Mariah Carey’s “Charmbracelet,” from 2002, made a short run on the iTunes chart. But Carey’s lamb family turned sheepish and couldn’t get the old recording up to number 1.
“Charmbracelet” is at number 14 now and falling.
Last Monday, week ago today, Carey’s “E=MC2” was pushed to number 1 for a day on iTunes. Today, it’s not even in the top 200 chart. That party is over.
At the same time, Madonna’s “Bedtime Stories,” not a great album,” was propelled to number 1 by her fans. It’s at 62 today and spiraling down.
Fans of all legacy artists are finding it’s hard to manipulate the iTunes chart, even if the album they’re focused on is deep discounted. When you need rent money and food and everyone’s out of work, spending $4.99 over and over on a multi-millionaire’s old music isn’t really worth it.
Still, the devotion to these stars, while perplexing to outsiders, is admirable– as long as you don’t go broke, because Mariah and Madonna aren’t going to pay fans’ bills.
