I think my neighbors three houses away just heard my audible gasp!
Lady Gaga’s “Joanne” album is in a chart free fall. It’s now number 4 back to number 2 on iTunes eleven days after it debuted at number 1.
On amazon.com, the physical CD has dropped to number 5 for the deluxe edition and 17 for the regular one..
The first week sales for “Joanne” were weak, with 161K copies sold, and another 40K streams. But it seemed like it was holding its own, and Gaga was doing lots of publicity. What wasn’t there was buzz, and a hit single on the radio.
All in all, “Joanne” has been a botched job. I can only think that the usual elements weren’t in place to make the album a hit. And now things are unraveling fast.
On iTunes, Gaga has been replaced by Kenny Chesney and two rap stars. And today is only Monday.
I still say her biggest issue is that she doesn’t have one single on the top 50 streaming singles chart put out by hitsdailydouble.com. That chart is full of today’s hitmakers and, like the radio top 40, it’s fueled by marketing money. You get the feeling that Interscope has no one working on “Joanne.”
This is in no way Lady Gaga’s fault. The album is very, very good. She’s a huge talent. But when there’s no internal support, albums die. That’s the brutal reality of the record business. It always has been.
