We’re about 90 days into 2020, and the biggest debut of the year so far is here. The Weeknd’s “After Hours” scored 445,000 copies sold including streaming.
That’s the biggest debut of 2020, beating BTS by about 20,000 copies. It’s also roughly double what Justin Bieber sold of his “Changes” album.
The Weeknd also has several hit singles from “After Hours,” all in the top half of the charts. And this is interesting: The Weeknd’s sales were more than half in CDs and paid downloads. Streaming was secondary. The Weeknd’s fans want to own this music, not just access it passively.
The Weeknd also made mincemeat (can you still do that) of Childish Gambino’s badly released new album called “3.15.20” or “We Don’t Know What We’re Doing.” The Donald Glover aka Gambino album could not have been handled more poorly.
Former One Directioner Niall Horan’s second album “Heartbreak Weather” fell from 4 to 47, it’s over. What happened? Capitol is not connecting with the One Direction audience or even Harry Styles’. Horan doesn’t wear lipstick and fishnet stockings. He’s just a solid singer-songwriter. But he needs marketing, and fast.
