Thursday, November 14, 2024

Pop: Top 40 Breakdown as Total Sales Plummet, Number 1 Album Sells Just 38,000 Copies

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Please someone tell me again: how are the record companies surviving? This week total sales for the top 20 came to just over 300,000 units. Total sales for the whole top 50 come to around 400,000. Adding streaming helps just a bit, with some increased numbers. The number 1 album, Aaron Lewis’s “Sinner,” sold just 38,111 copies. Streaming gave it a slight boost to 51,732.

On top of that, hitsdailydouble.com introduced a Top 50 Streaming Chart. Lady Gaga’s “Perfect Illusion,” stuck around number 35 on iTunes, isn’t on that list. According to Spotify, “Perfect Illusion” has only 22 million streams total. The number 1 streamed song this week, The Chainsmokers’ “Closer,” had 22 million streams just this past week. That doesn’t bode well for Gaga, even though she should be at the top of the charts right now. (Maybe the lack of lyrics has something do with it.)

The other continuing news is that no one older than 25 is doing all the streaming that’s constantly discussed. Barbra Streisand, for example, had just 200 streams for her “Encore” album. “Encore” sold only 13,698 copies this week. If Streisand were relying on album sales for income, she’d have to sell her house and live in a studio.

So what’s coming to save us? Green Day? Lady Gaga’s “Joanne” on October 21st? The Weeknd’s “Starboy” on November 25th? It’s a bleak scene out there unless there’s some surprise hit.

 

 

Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.

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