It’s not a surprise that the new U2 album is, barring some sort of crazy coup by Taylor Swift fans, going to hit No. 1 on the album charts next week, but music biz projection types seem to think that Bono & co. are going to scan right around 500,000 copies the first week out of the box which to say the least is a little disappointing (considering How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb sold over 800,000 the first week). It’s not like the band hasn’t put the promotional work in. So what happened?
I imagine there will be a dozen or so articles blaming the weakish sales on filesharing, so let’s give Digital Music News a little credit for trying a little harder to find an answer—namely, “Get On Your Boots”:
But isn’t this U2, one of the last mega-superstar acts left standing? Indeed, the mere mention of U2 is enough to rally the longtime faithful. But like everyone else, U2 still needs a sizzling single to drive tonnage, and that appears missing from the current equation.
According to information compiled by exclusive data partner BigChampagne, response has been rather tepid on lead single “Get On Your Boots,” across online and offline formats. Through its BC Dash interface, BigChampagne aggregated a number of important chart positions, including a peak spot of #68 on US-based terrestrial radio tracker Mediabase (across all formats), reached on February 7th. Currently, “Boots” is ranked #106 on traditional radio, though the song is #12 across rock formats.
Hardly a runaway smash, and the story online is similar. On the BigChampagne TopSwaps chart, “Get On Your Boots” recently peaked at the lowly #540. Separately, downloads of the entire leaked album reached a modest 445,649 on BitTorrent channels through March 3rd, over a two-week, pre-release window.
It’s not difficult to think that the tepid reaction to “Get On Your Boots” has poisoned the well for the album as a whole. Reaction to the song, among my friends, sorted out who was still blindly devoted to U2 these days; even acquaintances who went to multiple Zoo TV dates and praised the middling post-Pop era seemed to shake their heads a bit at whatever the heck was going on there. The album is a little more enjoyable for me as time goes on, but it’s hard to get over the stinker of a first single, and maybe the band is suffering sales-wise for that mistake.
Why Is U2 Projecting So Low? The Dirty Data Details… [Digital Music News]
For the record, I am misremembering — I believe POP moved 350k, ALL THAT… moved 525k but was still outsold for a #3 placement. Consider the record corrected.
interesting thing that may be limited to the nyc metro area: i’ve seen a bunch of tv ads for the record that utilize ‘get on your boots’ over the past few days. they were also persistent on the taxi tv broadcasts that utilize material from nbc, like used in every ad break persistent.
Who has not heard “Get On Your Botts?” It seems to be coming out of my TV and radio non-stop. Local radio stations can’t stop talking about U2, running U2 contests, etc.
Wouldn’t it have been cheaper to write a good song than to spend so much money and time on promoting a bad one?
Given the market has declined around 10-12% a year since they released the last album, shouldn’t 500k be there or thereabouts on expectations? And that’s with a dreadful lead single.
You guys are all nuts, this has everything to do with the sales environment and only a little to do with the single. “The Fly” was the lead single from Achtung Baby. “Numb” was the lead single from Zooropa. And, more importantly, 500k down from 800k isn’t THAT big a drop considering that the timeframe is 2004-2009. 50 Cent would kill for a drop in sales that small.
Also: my guess is U2 is going to hold the record for biggest debut of ‘09 for AT LEAST a couple months, probably longer.
But “The Fly” and “Numb” were much better songs than “Get on Your Boots.”
Hasn’t U2’s MO always been to release a fairly weak single as a way of letting people know the album is coming, and then putting out the better single once the LP had dropped? Whether that technique will work in the current market is another question, but I don;’t think what they’re doing is much different than what they’ve done in the past.
Leaked album, subpar single, middling reviews (except from Rolling Stone), and the continued annoyance of Bono?
I’m surprised this thing’s even getting to 500k.
@Al Shipley:
Completely agree. It’s a completely different time.
@Michaelangelo Matos:
No, they weren’t. “Get on Your Boots” is in the same vein as “Vertigo”, and some may hear it as a re-write and be unmoved by it as a result. “Boots” is just a catchy tune; no more, no less.
This looks like an article I would see on certain gossip sites. You’re really going to dismiss half a million in the U.S.? You know worldwide sales will be huge. The first single didn’t sell well, but that doesn’t really mean much in today’s market. That’s why nobody over 25 knows who Flo Rida is except people in the industry. If you’re a fan, you’ll like the album. People love to bash “Pop”, but there were some good songs on it. “All That You Can’t Leave Behind” is slightly overrated(”Wild Honey”?). This album is somewhere in the middle.
@Saturn:
I haven’t heard ‘Get On Your Boots’, or ‘Vertigo’. The last U2 song I remember hearing was that lousy Village People knockoff from ‘Pop’, and only ’cause a workmate was suffering some Christian Guilt thing and had decided U2 were ok to like for Random Godbothering Reasons, which meant many days of him actively trying to convince himself he liked the album, even though it kept repeatedly slapping him in the face and saying bad things about his mother.
This is what I love about the I-Pod age. You never have to have bad music forced on you again. I haven’t listened to the radio for years - why let someone take a dump in your ears?
Ok, I looked up ‘Get On Your Boots’ on Youtube. Cheap clip, lame music, even for U2. Hilariously crap songwriting, vacuous melody: sounds like they’re heading for the 90’s, living in the wild, wild west.
‘Get On Your Boots’ might just be the worst song U2 has ever released as a single. I could listen to ‘Lemon’ or ‘Discotheque’ on loop for a month but you’d have to nail my feet to the ground and superglue earphones on me before I subject myself to that song again.
@jt.ramsay: Whoa, thanks for the heads up! Even I’ll pick this one up for $3.99….
@Al Shipley: This will probably be the years biggest debut (are any other superstar acts set to release anything this year?)
@slowburn: The story about the Amazon pricing was nearly as popular as album coverage this week.
@2ironic4u: Justin Timberlake waits in the wings, right?
@antistar2000: So that Coldplay (still an arena act at best, a large theatre act at worst) outsold U2 (an stadium act, solidly) by 200k+ units, isn’t news? No need to question why, let’s just move along.
Eww. Perhaps it’s not sellin well because U2 has gone down the drain with Bono.
@LostTurntable: Worst single? Um, how about “The Fly”, “Numb”, or “Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me”?
@jt.ramsay: That just shows how unmoved I was by “Get On Your Boots.”
@2ironic4u: Um, Eminem? Dr. Dre (maybe)? Jay-Z? Lil Wayne? Linkin Park? Coldplay, even? I can’t say how many any of those acts will debut with, but any of them _could_ beat 500k.
Long story short: most of you are at least partially right.
Al’s right that sales climate alone turns 840K into 500K four years later. That’s a no-brainer.
Dan et al. are right that the weak leadoff single makes all the difference. And let’s remove our opinions from the equation and just look at radio-adoption numbers: in ‘04, “Vertigo” positively shot to the top of the rock charts, literally in under a month. Radio loved the single and played the shit out of it, and even if the song became a punchline later (cf. South Park, Colin Farrell on SNL), at the time the public loved it too; sales at iTunes were through the roof.
Plus (can’t believe no one’s mentioned this yet; Maura reminded me the other day), in ‘04 U2 had a big honkin’ Apple ad and their very own iPod to go with the release of “Vertigo” and Atomic Bomb. That couldn’t have hurt. (Which, BTW, didn’t hurt Coldplay’s last album, as long as we’re bringing that up.)
Finally, Matos is right that “The Fly” and “Numb” are better songs than “Boots.” That’s just my opinion (and his), but c’mon.
BUT: that doesn’t negate Al’s point, that all three of those songs deserve to be put in the same bucket, because all three were radio-tepid leadoff singles that the albums in question had to overcome. Achtung and Zooropa both debuted at No. 1, but with fairly modest Soundscan totals (295K for the former and, IIRC, about 350K for the latter). Achtung sold steadily over time during 1991-92, going on to become U2’s second-biggest album ever, no thanks to “The Fly” but to “Mysterious Ways,” “One,” et al.; Zooropa stalled at double-platinum because it produced no serious radio hits.
Bottom line, singles matter, and Dan’s core point (and, I guess, Digital Music News’s) is fundamentally correct.
I blame the single. Not just the single but the single mostly. With each passing year more and more people are using Itunes and file sharing websites which could eventually bring about the end of the album format all together. But as for now it is a single-driven market, at least for strong initial sales anyway. The last two albums to me seemed like two huge singles with albums (not to mention tours) built around them. This album is much more a complete album without a huge hit lead single. Which could mean a bumpy start but a better seller over time, but I’m not gonna dilude myself. We’ll have to wait and see.
Don’t get me wrong… I do like GOYB but it did not jump out at me when I first heard it played. I don’t think it works very well as a lead single. To me it makes much more sense in the context of the album. It’s a great pallet cleanser after the super-pop anthem Crazy Tonight. In that context I feel it really moves the album along nicely but on it’s own it’s a misfire. But as far as Crazy Tonight is concerned… is anyone else wondering about another Ipod commercial? If any song on that album would fit that mold CT would be their best bet imo. It’s sweet and poppy and has a decent hook. I know a lot of reviewers single that song out as one of the new album’s weak links but I disagree. I think it could really serve an important function for the band. You need that sweet pop to catch people’s attention in order to garner initial sales. Once they have reason to start buying I do think this album will do fine. This is their most consistent album this decade, imo. Instead of a huge single with some filler on the back half of the album (ie: Wild Honey, Peace on Earth, When I look at the World and almost the entire last half of HTDAAB) this album is strong throughout–except for Unknown Caller. It pains me to say but that song is god-awful through and through. It’s the only song on the album that’s a complete dud–uninteresting melodically and shit for lyrics. Maybe my opinion will change over time but as for now I’m still wondering when they’ll release CT as a single and I’m still secretly wondering if there’s enough sweetness in that song to save the album from eventual obscurity.
how about this: U2 are as boring as fuck?
@jt.ramsay: No one buys MP3 downloads from Amazon.
@Chris Molanphy: I mentioned the iPod ad above.
@VivaLaMainstream: exactly
Is there a site that aggregates top album torrent downloads?
yeah, it’s definitely the weakness of the lead single. Also, Bono is insufferable (not that that mattered with the last album).
500k is still pretty good though, right? What were Coldplay’s first week sales, somewhere around 600k?
My guess, people realize that How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb was pretty average. I own it but never listened to it again after the first week or so. If that. HTDAAB sold well because All That You Can’t Leave Behind was so good. Coming off HTDAAB, I’m going to adopt a wait and see approach with the new one.
No U2/iPod cross-marketing this time out. Even folks who don’t listen to the radio heard “Vertigo”.
HTDAAB had momentum, and it had a huge honkin’ hit leading the way. This album has neither. (I actually prefer ATOMIC BOMB as an album to this one, but that’s neither here nor there.)
And come on, people, let’s not shit ourselves: 500k in this market is pretty big. U2 have rarely had commanding first-week performances — I might be misremembering, but I thought ALL THAT YOU CAN’T… only moved 350k in its first week, and was outsold by Outkast’s STANKONIA and another album I can’t recall right now. They’re not actually the biggest band in the world based on album sales, it’s purely based on rep.
Most U2 fans are in their mid-30s - mid-50’s…
Those people are more worried about where they’re gonna find the money to pay their mortgages than buying a new U2 album.
@owenmeany: Even when Amazon lists it at $3.99?
@chachwitablog: Coldplay moved 721k first week.
@Audif Jackson Winters III: I concur. I don’t believe I’ve heard their new song at all. But then, I don’t even have any boots upon which to get; so this is probably not the one that’s gonna get me. But thirty seconds of unexpected “Vertigo” always sounded fantastic.
I think the TV commercials helped to change my mind on Coldplay, too.
Thanks, randywatson, you’re a voice of reason. Agree completely on NLOTH. I haven’t enjoyed a U2 album beginning to end since Achtung Baby, until now (minus a couple of clunkers). This band is damned if they do, damned if they don’t. If they had put out Vertigo or Beautiful Day, Part 2, everyone would call them a sellout. Instead they release GOYB, which makes sense in context of the album as you said, but not as a single, and the new album is branded a failure in the press because it “only” sold 400-500K domestic. This is an album that takes repeated, careful listens to reveal itself. It’s not an album around an Ipod commercial or a campaign theme. I could care less about the 300K people who supposedly dropped off since HTDAAB. The band that meant so much in the 80s/early 90s, at least to me, is back on this album. And I hope the next album that’s supposed to drop later this year continues in this direction.
@Audif Jackson Winters III: Whoops. So you did. Sorry.
My 2 cents: I have only heard GOYB, but the video totally turned me off. The images were silly, and the only excuse to have the chick with the giant boots, is if that image is the main stage prop on their world tour.The Rolling Stone article makes it sound as if the band has collectively taken up permanent residence up their backside.I hope that I am wrong-the best thing I read was Larry Mullin again in RS:”Spiderman….Tommy?”
@HomefrontRadio: As wonky as this comment is, I agree about not listening to music radio at all, ever anymore…(I listen to NPR.)
Does decline in radio listenership have an impact on such things?
I like U2 fine, not fanatically. I have owned past albums, happily, but not since a few albums back. I don’t think I’ve heard GOYB. If it was what they played at the Grammys, I was unmoved, even turned off.
I buy albums if they are recommended to me by people I trust…not by critics or columnists (or NPR’s fogey/indie slant), but by friends, and lately, I buy a good amount of music when artists I am fanatical about recommend something themselves (depending on the honesty of the context)…that’s probably defined my last year’s music purchasing.
No one I know is excited about this album…that’s all. As a result, I surely am not, either.
Good points, randywatson and darkthirty.
All this talk about a singles-driven marketplace makes it unavoidable for me to see the irony in how technology has affected the music business in a way no one bothers to mention. In other words, the relevance of singles over albums; artists signing all-inclusive deals (recording, management, touring, merchandise)…it’s staring to look like the ’50s all over again.
One of these days some artist is gonna find themselves face-to-face with the 21st century version of a-Cadillac-in-lieu-of-payment-for-their-work scenario. Let’s not kid ourselves: the bloodsuckers will reinvent themselves and make it happen somehow. Soon. Just you wait.
I liked the second track on the album, Magnificent a lot. I have it played on a loop on my laptop when I work.