1,000,000 Albums in the first week????

[mhowells]

What's all this I'm hearing about 1M albums of HTDAAB expected to sell in its first week???? This is a figure I would have never expected U2 to reach in the US. I was actually thinking to myself what sort of debut this album would have. I thought anything over 350,000 would be fantastic! ATYCLB sold in that range didn't it. Anyway, kudos to U2 if they can triple their best new album opening this far into their career!!!!

Thoughts on the likeliness of 1M albums?

 

[melon]

It is possible. ATYCLB appealed to newer fans, unlike a lot of their 90s work. Thus, these sales are likely a combination of "Vertigo" being played all over the place and how people responded to their last album. If people respond very positively to HTDAAB, their follow up to this album eventually will likely sell even higher.

Melon

 

[UVMan]

I think (and hope) it will happen. U2 has a lot of fans in the US. Just look at all the members on this site. I'm sure if all of us who live in the US on this site bought one it would sell quite a few copies. And for some reason, I know some people that are buying this album that honestly don't care about U2. Something about this is special and like I mentioned, I think it'll hit the million sold counter.

 

[Miggy D]

First week sales of a million or more are extremely rare, especially for rock albums. It's usually only 'pop' albums that sell that much in their opening week. But you're right, "Vertigo' is everywhere. Those Apple commercials may have been the best thing U2 could have done for this album. Radio these days just sucks. It's owned by a few big corporations and there's not a ton of diversity. Maybe I'm a tad biased cause I worked for an independent station for a good year and a half.

 

[ultraviolet353]

This is where we will see if the Apple marketing was good idea or not. My guess is it will sell around 500k in the first week in the U.S. which would be huge. I would attribute an increase like that to the Apple commercial...but we'll see.

 

[U2 addict]

They deserve it

 

[ladywithspinninghead]

Remember last time there was a section that seemed devoted entirely to sales and numbers? Is there one this time around, because I can't seem to find it....

Anyhow, is there a site that tracks the numbers sold thus far or are they only released on a weekly basis - anyone know?

Oops, nevermind my question above - I found the forum, yeah!!!

- Julie

 

[mhowells]

well, based on internet retailers alone, they sold about 200,000 on the first day. Best Buy accounted for a 100,000 of those (see news article on this site)

 

[victor_f]

this?

 

[ADecentMelody]

The 1 million figure is for worldwide sales. I think the US is more like 500k-600k. I have to admit, the appetite for this album is more voracious than for ATYCLB, just from what I'm seeing locally.

I'd love to see them top their expectations.

 

[Popmartijn]

Here's the article in the Peeling Of Those Dollar Bills forum about predictions for U2's first week sales. The prediction of 900,000 albums is for the USA only.

http://forum.interference.com/t104172.html

 

[womanfish]

Remember last time there was a section that seemed devoted entirely to sales and numbers? Is there one this time around, because I can't seem to find it....

Anyhow, is there a site that tracks the numbers sold thus far or are they only released on a weekly basis - anyone know?

Oops, nevermind my question above - I found the forum, yeah!!!

- Julie

Peeling off those dollar bills - where this post should be. There some more indepth discussions there and sales comparisons etc...

come join us (the chartheads )if you'd like.

 

[neutral]

Peeling off those dollar bills - where this post should be.

It's going

 

[The_acrobat]

You know, I wouldn't doubt that it'll sell over 600,000 in the US this week. It'll have to sell a lot to beat Eminem, but I think they just might do it. I mean, I know of so many people buying HTDAAB who have never bought a U2 album in their lives. This marketing campaign was brilliant! The Vertigo commercial planted U2 and the song in the back of people's minds. However, it wasn't overplayed on the radio, so people didn't get too sick of it. The magazine article gave people teases, and all they needed was something to push them over the edge and surrender to U2. Cue the SNL performance. I guarantee that most people who watched that performance thought "I MUST GET THAT ALBUM!" The mini-shows in NYC on Monday created a buzz that caused hysteria in NYC, but the news spread all over the country about it. It was all over the radio in Ohio, where I live.

ATYCLB debuted at 428,000 in the US, due to the success of Beautiful Day, and the promotion they did. It eventually went on to sell 4 million copies in the U.S. alone. 90% of those 4 million liked ATYCLB, and would probably be interested in buying the new album. Coming off Pop into ATYCLB, U2 had to work really hard. That pretty much set them up for this album to have a decent opening. But a decent opening isn't enough for U2. Thus the reason they are working even harder to promote HTDAAB. I think that during the tour, they'll probably stop in a Letterman and Leno's shows for some additional promotion. This album is going to be huge.

 

[Teta040]

There's anew article up in the News section. 900,000 sounds very lilely, though the article predicted 1mil in the US.

Ironically, though, (like I said in that thread), this tasteful and non-sellout approach by U2 (using their song for a commercial touting a product that ties in with what they do for a living--a musical product)just might lead to the next Nirvana or Pearl Jam whoring thier debut single for Nike or Taco Bell or a car company. It might be a supreme irony if U2 were to be seen as leading the charge toward musiczl-corporate synergy.

Then again, it might be the thing that finally scares the crapout of the honchos at Clear Channel..as the iPod ad will likely get most of the credit for the dramtic increase, and NOT (maybe) the leaks whetting the appetities of fans and them loving what they heard. That has to count for an increase 100,00 at least. It MIGHT ve the thing that scares themijto opening up their playlists, if more and more acts take to TV and the Net instead of bothering to debut at MTV or radio.

I hope that the non-movement of U2 at Top 4o radio (as opposed to modern rock radio) will be widely commente don and contrasted with the iPod success. Those additional 3-400,000 fans don'tlisten to the stations U2 are played on.

I wish right now the Industry had the equivalent of exit polling to track what age groups are buyinh the CD. I'd love to know the breakdowna nd how many of them said they were influenced soley by the ad.

I just might call a temporary personal truece with the Corporate world if this leads to the opening up of radio. If it hits 1 mil, I will certainly break my lifelong habit of not drinking, and crack open a Guiness

 

[Flying FuManchu]

The whole commercial thing is a slippery slope though... Moby and Sting did it with relatively big results as well... Makes you wonder what the future holds if U2's plan actually brings a renaissance, especially if they are able to sell a million copies in the first week... This could potentially the biggest selling U2 album ever... yikes.