Snow Patrol lead strong album sales

08 May 2006 - 11:24:05

 

from musicweek

 

Year-to-date physical album sales in 2006 have edged ahead of 2005 for the first time, with sales up to and including last Saturday (16 May) of 46,063,532 - a minuscule 0.09% up on same stage 2005 sales of 46,021,540, writes Alan Jones

 

The fact that physical sales have increased at a time when the focus is increasingly on the fast growing download sector, and when compilation sales are in freefall is remarkable - and due in no small part to improved sales of number one albums this year. It’s especially welcome, as sales in the first four weeks of the year were markedly below 2005 levels but the deficit has been whittled away steadily ever since, before finally disappearing.

 

In the first 18 weeks of last year, the number one artist album sold more than 100,000 copies only twice, with only The Stereophonics and G4 recording six figure sales.

 

So far this year, it’s been done six times, and always by homegrown British acts, with The Arctic Monkeys (twice), Corinne Bailey Rae, Journey South, Shayne Ward and Snow Patrol all topping the figure. So far in 2006, the number one artist album has average weekly sales of 109,440, up 54,2% on the average of 70,950 in the first 18 weeks of 2005. It could be argued that the repertoire so far this year has been superior but it’s due primarily to new artists making big openings, as Snow Patrol’s first week tally of 120,860 physical sales last week (126,809 including downloads) marks the first 100,000 plus tally by an established act so far this year.

 

Artist album sales so far in 2006 - excluding downloads - are up an impressive 4.73% from 36,168,828 to 37,879,892. Compilation sales, meanwhile, are off more than a sixth, sliding from 9,852,712 in the first 18 weeks of 2005 to 8,183,640 in the same period this year - a decline of 16.94%. Compilation albums have a year-to-date share of 17.76% of the physical market, compared to 21.40% in the same period last year.

 

Physical album sales have beaten their 2005 levels in each of the last four weeks, and were up 2.7% last week on the same week in 2005, even as album downloads topped the 50,000 mark for the first time, at 50,036, making total album sales last week of 2,289,783.

 

As mentioned above, Eyes Open by Snow Patrol is the new number one album - the 11th time chart leadership has changed in as many weeks.

 

Last week was an expensive one for Snow Patrol fans, with the release of expanded versions of early albums Songs For Polar Bears and When It’s All Over We Still Have To Clear Up coinciding with Eyes Open’s launch.

 

The latter disc, follow-up to the band’s 2003 breakthrough album Final Straw, which has thus far sold 1,346,446 copies, naturally overshadowed not only the two reissues but everything else in the album marketplace to debut at number one, giving the band its first ever chart-topper: Despite its huge sales, Final Straw peaked at number three.

 

Eyes Open’s success earns Snow Patrol’s label, Fiction, its first number one album since The Cure’s Wish lead the rankings 14 years ago last week. Other well-known Fiction artists past and present include Ian Brown, The Associates, Your Codename Is Milo, 10,000 Things, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Stephen Fretwell.

 

Although they have never had a hit single - and haven’t even released one for 11 years - Tool’s brand of metal grows more popular with every release. Third album Lateralus provided the band’s first UK chart entry, debuting at number 16 on sales of 12,377, and eventually selling 67,045 copies. After a five year hiatus, which provided singer Maynard Keenan with the time to form side project A Perfect Circle, they’re back in action, and debut at number four with new album 10,000 Days on sales of 29,710.

 

Even bigger hard rock legends Pearl Jam return from a four year break with their most political and arguably heaviest album, a self-titled effort which debuts at number five on sales of 26,396. The band’s eighth studio album, it easily improves on last album Riot Act’s woeful number 34 peak to become their sixth Top 10 entry. Pearl Jam’s studio releases are dwarfed by the live output - partly to prevent bootlegging, they have released 80 live albums, while a hits set and interview discs lifts their total album releases to a hefty 100.

 

Vegas punks Panic At The Disco land their first hit single this week, debuting at number 23 on sales of 5,677 with But It’s Better If You Do. The band’s debut album, A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out, reached its highest position to date - number 20 last week - but slips a notch this week to number 21, even though its sales improve by 6% to 10.554, taking its cumulative sales to 97,170. The single’s title is a bit of a mystery, as it doesn’t appear anywhere in the lyrics.

 

It’s not just albums that are doing well in 2006 - singles sales also remain buoyant.

 

They dipped by 2.4% week-on-week to 1,163,639, with no new release selling well enough to debut inside the Top 10 BUT that’s 37.7% higher than the comparative week last year when 844,842 singles were sold. Gnarls Barkley chalk up a sixth week at number one with Crazy on sales of 50,163. Crazy’s reign is now the longest for a debut single since 1997, when The Spice Girls topped the list for seven weeks with Wannabe. Crazy also moves into a tie with Black Eyed Peas’ Where Is The Love as the longest-running number one on the UK singles chart by an American act since Cher’s Believe spent seven weeks at the summit in 1998,

 

Crazy’s runner-up this week, Dani California, jumps 12-2, and now shares the honour of being the biggest of Red Hot Chili Peppers’ 18 Top 40 hits with By The Way. The latter single sold 45,907 copies debuting in runners-up slot in 2002, when it was kept off the top of the chart by Elvis Vs. JXL’s A Little Less Conversation; Dani California sold 28,978 copies last week, having debuted on download sales a week earlier, and is the first single from the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ new album, Stadium Arcadium, which is released today (8th).

 

21 years ago Rockwell - aka Kennedy Gordy, son of Motown Records boss Berry Gordy - had his only hit, reaching number six on his dad’s label with Somebody’s Watching Me, with help from backing vocalists Michael and Jermaine Jackson. This week, the song rockets 21-3 in a new looped house version by Dutch DJ/production team Beatfreakz, on sales of 27,963. The Beatfreakz’s single is released on Ministry Of Sound’s Data imprint, for which it is the biggest hit since Eric Prydz’s Call On Me topped the chart in 2004.

 

Feeder are currently working on their sixth studio album, which is slated for release in January 2007. Meanwhile, they have the highest new entry to the singles chart this week, debuting at number 12 with Lost & Found on sales of 10,538. Their 18th Top 40 hit, Lost & Found also appears on their new compilation The Singles, which is released next Monday (15th). Although the album features two other new tracks (Burn The Bridges and Save Us) it omits the hits Day In Day Out and Find The Colour at the band’s request.

 

Having previously reached number 72 with the purely parenthetical (), Icelandic band Sigur Ros landed their first ever Top 40 hit last December, reaching number 35 with Hoppipola. Frequently used since by TV programmes for dramatic effect - most notably on Planet Earth - Hoppipola has been reissued and jumps 44-24 this week. Its the only single yet from the album Takk, which debuted and peaked at number 16 last September, and has climbed every week for the last seven, improving 150-42 , while increasing its sales to 108,914.

 

After registering 10 Top 20 singles in as many weeks, Michael Jackson’s run is over, with the latest ‘dualdisc’, Remember The Time falling short of the top tier. Originally a number three hit in 1992, it debuts at number 22 on sales of 5,872, and follows Jacko’s previous 2006 charting dualdisc reissues which are - in order of release - Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough, which reached number 17, Rock With You (number 15), Billie Jean (number 11), Beat It (number 15), Bad (number 16), The Way You Make Me Feel (number 17), Dirty Diana (number 17) and Smooth Criminal (number 19), Leave Me Alone (number 15) and Black Or White (number 18).

 

Summary

 

Singles

 

Gnarls Barkley 50,163

Red Hot Chili Peppers 45,907

Beatfreakz 27,963

Feeder 10,538

Michael Jackson 5,872

Panic! At The Disco 5,677

 

Albums

 

Snow Patrol 126,809

Tool 29,710

Pearl Jam 26,396

Panic! At The Disco 10,554

Argh I wanna know how much Rihanna sold this week, her 2nd week in the Top10. :cheer: