It's good if sales are back on the increase, but I' sure it wasn't that long ago that sales of as low as 30k would have been enough for a number 1.
Yeah. That was almost 10 years ago though... 2004 or 2005 was the lowest year for sales. Now it's 2013.
The thing is, the media were so delighted to report it when single sales were at their lowest, but now they're at their highest ever and they don't say anything. It's just about what people want to hear at the end of the day, and the older generations mostly don't want to hear that single sales are at their highest ever right now, so the media choose not to report it, but it's true, they're at their all-time highest.
By "single", I'm not talking about CDs or vinyls. Physical sales ARE at their all-time lowest, but song sales overall are at their all-time highest.
A comparison of sales of the biggest hits in 1987 to 2012:
1987
1. Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up - 759,000
2. Starship - Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now - 735,000
3. Whitney Houston - I Wanna Dance With Somebody - 660,000
4. Bee Gees - You Win Again - 590,000
5. T'Pau - China in Your Hand - 585,000
6. Mel & Kim - Respectable - 580,000
7. Ben E. King - Stand By Me - 540,000
8. Pet Shop Boys - It's a Sin - 495,000
9. The Firm - Star Trekkin' - 480,000
10. M/A/R/R/S - Pump Up the Volume - 455,000
2012
1. Gotye ft. Kimbra - Somebody That I Used to Know - 1,318,000
2. Carly Rae Jepsen - Call Me Maybe - 1,143,000
3. fun. ft. Janelle Monae - We Are Young - 986,000
4. David Guetta ft. Sia - Titanium - 922,000
5. James Arthur - Impossible - 897,000
6. PSY - Gangnam Style - 878,000
7. Nicki Minaj - Starships - 864,000
8. Jessie J - Domino - 749,000
9. Maroon 5 ft. Wiz Khalifa - Payphone - 725,000
10. Flo Rida ft. Sia - Wild Ones - 695,000
So yes, sales are higher now than back in the 80s (although the big chart hits of 2012 were much worse than those in 1987, the sales ARE higher).
Yeah single sales have recovered massively since 2006.
Fair enough - I knew they'd picked up, but not by quite that much.
I assume we actually in agreement earlier anyway, in that the sales of Roar are pretty solid, and not an example of a track getting to number 1 with comparatively poor sales.
1. Gotye ft. Kimbra - Somebody That I Used to Know - 1,318,000
2. Carly Rae Jepsen - Call Me Maybe - 1,143,000
3. fun. ft. Janelle Monae - We Are Young - 986,000
4. David Guetta ft. Sia - Titanium - 922,000
5. James Arthur - Impossible - 897,000
6. PSY - Gangnam Style - 878,000
7. Nicki Minaj - Starships - 864,000
8. Jessie J - Domino - 749,000
9. Maroon 5 ft. Wiz Khalifa - Payphone - 725,000
10. Flo Rida ft. Sia - Wild Ones - 695,000
Plenty of end of year sales in the 1990s were superior or matched those totals.
Fair enough - I knew they'd picked up, but not by quite that much.
I assume we actually in agreement earlier anyway, in that the sales of Roar are pretty solid, and not an example of a track getting to number 1 with comparatively poor sales.
Yeah single sales have recovered massively since 2006.
But isn't a lot of that to do with recent technological advancements? With songs being availible digitally as oppose to music just being brilliant all of a sudden? I certainly wouldn't have thought the quality of music was any different during 2003-2006 when sales had supposedly "tanked".
I mean with digital you can get almost any song in the world at the instant click of a button. In the old days I assume there would only have been a select number of songs from the shelf. So naturally even songs 100-500 in the charts have to be far higher.
Does anyone know why Amazon UK don't have the track available for download, as it seems a bit strange for such a popular commercial track to not be on their site!
Does anyone know why Amazon UK don't have the track available for download, as it seems a bit strange for such a popular commercial track to not be on their site!
i don't understand that either. they have the physical cd on there for release on the 13th, but not the mp3 track.
But isn't a lot of that to do with recent technological advancements? With songs being availible digitally as oppose to music just being brilliant all of a sudden? I certainly wouldn't have thought the quality of music was any different during 2003-2006 when sales had supposedly "tanked".
I mean with digital you can get almost any song in the world at the instant click of a button. In the old days I assume there would only have been a select number of songs from the shelf. So naturally even songs 100-500 in the charts have to be far higher.
Oh yeah, downloads are the reason for the increase definitely.
The fact that a single now costs less than a quid naturally means that they sell more.
Comments
It's good if sales are back on the increase, but I' sure it wasn't that long ago that sales of as low as 30k would have been enough for a number 1.
Whatever the historical figures are, I think it's fair to say that sales of Roar this week are about as good as any number 1 from any period.
Yeah. That was almost 10 years ago though... 2004 or 2005 was the lowest year for sales. Now it's 2013.
The thing is, the media were so delighted to report it when single sales were at their lowest, but now they're at their highest ever and they don't say anything. It's just about what people want to hear at the end of the day, and the older generations mostly don't want to hear that single sales are at their highest ever right now, so the media choose not to report it, but it's true, they're at their all-time highest.
By "single", I'm not talking about CDs or vinyls. Physical sales ARE at their all-time lowest, but song sales overall are at their all-time highest.
1987
1. Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up - 759,000
2. Starship - Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now - 735,000
3. Whitney Houston - I Wanna Dance With Somebody - 660,000
4. Bee Gees - You Win Again - 590,000
5. T'Pau - China in Your Hand - 585,000
6. Mel & Kim - Respectable - 580,000
7. Ben E. King - Stand By Me - 540,000
8. Pet Shop Boys - It's a Sin - 495,000
9. The Firm - Star Trekkin' - 480,000
10. M/A/R/R/S - Pump Up the Volume - 455,000
2012
1. Gotye ft. Kimbra - Somebody That I Used to Know - 1,318,000
2. Carly Rae Jepsen - Call Me Maybe - 1,143,000
3. fun. ft. Janelle Monae - We Are Young - 986,000
4. David Guetta ft. Sia - Titanium - 922,000
5. James Arthur - Impossible - 897,000
6. PSY - Gangnam Style - 878,000
7. Nicki Minaj - Starships - 864,000
8. Jessie J - Domino - 749,000
9. Maroon 5 ft. Wiz Khalifa - Payphone - 725,000
10. Flo Rida ft. Sia - Wild Ones - 695,000
So yes, sales are higher now than back in the 80s (although the big chart hits of 2012 were much worse than those in 1987, the sales ARE higher).
Fair enough - I knew they'd picked up, but not by quite that much.
I assume we actually in agreement earlier anyway, in that the sales of Roar are pretty solid, and not an example of a track getting to number 1 with comparatively poor sales.
Plenty of end of year sales in the 1990s were superior or matched those totals.
Absolutely, Katy's sales are great.
But isn't a lot of that to do with recent technological advancements? With songs being availible digitally as oppose to music just being brilliant all of a sudden? I certainly wouldn't have thought the quality of music was any different during 2003-2006 when sales had supposedly "tanked".
I mean with digital you can get almost any song in the world at the instant click of a button. In the old days I assume there would only have been a select number of songs from the shelf. So naturally even songs 100-500 in the charts have to be far higher.
i don't understand that either. they have the physical cd on there for release on the 13th, but not the mp3 track.
Oh yeah, downloads are the reason for the increase definitely.
The fact that a single now costs less than a quid naturally means that they sell more.