[Alicia] Keys Is #1 With 2nd Lowest Tally Ever

This is the stupidest article on the charts that I've read in a long time. I get the point that CD sales are low but it's also not prime time for releases or sales. These figures aren't that shocking any more and I find the naming of a "second worse" to be completely pointless:

Week Ending Jan. 21, 2008: Keys Is #1 With 2nd Lowest Tally Ever

Posted Wed. Jan 23, 5:45 AM ET by Paul Grein in Chart Watch

Alicia Keys' As I Am registered the second worst weekly sales tally for a #1 album since SoundScan began monitoring album sales in 1991. Keys' album sold 60,519 copies last week, just 455 more copies than the all-time bottom-dweller, the Dreamgirls soundtrack, which sold 60,064 copies in its second week on top one year ago.

Keys' album has sold 2,786,000 copies in just 10 weeks, a tremendous total by any measure. So it's a little unfair that her name will be dragged through the mud as this news is disseminated. But that's show biz.

It's also noteworthy that five of this week's top 10 CDs this week are R&B-oriented. Keys is joined by Mary J. Blige at #3, Raheem DeVaughn at #5, John Legend at #7 and Chris Brown at #9. (How they coordinated it so they'd occupy only the odd positions is beyond me!)

Here's the whole (stupid) thing:

http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/ch...-21-2008-keys-is-1-with-2nd-lowest-tally-ever

 

Better her album is the #1 in a slow week than much lower and selling even less in a slow week. If 60519 what #1 is in sales, imagine how her weekly sales would be at #200.

 

That said, the top 4 albums are Alicia Keys, the Juno soundtrack, Mary J Blige and Radiohead. Those are four pretty good albums, and its all real music.

That is very encouraging!!

 

This is a non story that has some insight.Is it a dig at Alicia Keyes or a hard cold look at the fact the industry decline is inevitable.I think it is the latter........

 

I heard on the news today that 1 song downloaded out of every 10 is legal and paid for.
That's a big reason why sales are down; most people are not paying for music.

(Music lacking in quality could be another factor)

 

I don't see how this is disparaging to Keys.

 

I don't understand this post. It is extremely important to understand that the number 1's are selling less and less over short amounts of time. This specific analysis is extremely important for those in the industry and for consumers who understand this concept, it continues to show how bad it is for the music industry. It doesn't matter what artist is at number 1, they continue to sell less and less than they did just 5 years ago. Soundtracks in the 90's sold more copies than big number 1's today - that's important.

 

Oh Cmon. 2007 was, and you said yourself, a great year for music. And "quality" is totally subjective.

 

I'm not sure how accurate it is as I thought Johnny Cash's last album was number 1 with only 50,000 sold.

 

This has been bugging me so much, I did some research!

There goes your "quality/sales" argument!

 

Alicia's got nothing to worry about. As I Am was the 4th best selling album of last year. People don't tend to remember "second worse".

What I'm really encouraged by is Radiohead's strong showing: hitting #1 and holding in the top 5 after 4 weeks. To me this is a great evidence that there is enough demand for a tangible CD for an album that could've been legally downloaded for pennies months ago.

Regardless of sales, 2007 was IMHO the best year for music in more than a decade.


BTW,
Here's to top from 2000 compared to 2007:

The best selling albums of 2000 were:

1. "No Strings Attached/'N Sync: 9,936,104
2. "Marshall Mathers LP"/Eminem: 7,921,107
3. "Oops!...I Did It Again"/Britney Spears: 7,893,544
4. "Human Clay"/Creed: 6,587,834
5. "Supernatural"/Santana: 5,857,824
6. "Beatles 1"/Beatles: 5,068,300
7. "Country Grammar"/Nelly: 5,067,529
8. "Black & Blue"/Backstreet Boys: 4,289,865
9. "Dr. Dre 2001"/Dr. Dre: 3,992,311
10. "Writing's On The Wall"/Destiny's Child: 3,802,165

The best selling albums of 2007 were:

1. "Noel"/Josh Groban: 3,699,000
2. "Soundtrack"/ High School Musical 2: 2,957,000
3. "Long Road Out of Eden"/Eagles: 2,608,000
4. "As I Am"/Alicia Keys: 2,543,000
5. "Daughtry"/Daughtry: 2,497,000
6. "Soundtrack"/Hannah Montana 2: Meet Miley: 2,489,000
7. "Minutes To Midnight"/Linkin Park: 2,099,000
8. "Dutchess"/Fergie: 2,064,000
9. "Taylor Swift"/Taylor Swift: 1,951,000
10."Graduation"/Kanye West: 1,892,000

 

More importantly, that benchmark is bound to be trumped (i.e. lowered) many many more times.

 

And three of the four (all but the Juno soundtrack) are available on vinyl LPs.

 

I meant in terms of "newer/younger" bands/artists. All the music I loved in 2007 (15 titles or so) were done by "seasoned pros/veterans" with the exception of maybe The White Stripes. Most of what's on the Billboard charts, I despise.

(That list above of the best selling albums of 2007 is pathetic)

 

Comparison

it was shown above,

"BTW,
Here's to top from 2000 compared to 2007:"

+++++++++++++++

You can easily see how the 2000 albums were selling 2 or 3 times as much as the 2007 albums. The comparison is amazing, music sales were definitely much lower in 2007.

Scott

 

Not to be difficult your argument, too, is subjective. There is plenty to throw away on those albums you mentioned but they aren't all bad. I'm not ashamed to say that I have the New Kids and the Nsync album you mention and both of those records, despite the reputation that goes with them, are well-written and well-performed. Say what you will about the Backstreet Boys but "Millenium", an album I personally don't care for, also has well-written songs on it.

Ed

 

Of course I was being facetious. There are plenty of people that love the works of the bands that I listed. This was my intent. To show that quality is totally subjective.

 

(I can't take this seriously...)

 

My point is that the guy's point has NOTHING to do with Alicia Keys. The writer only used her name to get himself noticed. And the analysis is crap-ola because if you want to really get a look at the problem you need to look at everything other than Alicia Keys. If the guy really wanted to report news (he doesn't) he'd find another headline. I could care less about Alicia Keys but connecting her in anyway to the problem=stupid, manipulative article to me.

I also argue that one more article about poor CD sales is passe.

 

And you think it will prove what? You think the "consumer" will suddenly feel guilty and go out and buy a truckload of cd's? This is just lazy reporting and pulling facts out of ones **** to look like a story.

 

As much as I tend to listen to music many folks would call "very old," I do sometimes play -gasp- a current pop channel, and I've noted some of it is better than it has been in quite a while.

Perhaps the issue lay more in the stagnation of mass mass media sensibilties. Yes, I know it's changed, my head tells me that too, but to something in my spirit most of the mainstream over the last 20 years (maybe more) seems cut from the same cloths. Sure it's often further down the track of artificiality in sound, with the (good, IMH) exception of some electric guitar tending to favor a somewhat grittier, more live sound and the (bad, IMH) aspect of over-processed but still appalling vocal standards. Those kind of observations, like the flourishing distinctions in sub-genres, are splitting hairs compared to the point that the same cadre of people with the same sensibilities seem to be making it. It's macho, cool, sexy, whatever, according to the same folks... if that makes sense... As I'm hearing the same urban-ified media product spanning another generation, I can't help but feel it's living an artificially extended lifespan at "the top." Perhaps many folks are tired of much of it, but neither side of the counter realizes or accepts it. The cash registers giving the hint. Maybe 90% of the mainstream music makers all go to the same parties or something and need to be left there, I dunno.

I could be completely wrong, and my core tastes too "irrelevant" (unless you feel it just may be relevant that I'm not buying many new records). All this is awfully hard to cover in such gross simplifications anyway. Just throwing some chatter in the box I guess.

 

I wondered how long it'd take to get a response like this. LOL! It's cool. I can be the "lone wolf". I'm totally comfortable with that...

Ed

 

I wonder how the new Tompkins Square releases by Charlie Poole and the Highlanders and the compilation "Imaginational Anthem 6" will do next week.