Kanye West Vs. Pink Vs. The Killers Vs. Carly Rae Jepsen: Who Won Release Day?

Carl Williott | September 21, 2012 5:45 am

This past Tuesday (September 18) saw one of the record industry’s biggest release days of 2012. (The record industry is still a thing, last we checked.) Rather than throw all the notable releases into one exhausting run-on sentence, here are the Super Tuesday releases in convenient list form:

Kanye West‘s G.O.O.D. Music compilation Cruel SummerPink‘s The Truth About LoveThe KillersBattle BornCarly Rae Jepsen‘s KissNelly Furtado‘s The Spirit IndestructibleKreayshawn‘s Somethin ‘Bout KreayBen Folds Five‘s The Sound Of The Life Of The Mind

Whew! So, pop maniacs, did you do nothing for the past four days but listen to and pore over each of these albums? Of course you didn’t! You’re only human. But don’t worry, we did, and we’re here to answer all your questions. Will Pink get her first (yes, first) number one album? Will Kreay move into the mainstream? Are people still bowing to King Kanye? Was the Ben Folds reunion better in theory than in practice? And…will Carly Rae live beyond “Call Me Maybe”? Read on for all the takeaways and trends from this week’s battle royale, and sound off in the poll at the bottom.

Seven albums enter, but only one album can be named champion. And that album looks like it’ll be The Truth About Love. Honestly, we thought Pink’s relentless onslaught of TV appearances risked overexposing the singer and causing Pink fatigue, but that wasn’t the case. Billboard predicts that she will top Kanye’s crew with the number one album of the week, with The Killers sliding in at third. Hers is also the top new release on Amazon, with the Killers and Kanye at two and three respectively.

Our reader poll fits the trend as well. We asked you guys which of the aforementioned seven records you’d be rushing to buy. Pink’s is the overwhelming favorite with 42% of the vote, followed by Kiss (17%) and Cruel Summer (15%). Poor BFF got no love with a measly 1%. It’s worth noting, though, on iTunes the G.O.O.D. crew is winning out, followed by Pink, Carly Rae and Ben Folds Five rounding out the top 10.

Kanye, I’mma let you finish, but after a decade of pop dominance, Pink deserves a moment at the top. So, that’s what the wallets are saying. But what did the critics say? Cruel Summer was greeted with generally positive reviews, but Kanye’s habit of going for grandiosity has started to wear thin with listeners. As for Pink, her reviews were a bit more inconsistent (Rolling Stone was particularly harsh). Carly and Kreay were all over the spectrum, as is expected from viral acts swooping into the commercial realm. Those two gals had the most riding on this week, as it was Kreay’s debut and may as well have been Carly Rae’s debut.

Of the two, we knew Kreay’s would be a fun listen. But Jepsen, she turned out a bubbly, polished record. The Bieber-approved Canadian delivered. Not that we didn’t think she had it in her, but you always have to be careful with these rapid viral risers. Jepsen is headed for a spot in the top 10 in the Billboard 200, and in a cursory search of Amazon and iTunes, Kreay is a few pages deep with poor Nelly.

Nelly’s in that stable of established acts in the middle along with The Killers and BFF. Had they picked another week, The Killers probably would’ve had a number one album on their hands. Ben Folds Five is making waves in rock circles and have a solid digital showing. They were never huge enough to expect their 13-year drought to end with a high spot on the charts. And that means we’d submit that Nelly Furtado had the most disappointing week. She’s been on TV just as much as Pink but didn’t have nearly the return on investment based on the initial numbers and reaction.

But that’s our take on this week’s proceedings. Now that you’ve read the reviews, seen the sales numbers and oh, right, listened to the music, we want your take. After this release day royal rumble…

[poll id=”1631″]