MrIndependent

The #5 album in the Wednesday update should be Human and not Together Again. ;)

I'm not totally confident that Revival's first day of 35k will be enough to keep it at #1 by Friday to be honest.

U2's new album could be looking at a #4 or #5 debut. Oh dear. Those sales are a disaster but I can't say I'm surprised.

Red opened up with 61k whilst 1989 did 90k; I think reputation. will be midway of those tallies, so roughly 75k. I went with the 75-100k range as I can see the higher band being the more rational, realistic one as opposed to the lower 50-75k one. There's every chance that she could have ginormous first week sales from hype, but I can't see it outselling 1989's first week total on account of how Look What You Made Me Do and the promotional singles have performed. I think reputation. will have generally poor longevity in comparison to 1989 as well.

I think people are hugely overestimating the album. I'll be very surprised if it does much more than In the Lonely Hour sold in its debut week. For the sake of the market, I'm happy to be proven wrong; but the performance on iTunes and Amazon, whilst good, doesn't suggest massive sales to me.

100-150k

Thanks for the update, guys! Can I ask how much Divide has sold at #6, please? It should easily be on course for #4 by the week's end; I can't see it having much less units than Beck's album does already.

He should do. If he holds the 26k he sold yesterday for the following three days that will total 78k; add that to the current 120k which is a sum of 198k alongside the additional units from added streaming. Also, the Mother's Day effect will more than likely be seen in next Monday's midweeks as the biggest boosts will take place on the Friday, Saturday and possibly Sunday. After that, there will be an expected decline in overall sales for the remainder of next week. One downside to the Friday chart launch is that effects from special occasions like Mother's and Father's Day are now split between the two weeks so it's harder to distinguish the impact that the occasions have by looking at the finalised charts. On a side note, I can't see Take That selling anywhere near as much as Ed will in his fourth week. They will lead the Saturday update, but by the Monday I expect their lead to have diminished significantly and by midweek I think Ed will have overtaken them.

If he continues to sell 40,000 copies each day he'd be on roughly 318,000, which would be around a 53% drop. A very strong second week showing for album with a huge opening where its decline is not being softened by the fourth quarter period.

Deeper Shade of Blue It's the Way You Make Me Feel Summer of Love Say You'll Be Mine >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Echoing the other comments about being ecstatic about Steps at #1. Slay some. B-)

By comparison, 25 had sold 537k in its first three days. Obviously this was without streaming as 25 hadn't been put on Spotify at the time.

I post regularly on UKMIX, where comments have been made from several users there. I think there is the same consensus with a few users here at Buzzjack too. You definitely aren't the only one. One user on UKMIX claimed that, in a recent interview, Ed said that artists who underperform and don't sell as much, trying to be more independent with the direction of their music, are stupid and that he keeps listening to his label and others around him to remain one of the biggest artists. I don't know which interview they're talking about nor do I know if those were the words he used or whether what he said has been taken out of context. However, it's a line with other chart-related comments he's made during this album campaign. It's disappointing to hear as a huge fan because he's capable of doing so much more with his music than being a manufactured label puppet. Stay humble, Eddie.

I've given the album two spins so far and, whilst there is some filler that should be subtracted [some of that boyband-esque tosh in the name of Happier, Hearts Don't Break Around Here and How Would You Feel (Peen)], I find much of the album instantly likeable. The uptempo songs are the highlights, they are more interesting and more unique; and the deluxe edition songs are far, far stronger than the songs I've listed above that made the standard edition. The sequencing of the album is, for the most part, a mess; and some much needed rearranging of the ordering of the tracks is necessary. I'm enjoying it on the whole, and it grew on me the second time around in comparison to the first listen; but it is not as strong as x or +. I hope that his next album will be more experimental. It's a shame because his pre-frame EPs showcase his individuality more; they are more diverse and cover a wider range of genres, particularly No. 5 Collaborations Project. He should delve deeper into his acoustic-meets-urban roots, and combine that with some grime and dance music on his next record alongside stronger, more meaningful lyrical content. With the exception of Dive, which is glorious -- and though I enjoy Perfect -- the bland lovelorn balladry on here really bogs the record down. Galway Girl and Nancy Mulligan are in particular a refreshing change of sound, and tracks like Eraser, New Man and Barcelona are more in line with the direction that I was more of the album was in. The songs are well written, strongly sang and slickly produced on the whole but he's not fulfilling his full potential as an artist here. I've picked up on some complaints around other music forums about his business-savvy attitude and chart-thirsty comments in recent interviews making him seem unlikeable, and I agree. He needs to learn how to be selective with what he says. In his defence, you don't stay this successful with such a huge demand without some idea of how to manipulate the business; however, he should let the music speak for itself and allow his artistry to shine more. I believe that many people would think his commercial greed is quite an unattractive trait for an artist to have. He is in the position where he can afford to experiment with his music more as he did with his pre-fame work. I hope he takes that opportunity with the fourth album.

#1 61-80k, but closer to 60k than to 80k; and with a sizeable chunk of that coming from streaming. I also think people are overestimating.

2. Shape of You (Stormzy Remix) 3. Shape of You :lol:

Where are x and Glory Days in the album chart, please? Thanks in advance. :D

300-350k I think this is a cautious estimate in comparison to some of the other predictions, but I do think that people are overestimating. He will have huge first week sales, great longevity and a hefty total in the long haul either way, though. I'm happy to be proven wrong. His streaming will be huge right out of the gate. It's the driving force in the current performances of x and +. It would be extremely foolish of his label to not put it on Spotify on the day of its release, nor will they wait.

Now: Touch 6 Oops 8 Shout 9 The SLAY.

Lovely to see that Starboy has climbed back into the top five, but positions 5-7 in the albums are very close and it might easily end up falling out again. Glad that Little Mix have continued to extend their lead; I recognised that the Black Friday sale on Amazon had ended and their stability on there had started to decrease because of it. I was worried that Michael Ball & Alfie Boe might have started to sell more because of that, but so far so good.

:D :lol:

12

The interest in the album is clearly there for the entire album to be in the singles top 100; the problem in the end is he has picked the wrong time of the year to release. I'm disappointed but not worried.

The Weeknd's album looks like it'll top out at roughly 32k sales, which is less than Beauty Behind the Madness debuted with. The messy rollout isn't helping (only 19% of his sales are physical), but I think everyone overestimated the hype of the album unfortunately. I suspect it will repeak at a later date and have great longevity though. I don't know if it was posted, but Kate Bush's album was only the 13th largest selling album yesterday. Interesting.

The Weeknd's entire album is in the singles top 100.

I doubt that they're low, Kate Bush will just be really front loaded. Clearly Little Mix are closing in on her fast for her to have been a long way ahead with them at #5 on Saturday, whilst now they're #2 and only 5k behind her. I wouldn't be surprised if the next few albums are selling more on a daily basis than Kate's live album is now.