U2's First Week SoundScan Era Results

[doctorwho]

With all of this talk about first week sales, I thought I'd post a reminder of U2's recent first week sales in the SoundScan era (U.S. charts only).

U2's SoundScan era debut weeks:

• "Achtung Baby" sold 295,000 copies for a #1 debut on Billboard.
• "Zooropa" sold 377,000 copies for a #1 debut on Billboard.
• "Original Soundtracks 1" sold an estimated 16,000 copies for a #76 debut on Billboard.
• "Pop" sold 347,000 copies for a #1 debut on Billboard.
• The 80's "Best Of + B-Sides" sold 237,000 copies for a #2 debut on Billboard.
• "All That You Can't Leave Behind" sold 428,000 copies for a #3 debut on Billboard.
• The 90's "Best Of + B-sides" sold 185,000 copies for a #3 debut on Billboard.

All sales rounded to the nearest thousand.

 

[Axver]

How active was Soundscan for each of the albums? I think I recall reading it was only tracking about 40-45% of sales when Zooropa was released.

 

[doctorwho]

It's really a tricky question.

Prior to SoundScan, Billboard collected sales data from various shops and stores. This data was then extrapolated for overall sales for the country and the charts were created.

Of course, relying on store owners/managers to report numbers can lead to some discrepancy - and there was corruption. If a store owner favored one album over another, he might report that album as selling better, even if it didn't. Sometimes labels would bribe store owners to report an album selling higher than it did. This would give the illusion of an album being a "hit" to promote additional sales (as people don't want to buy "flops"). Also labels used to like to see albums climb the charts, peak, linger at the top and then slowly fade. So again, some corruption occurred there to achieve this pattern.

When SoundScan's technology was first implemented, people were stunned to discover country albums being the top selling albums. At first this data was dismissed - but each week, the same results showed up. Now, it's a given that top country artists will indeed top the Billboard charts.

In the early years of SoundScan, data from certain stores was tabulated and extrapolated for the entire country. As a result, there was some estimating going on and it led to perhaps slightly less accurate results. For example, per SoundScan, AB has only sold a little over 5M copies in the U.S. Yet, the album has been certified as 8x Platinum by the RIAA. I can guarantee you that stores across the country do NOT have an extra 3M copies of this album taking up valuable space on their shelves. This means that most likely there is a pretty big discrepancy here.

However, discrepancy or not, HTDAAB will be compared to all the other albums released in the SoundScan era. And by 1997's "Pop", that technology was pretty much in place. So U2 should easily beat the results from ATYCLB. Ironically enough, even though ATYCLB gave them their highest SoundScan era total to date, it was the lowest debut (barring the OS1 and the "Best Ofs").

 

[WHYWHY]

Doc, I thought POP was the biggest debut week for U2 in the US before ATYCLB, and hence Zooropa wouldn't be larger than 349,000, which POP sold in it's first week.

WHYWHY.

 

[STING2]

For Achtung Baby, the posted 295,000 copies was recorded by soundscan in November 1991 at a time when only 40% of the countries retail outlets had soundscan. So the real figure for Achtung would be closer to 740,000, but it appears that "Bomb" will top that figure.

Zooropa sold in the 300,000 range somewhere, but I can't remember specifically where. The 377,000 figure may be right. By July 1993, Soundscan was at 75% of retail stores. That would put Zooropa's actual figure at closer to 500,000 if the 377,000 figure is correct.

By the time of POP(1997), Soundscan was at 90% or more of retail outlets. The Soundscan figure for POP is 349,002!

 

[BigMacPhisto]

Soundscan wasn't around for Rattle and Hum......but I have a feeling that one also topped the 500,000 mark in its first week. I mean, the followup to Joshua Tree...

 

[doctorwho]

I'm sure JT and R&H sold quite well their first week.

JT debuted at #7 on Billboard charts, which, if you reflect upon this, is rather low. At the time, a #7 debut was incredible! Albums debuted lower (in the Top 40, but not in the Top 10) and worked their way up.

However, if one considers the fact that "With or Without You" was the #1 song in the country and that U2 was truly a huge rising star, a #7 debut was low. In fact, in the SoundScan era, a #7 debut might have been seen as a huge disappointment.

Had SoundScan existed then, JT would have debuted at #1 and possibly with some huge sales. Likewise for R&H. R&H debuted at #5, again low considering that monstrous success of JT. In the SoundScan era, R&H would have easily debuted at #1 and possibly with 750,000+ copies sold. After all, it produced "Desire" - which was a Gold single peaking at #3 on the U.S. charts - and it followed JT.

It's easier to understand AB selling a smaller amount. "The Fly" wasn't a huge hit in the U.S. and the dramatic change in appearance and sound probably put off some fans - at least initially. Furthermore, R&H, while selling well, also put off critics and fans. Still, given that AB was following JT and R&H, it's hard to imagine that it didn't even sell 300,000 copies its first week - especially given the time of year it was released.

Unfortunately, we can't really estimate sales further. And the press will always compare all the SoundScan era data.

Sting2 says that SoundScan reported only 40% in 1991. That part is true - HOWEVER, it was my understanding that the results were then extrapolated for the country. That is, that 295,000 copies AB sold the first week doesn't represent just 40% of the total sales, but rather is an estimate based on the SoundScan data that was accumulated. It's this estimate that could be very wrong.

Fortunately, we don't have to worry about that now.

 

[STING2]

I'm sure JT and R&H sold quite well their first week.

JT debuted at #7 on Billboard charts, which, if you reflect upon this, is rather low. At the time, a #7 debut was incredible! Albums debuted lower (in the Top 40, but not in the Top 10) and worked their way up.

However, if one considers the fact that "With or Without You" was the #1 song in the country and that U2 was truly a huge rising star, a #7 debut was low. In fact, in the SoundScan era, a #7 debut might have been seen as a huge disappointment.

Had SoundScan existed then, JT would have debuted at #1 and possibly with some huge sales. Likewise for R&H. R&H debuted at #5, again low considering that monstrous success of JT. In the SoundScan era, R&H would have easily debuted at #1 and possibly with 750,000+ copies sold. After all, it produced "Desire" - which was a Gold single peaking at #3 on the U.S. charts - and it followed JT.

It's easier to understand AB selling a smaller amount. "The Fly" wasn't a huge hit in the U.S. and the dramatic change in appearance and sound probably put off some fans - at least initially. Furthermore, R&H, while selling well, also put off critics and fans. Still, given that AB was following JT and R&H, it's hard to imagine that it didn't even sell 300,000 copies its first week - especially given the time of year it was released.

Unfortunately, we can't really estimate sales further. And the press will always compare all the SoundScan era data.

Sting2 says that SoundScan reported only 40% in 1991. That part is true - HOWEVER, it was my understanding that the results were then extrapolated for the country. That is, that 295,000 copies AB sold the first week doesn't represent just 40% of the total sales, but rather is an estimate based on the SoundScan data that was accumulated. It's this estimate that could be very wrong.

Fortunately, we don't have to worry about that now.

I read Billboard every week back then and I never heard of results being extrapolated, although its a small possibility. But if that were so, the question would be when did they stop extrapolating sales and just go with the actual figure reported by soundscan?

By the way, looking at RIAA, Achtung Baby is U2's second fastest selling album after Rattle And Hum. So once again, I'd say its unlikely that album sales for Achtung Baby's opening week were only 295,000. I'd put it at about 740,000 copies by extrapolating the results the other way. U2 was still massively popular upon the release of Achtung Baby.

I have heard that it is estimated that Rattle And Hum did 1 million in sales its first week in the USA, but its impossible to verify. It is based on RIAA shipment figures, U2's fastest selling album in the USA.