niallyb

Damn ! Rick Astley has got some staying power with that album. I thought it would be a 4 week wonder. What's keeping it going ? What kind of promo is he doing ?

G'WAN = Go on = Irish expression for "good on you"

Agreed ! I thought the album would have no legs. I've never been a fan but he seems like a normal nice guy and his comeback is a great story in a year when everyone is dying. And his voice is much better now. The songs are serviceable , just good enough the support the comeback story. The album feels like something Ronan Keating should have done and I wouldn't be surprised if he was paying close attention to how Astley's comeback is doing. Is there a lot of radio play to support it or is it all TV promo ?

ROFL yes ! And I fall for it every time ! Ooooh 8 pages ! Someone must know something. I better check it out ! D'oh :)

That was coffee through the nose (and right at the computer monitor) funny :) Well played.

Nice to see Graham doing his bit for Ireland :)

They opened with just under 58K at just about the softest time of year to release a new album (the end of May). So far the new album is holding at #8 on iTunes but 5 of the titles above it are either various artist compilations or Coldplays prerelease. So early indicators from iTunes are good. I expect physicals to be good because their fanbase is a little older. I expect their streaming to points to be utterly worthless. On Amazon they are at #7 with 2 various artist compilations ahead of them on the digital chart. They are at #23 on amazons physical chart. If they have good TV promo during the week (I'm in Chicago so I have no visibility to that) then I could see a 40K opening week on the high side. This is also the week where UK album sales really start to increase rapidly every year.

As am I. Media exposure hasn't been great which makes me think that it's likely to be a very front loaded affair and not something that sells much beyond their core fanbase. Still though judging from iTunes (always risky but here goes) it looks like they could well enter inside the top 5. That's likely to mean a 40K opening at this time of year. They'll need to have booked a lot of telly slots over the chrimbo if they don't want to get lost in the crowd though.

would be very interested to see her artist total for the year on the albums front !

Surprised how well the script album his holding. Its tracking ahead of the last (terrible) album. I would have thought that since they are such a known quantity that their sales would be front loaded to the fans ....

Under a Blood Red Sky - U2 It spent 200+ weeks on the chart and sold >1.2 million in the UK though I don't know the exact figures