Week 36

[phommel]

Netherlands:

61 (20) 2 The Unforgettable Fire
71 (75) 36 No Line On The Horizon

For every 100 'This Is It' albums (present number 1), 3 Unforgettable Fire and 2 No Line On the horizon copies were sold.

 

[Native_Son]

Apologies for posting this in this thread. out of interest does anyone know how many copies new bon jovi album sold in UK /US this week? thanks

 

[Maoilbheannacht]

Apologies for posting this in this thread. out of interest does anyone know how many copies new bon jovi album sold in UK /US this week? thanks

Well, the album was only released two days ago in the United States, so you will have to wait until next week to get sales info on this week.

 

[Maoilbheannacht]

Best Selling Albums in 2009 WORLDWIDE as of WEEK 46

1. Lady Gaga The Fame 3,958,000
2. U2 No Line On The Horizon 3,295,000
3. Kings Of Leon Only By The Night 3,151,000
4. Michael Jackson Thriller 3,144,000
5. The Black Eyed Peas The E.N.D. 3,032,000
6. Taylor Swift Fearless 2,961,000
7. Michael Jackson Number Ones 2,877,000
8. Eminem Relapse 2,638,000
9. Beyoncé I Am... Sasha Fierce 2,517,000
10. soundtrack Hannah Montana: The Movie 2,470,000
11. Michael Jackson The Essential 2,295,000
12. Green Day 21st Century Breakdown 2,223,000
13. Pink Funhouse 2,015,000
14. soundtrack Twilight 1,980,000
15. Nickleback Dark Horse 1,770,000

 

[rollingbob]

Bon Jovi did 75k UK @ #2

 

[rollingbob]

Belgium (Fl) : 69 (53)
Belgium (Wal) : 77 (57)
France : 71 (75)
Spain : 80 (72)
Italy : 83 (75)
Germany : 106 (re-enters Top 115 probably due to Berlin Wall gig)
Denmark : out of Top 40
US : out of Top 200

 

[KUEFC09U2]

What where U2's first week sales in the UK? i cannot remember,

also the promotion for the bon jovi album has been pretty big.

 

[hey you]

nloth this week

holland 71(75)
italy 83(75)
france 71(75)
bel vl 69(53)
bel wa 77(57)
spain 80(72)
germany 106(re)

usa out of top 200

 

[rollingbob]

No Line did 158k 1st week UK which untill now was 2nd highest of year just behind Eminem's 166k. This week it'll drop to 4th with JLS & Robbie.W albums (both already well clear).

 

[Maoilbheannacht]

To bad NLOTH fell of the Billboard 200 this week. The #169 position had 3,200 copies sold, so its probably definitely below the 3,000 mark in sales for the week. I think it dropped like 70 or 80 positions in just the last two weeks.

Probably the only thing that can get it back on the Billboard 200 will be grammy nominations or more likely grammy wins.

 

[Native_Son]

No Line did 158k 1st week UK which untill now was 2nd highest of year just behind Eminem's 166k. This week it'll drop to 4th with JLS & Robbie.W albums (both already well clear).

75k for bon jovi is actually better than i would have expected. and without hit single.

on mediatraffic end of year chart, black eyed peas almost certainly to overtake NLOTH, probably in 4weeks time.

 

[Maoilbheannacht]

75k for bon jovi is actually better than i would have expected. and without hit single.

on mediatraffic end of year chart, black eyed peas almost certainly to overtake NLOTH, probably in 4weeks time.

Thats not a sure thing at all. Remember, the actual mediatraffic number for NLOTH is above 3,500,000. I just have not added it in because the individual weeks have not been posted on the site because the album is not in the top 40. If NLOTH did not sell another copy, it would take BEP a full 6 weeks to catch them on the mediatraffic chart with sales of 86,000 copies a week. There are only 6 weeks left before the year end chart is posted, and I think NLOTH will be staying at #2.

 

[Native_Son]

Thats not a sure thing at all. Remember, the actual mediatraffic number for NLOTH is above 3,500,000. I just have not added it in because the individual weeks have not been posted on the site because the album is not in the top 40. If NLOTH did not sell another copy, it would take BEP a full 6 weeks to catch them on the mediatraffic chart with sales of 86,000 copies a week. There are only 6 weeks left before the year end chart is posted, and I think NLOTH will be staying at #2.

Yes, I was talking about the mediatraffic chart, which as you say does not include NLOTH sales since it has been out of the top 40.
BEP could still reach 3.5M by end of december in my opinion.

 

[Maoilbheannacht]

Yes, I was talking about the mediatraffic chart, which as you say does not include NLOTH sales since it has been out of the top 40.
BEP could still reach 3.5M by end of december in my opinion.

The mediatraffic year-end chart DOES include sales for albums that have dropped below the top 40. I don't include it in "my" chart, because I can't see figures below the top 40.

BEP could reach 3.5M by the end of December, but that won't be enough to pass U2 since they are already above 3.5M.

 

[Native_Son]

The mediatraffic year-end chart DOES include sales for albums that have dropped below the top 40. I don't include it in "my" chart, because I can't see figures below the top 40.

BEP could reach 3.5M by the end of December, but that won't be enough to pass U2 since they are already above 3.5M.

oh i didnt realise, there end of year chart included sales from albums that have dropped off the chart. when did they start doing that? wasnt the case during HTDAAB's time.

 

[Maoilbheannacht]

oh i didnt realise, there end of year chart included sales from albums that have dropped off the chart. when did they start doing that? wasnt the case during HTDAAB's time.

I think it started about a year or two ago.

The following from the UKMIX FORUM may be the real mediatraffic year end list including sales for albums that have dropped out of the top 40, although I have yet to confirm that it is:

1. Lady Gaga The Fame 3.958.000
2. U2 No Line On The Horizon 3.505.500
3. Michael Jackson Thriller 3.271.000
4. Kings Of Leon Only By The Night 3.151.000
5. Michael Jackson Number Ones 3.077.000
6. Black Eyed Peas The E.N.D. 3.032.000
7. Taylor Swift Fearless 3.002.500
8. Eminem Relapse 2.830.500
9. Beyoncé I Am... Sasha Fierce 2.697.500
10. Soundtrack Hannah Montana: The Movie 2.666.000

 

[andyuk]

What a fantastic performance that U2 has the 2nd biggest selling album of 2009!

Really impressive considering all the negative remarks about poor album sales

 

[lov12113]

I think people don't fully realize that all album sales are drastically down across the board for all artists, so U2's sales of No Line are actually quite good when compared to everyone else. Sure, NLOTH sold much less than HTDAAB, but EVERY artist is selling much less because albums just aren't selling for anyone. U2 still has the snd best selling album for 2009 worldwide, so comparatively they are doing just fine.

 

[fedeu2]

I think it started about a year or two ago.

The following from the UKMIX FORUM may be the real mediatraffic year end list including sales for albums that have dropped out of the top 40, although I have yet to confirm that it is:

1. Lady Gaga The Fame 3.958.000
2. U2 No Line On The Horizon 3.505.500
3. Michael Jackson Thriller 3.271.000
4. Kings Of Leon Only By The Night 3.151.000
5. Michael Jackson Number Ones 3.077.000
6. Black Eyed Peas The E.N.D. 3.032.000
7. Taylor Swift Fearless 3.002.500
8. Eminem Relapse 2.830.500
9. Beyoncé I Am... Sasha Fierce 2.697.500
10. Soundtrack Hannah Montana: The Movie 2.666.000

So, folks from UKMIX are predicting final 2009 sales or those are current estimates? 3,5 M, even allowing for the infamous correction, seems a bit too low for the year end list.

 

[Maoilbheannacht]

So, folks from UKMIX are predicting final 2009 sales or those are current estimates? 3,5 M, even allowing for the infamous correction, seems a bit too low for the year end list.

Don't Know. Not sure if they are just someones estimate of what the real Mediatraffic numbers are, or in fact that someone has access to the real Mediatraffic numbers. A lot of people think Mediatraffic's numbers overall are too low. But I think whether or not the album is at 3.5 million or 4 million does not really matter. Far more important is where the album actually ranks in terms of sales for the year against other albums.

 

[phommel]

Of course it is a fantastic result for U2, having the 2nd best selling album of the year (so far at least).

But probably it would have sold many more copies if there was that big hit single. I am not saying the album would have been better with a hit and the band obviously was not making music with the need of scoring a big hit in the back of their minds.

However, when looking at bands in the 'same genre' , it is clear that Kings Of Leon and Coldplay scored way better. Not exactly in this year, 2009, but still. In total, Viva La Vida (released halfway 2008) sold ~9 million copies so far and Only By the Night (released september 2009) sold over 7 million copies so far. The difference is not that they had better albums than U2 (in my humble opinion), but they had big hits that had clear effects on the albums raising again or staying at the top of the charts.

So the dramatic drop in worldwide album sales can only be part of the explanation for U2's latest album sales. Coldplay sold similar numbers in 2008/2009 as in 2004/2005(~9 million albums for X&Y). U2 sold only one third (so far) of what it sold in 2004/2005 (How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, 9-11 million?). Both KOL and Coldplay had one or more big hits. Big hits that people hear on the mainstream radio over and over again.

So the relative poor sales imo are due to:
1.) worldwide drop in CD sales, IN COMBINATION WITH:
2.) missing one or more big hits (Bomb had Vertigo and COBL)

In that light I think it's amazing U2 sold 3,5 million copies of Horizon.

 

[Maoilbheannacht]

Of course it is a fantastic result for U2, having the 2nd best selling album of the year (so far at least).

But probably it would have sold many more copies if there was that big hit single. I am not saying the album would have been better with a hit and the band obviously was not making music with the need of scoring a big hit in the back of their minds.

However, when looking at bands in the 'same genre' , it is clear that Kings Of Leon and Coldplay scored way better. Not exactly in this year, 2009, but still. In total, Viva La Vida (released halfway 2008) sold ~9 million copies so far and Only By the Night (released september 2009) sold over 7 million copies so far. The difference is not that they had better albums than U2 (in my humble opinion), but they had big hits that had clear effects on the albums raising again or staying at the top of the charts.

So the dramatic drop in worldwide album sales can only be part of the explanation for U2's latest album sales. Coldplay sold similar numbers in 2008/2009 as in 2004/2005(~9 million albums for X&Y). U2 sold only one third (so far) of what it sold in 2004/2005 (How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, 9-11 million?). Both KOL and Coldplay had one or more big hits. Big hits that people hear on the mainstream radio over and over again.

So the relative poor sales imo are due to:
1.) worldwide drop in CD sales, IN COMBINATION WITH:
2.) missing one or more big hits (Bomb had Vertigo and COBL)

In that light I think it's amazing U2 sold 3,5 million copies of Horizon.

A few corrections here:

Viva La Vida has sold 8.1 million copies, not 9 million copies.
Only By Night has sold 5.2 million copies, not 7 million copies.

Then, consider that both albums benefit from being released in 2008 when sales were higher as well as benefiting from the Christmas 2008 season.

When you adjust for these factors Viva La Vida would still clearly be ahead, but Only By Night would probably have sales roughly the same as NLOTH.


Just look at NLOTH, a 2009 release, compared to other 2009 releases! Its also unlikely that anything in 2010 will be able to outsell what NLOTH sold in 2009.

 

[Tyagu_Anaykus]

You're forgetting Songs of Ascent

 

[cypress]

To say that VLV "would have done far better" than NLOTH is without merit. I don't think VLV would have done much better than NLOTH had it been released in March 2009. The economy world wide is down and there was no Christmas boost for NLOTH like there was for VLV. The #1 album of 2009 is likely to sell a lilttle over 4 million copies compared to double that last year. A more realistic estimate of VLV's 2009 total sales if released around March 2009 would be about the same as Lady Gaga's The Fame. That seems to be about the limit this year.

In any event, sales of CD's will likely continue to plummet in coming years and become increasingly irrelevant. No one I know who is under 30 even buys CD's anymore.. they just d-load the songs or share them with their friends. There's no reason to think they are going to start buying CD's, especially at the extremely over-inflated price of $11 to $15 a CD.

 

[Maoilbheannacht]

To say that VLV "would have done far better" than NLOTH is without merit. I don't think VLV would have done much better than NLOTH had it been released in March 2009. The economy world wide is down and there was no Christmas boost for NLOTH like there was for VLV. The #1 album of 2009 is likely to sell a lilttle over 4 million copies compared to double that last year. A more realistic estimate of VLV's 2009 total sales if released around March 2009 would be about the same as Lady Gaga's The Fame. That seems to be about the limit this year.

In any event, sales of CD's will likely continue to plummet in coming years and become increasingly irrelevant. No one I know who is under 30 even buys CD's anymore.. they just d-load the songs or share them with their friends. There's no reason to think they are going to start buying CD's, especially at the extremely over-inflated price of $11 to $15 a CD.

A couple of things:

1. Coldplay's Viva La Vida did not sell 8 million copies in 2008, it sold 6.6 million.

2. The album sales figures also include legal payed for downloads. Its NOT just CD sales.

 

[phommel]

...I don't think VLV would have done much better than NLOTH had it been released in March 2009. The economy world wide is down and there was no Christmas boost for NLOTH like there was for VLV. The #1 album of 2009 is likely to sell a lilttle over 4 million copies compared to double that last year.
...
In any event, sales of CD's will likely continue to plummet in coming years and become increasingly irrelevant. No one I know who is under 30 even buys CD's anymore.. they just d-load the songs or share them with their friends. There's no reason to think they are going to start buying CD's, especially at the extremely over-inflated price of $11 to $15 a CD...

I agree with you that the crisis and shift towards digital music are explanations for the decline in sales. But I guess you mean the illegal downloaded music. (see also the comment of Maoilbheannacht).

However this is not the full explanation for the 'disappointing' numbers for NLOTH. In Netherlands (I don't know about the ROW), physical CD sales dropped 8% the first 6 months of 2009 compared to 2008. 8% does not explain a 50% difference in album sales between 2008 and 2009's best selling album.

Coldplay sold ~730,000 albums of Viva... in the first week (in June) in the US, which is similar to what they sold the first week for X&Y, in 2005 (also June). Coldplay sold ~300,000 copies in the first 3 days in the UK (~500,000 in the first 10 days, more than X&Y, 2005).
There are 4 years in between and they sell similar amounts of albums.

The big difference is that Coldplay had big hits played all over the radio. That's probably more important than timing the album for Christmas release. (Coldplay released it in June)

KOL was released closer to the Christmas season, which probably helped sales. However, that album stayed in the charts for a long time everywhere. For example, it debuted in the US at number 5, while after staying around 50 weeks in the charts it was number 4 again!!
In the UK their album reached three seperate times the number one position and stayed in the charts for over a week (on high positions!)
Also, Only By The Night (released 5 months before NLOTH) is STILL in the Billboard 200, at number 23!! (59 weeks!)
Viva La Vida (released 8 months before NLOTH) is still in the billboard 200 (174, 73 weeks)

The big difference is big hit singles !

 

[Maoilbheannacht]

I agree with you that the crisis and shift towards digital music are explanations for the decline in sales. But I guess you mean the illegal downloaded music. (see also the comment of Maoilbheannacht).

However this is not the full explanation for the 'disappointing' numbers for NLOTH. In Netherlands (I don't know about the ROW), physical CD sales dropped 8% the first 6 months of 2009 compared to 2008. 8% does not explain a 50% difference in album sales between 2008 and 2009's best selling album.

Coldplay sold ~730,000 albums of Viva... in the first week (in June) in the US, which is similar to what they sold the first week for X&Y, in 2005 (also June). Coldplay sold ~300,000 copies in the first 3 days in the UK (~500,000 in the first 10 days, more than X&Y, 2005).
There are 4 years in between and they sell similar amounts of albums.

The big difference is that Coldplay had big hits played all over the radio. That's probably more important than timing the album for Christmas release. (Coldplay released it in June)

KOL was released closer to the Christmas season, which probably helped sales. However, that album stayed in the charts for a long time everywhere. For example, it debuted in the US at number 5, while after staying around 50 weeks in the charts it was number 4 again!!
In the UK their album reached three seperate times the number one position and stayed in the charts for over a week (on high positions!)
Also, Only By The Night (released 5 months before NLOTH) is STILL in the Billboard 200, at number 23!! (59 weeks!)
Viva La Vida (released 8 months before NLOTH) is still in the billboard 200 (174, 73 weeks)

The big difference is big hit singles !

A better example to look at would be albums released in 2009. There lots of albums released in 2009 that have had multiple big hits. How many of these albums have outsold NLOTH? Answer: NONE

I don't deny that big hits can help, but they do not help by nearly the degree that they once did thanks to music piracy which is everywhere now.

 

[phommel]

A better example to look at would be albums released in 2009. There lots of albums released in 2009 that have had multiple big hits. How many of these albums have outsold NLOTH? Answer: NONE

I don't deny that big hits can help, but they do not help by nearly the degree that they once did thanks to music piracy which is everywhere now.

Ok, it was not released in 2009 (in fact it was in summer 2008), but in spite of that, Lady Gaga sold ~ 500,000 albums more than U2 did over 2009. probably due to her big hits...

Of course you are right about the music piracy. But music piracy also happens with all other music artists.

 

[Maoilbheannacht]

Ok, it was not released in 2009 (in fact it was in summer 2008), but in spite of that, Lady Gaga sold ~ 500,000 albums more than U2 did over 2009. probably due to her big hits...

Of course you are right about the music piracy. But music piracy also happens with all other music artists.

I think this drives home my point even further. Lady Gaga has had what, 4 top 10 hits this year, yet her album has only sold 500,000 copies more than U2. This just goes to show that big hits are not worth what they used to be in this market that has been heavily impacted by piracy.

 

[Native_Son]

IMO its all about the hits.

coldplay only had 1 hit really - the title track, apart from that singles underperformed, especially the first single, UK #8.
iTunes addvert and VLV hit single, made at least half of those 8-9M sales.

if U2 had had a vertigo level hit off NLOTH, then sales would be up on 6M no doubt.