UPDATE MON JUNE 1ST Saturday sales were also hurt. Total is now 120K total, 86K without streaming. This is a terrific album. I’ve really dug into “Enigma,” “Sine,” and “911.” Using 1More triple driver headphones and the sound is rich and deep.
SUNDAY MAY 31 What can do you?
Lady Gaga postponed the release of her “Chromatica” album for six weeks because of the pandemic. It was supposed to hit on April 10th.
She and Universal Music put off the release until May 29th. By Thursday May 28th things looked good. They had the top 2 singles on iTunes. All systems were go. It seems like “Chromatica” would blow up on release. There was even an online listening party scheduled.
Then disaster struck: first Britney Spears released her single, “Mood Ring,” which no one could have seen coming. It jumped to number 1, blunting Gaga on the singles chart.
Then, more seriously, the nation was plunged into riots, protests, and fires, violence, and arrests. The listening party had to be cancelled. Ardent fans bought the music, but the world’s attention was focused elsewhere.
“Chromatica” sold around 86,000 copies all day Friday. Most of that– 80,000– was paid downloads and CDs. The rest was streaming. It’s a good number but not a blockbuster. Promotion would have helped goose it, but the situation didn’t really allow it other than social media i.e. Tweets and Facebook posts.
Now we’ll see how “Chromatica” does this week.
BTW, “Mood Ring” only sold 7,000 copies on Friday. It didn’t even make the Buzz Angle top 5. And its little run at number 1 is over after two days. Gaga and Ariana’s “Rain on Me” is back at number 1.
