From Haven:

 

Westlife’s first studio album for nine years, and their 11th in all, Spectrum races to a No.1 debut, opening atop the chart on consumption of 62,621 copies, including 1,867 from sales-equivalent streams. That’s the highest sale achieved by a No.1 for eight weeks and the fifth highest by a No.1 album thus far in 2019.

 

Their eighth No.1 and eleventh Top 10 entry, it includes five songs co-written by Ed Sheeran, and arrives at the summit 20 years and three weeks after their eponymous first album debuted and peaked at No.2 on pure sales of 83,032. Their last studio album, Gravity, sold 94,894 copies to debut and peak at No.3 this week in 2010.

 

Westlife’s best first week came in 2000 when second album, Coast To Coast, sold 234,767 to become their first No.1. It is their biggest-selling studio set, with a to-date tally of 1,725,393 sales, although it trails their chart-topping 2002 compilation Unbreakable: The Greatest Hits Volume 1, which has sold 1,896,765 copies. Westlife were a quintet with an average age of 20 when they made their album chart debut, and are now a quartet with an average age of 40. Their cumulative album sales, prior to the release of Spectrum, were 13,063,893, with seven of their albums selling upwards of a million. None of their singles has achieved consumption of a million copies, although their 2001 cover of Billy Joel’s Uptown Girl – which has contributed 989,767 of their cumulative singles sales of 9,800,471 to date, will do so early next year.

 

Spectrum replaces The Script’s Sunset & Full Moons (1-14, 5,504 sales), and provides the third instance of an album by one Irish act toppling another in the 21st century, the others both involving Westlife’s former co-manager Ronan Keating, whose Songs For My Mother usurped U2’s No Line On The Horizon in 2009, and whose debut solo set Ronan toppled The Corrs’ In Blue in 2000. The Script and Westlife are now tied on eight No.1 albums, with U2 the only Irish act ahead of them, on 10, although Keating has had nine if we count his five solo and four as part of Boyzone.

 

Spectrum sold almost as many copies last week as the rest of the top five combined, and more than three times as many copies as Celine Dion sold.

11th top 10 studio albums, 13 top 4 overall with the greatest hits albums.

 

The Script has 5 #1 albums, maybe he's talking about Take That.

Their sales really dropped after the initial midweek information.

I feel the album will at highest be low Top 10 next week.

That said, it is a great return to Number 1 for them and i feel they will be very happy with the result.

I bet they’re over the moon to get #1 regardless of how many they sold. Happy for them

What information we got from Alan Jones:

 

Westlife sold 1,867 album streams which is a decent number I believe - if someone from here knows how to calculate the total streams out of this number please do so :)

 

Coast to Coast sold 1.725 millions

Unbreakable sold almost 1.9 millions

The Love Album and Back Home both sold more than 1 million

 

Total album sales as of now above 13.1 millions

 

Uptown Girl sold 990k and is expected to become a million seller at the beginning of 2020!

 

Total Singles sales for them are more than 9.8 millions and I am sure this number will be above 10 millions by the beginning of 2020!

 

Spectrum is 5th faster selling album of the year. Hopefully it can reach the Top 10 end of year albums.

 

 

 

Total Albums and Singles in the UK currently: 23+ millions

I am sure they sold almost 2 millions DVDs so the total number of records in the UK is ~25 millions.

 

 

Anything else to be added?

 

 

Sales are important but streaming really is more essential now. they are just lucky that they have 60k hardcore fans who bought the album in UK and Ireland because in other countries it's very evident that streaming dominated even the album charts compared to early 2010s and the earlier years. They said their new sounds are for their future, older fans need to understand that because they are not as established as Celine or Bruce Springsteen on other bigger countries. But both have 40 years of music career on them already with more followers and Westlife as a twenty one year old band and just came back feels like they are just getting started.

Edited November 23, 20195 yr by myxxd

 

Last week:

 

Spectrum total views: 53,714,044

Hello My Love: 33,361,440

Better Man: 14,075,034

My Blood: 1,421,062

Dynamite: 4,452,441

Dance: 53,749

One Last Time: 59.338

Take Me There: 54,754

Repair: 117,619

Without You: 79,194

LOVE: 51,714

Another Life: 46,978

 

 

One Week Later:

 

Spectrum total views: 53,714,044 56,018,601

Hello My Love: 33,361,440 33,845,902

Better Man: 14,075,034 14,429,222

My Blood: 1,421,062 1,759,044

Dynamite: 4,452,441 4,690,259

Dance: 53,749 159,353

One Last Time: 59.338 177,624

Take Me There: 54,754 162,472

Repair: 117,619 305,266

Without You: 79,194 194,595

LOVE: 51,714 154,962

Another Life: 46,978 139,902

 

 

Hello My Love and Better Man are well ahead along with the rest of the two singles, closely is Repair [personal favorite, maybe it will be promoted early next year], and then Without you with One Last time and then Take Me there... Love and especially ANother life at the bottom, my least favourite on the album as well I usually skip them..

 

Good interview with Nicky

 

https://www.irishmirror.ie/showbiz/irish-sh...eryone-20939324

They have a taped appearance on MTV OMG today?

 

They will perform Hello My Love on Dec 7

 

Another Life had its first radio airplay on BBC radio Manchester

 

They replaced Uptown Girl to World of Our Own at the top of the songs to sing in the shower Spotify playlist

 

If we will analyse their album's first week streams 1.8m divided by 11 is 169k plus if only those will be translated to pure sales plus the 60k pure sales it's total will be 229k more or less which reminds me of their opening sales in the 2000s. Even if we'll only count half of the 229k plus 60k, it will still be their highest since the late 00s. of course we will not determine who will buy the album or not in the streaming data we have if all of this happened in the sales era but what a new low and sad state for old pop music. Been like this since 2006-7 totp, smash hits ended and the last #1 single of Westlife to date Even even the greatest hits pop album by the 30 year old artist Kylie have low sales and streams for a #1. Most of the people will only stream you if you are new, current, cool and for the old ones mostly rock, alternative genres or Americanised or have a 40 year old music career that have established and have more followers in most platforms and have the same good music like from the past

Edited November 24, 20195 yr by myxxd

Yeah I think its pretty clear fans bought those 63k, not general public.They will probably be low this week.

Edited November 24, 20195 yr by zeze88

That's why the next step and the only way for them is to get to the US market. It is important for them to get higher into the streaming circle because until when will the hardcore fans will buy their albums and singles? Or when they got tired of them again, they will just stream them because it's free and doesn't have the power to buy their stuff anymore, that's why everything that they've been doing right now is for their future. They can't do alternative because it's so not them and rock because they kinda did it with Where We Are which are mostly pop soft rock, but I won't be surprised if they will do this again in the future. that's why upbeat urban ones which is closer to their old music is the only way to go since they will be like a new artist in the US and because they won't release a song or any ballad song like Swear it Again as a lead single again. Vinyls are out this week I believe let's see if how many sales they will get lol last week Script dived from 1 to 14. They have radio promo out in the 29th I believe a deluxe edition is out by that time?

Edited November 24, 20195 yr by myxxd

@1198583463915507712

It will be extremely hard for them to crack the us market and at this point I can't see they'll succeed. Age is the problem. I feel that for many a group with on average 40 years of age is an automatic pass.

Edited November 24, 20195 yr by Avian

It is the record label's work to make it happen. They only need at least one big hit in the US like ABBA. How old are the members of Coldplay and Maroon 5?

It is the record label's work to make it happen. They only need at least one big hit in the US like ABBA. How old are the members of Coldplay and Maroon 5?

 

That is different though, Coldplay cracked the US years ago and Maroon 5 is an american band. Even if the Westlife's label tries their hardest, that doesn't mean they will manage to crack the US.

 

I know but we'll never know if they will not even try

 

Maybe you are thinking they will be promoted like One Direction, BTS, Jonas Brothers style for the teen audience. No I'm thinking differently, they will be promoted in a more mature audience like Florida Georgia Line etc

 

How do you guys even know they won't make it if their songs are not being played on the radio in 2019 onwards that will reach up to the American masses?

Edited November 24, 20195 yr by myxxd

I know but we'll never know if they will not even try

 

Maybe you are thinking they will be promoted like One Direction, BTS, Jonas Brothers style for the teen audience. No I'm thinking differently, they will be promoted in a more mature audience like Florida Georgia Line etc

 

How do you guys even know they won't make it if their songs are not being played on the radio in 2019 onwards that will reach up to the American masses?

Of course no one knows but it is easy to guess that. Of course I hope they achieve success but I just doubt they will, that is all.

 

Ok let's define first "they will or will not make it" as top top artist or they will or will not make it to the radio that their songs will always be played and will just pray maybe they will have hits because I am for the second one

 

They will not go for capturing the teen audience because they did it before it didn't worked out on their first try, they had their second try but when they learned the radio won't play them they didn't continue it because it will be nonsense. It was 17 years ago.

 

Now when it's all digital and internet global connections with the push of the major label and their songs will all be constantly played. if the song is a hit, it's a hit no matter what age is.

 

Actually their debut album #129 in 2000 wasn't bad because those are the numbers of the debut albums of Black Eyed Peas, The Corrs, and Usher and they have become hits afterwards. Westlife didn't pursue the US market before because they are protecting their number one status in the UK and the countries where they were strong. They even left the Latin American market behind even if they were a hit there because of the pressure.

Edited November 24, 20195 yr by myxxd

well it's expensive to have their songs regularly played on the radio and considering the slim odds of getting a hit the label might not find it worth trying.

It will really be expensive but why do you think different major record labels have fought for them to signed up again if they can sign up new and younger artist? if they won't back them up? Just for the UK market? Is that it? Because they see future and profit in them. On every singles they have different plans, ways, strategies. If you will guys notice, their official videos from hello my love up to my Blood doesn't have the (official music video) tag in the end like Someone You Loved by Capaldi before (and now it has a new music video with the new tag in it), because it will most likely be re-released.

Edited November 24, 20195 yr by myxxd