Thursday, November 14, 2024

How Did This Happen? Jon Batiste Releases 1st Post-Grammy Album of the Year Release, And It Bombs with Just 15,000 Sold

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Wow, this is a headscratcher. Jon Batiste released a new album last week, his first one since he won the Grammy in 2021 for his album, “We Are.”

The new album, called “World Music Radio,” sold just 15,118 streaming equivalent copies. In paid downloads and CDs, that number was just 8,283. The album is not on the iTunes Top 200 Albums.

This would seem strange since “We Are” did win that Grammy for Album of the Year and four other statues that night.

But “We Are” sold in total just 4,275 CDs and downloads. Total sales including streaming came eventually to 152,569. The album got no sales bounce from the Grammys. Usually an album of the year would take off like a rocket. In this case, it did not.

And so we have the follow up effort, already a non event.

What happened? In the case of “We Are” — an ebullient celebration of R&B and world music — Batiste had something big going for him. He was the bandleader every night on CBS’s “Late Night with Stephen Colbert.” He was omnipresent. Everyone was in love with him, especially CBS, which also broadcasts the Grammy Awards.

Batiste left Colbert soon after winning, which wasn’t a shock. I’m sure if Colbert were on right now, Batiste would be invited back. But the strikes have left the talk shows dark, meaning Batiste hasn’t had a lot of outlets to plug the new music. Second, the album was only announced a short time ago and had no real advance marketing from Verve Records.

PS “We Are” beat albums by Billie Eilish, Justin Bieber, Olivia Rodrigo and even Tony Bennett’s second collaboration with Lady Gaga.

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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