For Bon Jovi, The Circle is complete.
The band’s new Island album will be next week’s top debut, with a total hovering in the 140-150k range, based on one-day sales reports from those retailers able to tear themselves away from watching Wanda Sykes’ new talk show.
That will set up a four-way race for the top spot next Tuesday among the Jersey boys, this week’s #1 finisher, CMA host Carrie Underwood, dark horse Andrea Bocelli and Michael Jackson.
It should be noted, that if the set sells in the 140,000-150,000 range, it will be a 50% drop from the first week sales of Lost Highway. In this day and age where it took U2 six months to pass the platinum mark, one has to wonder where the totals for The Circle will be come early January? They have their NBC deal which will grant them exposure through all of December, but considering how much press they have done to date, I'm a bit surprised by the early numbers. I figured the band would be somewhere in the 230,000 range. We'll have to wait and see how it shakes out next week.
7 comments:
That's a pretty big drop, but if that's going to put them against other current #1 artist, I'd be willing to bet that's a representative drop across the industry, which is getting pretty hammered right now. At any rate, they are currently #2 on iTunes, and if I remember correctly, they never got that high with Lost Highway. I'll be really interested to see if they get a number one next week - I predict it'll be a number two, myself.
It's weird that 150k is a number one album these days but that's what things have come to.
A couple of things to keep in mind, the first week sales for Lost Highway were jacked up because the on-sale to the ten shows at the new arena in Newark had album sales embedded... so the downloads that came with concert tickets purchased back in April of 2007 counted towards first week sales come June whenever..
They are doing some of that this time 'round as well so you might see a jump.
If you go to the official bon jovi website, which is all marketing, all the time, the 'news' is a plea to the fan base to do everything they can to get The Circle to the #1 spot... including the fact that if you buy it off Amazon.Com it's on $3.99 to download the entire album!
And the omnipresent promotional push... they very well might get to #1 but when you can see the pulleys and levers and how its done, the notch in the belt is find but really indicative of the music industry, the market, the fan base and the interest in the product. Is the single a hit? Does the general public really know the song?
Why this much emphasis on 1st week sales? I want to see long term sales after all the hype, to see if it has legs beyond the fan base.
And do sales even matter? What about the emotional core of the album? The intensity? The passion? This album his small bits of each littered throughout - but in the long run will is last?
A great album should move people emotionally.... and grow...
- Cuddy
@ Cuddy-
I agree with every word you say, but Bon Jovi has said it time and time again, you're either #1 or you're nothing.
They put such a emphasis on first week sales, doing over the top promotion, etc. Why else would they do all the press the week the album comes out?
I agree with you, it should be about the music, but the major label business is all about big debuts so they can sprinkle press releases.
I am not sure about this, but I *think* Meat Loaf's BAT OUT OF HELL, never cracked the top-ten...and sold upwards of 20-million.
:-)
It seems like record companies approach record sales the same way the film industry views box office receipts: It's all about those first few days. For those of us who love both film and music as art forms it can seem off-putting, but they're in it to make money, and they define success by making something a hit. It can seem a bit ridiculous at times...But then again, if The Circle does make it to number 1, it will not have been without my help ;)
In many cases, an album's first week sales are its biggest. This isn't true for all albums, but for many established artists, the album's first week is what makes or breaks it. The big exception I think is a new or previously undiscovered artist whose album slowly becomes popular over time. Bon Jovi is not that artist. Most likely their highest sales week will be the first week. I'm hoping for a #1.
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