Media Traffic All Time List Updated

[STING2]

The Media Traffic all times sales list which has albums from as early as 2001 on it has been updated. I never thought many months ago that these albums would get past or be threatening to pass HTDAAB, but here they are:


1. X&Y: Yes its true, X&Y is now at #13 on the list with 8.296.000 copies sold worldwide after 35 weeks. This past week it sold 83,000 copies, which indicates its far from being finished selling.

2. The Emancipation Of Mimi: is now at #19 on the list with 7.498.000 sold worldwide after 44 weeks. This past week it sold 78,000 copies. Unless it really starts to slow down soon, it may eventually pass HTDAAB in sales.

3. Breakaway: is now at #23 on the list with 7,082,000 copies sold worldwide after 62 weeks. This past week it sold 109,000 copies and is at #10 on the global chart. While its still 1.1 million copies away from HTDAAB, it is in striking distance especially with such strong sales at this point.

4. Monkey Business: is now at #24 on the list with 6.843.000 copies sold worldwide after 36 weeks. This past week it sold 112,000 copies and is at #9 on the global chart. It needs to sell nearly 1.4 million more copies, but with a sales rate of 100,000 plus per week, its not that far away.

 

[MJDangerous]

The Media Traffic all times sales list which has albums from as early as 2001 on it has been updated. I never thought many months ago that these albums would get past or be threatening to pass HTDAAB, but here they are:


1. X&Y: Yes its true, X&Y is now at #13 on the list with 8.296.000 copies sold worldwide after 35 weeks. This past week it sold 83,000 copies, which indicates its far from being finished selling.

2. The Emancipation Of Mimi: is now at #19 on the list with 7.498.000 sold worldwide after 44 weeks. This past week it sold 78,000 copies. Unless it really starts to slow down soon, it may eventually pass HTDAAB in sales.

3. Breakaway: is now at #23 on the list with 7,082,000 copies sold worldwide after 62 weeks. This past week it sold 109,000 copies and is at #10 on the global chart. While its still 1.1 million copies away from HTDAAB, it is in striking distance especially with such strong sales at this point.

4. Monkey Business: is now at #24 on the list with 6.843.000 copies sold worldwide after 36 weeks. This past week it sold 112,000 copies and is at #9 on the global chart. It needs to sell nearly 1.4 million more copies, but with a sales rate of 100,000 plus per week, its not that far away.

5. Back To Bedlam: now at #35 on the list with 5,799,000 copies sold worldwide after 36 weeks. This past week it sold 259,000 copies and is at #1 on the global chart by far. While its still 2.4 million copies away from HTDAAB, it is only breaking the American market and still #1 in Europe, an easy candidate to 10m+.

 

[edge3]

So, assuming Mediatraffic coverage is 94%, X&Y is now up to 8.793m :

X&Y - 8.296m (overall MT figure) + 497k (6% extra) = 8,793,000

I'd now put Bomb at 9.180m :

Bomb - 8.188m (overall MT figure) + 491k (6% extra) + 501k for 23 weeks off the MT top 40 chart = 9,180,000

Next week i think the inevitable post Grammies hike should put Bomb back up to 50k+ vrs maybe 80-90k for X&Y.

 

[STING2]

I estimate BOMB is at about 8,980,000 in sales to consumers and about 9.2 million in total including shipments.

 

[MJDangerous]

1. X&Y:
2 weeks ago : 8.296.000
Now : 8.499.000

2. The Emancipation Of Mimi:
2 weeks ago : 7.498.000
Now : 7.688.000

BUT this one should dropout next week or even this week.

3. Breakaway:
2 weeks ago : 7.082.000
Now : 7.387.000

4. Monkey Business:
2 weeks ago : 6.843.000
Now : 7.063.000

5. Back To Bedlam:
2 weeks ago : 5.799.000
Now : 6.310.000

X&Y is definitivly ahead of HTDAAB, Breakaway will easily pass it too, as well as Monkey Business & Back To Bedlam should do it.
According Mediatraffic, Mariah Carey's TEOM sold 76k last week with soundscan sales of 55.7k which mean only 20k sold out of USA.
According HDD, the album should drop by 40% to 30-35k tomorrow, in UK it is now #149 (drop of 72 spots in 1 week) so it sold about 50k this week WW. It's the end of this album which should NOT break HTDAAB sales.

 

[cjboog]

X&Y is definitivly ahead of HTDAAB

No it's not. I know that it is according to mediatraffic but that does not account for time spent off the chart. edge3's prediction is the most accrate. Bomb has sold probably about 387,000 more copies than X&Y. Despite the grammy boost I think it will evetually pass Bomb. We should be happy that after 30 years U2 can put out an album that will end up with about 10,000,000 copies sold. How many other artists their age can say that? None.

 

[MJDangerous]

No it's not. I know that it is according to mediatraffic but that does not account for time spent off the chart. edge3's prediction is the most accrate. Bomb has sold probably about 387,000 more copies than X&Y. Despite the grammy boost I think it will evetually pass Bomb. We should be happy that after 30 years U2 can put out an album that will end up with about 10,000,000 copies sold. How many other artists their age can say that? None.

It is. I was speaking about mediatraffic numbers, and in those X&Y is ahead of HTDAAB. I have put myself HTDAAB at 9.230.000 WW and X&Y at 8.750.000 so I know perfectly that the Bomb still ahead in global real sales, but mediatraffic reflect the truth in this case : X&Y will outsold easily the Bomb. Coldplay will release encore 1 or 2 singles in the world, X&Y will sell well during years like Parachutes & AROBTTH and at the moment it is selling again 100k+ by week. At the end of the year, the gap between both will be at least in the range of 2 millions.

 

[cjboog]

How exactly do the mediatraffic numbers reflect the truth in this case when they are not even close to accurate? The bottom line is Bomb is still ahead of X&Y in the only sales numbers that matter: real sales.

 

[MJDangerous]

How exactly do the mediatraffic numbers reflect the truth in this case when they are not even close to accurate? The bottom line is Bomb is still ahead of X&Y in the only sales numbers that matter: real sales.

The only fact that matter : It's now obvious that X&Y will outsold HTDAAB by far, you can't even think the opposite.

Your only sales number that matter is totally useless taking in account that YES the Bomb still 500k ahead, but what is 500k when X&Y sold over 100k per week at the moment and was released 7 months later than the Bomb ?!

 

[STING2]

The only fact that matter : It's now obvious that X&Y will outsold HTDAAB by far, you can't even think the opposite.

Your only sales number that matter is totally useless taking in account that YES the Bomb still 500k ahead, but what is 500k when X&Y sold over 100k per week at the moment and was released 7 months later than the Bomb ?!

X&Y may sell 11 million copies, but that is NOT much more than what HTDAAB will sell. More significant is the difference in what The Vertigo Tour Grossed in 2005, $295 million dollars, compared to X&Y tour which only did $24 million dollars.

 

[anglophile]

X&Y may sell 11 million copies, but that is NOT much more than what HTDAAB will sell. More significant is the difference in what The Vertigo Tour Grossed in 2005, $295 million dollars, compared to X&Y tour which only did $24 million dollars.

This being my first post, let me start by saying I'm a fan of both Coldplay and U2.

The $24 million figure is exclusively North American. U2's total was $139 million. You'll have to trust me, as I'm not allowed to link to the VH1 article.

True comparisons can only be made once the tours are complete, though. The second leg of Coldplay's North American tour ends in April, while summer dates are planned for Australia and Japan. U2 will come out on top by a wide margin, but not nearly as wide as you suggest.

 

[STING2]

This being my first post, let me start by saying I'm a fan of both Coldplay and U2.

The $24 million figure is exclusively North American. U2's total was $139 million. You'll have to trust me, as I'm not allowed to link to the VH1 article.

True comparisons can only be made once the tours are complete, though. The second leg of Coldplay's North American tour ends in April, while summer dates are planned for Australia and Japan. U2 will come out on top by a wide margin, but not nearly as wide as you suggest.

I see that now. The figure of 24.1 million comes from 37 North American shows for 2005, nearly half of them did not completely sellout. In any event, ironically both the Vertigo Tour and the X&Y tour will each consist of 128 concerts based on shows played so far and shows schedualed in the coming months. The Vertigo Tour is set to GROSS around $400 million dollars by the time the tour finishes in Hawaii with nearly every show a sellout within hours of going on sale. The X&Y tour will likely GROSS around $90 million dollars worldwide with many shows failing to sellout. There is a lot of excess demand out there for U2 and the Vertigo tour, but it appears that the X&Y tour has indeed met all the demand that is out there given the number of shows that did not completely sellout.

 

[MJDangerous]

X&Y may sell 11 million copies, but that is NOT much more than what HTDAAB will sell. More significant is the difference in what The Vertigo Tour Grossed in 2005, $295 million dollars, compared to X&Y tour which only did $24 million dollars.

Are we speaking about album sales or Tour $$ ?! I don't say that Coldplay have earned more money than U2 in this year, I don't say that Coldplay is a better band than U2 (lol), I don't say that X&Y is better than HTDAAB (lol again) and I don't even say that Coldplay is a most successful band than U2 BUT the fact still that X&Y is a biggest seller than the Bomb by far.

 

[hiphop]

Media Traffic- how relevant are they? I´m looking at soundscan.

 

[fedeu2]

I understand what you mean but, in any event, I don´t think X&Y will outsell the bomb by a wide margin. When all is said and done, the sales gap will be about 1 million copies.
I mean, sales for X&Y will start to significantly dicrease in a few months. It will NOT be a big catalog seller like say, AROBTTH.

And what other songs from the album do you think would make for great singles? I don´t see many myself.

Are we speaking about album sales or Tour $$ ?! I don't say that Coldplay have earned more money than U2 in this year, I don't say that Coldplay is a better band than U2 (lol), I don't say that X&Y is better than HTDAAB (lol again) and I don't even say that Coldplay is a most successful band than U2 BUT the fact still that X&Y is a biggest seller than the Bomb by far.

 

[STING2]

Are we speaking about album sales or Tour $$ ?! I don't say that Coldplay have earned more money than U2 in this year, I don't say that Coldplay is a better band than U2 (lol), I don't say that X&Y is better than HTDAAB (lol again) and I don't even say that Coldplay is a most successful band than U2 BUT the fact still that X&Y is a biggest seller than the Bomb by far.

Well, currently at this time, it still has not even outsold BOMB although it will soon. An album that sales 11 million copies as opposed to one that has sold 9 million copies, is NOT an album that has outsold the 9 million seller by far. If X&Y goes on to sell 15 million copies around the world, then what you say would be correct, but everyone knows that X&Y is not going to sell 15 million copies.

 

[MJDangerous]

Well, currently at this time, it still has not even outsold BOMB although it will soon. An album that sales 11 million copies as opposed to one that has sold 9 million copies, is NOT an album that has outsold the 9 million seller by far. If X&Y goes on to sell 15 million copies around the world, then what you say would be correct, but everyone knows that X&Y is not going to sell 15 million copies.

Are you really sure about this ? Look at AROBTTH, sales after 1 year and sales now of this album. X&Y sold nearly 8.9 millions by now and still selling 100k by week. They are in the top 20 of many countries and Coldplay are exactly the kind of band of sold an album during 18 months or 2 years, X&Y was released only 9 months ago. U2 are much more popular so they sold during less time their new albums, everybody know them already. My mother has never heard the name "Coldplay" in her life, and I'm in France, not in the middle of Africa... X&Y will take about 3 months to cross the 10m mark and the album will sell well years and years.

 

[STING2]

Are you really sure about this ? Look at AROBTTH, sales after 1 year and sales now of this album. X&Y sold nearly 8.9 millions by now and still selling 100k by week. They are in the top 20 of many countries and Coldplay are exactly the kind of band of sold an album during 18 months or 2 years, X&Y was released only 9 months ago. U2 are much more popular so they sold during less time their new albums, everybody know them already. My mother has never heard the name "Coldplay" in her life, and I'm in France, not in the middle of Africa... X&Y will take about 3 months to cross the 10m mark and the album will sell well years and years.

Coldplay are no longer an unknown band from England. Extrapolating what happened with AROBTTH to estimate what will happen with X&Y or a future Coldplay release is simply inaccurate. While X&Y is selling well right now, it will slow down and I doubt it will still be in the mediatraffic top 40 in 4 or 5 months. X&Y has not generated a single like "Clocks" that generated massive airplay and was used by various companies to sell their product around the world. X&Y is doing well, but it will slow down and I seriously doubt it will sell what American Idiot has done. X&Y is not going to sell as well as AROBTTH has after the 2 year mark past the release date.

 

[MJDangerous]

Coldplay are no longer an unknown band from England. Extrapolating what happened with AROBTTH to estimate what will happen with X&Y or a future Coldplay release is simply inaccurate. While X&Y is selling well right now, it will slow down and I doubt it will still be in the mediatraffic top 40 in 4 or 5 months. X&Y has not generated a single like "Clocks" that generated massive airplay and was used by various companies to sell their product around the world. X&Y is doing well, but it will slow down and I seriously doubt it will sell what American Idiot has done. X&Y is not going to sell as well as AROBTTH has after the 2 year mark past the release date.

Maybe not as well as AROBTTH, but it will still selling well for sure. And why it is not likely to sold how many copies than American Idiot ? I really doubt that after the same time of exploitation American Idiot was higher than X&Y. X&Y is only at his second real single WW, you are speaking like it was at the end of his run...

 

[fedeu2]

Second?
I thought they had released three singles: Speed of sound, Fix you and Talk.

Maybe not as well as AROBTTH, but it will still selling well for sure. And why it is not likely to sold how many copies than American Idiot ? I really doubt that after the same time of exploitation American Idiot was higher than X&Y. X&Y is only at his second real single WW, you are speaking like it was at the end of his run...

 

[STING2]

Maybe not as well as AROBTTH, but it will still selling well for sure. And why it is not likely to sold how many copies than American Idiot ? I really doubt that after the same time of exploitation American Idiot was higher than X&Y. X&Y is only at his second real single WW, you are speaking like it was at the end of his run...

It took a while for Green Day to get strong sales with American Idiot in comparison to X&Y. Green Day was coming off and album four years ago that only sold about 2 million copies worldwide. Coldplay on the other hand are coming off of AROBTTH and have obviously sold a lot early on do to their improved standing at the start of the chart run. X&Y remaining singles will probably not gather that much more sales for the album. Imagine all the predictions one could have made after HTDAAB had only been out for 10 weeks and was just starting its second single. Sure, the potential is always there, but its unlikely that X&Y is going to sale anything more than 33% of what it has done so far. I don't see X&Y doing more than 11 million worldwide before dropping from mediatraffic chart completely.

 

[STING2]

Media Traffic- how relevant are they? I´m looking at soundscan.

Media Traffic is essentially a global soundscan based chart. It uses soundscan(USA) figures and other "point of sale" figures from around the globe. It covers about 95% of the global market. The only problem is that it stops tracking an albums sales once the album drops below its top 40 chart in sales.

 

[andyuk]

agree STING2 i predict HTDAAB to sell 9.5 - 10 million and X&Y to sell 10.5 to 11 as Chris Martin has said about 3 weeks ago thats it from coldplay for a while you won't see us cus you are all feed up with us!

 

[STING2]

agree STING2 i predict HTDAAB to sell 9.5 - 10 million and X&Y to sell 10.5 to 11 as Chris Martin has said about 3 weeks ago thats it from coldplay for a while you won't see us cus you are all feed up with us!

Coldplay should not go away for to long. The younger the artist, the more important it is not to have to long a period of time in between releases. They will need to put out a new album by the start of 2008 at the latest to maintain current momentum.

 

[anglophile]

I would be more bullish on X&Y if it weren't underperforming in the U.S. AROBTTH has shipped over 4 million copies, while X&Y has yet to sell 2.8 million. Even if X&Y stays in the 10-15k/week range throughout 2006, it would only reach at most 3.4 million. It would be impossible for X&Y to reach the 15 million mark globally with those U.S. sales, requiring that 9 out of 10 albums be sold outside the U.S.

 

[doctorwho]

Coldplay should not go away for to long. The younger the artist, the more important it is not to have to long a period of time in between releases. They will need to put out a new album by the start of 2008 at the latest to maintain current momentum.

Coldplay is one band that really needs to "go away and dream it all up again". Even fans of the band recognize that their sound is, well, a bit slow. The last two albums sound VERY similar - all like slow ambient U2 songs from the UF and JT and ATYCLB eras. The difference with U2 - and perhaps one reason they have remained so popular for so long - is that they mix it up well. They can have a "One" or WoWY along with a "Streets", "Desire", "Vertigo" or "Beautiful Day". One minute, you're holding out your cigarette lighter (or, these days, cell phones), the next you're bopping up and down in concert. In contrast, Coldplay doesn't have those really rocking songs. I think Coldplay has that chance to be the next be SUPER HUGE artist, but they need to mix it up a bit - get something rocking to go along with their ambient music. Note that REM has mostly slow ambient songs now and see where their sales have gone...

 

[STING2]

Coldplay is one band that really needs to "go away and dream it all up again". Even fans of the band recognize that their sound is, well, a bit slow. The last two albums sound VERY similar - all like slow ambient U2 songs from the UF and JT and ATYCLB eras. The difference with U2 - and perhaps one reason they have remained so popular for so long - is that they mix it up well. They can have a "One" or WoWY along with a "Streets", "Desire", "Vertigo" or "Beautiful Day". One minute, you're holding out your cigarette lighter (or, these days, cell phones), the next you're bopping up and down in concert. In contrast, Coldplay doesn't have those really rocking songs. I think Coldplay has that chance to be the next be SUPER HUGE artist, but they need to mix it up a bit - get something rocking to go along with their ambient music. Note that REM has mostly slow ambient songs now and see where their sales have gone...

I certainly don't think Coldplay has a problem from an artistic standpoint. Every album they come out with is better than the previous one. X&Y is on course to outsell AROBTTH, at least worldwide. Their playing all arena sized venues and starting to charge higher prices, all signs of a healthy and growing concert drawing capacity.

Momentum(from a business standpoint) is critical to a younger developing artist. Thats why I think its important that they not wait to long to come out with their next album. Once a young artist loses that momentum, they may never get it back.

I do wonder though if there is a perception out there that Coldplay can't "Rock" which could be hampering their ticket sales for concerts. They are doing a lot better in this area than on the last tour, but I had expected instant sellouts for every show on this tour, and that was not the case. Many of these shows did eventually sellout, but demand was lower than I expected.

 

[anglophile]

The difference with U2 - and perhaps one reason they have remained so popular for so long - is that they mix it up well. They can have a "One" or WoWY along with a "Streets", "Desire", "Vertigo" or "Beautiful Day". One minute, you're holding out your cigarette lighter (or, these days, cell phones), the next you're bopping up and down in concert. In contrast, Coldplay doesn't have those really rocking songs.

You obviously haven't been to a Coldplay concert recently. There's no way you can tell me they didn't rock out on "Square One", "Politik", "God Put a Smile upon Your Face" and "Talk". My ears were ringing.

 

[MJDangerous]

It took a while for Green Day to get strong sales with American Idiot in comparison to X&Y. Green Day was coming off and album four years ago that only sold about 2 million copies worldwide. Coldplay on the other hand are coming off of AROBTTH and have obviously sold a lot early on do to their improved standing at the start of the chart run. X&Y remaining singles will probably not gather that much more sales for the album. Imagine all the predictions one could have made after HTDAAB had only been out for 10 weeks and was just starting its second single. Sure, the potential is always there, but its unlikely that X&Y is going to sale anything more than 33% of what it has done so far. I don't see X&Y doing more than 11 million worldwide before dropping from mediatraffic chart completely.

You are illogical. You say that the Bomb sold over 9m and X&Y will sold 11m which is not a big difference, but you give actual sales for the Bomb and you will still counting week after week, and you take as reference figure for Coldplay their sales only during their charted time in the mediatraffic list, it's totally unfair.
You have 2 solutions : You count only charted time, which mean 8m for U2 and at least 11m for Coldplay, or "final" sales (we will say until 2008) and they will be about 10m for the Bomb, and easily over 13m for Coldplay.
Don't forget that they will still releasing singles, their tour is absolutly not ended and many awards show still to come for them, and they are already over 8.5m !

I will be very happy that the Bomb is by far a better success than X&Y, but it's the opposite, numbers speak from themselves.

 

[STING2]

You are illogical. You say that the Bomb sold over 9m and X&Y will sold 11m which is not a big difference, but you give actual sales for the Bomb and you will still counting week after week, and you take as reference figure for Coldplay their sales only during their charted time in the mediatraffic list, it's totally unfair.
You have 2 solutions : You count only charted time, which mean 8m for U2 and at least 11m for Coldplay, or "final" sales (we will say until 2008) and they will be about 10m for the Bomb, and easily over 13m for Coldplay.
Don't forget that they will still releasing singles, their tour is absolutly not ended and many awards show still to come for them, and they are already over 8.5m !

I will be very happy that the Bomb is by far a better success than X&Y, but it's the opposite, numbers speak from themselves.

Its not illogical at all. Being off the mediatraffic chart is only going to add 1 million or so copies. So 9.5 million copies vs. 12 million copies. Or your total of 10 million copies vs. 13 million copies. Its still NOT a big difference.

The total GROSS of the Vertigo tour which may be as much as $400 million dollars vs. the total gross of Coldplay's X&Y tour which will be around $90 million dollars is an example of something that IS a big difference.