acquires their products in different ways, gets their information about new music from different places and make hugely varying decisions about their purchasing behaviour. That is economics 101.

 

You can say that you think Rihanna's star is fading and it may be true because she is no longer releasing smash hits. So musically she may be less omnipresent but at the same time, her brand is bigger now. We can't tell much from the numbers. Like literally how do we go about calculating how many sales were substituted to free downloads.

 

With a conventional release Work would've been an easy, easy number 1 on nearly any week of the year. And Anti the same.

Okay I'm bored of seeing people slamming or justifying Rihanna's numbers. It is literally quite impossible to gauge the impact of ANTI's unconventional album release on the sales.

 

This is a chart forum though, and Anti is a huge release this week, you can't expect people not to discuss and analyse the release in a "chart predictions" thread.

She would have easily got #1 if she included 45S, AO and BBHMM on the album

Doubt it. And anyway 45S was the only big success out of those three. The other two flopped (Especially Flopsygen)

If Rihanna wanted a #1 in Q1, she could easily have done it with a traditional release. All she'd need to do is have an album pre-order, have 'Work' lead into the album for a few weeks before the album and release the physical and digital at the same time. But I really think she's past that, she doesn't care.

No, I think she just thought she had more power and influence than she does. She didn't see this sort of floppage coming, I don't believe that for a second.

Edited February 2, 201610 yr by MishaB

If she wanted huge sales, she wouldn't have given it away for free. I think people are really underestimating the impact of that. It's not flopping at all.

What Rihanna has essentially been doing for the last year or so is doing her hardest to commit career suicide in the name of trying to defy convention.

 

I think we should wait and see how the physical bolsters it next week and then see how it hangs around (she has had slow starts before and recovered albums, but in this case I think it may be less likely). If this was including physicals and streams and she was due to miss the top 5, I think it'd be a bit of a disaster but I don't think it's impossible for her to reach a peak next week.

Considering it was given away for free, and she isn't as big as she used to be, and it was the album equivalent of OA/OS, she's doing incredibly well in those respects.

secret love song will probably just miss the top 10 :(

I had the impression she gave it away for free because she didn't think the album was that good? Well people certainly seem to be enjoying it :P or it's getting early success due to the fanbase waiting ages for nu RiRi and both Work and ANTI fall quickly.

Edited February 2, 201610 yr by Jaspine Thompson

I think the best answer will be found next week after the physical release

 

There have been albums hit number 1 on itunes not even reach top 10

 

 

Besides shes no beyonce :heehee:

Ok , I may be a bit old School but I am still of the opinion if I really like an Artist I want the physical CD.

That's not to say I don't listen to the digital copy of the Album.

 

I think we need to reserve judgement on the success of "ANTI" until the CD is released on Friday - and the subsequent Performance of the Album.

 

As a side question - I don't think there has been a number 1 Album in the UK based exclusively on digital sales has there? (OK I know likes of Adele and Ed Sheeran would have been number 1 some weeks even without the CD sales but these weren't weeks with just digital sales).

Edited February 2, 201610 yr by timjimlee

What Rihanna has essentially been doing for the last year or so is doing her hardest to commit career suicide in the name of trying to defy convention.

Sorry Aly but this is a ludicrous statement. Career suicide because she's no longer releasing chart-ready smashes? It's clear she's changed direction and is releasing music different to what made her popular but that's just the sign of an artist evolving and experimenting. Whatever we think about her sale numbers or whatever her career is not "dead" because an artist's career =/= a couple of places on the UK album chart.

 

Goodness reading this thread would make it seem like literally no one is listening* to ANTI, no one is going to see her on tour, everyone has abandoned any previous albums they had from her and have reliquinshed any association to every other project she is involved in. :drama:

 

*LISTENING not necessarily buying especially when said album is much harder to buy than others on the chart because it's not available in physical format.