Video news: Elevation beaten by Britney! (sort of...)

[Popmartijn]

Hello,

I saw this on http://www.atu2.com:

Billboard magazine reports the new U2 video, Elevation 2001: Live From Boston sold more than 23,000 units in the Best Buy chain during its first week of release. The new Britney Spears video, available at all stores countrywide, had first week sales of 15,000. That's good enough for the No. 1 spot on the Billboard video sales chart. Albums and music videos cannot appear on Billboard charts unless they are generally available to all music retailers. Thus, U2's Elevation video is not eligible to appear on the chart during the two-week window that it is exclusive to Best Buy.

This is another unfortunate effect of the Best Buy deal. These strong sales are not eligible for the charts. Some retailers also boycot the DVD because of that deal (I've heard Tower Records doesn't stock the DVD, although you can order it from their website). Hopefully the results will not be too disastrous for U2.

On another note: the report mentions that 23,000 copies were sold. Based on the reports almost everywhere that the DVD was an almost instant sell-out I think Best Buy had shipped about 25,000 copies of the DVD. Apparently it was far from enough. But how realistic was the estimate from Best Buy?
I mean, the #1 charted video (Britney Spears) sold 15,000 copies from all stores countrywide. I don't know, but what do you think.

BTW, I think the DVD is a big seller all over the world. Many online sites have it on special (back)order, meaning that they also sold out their stock and even have troubles getting copies from the distributor.

C ya!

Marty

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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

 

[doctorwho]

If I recall, 50,000 copies is Gold in the U.S. for videos. Therefore look for this video to go Gold if not Platinum in the U.S. I think that statistic will be more impressive than U2 having the #1 slot on the chart. Even though Britney may have "won," clearly retailers will realize who the far bigger seller is here. Best Buy can't be upset with those types of numbers!

 

[Lilly]

I like Best Buy and I like U2. That's all that matters to me.

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Taste is the enemy of art.