I never said the first week was a flop. I always thought it was rather impressive. The next 11 weeks combined being less than the first week is not.
This does not look like a flop to me:
YEAR TO DATE SALES IN THE USA "WEEK 21" USA
With only 5 weeks to go before the mid-point of the year at week 26, U2's No Line On The Horizon is at #3 for the year at this point. It will likely still be at #3 by week 26. Notice that so far only 1 album has sold 1 million copies or more this year and only 15 albums have sold 500,000 or more.
Rank - Sales - TITLE - Artist
01 - 1,139,787 - FEARLESS - Taylor Swift
02 - 952,157 - HANNAH MONTANA: THE MOVIE - Soundtrack
03 - 902,320 - NO LINE ON THE HORIZON - U2
04 - 863,222 - TWILIGHT - Soundtrack
05 - 791,833 - DARK HORSE - Nickelback
06 - 752,416 - THE FAME - Lady GaGa
07 - 729,956 - I AM…SASHA FIERCE - Beyonce
08 - 697,773 - UNSTOPPABLE - Rascal Flatts
09 - 609,416 - RELAPSE - Eminem
10 - 581,018 - ALL I EVER WANTED - Kelly Clarkson
11 - 564,994 - INTUITION - Jamie Foxx
12 - 545,081 - THE FRAY - The Fray
13 - 535,925 - WORKING ON A DREAM - Bruce Springsteen
14 - 523,058 - NOW 30 - Various
15 - 509,700 - 808S AND HEARTBREAK - Kanye West
16 - 442,820 - CIRCUS - Britney Spears
17 - 427,773 - A DIFFERENT ME - Keyshia Cole
18 - 418,165 - PAPER TRAIL - T.I.
19 - 405,102 - ONLY BY THE NIGHT - Kings Of Leon
20 - 399,865 - FUNHOUSE - Pink