Will the Billboard 200 chart sink to another new low next week?
Cake bakes its way to No. 1
Taylor Swift
Hold on folks, it just got even worse. After Taylor Swift’s “Speak Now” set a record this week for the lowest sales tally ever for an album in the No. 1 spot on the Billboard 200, it looks like that record will fall next week.
The good news for Cake is that its first album of new material in years, “Showroom of Compassion,” will likely come in at No. 1. The bad news is that the title may do so by selling less than 40,000 copies. Right now, according to Hits Daily Double, it is on track to sell between 37,000-42,000. Debuting at No. 2 will be “Thank You Happy Birthday” from Cage the Elephant. Swift falls to No. 3. Bruno Mars will be No. 4 and Nicki Minaj at No. 5. The “Country Strong” soundtrack continues to do well, despite the movie flopping at the box office, as it rises five spots.
[More after the jump...]
A third title, the debut from country duo Steel Magnolia, is predicted to land at No. 9. The Black Keys, following their appearance on “Saturday Night Live,” continue to rise up the chart, most likely to No. 10. This week, the band climbed 26-14.
Ponder this for a minute: In October, Swift's "Speak Now" sold 1 million copies to come in at No. 1. Cake could do it next week with 40,000 copies and yet both will always get to claim bragging rights for coming in at No. 1. Odd. It's the same thing with the theatrical box office, but the disparity is astounding.
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January 16, 2011 at 5:03PM EST Reply to CommentThis is the perfect storm of record companies charging too much for music and the complete unoriginality of popular music.
Joe Friday
January 16, 2011 at 5:31PM EST Reply to CommentThe old media - physical recordings like CDs, movies watched in theaters, TV watched only when a network aired it (no DVRs) and a handful of channels is dead. People decide for themselves how they will get their entertainment, and it's usually with a computer.
NHK
January 16, 2011 at 5:39PM EST Reply to CommentThe first response is typical of today's attitude: it's everyone faults EXCEPT the consumers who download music illegally without conscious, even the music they reportedly claim to hate and therefore would not buy anyway. These same folks even steal the tunes/songs of the previous decades which they consider to be much more productive periods of great music making. Hypocrites. Complaining about prices? What in this country isn't overpriced except maybe the bad meals at fast food restaurants? If the music prices are too high, then go ahead and refuse to purchase the material. That's your right. But what isn't your right is to then go and take that music for free. Ultimately that is no different than going into a store a decade ago and stealing a CD. Has anyone been able to prove that music sales dropped so sharply because of the quality of the songs? Of course not. But what can be proven is that as soon as the ability to share music illegally through computers became available to the masses, sales of music took a nosedive. People who deny that illegal downloads have had a demonstrative effect on music sales are just as disingenuous as those who deny climate change and man's role in it. The truth this is a thieving nation and if we could steal our cars, food, games, clothes, etc as easily as we can steal music we would. And then we would justify it by blaming higher prices and inferior products on our inability to control our need to take without paying.
melinda Nameless and NHK: You're both right. The labels were incredibly arrogant in believing that consumers would continue to buy full albums if the labels continued to refuse to allow them to buy singles, and allowed the rise of Napster. That created a culture where it was seen as okay in some quarters to steal music because there was no legit alternative. Then when iTunes and other services came along, in some ways, it was too late to put the genie back in the bottle, AND the ability to legitimately buy singles allowed the consumers to make the choice again as whether to buy the single or a complete album.
January 16, 2011 at 6:38PM ESTAlso, quite frankly, the music industry did a horrible job of trying to stop piracy. Suing individuals, confusing the public by saying "it's okay to download this track for free, if we're the one offering it," and totally muddying the waters. The industry was also never able to make the public understand what really happens--- the rippling effect--when the masses illegally download, in terms of no money to develop artists, songwriters don't get paid royalties, etc. There were real consequences to real people whose lives were altered.
Continue the debate!
Melinda
NHK
January 16, 2011 at 7:39PM EST Reply to CommentMelinda, do you think even if record companies had not gone away from the sales concept of the single that it would have made any difference? People keep tossing that out as a tired excuse to justify actions, but I feel it wouldn't have made a bit of difference. People like geting things for free (which in this case is considered stealing). If I offered 1000 people from the middle income bracket the opportunity to buy their 100 favorite albums for twenty-five cents each OR allow them a way to get those 100 albums illegeally through downloads, I'm going to bet most are going to go for the latter so they can get their music free of charge (which increasingly younger people think is a birthright).
I am not an apologist for the record industry but in its defense, what industry doesn't try to squeeze every dollar it can from consumers? In the end however we had a choice of whether we bought any albums or singles at all. And because money wasn't growing on trees we also had to decide which albums were most worth getting. Now we have the ability to get ALL the albums we want for free. But these days there aren't many great albums to choose from. And why should there be considering we have taken away much of the inspiration for many artists to deliver the goods: the prospect of making lots of money.
melinda NHK-To a degree, yes. Of course, once Napster came along, people were going to use it. However, at the time it did, the labels gave consumers no other alternative and refused to listen and respond in anything near a timely manner. I'm not justifying people stealing music, but I really don't think you can overlook the major labels' arrogance and slowness to respond. Yes, any industry tries to squeeze the most out of their consumers, but also realize that the KEY to staying in business is giving the consumers what they want in some form or fashion that benefits both of you. I appreciate your comments a great deal. Melinda
January 16, 2011 at 8:31PM EST