WEEK 79

[STING2]

Here is where ATYCLB is still charting in the world in WEEK 78/79:

Ireland #28
Canada #50
United States #83
Denmark #96

This week, ATYCLB pops back on to the Danish charts at #96! Perhaps the HOT PRESS AWARDS had an effect there. USA sales for Week 78 were 12,837 copies. Total USA sales to date are 3,826,938.

Total sales worldwide for the week are estimated at being 14,698(12,000 from the USA). Worldwide sales of ATYCLB are now estimated at being 10,830,301.


(Sting2: I corrected your U.S. numbers with the actual totals. You may now want to correct your worldwide estimate as a result.)

[This message has been edited by doctorwho (edited 05-06-2002).]

 

[STING2]

With Dr. Who's info from Melissa, the revised estimates for worldwide sales are, 15,535(12,837 in USA) for week 79, and 10,831,138 for total copies sold worldwide of ATYCLB. Great to see that the sales drop in the USA is a little less than the previous estimate for the USA.

 

[Blueberry Muffin]

Thanks

 

[Popmartijn]

Hello,

Last I had sad news to report as ATYCLB fell off the charts after 76 chart weeks. This week the album has not returned, unfortunately, but there is U2 news to report.

The Best Of 1980-1990 does not want to go away. In its 120th week on the charts the album has returned! The Best Of... is now starting for its 11th chart run by landing at #93. OK, this is low, but it is a start. Let's hope next week will bring even better news...

C ya!

Marty

P.S. (Numbers courtesy of Mega Top 100, http://web.planet.nl/music/charts/megatop100/ )

------------------
People criticize me but I know it's not the end
I try to kick the truth, not just to make friends

Spearhead - People In Tha Middle

 

[Florence76]

Sting,Dr Who
ATYCLB has just been certified 4x platinum in Europe!! If you want to see it go to www.ifpi.org!
Bye!!!

 

[doctorwho]

What's impressive is that not only has ATYCLB been certified as 4x Platinum, but the "Best Of" has been certified as 6x Platinum! I only saw a 2x Platinum certification for poor "Pop."

 

[doctorwho]

There's some "sad" news on the U.S. Billboard charts this week. Despite winning 4 Grammy's just 8 weeks ago and charting at #10 on the U.S. charts, ATYCLB drops out of the U.S. Top 100 this week.

ATYCLB plummetted from #65 to #83 last week and it drops to #103 this week, a decline of 20 spots. It has dropped 48 places in the last 3 weeks. Last week I asked if the album would even survived in the Top 100 until its 80th week, and I guess I got my answer.

Melissa sent me the SoundScan data for this past week and the good news is that despite the huge drop on the charts, the sales decline wasn't really that dramatic.

Five weeks ago, ATYCLB sold 29,292 copies. Four weeks ago, although the album remained virtually at the same position on the charts, it sold 22,108 copies. Three weeks back, according to SoundScan, ATYCLB sold 17,606 copies. Two weeks ago, ATYCLB sold 14,259 copies. Last week, ATCYLB sold 12,837 copies. This week, ranking at #103, ATYCLB sold 11,202 copies - a drop of 1,600 copies. In five weeks, the album has dropped by about 18,000 copies in weekly sales. Considering the age of the album and the fact that there is no single or promotion for it at present, this really is pretty good.

As noted, this is not a big drop in sales, despite the large drop in chart position. However, this week marks the fifth week the album has charted out of the U.S. Top 100 since its release. It is also the lowest weekly sales for ATYCLB ever.

United States

The first 79 weeks for ATYCLB on the U.S. Billboard charts are:

3-5-12-22-23-24-20(1xP)-18-22-16
19-19(2xP)-25-33-37-35-11(3xGrammy)-15-25-31
38-40-42-45-45-48-50-48-50-58
60-53-50-66-74-82-81-89-88-99
105-106-108-104-78-66-53-50-57-55
54-58(3xP)-62-67-80-77-78-76-69-71
74-58-39-56-61-66-25(SBowl)-26-28-10(4xGrammy)
17-25-37-47-48-55-65-83-103

"POP" was out of the Top 100 after 19 weeks and "Zooropa" was out of the Top 100 after 31 weeks. ATYCLB fell out of the Top 100 after 40 weeks, however, it had returned for an additional 34 weeks. Now, in its 79th week on the U.S. charts, the album slips from the Top 100 once again. ATYCLB has spent 74 out of 79 total weeks in the U.S. Top 100; 30 weeks in the U.S. Top 40; and 3 weeks in the U.S. Top 10.

With U2 doing absolutely no promotion for this album (no Super Bowls, no "7", no Grammy's, no new singles), I believe the album will slowly slide out of the Top 200. Sales declines will be even less now, with ATYCLB selling between 7-10,000 copies the next few months, which will not be high enough to chart in the Top 100, but enough to rank in the Top 150. Unless the label changes their minds and push one last single, I believe we have seen the end of ATYCLB in the U.S. Top 100. Still, it survived nearly a year and a half there, surpassing numerous other albums (in terms of chart longevity) in the process. Plus, if the album sells 7-10,000 copies throughout the summer, that would be close to another 100,000 copies sold - which should be enough for that 4x Platinum certification.

Approximate weekly sales for the first 79 weeks of ATYCLB are (rounded to nearest thousand):

428,000 + 176,000 + 119,000 + 125,000 + 100,000 + 113,000 + 154,000 + 259,000 + 108,000 + 66,000 + 59,000 + 57,000+ 47,000 + 44,000 + 41,000 + 49,000 + 85,000 + 74,000 + 54,000 + 48,000 + 43,000 + 39,000 + 37,000 + 39,000 + 30,000 + 29,000 + 26,000 + 29,000 + 25,000 + 24,000 + 27,000 + 30,000 + 31,000 + 24,000 + 22,000 + 18,000 + 19,000 + 17,000 + 17,000 + 15,000 + 14,000 + 14,000 + 13,000 + 13,000 + 16,000 + 19,000 + 21,000 + 23,000 + 22,000 + 22,000 + 24,000 + 25,000 + 24,000 + 23,000 + 21,000 + 28,000 + 28,000 + 30,000 + 46,000 + 72,000 + 42,000 + 28,000 + 26,000 + 19,000 + 20,000 + 19,000 + 46,000 + 53,000 + 36,000 + 81,000 + 56,000 + 40,000 + 32,000 + 29,000 + 22,000 + 18,000 + 14,000 + 13,000 + 11,000

Exact U.S. SoundScan sales are: 3,838,140 copies (note that the sum of the weekly estimates is off from the exact total due to rounding). The album is now less than 162,000 copies from the 4x Platinum mark in the U.S.

Other ATYCLB chart data:

Highest Rankings for "Beautiful Day": #21 on the Hot 100 chart, #1 on the Dance Charts, #5 on the Modern Rock chart, #4 on the Adult Top 40 chart.

Highest Rankings for "Suck in a Moment...": #52 on the Hot 100 chart, #9 on the Adult Top 40 chart.

Highest Rankings for "Elevation": #9 on the Modern Rock chart. I *believe* #17 on the Dance charts.

Highest Rankings for "Walk On": #10 on the Modern Rock chart.



[This message has been edited by doctorwho (edited 05-08-2002).]

 

[doctorwho]

More U.S. U2 chart news...

The "Elevation" video, in VHS format, rises from #15 to #13. Despite the rise on the charts, sales dropped a bit. The video sold 1,432 copies last week, but 1,380 copies this week.

A similar trend is seen for the "Elevation" video in DVD format. It rises from #11 to #8 on the charts, but sales dropped there as well. Last week, the DVD sold 1,309 copies, but 1,249 copies were sold this week (of course, this is only a difference of 60 copies).

Three weeks ago, "The Best Of" charted at #39 on the U.S. Pop Catalog charts. Last week, the album was #51 on those charts with sales of 4,200 copies. This week, the album drops to #77 on the Pop Catalog charts, with sales of 3,886 copies. Most likely, this album will bounce around considerably between 2,500-3,500 copies while ATYCLB remains in the Top 200. Then, once U2 release new material, this "Best Of" should see a spike.

There are no other U2 releases on the charts. Even "The Joshua Tree" didn't make the Top 200 on the Pop Catalog charts, meaning it sold under 2,220 copies this week.

Indeed, a slow week for U2 - but, from the sound of things, that will change in a few months.

[This message has been edited by doctorwho (edited 05-08-2002).]

 

[STING2]

Dr. Who,
I heard a rumor on interference that the Elevation video from Boston would be shown on ABC in a prime time spot. Have you heard anything about this? If this is so, it would definitely give a nice sales spike for the album. I think the rumor said it would be on in June.

 

[doctorwho]

Originally posted by STING2:
Dr. Who,
I heard a rumor on interference that the Elevation video from Boston would be shown on ABC in a prime time spot. Have you heard anything about this? If this is so, it would definitely give a nice sales spike for the album. I think the rumor said it would be on in June.

I've heard some rumors, but even if they are true, it is very questionable if there will be any effect on album sales for the following four reasons:

1. While having "Elevation" on TV is great, it might not do a thing for the album. Essentially, this show is promoting the video, not the CD. Therefore, I could envision a sales boost for the "Elevation" video (DVD and VHS), but not the album. Even if there was a slight sales boost for the album, I think it would be very minor and short-lived.
   
2. VH-1 has already shown this video on TV. Plus, the video has been readily available since last November. Therefore, will having it played on a major network really generate that much interest to cause an album sales boost?
   
3. ABC is doing terribly these days, often ranking last among the 4 major networks. So even if ABC does play the video, will people watch? Also, given that it will be June, will people want to stay in during this fun summer month and watch this special?
   
4. ABC also handled the "POPMart" tour promotion and we all know how well that went. At the time, it was the lowest ranked prime-time show EVER! That's really rather insulting. Many blamed ABC for this - stating they put this special on a Saturday night, when the target audience (young adults) would most likely be out. I can easily envision ABC doing something like this again, meaning another low-rated show.
   [/list=a]
   
   In other words, even if the rumors are true, I don't think the viewership will be high. And if anything, I can see a spike in the video sales, but not in the album sales. If there is a boost in album sales, I wold estimate that only another 1-2,000 copies will be sold that week. That might give it a bump up the charts for one week, but then it'll just drop right back down. In other words, not a truly significant spike (unlike that seen by a single or much larger promotion).
   
   If U2 or their label really want to see ATYCLB linger on the charts a little longer, they need to promote another single. They haven't, so I'm guessing the promotion here is over. I find this odd though. AB and "Pop" had 5 singles released - some of which were rather weak single choices. Yet ATYCLB, which is loaded with single-friendly tunes, only has 4 songs promoted. It could easily have one or two more singles.
   
   All of the above said, since ATYCLB has been very sensitive to even the slightest of U2 appearances, like at the NBA finals, there is a chance the album could get a larger boost than I anticipate. And, in this case, I would love to be proven wrong and see sales jump by 10,000 or more copies the week after the video appears on ABC. However, based on what happened with "Pop", the current state of ABC, the timing of the special and the age of the album, I just don't see a real big boost coming.

 

[STING2]

Thanks for the update Florence76! I decided after learning this from you to post in the ETYKIW Forum even though its the wrong forum just to break the news to everyone! Thanks again!

 

[Bono?sEuropeanLover]

OMG, how can someone hold all that info???!!!

 

[doctorwho]

Originally posted by Bono?sEuropeanLover:
OMG, how can someone hold all that info???!!!

What? Do you think I/we memorize this stuff? We just copy and paste the previous week's information, adding only the new information. Over time, we have a nice little record of the sales and chart positions for each week.

 

[womanfish]

ATYCLB is out of the Billboard Top 100. Don't know at what position.

 

[STING2]

Womenfish,
look at Dr. Who's post, he got the info from Mellissa. ATYCLB is now at #103 with around 11,000 copies in sales.

Dr. Who, when I think of what showing the video can do, I think of the NBA finals. Look at what showing only one song from the album did! Showing anything on a major network is superior to any coverage on MTV, VH1, or MTV2. Even today, not everyone has cable TV. I have friend that gets 5 TV channels, one of them of course is ABC. ABC may be losing to FOX, CBS, and NBC, but its still a major network and coverage on there blows any other channel away that is not a major network. The POP special still had an estimated audiance of 4.5 million people. With no single in the Pipeline, I think this is the best shot for the album to get back up the charts briefly.

 

[Hawkfire]

While of course I'm disappointed to see U2 fall out of the Top 100, I am actually glad they are not trying to promote a 5th single or do further promotion for ATYCLB. While such promotion/single would inevitable have created a short-term bump on the charts and boost sales, the market has been saturated for ATYCLB for some time now...the 4 singles were all promoted heavily, the band did numerous TV/awards shows, and the Time Mag/Super Bowl/Grammies in February was the equivalent of a marketing Grand Slam. Further promotion in the wake of that would have spawned a backlash ala Rattle n Hum (and the marketing itself would have looked weak...how do you top those three events?). U2 was in the faces of the US for 1.5 years almost ad naussium...its time to let the market digest. It's too bad it didn't hit the 4x Platinum mark yet, but it will soon enough and that's a remarkable success.

I for one am glad the band pulled back from further touring to record new material...this should wet the appetite of people a bit more. Simple economics - SCARCITY is a GOOD thing -> underplay markets, and have supply (product, shows) fall short of demand.

 

[STING2]

I actually don't find U2s presence to be that over the top the past 2 years. The reason is that research shows that most sales still come from strong sustained radio airplay. The video channels have changed their program to a degree, that music video's are not seen nearly as often, and there for their effect on sales is less. The TV appearences are great and provide wonderful sales SPIKES, but are in general not what keeps an album going week after week at a certain level.

What has been missing from U2s promotion arsonal the past 1.5 years is a successful single on the level of the Joshua Tree singles(With Or With Out You #1, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For #1, Streets... #13, Gods Country #44.

Compare that with Beautiful Day #21, Walk On failed to chart, Elevation failed to chart, and Stuck.... #52. Radio played ATYCLB about as much as it played POP. The Effect of TV appearences is easily measured and a fraction of total sales. The key to success this time around was the old fan base. Many had not bought a U2 album since Achtung or Zooropa. They had been U2 fans in the past though and liked what they heard this time around. Unfortunately I don't think there were many brand new U2 fans brought in by ATYCLB. But because of the size of the old fan base, it did not matter. Still, imagine what U2 could have sold if all four singles had cracked the top 10 in airplay.

There was a critical backlash to Rattle and Hum, but certainly not a fan backlash. Rattle and Hum sold very well, and the movie brought in several fans under the age of 16, who would not be able to usually go to a concert but definitely to the movies. Perhaps not a good move for the critics, but definitely a good one from a business perspective.

Back in years like 1987 and 1992, you could hear U2 song on the radio just by turning it on. You could watch MTV for a few minutes and see U2s latest video. The exposure on those formats this past year and a half was not nearly as great as it was back in 1987 and 1992. What I feel creates over exposure is not live TV appearences ever 4 weeks, but having your song played on multiple radio stations every hour on the hour and on MTV and VH1 as well. I think a 5th single was not released because they thought the effect would be minimal on sales. Especially if the single is unable to secure radio airplay. On POP, the singles Please and IGWSHA had almost no effect on sales of the album.

The question now is the next studio album and supposedly greatest hits album with new material. It appears that a greatest hits album with new material, plus a soundtrack with new material will be released towards the end of this year. From a business perspective though, I thought a brand new album would be best released in November. Its a great time to sell new product while so many old fans have come back into the fold and the general public is starting to take notice. After NOV 2002, things will start to cool unless the new songs from GH #2 do really well. So the question is how much will things cool off by NOV 2003, which is when it looks now, the next studio album will be released?

 

[u2opia]

I agree with you Hawkfire - it was time to move on and look ahead to the future - I do not think a 5th single would have made much of a difference to its chart position in the USA. I don't think another TV appearance will have much impact as well - agree with Dr Who's reading of this as the album is done. I do not know that much about the radio situation in the USA - Sting is better qualified, but they certainly did support the album strongly in the US with two big arena tours (hey - here in OZ we missed out big time just like we did on the Joshua Tree tour). I know they have promoted on TV before, but their TV appearances from an outsider perspective were so much better co-ordinated this time - Letterman, Jay Leno, Superbowl, NBA finals and two Grammy appearances making maximum impact. Dr Who's stats showed what an impact these had on sales (maybe added another 500K ???)

The other thing that helped propel the album was the whole September 11 thing and the extra radio airplay that got as well - maybe gave the album another 6 months selling life as well and helped continue bring some of the old fans back as well. I also think ATYCLB found some new fans as well, but how many hard to quantify (these new fans may be young or old alike).

As for the future, it looks like GH2 is next cab off the rank. I have a feeling this may not do quite as well as GH1 as U2 had more material in the 80's. However, it looks like they will include ATYCLB material as well as some new material - if they find that illusive hit maybe it will propel the album to new heights and into 2003. Either way, lets hope the album spends more time in the top 10 than ATYCLB and we get to those platinum marks quicker.