NLOTH Week 2

[doctorwho]

Sorry Doctorwho, I gotta agree with Irishteen on this one.

It depends on what you meant in your question.

Does it matter in terms of Billboard charts if there are two versions of the single on iTunes? No - Billboard combines both.

Does it matter in terms of promotion? Sure, it can.

But I can also say that when I look at the iTunes top 10, NOTHING there interests me. I won't download just because it's in the Top 10. At best, I may listen to a sample of it. I only download songs I know I want, not because I see it in the Top 10.

But a top 10 hit on iTunes can be extra promotion. So blame iTunes for splitting a song into single and album cut. GOYB had the two versions, but both were exactly the same. Furthermore, one couldn't buy the album at the time (just pre-order it), so why it was split is unknown.

 

[thelaj]

I can't see U2 holding onto #1 - Kelly will benefit a lot of additional sales on Saturday shopping.

 

[KUEFC09U2]

How can we see who is leading the "race"? U2's second week numbers must be quite good regardless if they are in with a shout, i mean all the teenage brigade will be buying KC, and U2 are apparantley keeping up.

 

[cjboog]

It depends on what you meant in your question.

Does it matter in terms of Billboard charts if there are two versions of the single on iTunes? No - Billboard combines both.

Does it matter in terms of promotion? Sure, it can.

But I can also say that when I look at the iTunes top 10, NOTHING there interests me. I won't download just because it's in the Top 10. At best, I may listen to a sample of it. I only download songs I know I want, not because I see it in the Top 10.

But a top 10 hit on iTunes can be extra promotion. So blame iTunes for splitting a song into single and album cut. GOYB had the two versions, but both were exactly the same. Furthermore, one couldn't buy the album at the time (just pre-order it), so why it was split is unknown.

I'm talking strictly about promotion, not billboard charting. Sure nothing in the iTunes top 10 may interest you, but you have to get in side the head of the casual U2 listener. They might not think to go search out and download Magnificent, but if they see it in the top 10 and it's right there, they just might be so inclined.

 

[Irishteen]

Whats your prediction Irishteen? can they hold onto #1?

Right now I'm fifty-fifty on it, if we get another sales update it'll be easier to tell but for now I'm not sure

No sales in today but they're still at number 1. The good news about this is that Clarkson's sales are dropping. She outsold U2 by 1900 units, but yesterday it must have been by less than 1100

Looks like it'll be close to the end

 

[doctorwho]

I'm talking strictly about promotion, not billboard charting. Sure nothing in the iTunes top 10 may interest you, but you have to get in side the head of the casual U2 listener. They might not think to go search out and download Magnificent, but if they see it in the top 10 and it's right there, they just might be so inclined.

But U2's album is in the Top 10 still. And that's extra promotion there.

Despite that, it wasn't enough to keep it in the top 2 (the last time I checked, NLOTH was #4 on the album chart).

 

[Native_Son]

I can't see U2 holding onto #1 - Kelly will benefit a lot of additional sales on Saturday shopping.

but in that case so should U2, the 'teeny brigade' would be more liekly to buy the KC album on a week day due not to being in work. which made me think U2 would have had big saturday sales last week (due to fans being older and busy with work etc), perhaps to rival the first days sales, but for only 160k they couldnt have been that big on sat.

 

[cjboog]

But U2's album is in the Top 10 still. And that's extra promotion there.

Despite that, it wasn't enough to keep it in the top 2 (the last time I checked, NLOTH was #4 on the album chart).

Are you trying to argue that because NLOTH is slipping on the chart, that proves...it didn't help to have it on there at all?

Just because things fall off the chart doesn't mean that being on the chart didn't help it sell more copies in the first place. Every album falls off eventually.

It's common sense. Imagine you are a casual music fan who occasionally logs into iTunes to download things. You don't listen to radio that much because you have a busy life, and you really like Kelly Clarkson from when she was on American Idol and a friend got you one of her CD's once for your birthday. You log into iTunes and the first thing you see is Clarkson's song. You didn't even know that she had a new song out, but you just found it on iTunes because it was selling well and now you buy it.

I'd imagine that happens quite a bit. Or you might log into iTunes with the purpose of downloading something specific and notice something on the charts that you didn't know about, making you more likely to buy it. For example, I am a casual fan of Audioslave and I love Chris Cornell's voice. I had read something about his new album, Scream a log time ago. If I hadn't logged into iTunes and noticed what was on the top 10 chart, I would have totally forgotten that his new album came out yesterday. If I thought the song samples sounded good (which I didn't) I probably would have bought it, just because I like the artist generally and I stumbled upon his new album that was in the top 10 completely unintentionally. Same with the new Yeah Yeah Yeahs CD. I probably wouldn't have found out that it's been released if I didn't see it in the iTunes top 10 and now I'm going to buy it after seeing it there and listening to the song samples.

 

[powerhour24]

Nice to see that it'll be close anyway.

 

[Irishteen]

but in that case so should U2, the 'teeny brigade' would be more liekly to buy the KC album on a week day due not to being in work. which made me think U2 would have had big saturday sales last week (due to fans being older and busy with work etc), perhaps to rival the first days sales, but for only 160k they couldnt have been that big on sat.

Yeah they only sold about an average of 18k every other day of the week which isn't really that high

 

[doctorwho]

Are you trying to argue that because NLOTH is slipping on the chart, that proves...it didn't help to have it on there at all?

Just because things fall off the chart doesn't mean that being on the chart didn't help it sell more copies in the first place. Every album falls off eventually.

True. And I'm not saying there's no value to that "free promotion".

But just as U2's album falls off the chart, will a momentary pop of a song into the Top 10 be enough to generate additional interest?

Unless "Magnificent" dominates the Top 10 (meaning, it either lingers in the Top 10 for a long time, or shoots to #1 and slowly falls), I don't think it matters.

For NLOTH to drop so fast so quickly, it also suggests to me that people do NOT do what you say. That is, either an album will be a hit or not, regardless of whether people see it in the Top 10. After all, did you ever buy an album or song because you saw it in the Top 10 on a Billboard chart? Even if you did once or twice, that's the exception.

When it comes to music, I don't think people are influenced that much by charts, with the possible exception of something being a MONSTER hit. But in that case, it's really word of mouth, not the fact that the album is #1 (same with movies - I never see a flick because it's #1, but I will see it if it interests me or if WOM is great).

Of course, I could be completely wrong.

I just don't want anyone fretting over "Magnificent" not being in the Top 10 on iTunes. I feel the song will sink or swim well before then.

 

[ajax]

According to a post at havenforum the midweek album sales in the UK are the following:
1 U2 (25.1k)
2 Kelly Clarkson (23.5k)
3 Taylor Swift (19.9k)
4 Annie Lennox (19.4k)
5 Kings Of Leon (16.8k)

 

[cjboog]

After all, did you ever buy an album or song because you saw it in the Top 10 on a Billboard chart? Even if you did once or twice, that's the exception.

I think you're missing my point just slightly. I'm not saying that people buy an album BECAUSE it's selling well. So I'm not arguing that people look at an album that's #20 on the chart and think to themselves, "Hmmm. That album's #20. I don't think I'll buy it until it gets to #5," or something like that.

I'm saying that a big chunk of casual music fans don't know what albums are coming up or what albums are released on what day. So being on the chart helps not because people are more likely to buy top selling albums, but because they might find out about an album they didn't know about before because it's on that chart and is top selling and it's right there on the front page. They might stumble upon the new U2 album in the top 10 and think, "Oh, cool. U2 has a new CD. Maybe I'll buy that if it sounds good."

That being said, I do agree with you that albums will either be a hit or not mostly based on singles, radio airplay, word of mouth, reviews, etc. I just think that when you're trying to build momentum for a single, you're only hurting yourself if you don't do everything possible to increase it's exposure. Although perhaps it didn't make a HUGE different, having GOYB split up on iTunes probably hurt it a little bit in terms of sales (although less so because there was a front page ad). Having 3 different versions of Magnificent I believe will hurt the song's sales marginally on iTunes if it ends up making a run at the top 10. What U2 should have done with GOYB is have both versions of the album available for download, but have GOYB in a separate single edition. That's how most artists do it, GOYB would have undoubtedly hung around iTunes a little longer just from the exposure of being in the top 10.

But anyway...you're right that Magnificent does have to build up a lot of momentum from radio airplay before any of this top 10/split up/itunes version stuff matters at all.

 

[cjboog]

Kelly Clarkson On Track For Second No. 1 Album

Uh oh.

Clarkson on pace for #1 with only 200,000.

This means at lease a 59% drop for U2 in the US, probably quite a bit more

 

[MadForIt]

Albums


1 U2 (25.1k) -77%
2 Kelly Clarkson (23.5k)
3 Taylor Swift (19.9k)
4 Annie Lennox (19.4k)
5 Kings Of Leon (16.8k)

This is bad news

 

[Irishteen]

According to a post at havenforum the midweek album sales in the UK are the following:
1 U2 (25.1k)
2 Kelly Clarkson (23.5k)
3 Taylor Swift (19.9k)
4 Annie Lennox (19.4k)
5 Kings Of Leon (16.8k)

Not good sales at all for a second week, they'll probably end up with 50k in the end, massive drop

 

[KUEFC09U2]

Not good sales at all for a second week, they'll probably end up with 50k in the end, massive drop

Maybe so, but it keeps them on top, and shows how much album sales really have dropped, imo for U2 to be outselling KC in its second week, no matter what the number is a massive thing

 

[Irishteen]

Maybe so, but it keeps them on top, and shows how much album sales really have dropped, imo for U2 to be outselling KC in its second week, no matter what the number is a massive thing

but if you compare it to a band like Kings of Leon who have been out for months and are still selling 20k a week that's not great. Week 3 and 4 sales will be more telling though and then if Magnificent takes off it should be okay

 

[KUEFC09U2]

but if you compare it to a band like Kings of Leon who have been out for months and are still selling 20k a week that's not great. Week 3 and 4 sales will be more telling though and then if Magnificent takes off it should be okay

But is this official? i mean no disrespect but who was the guys source who stated these figures?, and by the looks of the US chart, Magnificent could really take off over there, lets just hope its the same here, which imo would be a disgrace if it doesnt, and will just prove how radio lets bands age get in the way of playing songs.

 

[mikeuk]

Global chart

as expected a rise fdrom 3 to 1 with sales of 1.182m . In line wth my prediction but probably lower than many expected Mike(

 

[MadForIt]

UK radio is full of pop/trash

I cant believe this week Falling Down by oasis peaked at #60 on the airplay charts

yet they are on course for #10 on the charts due to the fans

magnificent should and deserves to be a radio hit but i would not be shocked if some chav music gets more airplay

 

[Irishteen]

Third highest weekly sales worldwide since 2006, impressive

AC/DC Black Ice 1762000
Coldplay Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends 1585000
U2 No Line On the Horizon 1182000
Linkin Park Minutes To Midnight 1178000
Kanye West Graduation 1153000
Red Hot Chili Peppers Stadium Arcadium 1108000
Lil Wayne Tha Carter III 1049000

 

[doctorwho]

but if you compare it to a band like Kings of Leon who have been out for months and are still selling 20k a week that's not great. Week 3 and 4 sales will be more telling though and then if Magnificent takes off it should be okay

I think you just wrote the "magic words". Kings of Leon had some big hits off their recent album. GOYB, as we all know, was a modest hit - not enough to keep interest going at a high level for long. But if "Magnificent" catches on, then NLOTH will be fine.

Plus, one never knows - there could be that big drop, then a levelling off to about 20K per week, just like the Kings of Leon.

 

[doctorwho]

Kelly Clarkson On Track For Second No. 1 Album

Uh oh.

Clarkson on pace for #1 with only 200,000.

This means at lease a 59% drop for U2 in the US, probably quite a bit more

Yeah, that is disappointing. More than I expected. Maybe Springsteen's Super Bowl appearance is what kept his latest from dropping more than 53%. One wonders how much it would have dropped had he not done that mini-concert.

Then again, let's see what the real numbers are.

 

[Native_Son]

US sales of below 200k is poor, and the UK midweeks are awful to say the least. also i was hoping for 1.4M on mediatraffic. everyone here seems to be banking on magnificent having the 'viva la vida' single effect for NLOTH, but in my opinion i cant see it reaching the popularity of boots, let along hitting US / UK #1.

i dont want to sound to negative but the only place NLOTH sales seem to be heading is down, maybe the tour can eventually help it level off but that would be at a much lower level.

 

[KUEFC09U2]

US sales of below 200k is poor, and the UK midweeks are awful to say the least. also i was hoping for 1.4M on mediatraffic. everyone here seems to be banking on magnificent having the 'viva la vida' single effect for NLOTH, but in my opinion i cant see it reaching the popularity of boots, let along hitting US / UK #1.

i dont want to sound to negative but the only place NLOTH sales seem to be heading is down, maybe the tour can eventually help it level off but that would be at a much lower level.

Wow talk about negative, as you can see, the whole world of CD sales are "down", its not just U2, for them to even be in contention of still being #1 next week is huge imo, i mean Kelly Clarkson as i have said will be very popular amonst the kids. so one would expect her to REALLY outsell U2 this week, but no she isnt, AND she had the "hit" single.

and as Irishteen said, NLOTH has the Third highest weekly sales worldwide since 2006, which IMHO is amazing!, but no your right lets focus on the negative.

 

[cjboog]

US sales of below 200k is poor, and the UK midweeks are awful to say the least. also i was hoping for 1.4M on mediatraffic. everyone here seems to be banking on magnificent having the 'viva la vida' single effect for NLOTH, but in my opinion i cant see it reaching the popularity of boots, let along hitting US / UK #1.

i dont want to sound to negative but the only place NLOTH sales seem to be heading is down, maybe the tour can eventually help it level off but that would be at a much lower level.

I don't think anyone is saying that Magnificent is going to be as big of a hit as Viva La Vida, but I think most people think it could be successful and help the album stay afloat for some time. We're really just going to have to wait and see. The song debuted in the top 80 already in the US and it hasn't been released yet. That's higher than any of the other singles from HTDAAB.

 

[KUEFC09U2]

Magnificent has already entered the hot 100 dont forget, and its not even an official "single" yet.

 

[hey you]

nloth still n.1 in ireland.18 singles down to 10 from 6 and joshua tree up to 68 from 76. also boots down to 20 from 7.on dvd charts u2 are n.2,5,6 and 9 with popmart mex,slane,18 videos and under a blood.....c'mon.

 

[thelaj]

I don't think there is anyway to "defend" the second-week performance - it is poor. This album is massively front-loaded as with a typical summer movie blockbuster.

Look at the Kings of Leon - their performance is phenomenal in the UK. They have hit singles, but it amazes me that they are sustaining sales based on that.