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Number 1 Album This Week - 13k


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Old 28-05-2012, 11:24
Thomas007
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1 Emeili Sande 13,430
2 Joe Bonamassa 13,345

4 John Mayer 12,651
5 Bee Gees 12,127
6 Keane 11,633
7 fun. 11,023
8 Tom Jones 9886
9 The Enemy 9,854
14 Paul Buchanan 7,054
17 The Temper Trap 5,894
20 The Cult 5,779
26 Saint Etienne 4,538
27 Slash 4,527
35 Bee Gees [Ultimate] 3,744
40 Eric Prydz 3,381

I would normally make knee jerk reaction and say the album is dead, but Adele is managing to sell over 20 million currently and she's proved that they can still sell under the right circumstances the way they used to, so why can't other albums?
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Old 28-05-2012, 12:12
little-monster
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That's awful. Good thing Emeli's album didn't come out that week
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Old 28-05-2012, 12:24
Shadow2009
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Adele is managing to sell over 20 million currently and she's proved that they can still sell under the right circumstances the way they used to, so why can't other albums?
People just don't care about albums any more.

Something really needs to be done about the album market. I think artists should abandon promoting "singles" and start promoting their albums. It'd be nice if they went on different chat shots to perform different album tracks, done ALBUM SIGNINGS (that nobody seems to do any more), sent numerous album tracks to radio, promoted the album everywhere they could instead of focusing on singles. The campaign for Katy Perry's 'Last Friday Night' single (with the YouTube videos of Kathy Beth) was a joke. All that effort and money to promote a single when the album itself hadn't even gone platinum!
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Old 28-05-2012, 12:24
InMyArms
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It's terrible.

Compare it to a year ago, sales published 30 May 2011

1 Lady Gaga 215,639
2 Adele [21] 49,611
3 Adele [19] 21,909
4 Bruno Mars 20,016
5 The Prodigy 14,638
6 Jessie J 14,264
7 Lady Gaga [TFM] 14,245
8 Hugh Laurie 13,927
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Old 28-05-2012, 12:26
InMyArms
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People just don't care about albums any more.
They do, they're just downloading them illegally for free, something that couldn't be done until recent years.
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Old 28-05-2012, 13:10
rasbo
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They do, they're just downloading them illegally for free, something that couldn't be done until recent years.
This.

Plus...

1 - the economy has shrunk, more people are unemployed than ever, and those on low incomes can no longer afford such luxuries as albums due to the huge food and fuel bill increases. Every penny I have is going on my car.

2 - Streaming services like Spotify and youtube, a huge choice of digital radio and TV mean people can listen to music all day, old and new, from albums and singles, without having to buy a CD or cassette, or buy a download for anything.

3 - Most albums are filler these days. You can go into itunes and listen about a minute of each track on an album for free. Gone are the days of buying an album and being disappointed because you only like 2 or 3 songs on it.

4 - Albums aren't promoted like they used to be. Either that you get loads promoted at once
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Old 28-05-2012, 13:17
walterwhite
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1 Emeili Sande 13,430
2 Joe Bonamassa 13,345

4 John Mayer 12,651
5 Bee Gees 12,127
6 Keane 11,633
7 fun. 11,023
8 Tom Jones 9886
9 The Enemy 9,854
14 Paul Buchanan 7,054
17 The Temper Trap 5,894
20 The Cult 5,779
26 Saint Etienne 4,538
27 Slash 4,527
35 Bee Gees [Ultimate] 3,744
40 Eric Prydz 3,381

I would normally make knee jerk reaction and say the album is dead, but Adele is managing to sell over 20 million currently and she's proved that they can still sell under the right circumstances the way they used to, so why can't other albums?
Because of piracy basically. Total album sales now are not a fraction of what they once were.
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Old 28-05-2012, 16:09
gpk
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People just don't care about albums any more.

Something really needs to be done about the album market. I think artists should abandon promoting "singles" and start promoting their albums. It'd be nice if they went on different chat shots to perform different album tracks, done ALBUM SIGNINGS (that nobody seems to do any more), sent numerous album tracks to radio, promoted the album everywhere they could instead of focusing on singles. The campaign for Katy Perry's 'Last Friday Night' single (with the YouTube videos of Kathy Beth) was a joke. All that effort and money to promote a single when the album itself hadn't even gone platinum!
your right, it didn't go platinum at that point. its was actually awarded double platinum earlier on in the year previous to that single release.

the sales this week are appalling and there was another week recently which was just as bad. its a shame, since there having been some really good album releases this year.
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Old 28-05-2012, 16:34
lumiere
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Yes, piracy and streaming don't help but...singles sales are at an all time high. So how does that work?

I think the biggest problem is that the cheapness of singles now has undercut the value of albums, which still cost about the same as they did 15 years ago (unlike singles which have decreased in cost massively). A 10-12 track album costing £8-£10 just won't work when a single costs, maximum, 99p (and often less). Album's just aren't worth it any more when you can download the more tracks individually for the same amount of money an album costs. Interestingly, the "Now..." compilations still sell extremely well, and they offer 20+ tracks as a bundle for less than it costs to buy 20 tracks individually.

If the average cost of an album came down from about £8 to about £6 I think sales would increase significantly and I think it's the only way to save them really.
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Old 28-05-2012, 19:06
Thomas007
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Yes, piracy and streaming don't help but...singles sales are at an all time high. So how does that work?
Are they??

I looked at a lot of the number 1's from the 90s and sales were often 100k-300k, most of the sales we get are between 50k-100k these days.

In addition, if you look at the greatest selling songs of all time practically everything in the top 40 that is on that list is from the 20th century.
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Old 28-05-2012, 19:15
lumiere
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Are they??

I looked at a lot of the number 1's from the 90s and sales were often 100k-300k, most of the sales we get are between 50k-100k these days.

In addition, if you look at the greatest selling songs of all time practically everything in the top 40 that is on that list is from the 20th century.
Yes, read this from the BPI: http://www.bpi.co.uk/assets/files/mu...20strongly.pdf

"The UK singles market went from strength to strength in 2011, with sales smashing all-time records for the fourth straight year in succession. Total singles sales increased 10.0% overall to 177.9m in 2011,... All of the top 20 best-selling singles of 2011 sold more than 500,000 copies apiece."

And I was talking about singles sales overall, not individual songs that have sold ridiculous amounts (you're right, most of those aren't modern).

Singles are up, albums are down. Piracy etc is part of the reason but it must be more than that. The record industry needs to adapt. Piracy can be discouraged but it's never going to go away and new technologies like streaming are here to stay so there's no point in complaining about them. The way that people buy and consume music has drastically changed in a short time and they need to change their business models.
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Old 28-05-2012, 19:32
Eraserhead
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The ability to download (legally or otherwise) is a huge factor, as is the ability to pre-listen to entire albums on applications like Spotify.

People can listen to non-single album tracks and decide whether the album is worth buying or not. In pre-internet days you just had to buy the album and take your chances (unless a mate had a copy).

Albums have always had a few substandard filler tracks, depending on the artist. I think pop albums suffer with this more than other genres, particularly in these modern times where artists' careers can be very short-lived. There is a need to get an album out quickly and promote it with a few strong singles. Now people can check out an album and decide that the three or four singles taken from it are the only good thing and the rest is filler.

I do also think illegal downloading is a huge problem and people who want to get something for nothing are in no position to complain if the record industry is going down the pan. We are all responsible. Your local supermarket wouldn't last very long if everyone was stealing food so I don't know why people think it's OK to get music for free and then complain that quality and standards have fallen. If you like an artist then reward them with your cash.

The only possible positive side to all this is that if album sales are declining because of poor filler album tracks then perhaps it might encourage artists and song writers to come up with some better quality material.
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Old 28-05-2012, 21:15
Eric_Blob
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Are they??

I looked at a lot of the number 1's from the 90s and sales were often 100k-300k, most of the sales we get are between 50k-100k these days.

In addition, if you look at the greatest selling songs of all time practically everything in the top 40 that is on that list is from the 20th century.
Yep, it's true that single sales are at an all-time high now, and they're still increasing. I think they reached their lowest ever in about 2005, but they've shot up since!
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Old 28-05-2012, 21:50
iseloid
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Yep, it's true that single sales are at an all-time high now, and they're still increasing. I think they reached their lowest ever in about 2005, but they've shot up since!
True. Compare We Found love's sales to Umbrella's. It's quite shocking. Adele, gaga and Janelle Monae are examples of getting critically acclaimed albums that are really good and are conceptually strong. If most artists did that, it would be great. Also people base their opinions on lead singles too much. They sometimes (ie Beyonce's 4) are the worst on the album or one of many great tracks (ie 21/Thriller). A variety in album types would help too.
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Old 28-05-2012, 21:51
iseloid
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The ability to download (legally or otherwise) is a huge factor, as is the ability to pre-listen to entire albums on applications like Spotify.

People can listen to non-single album tracks and decide whether the album is worth buying or not. In pre-internet days you just had to buy the album and take your chances (unless a mate had a copy).

Albums have always had a few substandard filler tracks, depending on the artist. I think pop albums suffer with this more than other genres, particularly in these modern times where artists' careers can be very short-lived. There is a need to get an album out quickly and promote it with a few strong singles. Now people can check out an album and decide that the three or four singles taken from it are the only good thing and the rest is filler.

I do also think illegal downloading is a huge problem and people who want to get something for nothing are in no position to complain if the record industry is going down the pan. We are all responsible. Your local supermarket wouldn't last very long if everyone was stealing food so I don't know why people think it's OK to get music for free and then complain that quality and standards have fallen. If you like an artist then reward them with your cash.

The only possible positive side to all this is that if album sales are declining because of poor filler album tracks then perhaps it might encourage artists and song writers to come up with some better quality material.
It depends on the artist, if they are a hit factory (rihanna) then it's not likely to happen. I totally agree with your post. Also self writing saves you loads of money so you lower your chances of being dropped.
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Old 28-05-2012, 23:57
Thomas007
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Yes, read this from the BPI: http://www.bpi.co.uk/assets/files/mu...20strongly.pdf

"The UK singles market went from strength to strength in 2011, with sales smashing all-time records for the fourth straight year in succession. Total singles sales increased 10.0% overall to 177.9m in 2011,... All of the top 20 best-selling singles of 2011 sold more than 500,000 copies apiece."

And I was talking about singles sales overall, not individual songs that have sold ridiculous amounts (you're right, most of those aren't modern).

Singles are up, albums are down. Piracy etc is part of the reason but it must be more than that. The record industry needs to adapt. Piracy can be discouraged but it's never going to go away and new technologies like streaming are here to stay so there's no point in complaining about them. The way that people buy and consume music has drastically changed in a short time and they need to change their business models.
Yeah but a lot of thats due to downloading and more songs being availible through itunes and that form of technology that wouldn't have been availible in the shops.

The average number sales in the 90s often topped 150k+, today its 80k-90k. So I presume the overall sales i.e. the top 200 is stronger now, but perhaps the 10 was stronger in bygone era, or so it appears.
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Old 30-05-2012, 12:57
Glawster2002
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People just don't care about albums any more.
I think people do care about albums, but those who do care tend to like non-mainstream music, either on smaller independent labels or self-financed, so the sales aren't as big.

The major record labels are only interested in quick turnaround and quick profit, so heavily promote sales of singles. The downside to that is very few mainstream acts have any longevity these days.

In saying that, though, it is great to see a real musician, Joe Bonamassa, at #2!!!!
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Old 30-05-2012, 23:32
Zeb Atlas
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Yeah but a lot of thats due to downloading and more songs being availible through itunes and that form of technology that wouldn't have been availible in the shops.

The average number sales in the 90s often topped 150k+, today its 80k-90k. So I presume the overall sales i.e. the top 200 is stronger now, but perhaps the 10 was stronger in bygone era, or so it appears.
Agreed and in addition I hate it when people go on about how many singles are sold nowadays especially when the price of a single has gone from £1.99 or as much as £3.99 to 79p or even less with these 59p songs now (and that doesn't even factor inflation). Plus people had to physically go out and buy them.

I know that times move on but to claim that something like Labrinth's Earthquake is more popular than James Blunt's Your Beautiful because it's sold units more is ridiculous when most of the former were sold as a fraction of the latter.

The music industry is not making anything like the money it used to so I think these articles crowing about great single sales are very misleading.
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Old 31-05-2012, 00:09
far2cool
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Christ, - If were super rich I'd spend £100k getting my favourite classic album to number one!!

Dunno what I'd do with all the discs though....
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Old 31-05-2012, 00:51
cnbcwatcher
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People just don't care about albums any more.

Something really needs to be done about the album market. I think artists should abandon promoting "singles" and start promoting their albums. It'd be nice if they went on different chat shots to perform different album tracks, done ALBUM SIGNINGS (that nobody seems to do any more), sent numerous album tracks to radio, promoted the album everywhere they could instead of focusing on singles.
I think this is what The Saturdays should do in the future. If On Your Radar had been promoted well the album could have been a success. It was really good and I was disappointed it flopped. I hope they promote their next one well.
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Old 31-05-2012, 01:20
dylanpartyon
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I haven't bought a whole album for months now, for one reason, is that not one album really I have really felt like I needed to get. That all ended yesterday, cause I bought the Paloma Faith album. There just really havent been many albums recently that kinda make you need to buy them, unlike previous years!!!
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Old 31-05-2012, 07:43
walterwhite
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Agreed and in addition I hate it when people go on about how many singles are sold nowadays especially when the price of a single has gone from £1.99 or as much as £3.99 to 79p or even less with these 59p songs now (and that doesn't even factor inflation). Plus people had to physically go out and buy them.

I know that times move on but to claim that something like Labrinth's Earthquake is more popular than James Blunt's Your Beautiful because it's sold units more is ridiculous when most of the former were sold as a fraction of the latter.

The music industry is not making anything like the money it used to so I think these articles crowing about great single sales are very misleading.
Same the other way round with albums. Jimmy Nail's first album sold a million!
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Old 01-06-2012, 21:10
ggm1903
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In saying that, though, it is great to see a real musician, Joe Bonamassa, at #2!!!!
Here Here, about time too. Brilliant album.
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Old 01-06-2012, 21:26
MrMeatAndPotato
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Albums still sell, Adele being a prime example... It's just a lot are simply not good enough. It's quite common artists have one good single on the album and then the rest sounds extremely average.
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Old 01-06-2012, 21:32
Tiki - Taka
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Albums still sell, Adele being a prime example... It's just a lot are simply not good enough. It's quite common artists have one good single on the album and then the rest sounds extremely average.
This....
Adele could take two years off, release an album in 2014 and still sell millions. You need to earn a reputation as an artist who delivers. There are a few other artists like this, Eminem for example. Doesn't matter what time he releases he's going to sell. Justin Timberlake too.

Watch Justin Bieber sell 200k plus in his first week (Fair enough - Due to his fan base . But it shows kids are still willing to get passionate and excited for albums.)


Definately too much emphasis on singles instead of albums as a whole. Example - I watched the saturdays documentary, and they did soooo much promo for "Higher" (Motorbikes etc.) They got loads of coverage. Yet when the album came out, hardly a thing.


There used to be such a buzz when albums were released, now there isn't.
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