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Billboard reports in...U2 #2

Official Billboard results:



Edited By Barry A. Jeckell. December 08, 2004, 8:30 AM ET

Jay-Z, Linkin Park 'Mash-Up' Tops Album Chart


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The seemingly odd pairing of a multiplatinum artists from the rap and rock worlds takes an underground concept to the pinnacle of the mainstream as "MTV Ultimate Mash-Ups Presents Jay-Z/Linkin Park: Collision Course" bows atop The Billboard 200 this week. The Warner Bros./Roc-A-Fella CD/DVD set sold 368,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan, more than enough displace U2's "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb" (Interscope) from its perch.

As one of the first legally released full albums of mash-ups, the set earns Jay-Z his second No. 1 on the big chart this year, following "Unfinished Business" (Jive/Def Jam/IDJMG), his collaboration with R. Kelly, which topped The Billboard 200 just last month.

As last year's "The Black Album" (Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam) was released in November Jay-Z just misses scoring three No. 1 albums in one year. As it stands, the retiring rapper boasts eight Billboard 200 chart-toppers and a U.S. sales total of 21 million.

"Numb/Encore," the first single from the blend of Linkin Park and Jay-Z songs, earned Linkin Park the first crossover hit of its career with last week's No. 94 entry on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks list. The group's latest studio album, "Meteora" (Warner Bros.), debuted last year at No. 1 with 810,000 and has sold 4.7 million to date.


After just one week on top, U2's "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb" slides to No. 2 on a 66% dip to sales of 288,000 units.

Kelly Clarkson's second RCA effort "Breakaway" earns the No. 3 slot with 250,000 units. The original "American Idol" winner opened at No. 1 last year with 297,000 copies of her debut "Thankful," which has moved 2.1 million to date.

New York rapper Nas, who has three chart-topping Billboard 200 albums to his credit, enters at No. 5 with "Street's Disciple." The Sony Urban Music/Columbia set sold 232,000 copies, an improvement over 2002's "God's Son," which bowed at No. 18 with 156,000 copies in 2002; the set has sold 1.2 million to date.

Rapper T.I. represents the South with a No. 7 bow for "Urban Legend" (Grand Hustle/Atlantic) on sales of with 193,000 copies. Despite entering behind on the big chart, the Atlanta-bred artist's set beats Nas and "Collision Course" for the No. 1 spot on Billboard's Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. Last year, T.I.'s "Trap Muzik" opened at No. 4 with 109,000 copies; it has a to-date total of 903,000.

Amidst the flush of new entries, the rest of the top 10 survivors suffered an average 50% slip in sales.

Eminem's "Encore" (Shady/Aftermath/Interscope) falls 2-4 in its fourth week on the chart on a 47% tumble to 248,000 units, while Shania Twain's Mercury Nashville greatest hits collection came up 49% shorter at 195,000 copies, causing a 3-6 drop on the chart.

The 17th installment of "NOW That's What I Call Music!" (Sony BMG/Universal/EMI/Zomba/Capitol) dips 6-8 on a 47% drop to 169,000 and Destiny's Child's "Destiny Fulfilled" (Sony Urban Music/Columbia) slips 4-9 after a 51% decline to 164,000.

And Toby Keith's "Greatest Hits 2" still hangs on to a top 10 berth despite a 57% dip to 142,000 units. The DreamWorks Nashville/Interscope set drops five slots to No. 10.

Josh Groban's "Live at the Greek" (Reprise/Warner Bros.) gathered 84,000 copies in its first week to debut at No. 24. His last studio set, "Closer," gets a 20-slot boost to No. 51 on a 24% increase to sales of 36,000. The 2003 album debuted at No. 4 with 375,000 copies and peaked at No. 1 two months later; it has sold 4 million to date.

Gerald Levert's "Do I Speak for the World?" (Atlantic) rounds out the week's top 50 debuts at No. 29 with 66,000 copies. His "Stroke of Genius" (Elektra) entered at No. 6 last year with 97,000 copies and has a to-date total of 384,000 copies.

Overall U.S. album sales dipped 8.5% from the previous week to 17.8 million units and about 5.3% from the same week last year. With 583 million units, sales for 2004 are beating those of last year by about 2.3%.

-- Margo Whitmire, L.A
 
Billboard actually has higher sales for U2 than Hits, 288,000, and also places Eminem at #4 and Kelly Clarkson at #3.
 
Yahweh said:
That means it has equaled US sales of POP in 2 weeks.

Not quite. 840,000+288,000 = 1,128,000

"Pop" sold about 1.5M total in the U.S. So it's close, but not there yet.

Interesting that while U2 and Jay-Z didn't flip-flop on the SoundScan charts vs. Hits, Eminem and Clarkson did. So it proves that there can be some discrepancy. Plus, for the second consecutive week, SoundScan reported higher sales than Hits.

We're all talking about the huge drop HTDAAB, but really - it sold almost 300,000 copies this past week! That's incredible! :yes:
 
Yep, it still sold more than ATYCLB did in any other week than its debut one. So, not bad at all. :)
 
2nd Week Sales...Ugh...

I haven't seen anything posted, so I thought I'd toss this up...

Collision Course, the "Mash-up" between Jay Z and Linkin Park, is the number one album on Billboard's Album Chart, this week. It sold (I think) 378,000 copies.

U2, on the other hand, suffered a 66% drop in sales, moving "just" 288,000 units. Those are FAR from bad numbers, obviously, but it's still an enormous dip.

I had been a bit surprised by the high sales figures, last week, but not TOO shocked; with the holiday shopping season kicking off and all, it wasn't really that incomprehensible. Even so (ever the pessimist), I anticipated a a big drop-off in the second week...I figured at least 50%. Unfortunately, I was right; I wanted to be wrong--I really did!--but it was all for naught, it seems.

I hope that next week's chart doesn't witness another massive drop, you know? It isn't that they didn't move a lot of units--they did! It's more the huge percentage drop; if it keeps up like this, the album will be long gone right quick. Hopefully "All Because of You" will jump-start things in the states...
 
Re: 2nd Week Sales...Ugh...

If you shout... said:
I haven't seen anything posted, so I thought I'd toss this up...

Collision Course, the "Mash-up" between Jay Z and Linkin Park, is the number one album on Billboard's Album Chart, this week. It sold (I think) 378,000 copies.

U2, on the other hand, suffered a 66% drop in sales, moving "just" 288,000 units. Those are FAR from bad numbers, obviously, but it's still an enormous dip.

I had been a bit surprised by the high sales figures, last week, but not TOO shocked; with the holiday shopping season kicking off and all, it wasn't really that incomprehensible. Even so (ever the pessimist), I anticipated a a big drop-off in the second week...I figured at least 50%. Unfortunately, I was right; I wanted to be wrong--I really did!--but it was all for naught, it seems.

I hope that next week's chart doesn't witness another massive drop, you know? It isn't that they didn't move a lot of units--they did! It's more the huge percentage drop; if it keeps up like this, the album will be long gone right quick. Hopefully "All Because of You" will jump-start things in the states...

The initial figure is just stores ordering copies not punters actually buying them.
 
Re: Re: 2nd Week Sales...Ugh...

TC2290 said:


The initial figure is just stores ordering copies not punters actually buying them.

Nope.... those seem to be the initial figures... I think HTDAAB's price just jumped up too high. $13.99 at Best Buy (the usual cheapie place) and I'm sure other places are even higher... Not surprised to a degree but a little disappointing IMO.
 
US sales of anything stopped being consistant over time in the last few years. People know so much about when something's going to come out that they go and buy it when it does. Look at the ammount of money that movies make.
 
im not too worried about it.

it already went to #1 in the us, which is great.

i love the cd, and thats all i really care about.
 
I saw in the "peeling off the dollar bills" forum that HTDAAB's sales this week are better than any of ATYCLB's sales apart from its first week. Not bad...
 
Bash me if you want but U2 marketed this album the way Hollywood markets a shitty film, big advertising to recoup as much as possible on opening weekend because word of mouth will ultimately kill the film.

The huge marketing campaign and the 66% drop is consistent with the way Hollywood pushes crap.
 
the album's sold over a million copies in the states in just two weeks, the second week total is greater than achtung baby's first week total, ATYCLB never climbed higher than #3 and this album is at #2 in it's second week, the album is still the #1 most downloaded on iTunes and the #1 ordered music item on Amazon.com... and still people are bitching.

what exactly do you need them to do? have every person on earth buy a copy?
 
I sense this album as Pop II...

...big first single...

...number one on the charts...

...falling fast into obscurity...

...and I hope I'm very, very wrong.
 
288,000 isn't too shabby...there's no way that u2 would stay on top with the dual "teen-adoring" superpower of jay-z and linkin park.
 
Every person on earth should have a copy but they wont because well they need their ears cleaned out. :wink:
 
Headache in a Suitcase said:
the album's sold over a million copies in the states in just two weeks, the second week total is greater than achtung baby's first week total, ATYCLB never climbed higher than #3 and this album is at #2 in it's second week, the album is still the #1 most downloaded on iTunes and the #1 ordered music item on Amazon.com... and still people are bitching.

what exactly do you need them to do? have every person on earth buy a copy?

That'll make the record company happy.

-------------------------

Is it ironic, that the mash up of Linkin Park and Jay Z, is number 1, and both are fans of U2? Jay Z is a big fan of U2, or so he said on some talk show. The lead singer of Linkin Park is a big U2 fan too.
 
Wow, I had no idea Achtung Baby sold so poorly right out of the gate, especially since U2 was technically the biggest band in the world at the time. Even though The Fly was experimental, commercial radio ate it up with a large spoon...and AB was the first proper U2 album in over 4 years. The fact that it sold under 350,000 copies blows my mind.

-Miggy D
 
Zoocoustic said:
I sense this album as Pop II...

...big first single...

...number one on the charts...

...falling fast into obscurity...

...and I hope I'm very, very wrong.

I think HTDAAB has already outsold Pop or is nearly there.

Some people on this thread are being absurd. This album is BIG. It's going to continue to be BIG.

Where are the experts from Peeling Off Those Dollar Bills? They could address this much better than I can. This thread should be moved to that forum anyway.

Re: Achtung Baby. It is my understanding that at that time, only approximately 40% of sales were recorded.
 
Axver said:


I think HTDAAB has already outsold Pop or is nearly there.

Some people on this thread are being absurd. This album is BIG. It's going to continue to be BIG.

:yes:

It will be no.1 for a 3rd wk here in the UK come Sunday im sure. There's been nothing remotely decent released!
 
wolfwill23 said:
Bash me if you want but U2 marketed this album the way Hollywood markets a shitty film, big advertising to recoup as much as possible on opening weekend because word of mouth will ultimately kill the film.

The huge marketing campaign and the 66% drop is consistent with the way Hollywood pushes crap.

sad, but totally spot on. Getting a number #1 is the key driver now, so you market the hell out of it and you pick a release date that won't compete with other best-sellers.

The Incredibles, for example, is holding its own because it's a TRUE movie classic. Word of mouth has been amazing. As for U2, we'll see - too early to know. Initial signs point to it being recognized as a nice, fairly safe album with a few pretty decent tunes.
 
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