iTunes error aided Monkeys' singles chart surge

03 May 2007 - 08:40:37

Source: Music Week

 

 

An error on the iTunes Music Store last Monday (April 23) prevented customers from buying Arctic Monkeys' Favourite Worst Nightmare as a complete album, resulting in a surge of fans buying tracks from the album individually.

 

The error, which is believed to have prevented fans from buying the album as a bundle for only a few hours on Monday, had no effect on the album’s eventual first week chart position, with the Sheffield quartet entering at number one on sales of nearly 228,000.

 

However, it is likely to have contributed to the band’s multiple appearances throughout the singles charts, especially in lower sections of the top 200 where only a few hundred sales are required to make an impact.

 

Millward Brown chart director Bob Barnes says, "We understand that they uploaded the individual tracks before they put the album up, so the tracks were available as individual tracks for a short amount of time before you could get the album.

 

"That’s sort of confirmed by the fact that so many individual track sales were recorded as sales on Monday. Those tracks sales were genuine however, so we couldn’t take them out. It’s quite an unusual situation."

 

In total, 17 Arctic Monkeys tracks - including every track from the band’s second album - charted in the top 200 last week: Brianstorm (at number seven); Fluorescent Adolescent (60); 505 (74); Teddy Picker (94); Temptation Greets You Like Your Naughty Friend (97); Balaclava (104); I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor (105); D Is For Dangerous (116); Old Yellow Bricks (122); Do Me A Favour (127); Only One Who Knows (130); This House Is A Circus (132); The Bad Thing (140); What If You Were Right The First Time (160); Leave Before The Lights Come On (176); If You Found This It's Probably Too Late (180); and If You Were There Beware (189).

 

It had been assumed, based on last week’s day one sales, that the bulk of the Arctic Monkey’s second album would appear in the top 75, however beyond the first day of release sales focussed increasingly on album purchases, resulting in only two tracks making the top 75.

 

A spokeswoman for Domino said that an error "looks pretty likely" to have occurred, but said she did not have "exact details" of what happened. A spokesperson for Apple was unavailable for comment.

 

Were each of those individual sales counted as a sale towards the album sales :unsure:

It's only really cost the album 1,000 sales at most.

Were each of those individual sales counted as a sale towards the album sales :unsure:

 

No. Because the sales counted individually, then they would have counted as "singular" sales, but if someone had bought all 12 "singular" tracks from the album, then it would have counted as 12 singles sales (one for each track off the album), but not as an album sale.

No. Because the sales counted individually, then they would have counted as "singular" sales, but if someone had bought all 12 "singular" tracks from the album, then it would have counted as 12 singles sales (one for each track off the album), but not as an album sale.

 

Thanks for explaining :)