While reading over this week’s SoundScan, I noticed–among the thicket of debuts that included Disney’s “new Miley Cyrus” Demi Lovato, Kings Of Leon, TV On The Radio (No. 12!), and the Pussycat Dolls (who just managed to squeak into the top five)–that not many full-lengths that had been out for a while were gaining in sales from the previous week. The No. 1 album, Metallica’s Death Magnetic, held on despite a 61% drop from the previous sales week, while Ne-Yo’s Year Of The Gentleman only dropped from No. 2 to No. 3 on a 67% loss. And the numbers didn’t get much prettier from there. In fact, the first album on the chart to experience a week-to-week gain was all the way down at No. 46: M.I.A.’s Kala, which had a modest-in-any-other-week 6% bump. So I decided to figure out just how many non-debuting albums gained momentum during a week that was marked by a lot of chaos on the financial front, and a 6.8% week-to-week decline in overall sales, not to mention a 28.8% year-over-year drop. Those albums–which constitute a mere 13.5% of the chart–are listed, with their big-board placements and overall sales, after the jump.
1. M.I.A., Kala (No. 46; sold 11,000 copies, up 6%)
2. Los Pikadientes de Caborca, Vámonos Pa’l Río (No. 52; sold 9,800 copes, up 144%)
3. V/A, Sex And The City soundtrack (No. 53; sold 9,300 copies, up 305%)
4. MGMT, Oracular Spectacular (No. 60; sold 8,200 copies, up 24%)
5. Hollywood Undead, Swan Songs (No. 72; sold 7,000 copies, up 4%)
6. Shinedown, Sound Of Madness (No. 73; sold 7,000 copies, up 3%)
7. V/A, Idolos de Mexico Para el Mundo (No. 77; sold 6,600 copies, up 9%)
8. Rehab, Graffiti The World (No. 90; sold 5,800 copies, no change from last week)
9. Flobots, Fight With Tools (No. 92; sold 5,700 copies, up 4%)
10. Apocalyptica, Worlds Collide (No. 132; sold 4,500 copies, up 5%)
11. Ting Tings, We Started Nothing (No. 138; sold 4,300 copies, up 6%)
12. Danity Kane, Welcome To The Dollhouse (No. 139; sold 4,300 copies, up 22%)
13. Offspring, Rise & Fall, Rage & Grace (No. 142; sold 4,200 copies, up 2%)
14. Enrique Iglesias, 95/08 Exitos (No. 145; sold 4,100 copies, slight uptick from last week)
15. Fleet Foxes (No. 163; sold 3,500 copies, up 6% )
16. Vampire Weekend (No. 164; sold 3,500 copies, up 3%)
17. Across The Universe soundtrack (No. 167; sold 3,500 copies, up 20%)
18. Robert Plant/Alison Krauss, Raising Sand (No. 168; sold 3,500 copies, up 18%)
19. Radiohead, In Rainbows (No. 175; sold 3,400 copies, up 5%)
20. Santogold (No. 176; sold 3,300 copies, up 43%)
21. Sigur Ros, Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust (No. 184; sold 3,200 copies, up 28%)
22. Casting Crowns, The Altar & The Door (No. 185; sold 3,100 copies, up 11%)
23. Marco Antonio Solis, La Mejor Coleccion (No. 186; sold 3,100 copies, slight uptick)
24. V/A, Another Cinderella Story soudntrack (No. 190; sold 3,100 copies, up 27%)
25. Jesse McCartney, Departure (No. 193; sold 3,000 copies, up 5%)
26. Jim Brickman, Unspoken (No. 198; sold 2,900 copies, up 112%)
27. Ra, Black Sun (No. 199; sold 2,900 copies, up 93%)
And that’s it. Sadly, the album at No. 200–Ashanti’s The Declaration–didn’t join in the “ending things on a high note” party. (Note: This week also had 24 chart debuts.)
So what have we learned, as far as “ways to increase sales” go? Well, apparently being in a band that’s covered by our “Corporate Rock Still Sells” column helps–many of the albums above are by artists whose albums are firmly in the rock-radio camp–Rehab, Flobots, Offspring, Vampire Weekend. The Santogold uptick was likely helped in part by various ads featuring her songs getting a lot of airplay during NFL games. The Sex & The City push seems to be helped in part by the release of a (sigh) sequel to the soundtrack, which sold about 2,000 more copies than its predecessor and landed at No. 45. And as for Enrique Iglesias… who knows.
But mostly the lesson seems to be “start small, and let things build from there.” There isn’t one “blockbuster” album on the above list unless you count the Danity Kane album, which at this point is its own, hair-extension-covered, MTV-synergy-powered exception that proves the rule. Sure, things might bounce back overall for the music market next week–even if the stock market crashes, the new T.I. album is out!–but the suits at all labels, after looking at the above numbers, might want to cut back on their self-satisfied smiling for a bit.
I heard Hollywood Undead on the radio this week, doing an interview and playing a song off their album…good god, I don’t know if I’m dreading or anticipating this ridiculous band cracking a radio chart so that I have to write about them.
@Al Shipley: b-b-but… MYSPACE
a song from MGMT’s album, a snippet of Electric Feel, was on Gossip Girl. w00t
@chachwitablog: 90210 had a Vampire Weekend reset in the dialogue. Yay?
Great article (I miss Who Charted!) and I have only one tiny quibble: I think the SatC soundtrack sold big because the DVD was released, and not because of the release of the second OST. (The video release is likely the reason they did a second OST.)
Home-video release is one of the most common ways movie soundtracks make huge chart comebacks; many big-box and multimedia retailers do side-by-side merchandising of the DVD and CD to pump up sales of both.
@Chris Molanphy: I too miss Who Charted. If talking shop out in public on the comments about this isn’t too crude, what happened to it?
@Al Shipley: Various factors. Mostly I’m trying to tweak the format of it, and not have it be so dependent on the categories that got sorta-set in stone two years back — I think this piece is Exhibit A as far as that angle not always being the week’s most interesting.
@Maura Johnston: Word! This is possibly the best Who Charted ever. More like this, mon capitain.
yeah i agree, this was very through and made me realize how much activity is going on in those 200 slots on the billboard album charts.