John Legend is having problems selling records.
His latest album, “Legend,” has sold 25,000 copies through yesterday according to Luminate. It was released September 9th to no fanfare, and no single on the radio or charts.
“Legend” was supposed to be John’s Renaissance. He left Columbia Records after 18 years and moved to Universal Music Group after the failure of his last album, “Bigger Love.” When I saw him last winter in L.A., John was very excited about the new album and change of labels.
But for some reason, nothing is working. It’s not like John Legend isn’t on TV all the time. He’s as media-exposed as he could be. But there’s something else going on here. Either he needs a new manager, or a producer who will harness his remarkable talents into something commercial.
“Legend” is a double album — 24 tracks. Some of them have been streamed a lot, like “Dope” featuring JID (should be a radio staple), and “All She Wanna Do” with Saweetie. But most of them are not getting played. It’s too bad. The second to last song on the “Second” part, “I Don’t Love You Like I Used To,” has only 300,000 streams. It should be the third track on the first part, and marketed to Adult Contemporary radio. It could be an enormous hit. It could also be remixed as a duet with a great female singer. Where is Alicia Keys when you need her?
Listen, no disrespect to Legend’s management. But something has to change here.
