You may be wondering how first-day sales of Guns N’ Roses” Chinese Democracy went, and… well, no one’s really sure, thanks to lots of retail secrecy! Hits has the very first, very wild estimates: “After yesterday’s first-day sales, which include a reported 25k downloads at iTunes, first-week sales prognostications are ranging anywhere from 300-500k.” Those of us who figured that the album’s Sunday release date on Best Buy and iTunes meant that it would show up on this Wednesday’s album chart were wrong, thanks to the combination of something that Hits is calling “a recent controversial SoundScan ruling about counting digital sales” and Best Buy’s own Sunday-to-Saturday sales-reporting policies, which were outlined way back when the album’s release date was announced in October:
Beyond enticing pre-Thanksgiving shoppers, the move is tied to the structure of Best Buy’s sales week, which runs from Sunday to Saturday. As such, “Chinese Democracy” would not be eligible to chart on The Billboard 200 until the week of Dec. 1, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
I suspect that the digital-sales ruling has something to do with albums that are available in both physical and digital form, but that come out first digitally, not “counting” chart-wise until they’re available everywhere, so as to ensure that their chart placement is as high as possible. But I could be wrong about that! SoundScan is pretty secretive when it comes to announcing changes like this, perhaps because it’s so easily swayed by outside influences. Either way, instead of theorizing over whether the album’s sales would beat those of Beyonce (whose probably-inflated Hits estimates put her split-personality sales around the 500,000 mark) we now get to prognosticate about Axl taking on Kanye and Brandon Flowers. Fun! I think.
GNR’s “Chinese Democracy” Gets Release Date [Billboard]
Rumor Mill [Hits]
This is annoying — Best Buy is stacking the deck chart-position-wise — but it does explain why Kanye elected to drop his new one on Monday instead of Tuesday; he needs as many days in the tracking week as possible to try to keep up with GnR’s total.
I suppose this handcuffing of the Billboard chart is what Shackler’s Revenge is truly about?
Wait, is Billboard still counting double-album sales as 2? Because Sasha’s going to put up great numbers if Billboard rules haven’t changed.
Only if they’re over 100 minutes or something like that.
that’s only for riaa certification, the double-counting. chris molanphy has written about it in the past:
[idolator.com]
Not that I understand why anyone would listen to Chinese Democracy more than once if at all, but it does supply one of the cases where illegal downloading is not only defensible but ethically necessitated.
Chinese Democracy is not Appetite… It’s not meant to be either. What it is, is the kind of album you need to listed to, in entirety, multiple times. On the third round or so, you then go “Oh, now I get it”. Axel didn’t write it for a singles based, one download & gone, ADHD modern market. It’s a full ride with walls of sound and cutting lyrics… Yea, I miss Slash’s drunken blues…but short of that, Chinese Democracy intoxicates in it’s own right.
@Nutzrpoppin: I wish I saw more Out of the Blue’s used! I want that new double disc reissue. I’d vote for REM’s Monster as one of them, along with Songs of Faith and Devotion Live. This WOULD be a great chart!
@Mr.Black: Oh man, no WAY am I listening to those lyrics again. Come on, I don’t know who your comment is directed at, but I grew up listening to RECORDS, ten or twelve times in a row. It’s actually a simple matter of education, discernment, & aversion to corn: these lyrics are purple, overwrought, soggy high-school poetry. It’s embarrassing? Appetite? Hell, this ain’t Bat out of Hell: II.
This album is definitely not a turd. I partied to “APETITE” back in the day,alot of these kids were still sucking bottles(of milk) when Axl & the boys were selling out stadiums. Axl has stuck to his guns over the last 14 tears(ha…. “14 YEARS”).He didn’t sell out just to get “something” released. PROPS to Axl for probably being the “realest” artist out there.He had to deal with so much sh*t forever. This album should put GNR back at the top. To the haters… get a clue.. try to be informed,not just opinionated. Did you expect a cookie-cutter album of “APETITE”, or “USE YOUR ILLUSION”?
@Lucas Jensen:
I heard 2 songs worth hearing again…”If The World” and “Scraped” - just my thoughts. I would buy these cuts from iTunes when available, but I wouldn’t buy the whole record.
@juiceandgin: You know, I only listened to the album once, the day I bought it. Then I turned my attention to my copy of the new Los Campesinos! album (which even though I downloaded it when it leaked, I still bought it because I believe that those who make worthwhile albums should be rewarded with an a physical purchase. The only exclusion is of course Chinese Democracy which I bought just to say that I have it and it came out before the universe implodes).
Also, yes, I just said that a group of kids from Wales made a better record than Axl did, and all of the songs on We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed were initially intended as B-sides for future singles and recorded in a week.
@40love: Dude, I listened to Appetite on the way to Church Camp when I was 12. I’ve been around the block with Axl and Co., but I parted ways with the November Rain bathos of much of the Illusions. Unfortunately, that seems to be half of Chinese Democracy.
Not worth arguing with people who can’t spell “appetite.” Or who spell “shit” with an asterisk. Or who think “selling out” is an coherent concept, particularly in the case of a multimillionaire.
@Murk: Thank you. The record is a real turd. I totally agree, and I am pretty anti-downloading.
I think this album will be the new ELO’s Out Of The Blue as the most common title in used record stores. If it was possible, I would love to see that kind of chart.
@Murk, Lucas Jensen: But you can (or at least, could have) listened to an official stream of Chinese Democracy before buying it.