Week 7

[Maoilbheannacht]

and what's to say that U2's "Sold Out" shows will really be sellouts?? Nothing. We'll just have to wait and see.

In looking at that link from above, I'm very surprised that Springsteen couldn't sell out a Denver arena show.

Springsteen is very popular in the North Eastern United States, but much less popular in the rest of the country. On his Rising Tour back in 2003 when he played 10 shows at Giants Stadium and 3 shows at Shea Stadium in the New York City area, he could only play ONE show in the Los Angeles area at Dodger stadium with an attendance of only 42,000.

As for the U2 shows, they are playing to larger capacities in stadiums than anyone has ever done before do to the in the round nature of the stage. Most normal stadium shows have about 40,000 to 50,000 people, while these U2 360 shows will average 65,000 to 70,000.

If U2 only play to 96,000 people at their Washington DC show leaving 4,000 tickets unsold, I don't think its a big deal because its by far the largest show in the history of Maryland, DC, and Virginia. U2 have already set the attendance record for Boston, Chicago, New York City area's, and will be setting attendance records throughout this tour.

 

[monai2]

1 hannah montana: The movie walt disney records 129,661 -33%
soundtrack
-- 2 day26 bad boy/atlantic 115,209 --
forever in a day
1 3 rascal flatts lyric street 103,077 -71%
unstoppable
9 4 twilight atlantic 50,618 -26%
soundtrack
-- 5 silversun pickups dangerbird 48,890 --
swoon
5 6 now 30 ume 43,879 -56%
various artists
3 7 jadakiss def jam/idjmg 43,673 -67%
the last kiss
10 8 lady gaga interscope 35,014 -38%
fame
4 9 jason aldean broken bow 34,526 -68%
wide open
6 10 taylor swift big machine 31,209 -63%
fearless
11 11 diana krall verve 30,010 -31%
quiet nights
16 12 keri hilson interscope 27,610 -15%
in a perfect world
8 13 keith urban capitol nashville 27,058 -62%
defying gravity
14 14 nickelback roadrunner 24,344 -35%
dark horse
7 15 prince npg 22,003 -71%
lotus flow3r
24 16 the-dream def jam/idjmg 19,522 -17%
love vs. Money
15 17 carrie underwood arista nashville 19,261 -41%
carnival ride
13 18 u2 interscope 19,168 -49%
no line on the horizon
29 19 kings of leon rca/rmg 18,888 -4%
only by the night
23 20 beyonce columbia 18,203 -26%
i am... Sasha fierce
33 21 darius rucker capitol nashville 18,075 +3%
learn to live
17 22 flo rida atlantic 18,029 -43%
r.o.o.t.s.
12 23 kelly clarkson rca/rmg 17,843 -57%
all i ever wanted
22 24 sugarland mercury nashville 17,683 -31%
love on the inside
26 25 jamie foxx j records/rmg 16,125 -29%
intuition
25 26 zac brown band atlantic 15,748 -33%
foundation
27 27 ugk jive/jlg 13,999 -38%
ugk 4 life
21 28 the fray epic 13,960 -45%
the fray
31 29 jason mraz atlantic 13,109 -30%
we sing we dance we steal things
30 30 t.i. Grand hustle/atlantic 12,990 -33%
paper trail
36 31 theory of a deadman roadrunner 12,578 -21%
scars & souvenirs
-- 32 yeah yeah yeahs interscope 12,478 --
it's blitz!
34 33 p!nk laface/jlg 12,283 -30%
funhouse
-- 34 death cab for cutie atlantic 12,032 --
open door ep
19 35 mercy me ino/columbia 10,949 -63%
10
20 36 taylor swift big machine 10,743 -59%
taylor swift
-- 37 3oh!3 photo finish 10,602 --
want
35 38 britney spears jive/jlg 10,573 -35%
circus
-- 39 lady antebellum capitol nashville 10,333 --
lady antebellum
32 40 jamey johnson mercury nashville 10,241 -43%
that lonesome song
-- 41 hollywood undead a&m/octone 10,035 --
swan songs
-- 42 shinedown atlantic 9,320 --
sound of madness
41 43 slumdog millionaire n.e.e.t./interscope 9,266 -33%
soundtrack
-- 44 adele columbia 8,722 --
19
28 45 david cook 19/rca/rmg 8,677 -58%
david cook
42 46 john rich warner bros. Nashville 8,499 -37%
son of a preacher man
-- 47 akon src/universal motown 8,400 --
freedom
48 48 papa roach geffen 8,124 -36%
metamorphosis
-- 49 kanye west roc-a-fella/idjmg 8,009 --
808s & heartbreak
-- 50 lil wayne cash money/univ motown 8,004 --

 

[Irishteen]

49% drop, pretty poor

 

[Yahweh]

I would venture to say though that U2 could sell out shows without even having a current record out. I dont think the majority of people going to these shows are going for the new material unfortunatly.

The tour has sold more tickets then the album has sold albums at this point and that would be a first for U2.

 

[Irishteen]

I would venture to say though that U2 could sell out shows without even having a current record out. I dont think the majority of people going to these shows are going for the new material unfortunatly.

The tour has sold more tickets then the album has sold albums at this point and that would be a first for U2.

But that doesn't mean that more tickets have been sold than people who have heard the album

 

[Native_Son]

awful US sales

 

[Maoilbheannacht]

I would venture to say though that U2 could sell out shows without even having a current record out. I dont think the majority of people going to these shows are going for the new material unfortunatly.

The tour has sold more tickets then the album has sold albums at this point and that would be a first for U2.

Let me remind you that in 2009, we are in a market environment where most people obtain music without actually buying it. But with concert tickets, you still have to pay money for it, to get the ticket. So, its only natural that a tour like U2's will today outsell the album, simply because most people obtain the music for free these days.

Coldplay's album in the USA was the 2nd biggest selling album of the year with 2,144,000 copies sold. Since the market in 2009 has been averaging 12% less in sales per week, its likely that the 2nd biggest selling album of 2009 will be well under 2 million in sales. In fact, 2009 may be the first year since perhaps the 1960s in which not a single album is able to sell 2 million or more copies within the year.

In 2008 it only took 1 million copies sold to make the top 25 in the USA. This year artist who sell just 1 million copies of the album will probably make it into the top 20.

 

[Irishteen]

awful US sales

Are you referring to U2 or the US as a whole? Because US album sales are awful

 

[Maoilbheannacht]

awful US sales

Sales are down across the board. It only took 8,000 copies to make the top 50.

 

[GibsonExplorer]

Sales are down across the board. It only took 8,000 copies to make the top 50.

I'm not going to presume last week's holiday-inflated numbers had anything to do with it. That would be ignorant of me.

 

[Yahweh]

U2 also have inflated sales of the last 2 albums Bomb and Horizon based on the fact that they put out special editions of it. This certainly helped both Best Of albums and it had to make some sort of an impact on the last 2 albums as well. Its not comparing apples to apples anymore in a lot of ways but in the end I will wait till the tour to see what the crowd reaction is like.

At the Grammys the audience seemed dead when listening to Boots, same with at the Brits....on GMA the reaction to the new stuff was average at best. I will save my opinion of how this album is doing until I see it infront of the U2 fanbase. If people are leaving when the new songs are being played for a beer or washroom break it wont be good.

I personally bought 5 copies of the album myself because I feel it is my duty as a hardcore U2 fan to help the band out

 

[Maoilbheannacht]

U2 also have inflated sales of the last 2 albums Bomb and Horizon based on the fact that they put out special editions of it. This certainly helped both Best Of albums and it had to make some sort of an impact on the last 2 albums as well. Its not comparing apples to apples anymore in a lot of ways but in the end I will wait till the tour to see what the crowd reaction is like.

Its not clear that a significant number of people actually purchased multiple editions of the album. In addition, U2 are far from being the only one's in the industry to sell special editions of albums these days.

At the Grammys the audience seemed dead when listening to Boots, same with at the Brits....on GMA the reaction to the new stuff was average at best. I will save my opinion of how this album is doing until I see it infront of the U2 fanbase. If people are leaving when the new songs are being played for a beer or washroom break it wont be good.

On some shows I saw on ZOO TV, there were people who left for a beer or washroom break when a song from Achtung Baby would be played. Reaction to new songs always tends to be more muted compared to old classics. Its obviously not a sign that the album is not successful or liked by a large number of people.

I personally bought 5 copies of the album myself because I feel it is my duty as a hardcore U2 fan to help the band out

Your probably one of a very small number of people who did that. Most people who have this album did not actually buy it at all.

 

[cjboog]

I personally bought 5 copies of the album myself because I feel it is my duty as a hardcore U2 fan to help the band out

I bought the CD and the vinyl

The numbers from this week are definitely disappointing. Granted, there were some big drops pretty much all around.

But now NLOTH is selling weekly numbers equivalent to Beyonce (released November 18th) and Kings Of Leon (released August 26th). It's clear the lack of promotion is really hurting the album's legs.

 

[Irishteen]

It's doing better than Kelly Clarkson at least, I'm surprised by Kelly I would of expected a low first week and constant sales, pretty much the opposite of U2

 

[The_acrobat]

This album is going to have to DRAG itself to platinum status in the US. Next week, Kings of Leon will be charting higher and selling more than U2. That's unfortunate, but Kings of Leon have worked really hard to make this album successful, and released the 2 most obvious songs as their 2 big singles.

I'm not going to furthur the discussion of GOYB as a single choice. I'm going to say that I feel a better choice for a first single would be "Breathe", different from anything U2 has done but also a good song. Then quickly hit them with "Magnificent" as the 2nd single the week before the album was released. That song had so much potential... it's got the classic U2 sound everybody knows and loves, and yet there is a new, modern spin to it. After that, a 3rd single would hardly be necessary, which is where Crazy Tonight would come in around the time the tour starts, just to remind people who haven't bought the album yet to go do so now. I'm just going to pretend that's what happened.

 

[GibsonExplorer]

It's doing better than Kelly Clarkson at least, I'm surprised by Kelly I would of expected a low first week and constant sales, pretty much the opposite of U2

Since when did Kelly Clarkson become the standard to be compared against?

 

[Maoilbheannacht]

This album is going to have to DRAG itself to platinum status in the US.

Thats what most albums have to do to go platinum these days. Last year only 25 albums sold 1 million copies, and only 4 sold 2 million or more copies, and NONE made it to 3 million within the year. Over 100 albums used to pass the 1 million mark every year back in the 1990s. Only 80 albums sold enough to go Gold(500,000) last year.

 

[monai2]

billboard top 20


u2 no line on the horizon is n.16(14)

 

[Mirrorball06]

Why is 'horizon' doing better in the US than in the UK?

 

[beLIEve]

Why is 'horizon' doing better in the US than in the UK?

It might just be due to Magnificent, which has been climbing up the U.S. airplay charts for 6-7 weeks now. I believe it was only recently put into Radio 1 rotation in the UK (as in the last week or two). Just MHO.

 

[KUEFC09U2]

That is quite a big drop for the U.S,

But imo this will make platnum in the U.S., the tour mixed with a grammy push will help it.

 

[Irishteen]

That is quite a big drop for the U.S,

But imo this will make platnum in the U.S., the tour mixed with a grammy push will help it.

It's not bad if you take into account it only dropped two places and there were two new entries ahead of it

 

[Maoilbheannacht]

billboard top 20


u2 no line on the horizon is n.16(14)

The #15 album by Prince sold 22,226 copies, the #20 album by The-Dream sold 19,222 copies, so the number of copies sold is somewhere between those two figures. So its probably over 20,000, more than what HITS predicted.

 

[monai2]

The #15 album by Prince sold 22,226 copies, the #20 album by The-Dream sold 19,222 copies, so the number of copies sold is somewhere between those two figures. So its probably over 20,000, more than what HITS predicted.

billboard numbers


16 U2 NO LINE ON THE HORIZON 20545 -41 34764 835787

 

[ajax]

From billboard.biz :

Lady Gaga's album has taken 13 weeks to reach the pan-European summit, and takes the lead in its eighth straight week in the top three. It's in a third week at No. 1 in the United Kingdom, where sales to last weekend had reached 362,000. "The Fame" also moves 2-1 in Ireland, 4-3 in Switzerland and holds at No. 5 in Germany and Finland.

Gaga thus ends U2's six-week European reign with "No Line on the Horizon" (Mercury/Universal), which falls to No. 2 despite climbs of 3-2 in Holland, 7-3 in Denmark and 8-7 in Germany. It's also steady at No. 3 in Poland but down 2-4 in Hungary, 3-4 in Portugal, 4-5 in Italy and 7-10 in France.

 

[Mirrorball06]

IFPI Platinum Europe Awards - Q1 2009
U2 NO LINE ON THE HORIZON (UNIVERSAL) 1

 

[Don Marino]

Iceland
NLOTH:
Run: 1-1-1-1-1-3-4

Magnificent stays at #2 for the 2nd week running.

 

[Irishteen]

Global: Down to 6 from 5, despite two new entries

94,000 sales

 

[Native_Son]

Global: Down to 6 from 5, despite two new entries

94,000 sales

coldplay were selling twice these amounts last year.

 

[hey you]

n.6 this week on mediatraffic. 2.502.000 copies sold plus the 7,5% not coverage by them the amount worldwide of nloth is 2.689.000 after 7 weeks .