jick
Refugee
PREFACE: This post deals mainly with the American charts and sales figures. U2 have always stressed how important they consider the American market and how desperate they are to capture it.
HTDAAB debuted strong, thanks to the biggest marketing push U2 had ever embarked on - their catchiest first single ever (Vertigo), iPod ads everyday, the Edge-France-Lost-CD-Saga, SNL appearances, Free NYC Show, Playing on a Flatbet Truck in NY, 3 different versions of the album, CSI's background music, $9.99 album price in Best Buy, excellent album reviews, and other promotional gimmicks.
A vast majority of the buyers of the first two weeks had bought the album unheard and only because of the marketing, promotion and because it is U2. U2 have sold around 2.5 million copies of their album to date, but around 1.25 million were sold on the first two weeks! So 50% of their album sales were made during the first two weeks by buyers who had never heard it. 1.25 million in the first two weeks, and 1.25 million in the last 13 weeks.
After the first two weeks, the Christmas push came to shove. Sales still stayed up. We all know how Christmas sales work: many people buy the album as gifts to their friends who they think will like U2. So a number of the Christmas sales were also by people who had never heard the album.
So it is really the post-Christmas sales that show whether or not the album has legs. And based on the turn of events and poor sales, it looks like the album should be crippled by now. The post Christmas sales have been horrible, perhaps the worst of U2's career.
U2 have already pushed the panic button. Despite releasing All Because Of You as their American single, they saw it was headed nowhere. So they did not promote it or play it live in any TV show. Knowing that the Grammies was the biggest TV music audience, U2 went to panic mode by: (1) not playing the song they were nominated for because it was already going out of the charts; and, (2) not playing their current single All Because Of You because it was getting clear it would go nowhere in the charts. Playing Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own was a clear move of desperation to save the album. Even Bono's performance in the Grammy's looked a little bit tense and desperate. For good measure, U2 threw in The Mullen Apology and won 3 of 3 in the Grammies. But was there any album push? Only a temporary climb to #20 in the charts, while the other Grammy artists climbed to top 10.
The week after the Grammies, U2 went back to where they were or even worse - at #41 on the charts. Now, on week 15, HTDAAB is not even on the top 50 anymore in the American album charts. They even had to push for the earlier release of Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own in America but it looks like it is a futile effort to save the album from plummeting more and more to chart nothingness.
So what's next now for U2? Will releasing a 4th single immediately save the album? I doubt it. At the rate the album is selling (or not selling, however you'd want to put it) in America, U2 will be playing to a lot of half-empty arenas come the third leg. If Americans don't want to spend $12 on the U2 cd, why would they even bother spending $80 for a concert?
To my mind, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction or tour opening won't have as much effect as the Grammies. And if all the Grammies could do was a temporary climb to #20, then those other two events won't help U2 much. While I love HTDAAB very much, the other music-buying audience has spoken. They don't like the musical quality of HTDAAB. Take away the sales of the first two weeks (since people haven't heard it yet) and half the sales of the Christmas push (since buyers got it to give as gifts without listening to it), then you have give-or-take around 1 million in sales. That is less than POP. Even POP was #49 on its 15th week in the American charts. HTDAAB is nowhere in the top 50.
I don't think a quickie fourth single can save U2. I think U2 should consider the option of abandoning all promotions for HTDAAB and record a new album instead. U2 did it during Zooropa, planing it to the studios after every gig. When Bono's dad was sick, Bono would plane in to Dublin after every gig. So it is a possible option for U2 to plane in to a US studio after every gig to work on a follow-up to HTDAAB. And they should release it before the third leg. Songs like Mercy and North Star should be considered.
Cheers,
J
HTDAAB debuted strong, thanks to the biggest marketing push U2 had ever embarked on - their catchiest first single ever (Vertigo), iPod ads everyday, the Edge-France-Lost-CD-Saga, SNL appearances, Free NYC Show, Playing on a Flatbet Truck in NY, 3 different versions of the album, CSI's background music, $9.99 album price in Best Buy, excellent album reviews, and other promotional gimmicks.
A vast majority of the buyers of the first two weeks had bought the album unheard and only because of the marketing, promotion and because it is U2. U2 have sold around 2.5 million copies of their album to date, but around 1.25 million were sold on the first two weeks! So 50% of their album sales were made during the first two weeks by buyers who had never heard it. 1.25 million in the first two weeks, and 1.25 million in the last 13 weeks.
After the first two weeks, the Christmas push came to shove. Sales still stayed up. We all know how Christmas sales work: many people buy the album as gifts to their friends who they think will like U2. So a number of the Christmas sales were also by people who had never heard the album.
So it is really the post-Christmas sales that show whether or not the album has legs. And based on the turn of events and poor sales, it looks like the album should be crippled by now. The post Christmas sales have been horrible, perhaps the worst of U2's career.
U2 have already pushed the panic button. Despite releasing All Because Of You as their American single, they saw it was headed nowhere. So they did not promote it or play it live in any TV show. Knowing that the Grammies was the biggest TV music audience, U2 went to panic mode by: (1) not playing the song they were nominated for because it was already going out of the charts; and, (2) not playing their current single All Because Of You because it was getting clear it would go nowhere in the charts. Playing Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own was a clear move of desperation to save the album. Even Bono's performance in the Grammy's looked a little bit tense and desperate. For good measure, U2 threw in The Mullen Apology and won 3 of 3 in the Grammies. But was there any album push? Only a temporary climb to #20 in the charts, while the other Grammy artists climbed to top 10.
The week after the Grammies, U2 went back to where they were or even worse - at #41 on the charts. Now, on week 15, HTDAAB is not even on the top 50 anymore in the American album charts. They even had to push for the earlier release of Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own in America but it looks like it is a futile effort to save the album from plummeting more and more to chart nothingness.
So what's next now for U2? Will releasing a 4th single immediately save the album? I doubt it. At the rate the album is selling (or not selling, however you'd want to put it) in America, U2 will be playing to a lot of half-empty arenas come the third leg. If Americans don't want to spend $12 on the U2 cd, why would they even bother spending $80 for a concert?
To my mind, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction or tour opening won't have as much effect as the Grammies. And if all the Grammies could do was a temporary climb to #20, then those other two events won't help U2 much. While I love HTDAAB very much, the other music-buying audience has spoken. They don't like the musical quality of HTDAAB. Take away the sales of the first two weeks (since people haven't heard it yet) and half the sales of the Christmas push (since buyers got it to give as gifts without listening to it), then you have give-or-take around 1 million in sales. That is less than POP. Even POP was #49 on its 15th week in the American charts. HTDAAB is nowhere in the top 50.
I don't think a quickie fourth single can save U2. I think U2 should consider the option of abandoning all promotions for HTDAAB and record a new album instead. U2 did it during Zooropa, planing it to the studios after every gig. When Bono's dad was sick, Bono would plane in to Dublin after every gig. So it is a possible option for U2 to plane in to a US studio after every gig to work on a follow-up to HTDAAB. And they should release it before the third leg. Songs like Mercy and North Star should be considered.
Cheers,
J