Really competitive week! I know sales were increasing the closer to Christmas but the previous week saw Atomic Kitten at #5 with 49k so presumably Britney would have been safely Top 10 if released a week earlier (also presuming it would have sold the same amount of copies).

^ :cry: That's a pity! I wish Music Week hadn't been so skimpy with the sales they gave back then, it would have been interesting to know what all the Top 10 sales were and how far off In the Zone was. The Beatles were #7 with 54,500 but Music Week didn't share what #8-#13 sold.

 

No doubt Britney's label wanted a Q4 release because she was guaranteed to do extremely well in the US, but unfortunately she didn't have that power in the UK. I'll always be baffled that the album's subsequent two #1 singles could only get In the Zone to an eventual peak of #13. The era went perfectly with singles success, but it wasn't reflected by the album. Obviously In the Zone selling over half a million in the UK isn't to be sniffed at, but album sales were great at the time... #1 hit singles like Toxic and Everytime should have in theory pushed In the Zone sales much higher.

 

 

 

Britney first week album sales in the UK:

 

115,341 - Greatest Hits: My Prerogative [#2]

88,000 - Oops!...I Did It Again [#2]

76,231 - Circus [#4]

44,500 - Britney [#4]

42,207 - Blackout [#2]

39,000 - In the Zone [Entered at #14]

31,650 - Femme Fatale [#8]

28,000 - ...Baby One More Time [Entered at #8]

15,460 - The Singles Collection [#38]

12,959 - Britney Jean [#34]

10,123 - Glory [#2]

 

 

Britney Jean came out in December 2013 and Glory was in August 2016, which explains the disparity in their peak positions. I wish we could have a total sales update... I assume Glory would still be her worst selling behind Britney Jean. Taking Britney's entire career into account, it doesn't really feel like Glory "deserves" #2 in the same way her other #2 albums did. I suppose it would have felt even more bizarre if it had been her first #1, even though it would have been fantastic for her to finally have one. Britney didn't come close to #1 that week though, Barbra Streisand sold 19,778 at #1. Two weeks earlier the #1 album only sold 7,034 copies!

 

It's such a shame that the huge 115k figure for GH:MP still didn't get her to #1. Eminem sold 122,459 of his studio album Encore, despite it being released on a Friday (meaning it had just 2 days of sales, compared to Britney's 6 days). Why couldn't his label have waited and given it a normal Monday release? :(

 

Interesting that Circus provided Britney with her second highest first week for a studio album, which seems to demonstrate just how powerful an X Factor performance could be.

I'm surprised the first week sales for Britney and In The Zone were relatively low, for the time obvs. Femme Fatale wasn't too far off their sales impressively it just didn't have the hit singles and airplay to keep it selling. (justice for I Wanna Go :cry:)

(justice for I Wanna Go :cry:)

:cry: That #111 peak :(

 

Me to the UK:

 

 

 

 

By the way, 'The Essential' spends its second week in the UK chart - down two places to #130, but its sales are up to 1,026 [it sold 988 last week]. 5 physicals, 7 downloads and the rest is streaming. Total: 33,622.

Aside from her first two albums, I think Britney was much more of a singles act than an album act in the UK. Looking at her album chart runs, the album sales were very much driven by how successful the singles were (I know that might seem like an obvious thing to say but I just mean Britney wasn't the type of act who could sell lots of albums just off the bat, aside from the strong fanbase buying in the first week).

 

I imagine In the Zone would have experienced better first week sales if 'Toxic' had been the lead and achieved the same success as it did.

 

Those first week sales were really stable between Britney and Femme Fatale (factoring in the X Factor boost for Circus and the general buzz surrounding her with it being her 'proper' comeback). It does seem very impressive that Femme Fatale could experience those sort of first week sales considering this can be pinpointed as the start of her decline as first grade popstar. Definitely a shame 'I Wanna Go' wasn't able to become a hit and give the album a boost as the beginning of its chart run was inline with the trajectory of her previous albums.

I'll always hate UK public for that.. It's just criminal that such album missed top 10. :wacko:

 

If only we could somehow organize buyInTheZone week and make to re enter into top 10 when sales are low now.. If only..

Just looking at the chart run for 'Till the World Ends' - 55-21-55-120-56 seems so strange! Would I be right in assuming it was a midweek release and was only a 'promo' single before being quickly upgraded?

If only we could somehow organize buyInTheZone week and make to re enter into top 10 when sales are low now.. If only..

If only! :wub: Top 10 is the least it deserves!

 

Just looking at the chart run for 'Till the World Ends' - 55-21-55-120-56 seems so strange! Would I be right in assuming it was a midweek release and was only a 'promo' single before being quickly upgraded?

I looked back, and Till the World Ends was released in the UK on Friday 4th March like the rest of the world, so it was indeed a midweek release - with only 2 days going towards that #55 entry! I think it had "single status" everywhere immediately, but I can't be 100% sure, maybe there was initial confusion about its status in the UK. The early release strategy was a messy approach for the UK market, particularly with it not being released on a Sunday. :cry: If they'd waited 2 days, I'm sure she'd have gone Top 20.

 

06/03/2011 - #55 - 5,274 sales

13/03/2011 - #21 - 13,036 sales [just 227 sales behind #20 :cry: ]

 

That's 18,310 sales in 9 days. Obviously Britney might have lost some sales with a 2 day wait, but I'm sure a significant amount of those 5,274 sales would have still occurred a couple of days later. The #16 single sold 16,249 in the week Britney was #21, so I think she would have comfortably got to #16 with a proper full week of sales. [#15 sold 18,940]

 

On the subject of instant releases, Hold It Against Me was ever so slightly held back compared to the rest of the world. Tuesday 11th January was the release date in most parts of the world, but the UK got it on Monday 17th January... kind of strange that it wasn't on Sunday, i.e. denying the song a day of sales. It was originally intended for Sunday 20th February, which suggests that her UK label originally intended it to be the only single prior to Femme Fatale's release.

 

Hold It Against Me got to #6 [selling 38,779] and spent 2 weeks in the Top 10, so bringing it forward proved to be a good decision! I wonder if it would have done any better if they'd let pre-orders build up until February? I also wonder what would have happened if it had come out on 11th January here. Maybe still Top 10 [#10 sold 22,847], but maybe the pent up demand in its week of unavailability helped to raise awareness?

 

I guess the label originally planned for Till the World Ends to serve as a post-album single release in the UK (which it kind of did in the end anyway, given that it re-entered the Top 40 a couple of weeks after Femme Fatale's release), so maybe its first moment of availability was intended to be the week that Femme Fatale was released, rather than a few weeks earlier.

 

Till the World Ends had another near miss from the Top 20, when it climbed to #22:

 

01/05/2011 - #22 - 15,409 [399 sales behind #20]

Thanks Jay, I thought that might be the case re: midweek release. I guess it might not have had playlist support right away which could explain the chart performance. A shame it couldn't at least have made the Top 20 as it seems much more remembered and higher regarded than 'Hold It Against Me' - from my experience, it holds up as one of Britney's more relevant songs with the general public today.

 

Now that you mention it, I do remember there being something unusual surrounding the release of 'Hold It Against Me'. I've had a search and apparently it was brought forward in the UK due to "overwhelming demand". I don't doubt that, but I think it probably had more to do with the "on air on sale" strategy. I also see that the music video premiered on 17th February (it hadn't even been filmed when the single was released) so I'm wondering if the song's release was brought forward everywhere. Interestingly, a demo had leaked the same day Britney tweeted about her new single and its release...

Jay!! Thanks so so much!

 

I’ve just been doing Britney albums rate and was trying to find info for her first week sales I knew all the peaks but that info is amazing!

 

Glory being her joint highest peaker yet lowest album opening sales.

 

Yessss at Circus too. X Factor really impacted the charts in a huge way especially during 08/10 you’d very often find whoever the performers were would likely have a big chart week following that.

 

I’m so happy in a way looking back that Glory didn’t go to #1. Lucky it got to #2 tbh. I do hope eventually it can outsell Britney Jean though.

I'll always hate UK public for that.. It's just criminal that such album missed top 10. :wacko:

 

If only we could somehow organize buyInTheZone week and make to re enter into top 10 when sales are low now.. If only..

 

Knowing our UK luck with Brit the campaign take off better than it imagined and we’d get a new peak of #11 :lol:

Knowing our UK luck with Brit the campaign take off better than it imagined and we’d get a new peak of #11 :lol:

 

Don't ever say that again! :lol:

Edited April 19, 20205 yr by Nick F1

@1258373533157265410

 

anyone knows how much is that in total

28 million streams is roughly 280k, so that plus 492k = 772k.

 

I make it her 4th best selling single though, but assume they are not including S&S.

Edited May 7, 20205 yr by Nick Jonas

Oh wow, soon 800,000 :w00t:

28 million streams is roughly 280k, so that plus 492k = 772k.

 

I make it her 4th best selling single though, but assume they are not including S&S.

In terms of actual sales, it is her third best seller (including 'Scream & Shout').

 

Unfortunately it's not so easy to work out what total streams equal in relation to sales as premium and ad-funded streams have different ratios. Plus it might include video streams too, which have different ratios again.

Toxic was at 840k in December, so surely Oops is her 4th best seller?

Including streams perhaps but not when looking at pure sales. This was her Top 10 in 2016, no streams included:

 

1 BABY ONE MORE TIME 1 1999 1,540,000

2 SCREAM & SHOUT (WITH WILL.I.AM) 1 2012 870,000

3 OOPS I DID IT AGAIN 1 2000 480,000

4 SOMETIMES 3 1999 459,000

5 WOMANIZER 3 2008 450,000

6 TOXIC 1 2004 435,000

7 EVERYTIME 1 2004

8 BORN TO MAKE YOU HAPPY 1 2000

9 YOU DRIVE ME CRAZY 5 1999

10 PIECE OF ME 2 2007

'Oops' appears to be selling at a rate of ~1.3k a week, so should be at 733k-735k in total, including streams.

'Oops' appears to be selling at a rate of ~1.3k a week, so should be at 733k-735k in total, including streams.

Confirmed today as having 737k total chart sales.

 

Also, the album Oops! I Did It Again sold 88,145 in its first week (don't think precise sales have been given before).