U2 new album "Songs of Experience" coming December 1st, plus 2018 tour.*

I see you didn't quote the second part of that.

Once again I leave it to the forum members; have I ever tried to hide any of my biases?

 

I love your posts. I just utilized part of one and added additional opinion.

I don't follow forum members to troll them.

 

It really wouldn't mean squat to me, especially with the ticket tie-ins artists are (quietly) doing to boost chart placement. It's a digital age, it doesn't matter how many people buy your record on week one (how many rock albums have a top 50 chart life of more than 2-4 weeks anymore?), I'd just want to know if people are listening to it, particularly listening to it multiple times instead of the cursory "handful of spins then forgetting about it" that we all do with too many records.

(edit/sidenote: how many people who got a free "sale" with their ticket purchase are actually listening to the album? U2 is in their nostalgia act era, whether they accept it or not)

 

I don't believe that for one second.

 

If they had to pay for the ticket, the album wasn't free. And if U2's upcoming tour isn't record breaking, then I'll agree with you wholeheartedly.

 

It's one way of somewhat alienating a part of your fan-base / audience, for sure. That's something that Eminem recently did - not that it makes much odds to me, being from the U.K (plus, I couldn't care a less for Eninem's music), but it seems a douche move to me.

Much like I said earlier, you get enough of that on social media. It's also why I wouldn't go to a Roger Walters concert these days.

 

The debate about rock stars being political is both interesting and relevant, especially in these times, but it deserves it's own thread, don't it?
It clouds the talk about U2's new album and their 2018-tour, I think.

 

Finally got my vinyl turned up Friday, never again from the band's site, that being said it arrived in great condition and after a clean sounded great.

I've only given one proper listen on vinyl, I will be listening to it on my MP3 walking to work this week so I can get more familiar with it.

Though from my first listen it put a big smile on my face, even the poppy singles YTBTAB & GOOYOW sounded in the context of the album much better. I can't pick out anything that stands out but from my first listen I was impressed.

I'm one of those who thought SOI was the most consistent album since the 90's. I can't say whether SOE, meets up to SOI, EBW, Volcano, RBW & The Troubles were up there with some of the best tunes U2 at done in years and at the moment not hearing anything from SOE from my first listen that evokes that feeling but there is time and I can't remember hearing any GOYB like rubbish so there is a possibility that SOE should yield more as I listen to it.

 

The band is now the only group with No. 1s in the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s and 2010s.

U2 achieves its eighth No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart, as the rock band’s new Songs of Experience debuts atop the tally. The set bows with 186,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending Dec. 7, according to Nielsen Music. Of that sum, 180,000 were in traditional album sales.

Songs of Experience nets the biggest week for a rock album in 2017, both in terms of overall units, as well as album sales. The last rock set to log a larger frame was Metallica’s Hardwired… To Self-Destruct, which launched at No. 1 on the Dec. 10, 2016-dated chart with 291,000 units, of which 282,000 were in album sales.

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption, which includes traditional album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). The new Dec. 23-dated chart (where Songs of Experience debuts at No. 1) will be posted in full on Billboard's websites on Tuesday (Dec. 12).

Songs of Experience’s debut benefits from a concert ticket/album bundle sale redemption promotion in association with the act’s 2018 Experience + Innocence Tour, which begins in May.

Songs of Experience is a companion album to the band’s last studio effort, 2014’s Songs of Innocence. The latter title was initially released as a free download exclusively through Apple’s iTunes program on Sept. 9, 2014, but was not eligible to chart until it was commercially released on Oct. 14. In its first tracking week of sales, it sold 28,000 copies, and debuted and peaked at No. 9 on the Billboard 200.

U2 last topped the Billboard 200 with 2009’s No Line on the Horizon, which bowed with 484,000 copies sold in its first week, according to Nielsen Music. (The Billboard 200 transitioned to a consumption units-ranked tally in late 2014.)

In total, U2 has now led the Billboard 200 with Songs of Experience, No Line on the Horizon, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb (2004), Pop (1997), Zooropa (1993), Achtung Baby (1991), the Rattle and Hum soundtrack (1988) and The Joshua Tree(1987).

Songs of Experience is also the seventh rock album to lead the Billboard 200 in 2017, following The Killers’ Wonderful Wonderful, Foo Fighters’ Concrete and Gold, LCD Soundsystem’s American Dream, Brand New’s Science Fiction, Arcade Fire’s Everything Now and Linkin Park’s One More Light. (In all of 2016, 10 rock sets led the list.)

Also, among all acts with the most No. 1s in the history of the Billboard 200 chart, U2 is now tied with Kenny Chesney and Madonna for the sixth-most leaders (and third-most among groups). Ahead of them are The Beatles (with 19), JAY-Z (14), Bruce Springsteen and Barbra Streisand (each with 11), Elvis Presley (10), and Garth Brooks and The Rolling Stones (both with nine). U2 is also just the fourth act — and only group — to have earned No. 1s in the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s and 2010s, following Janet Jackson, Springsteen and Streisand.


U2 Scores Eighth No. 1 Album on Billboard 200 Chart With 'Songs of Experience'

 

Interesting. Pretty cool.

 

I'll have to listen to it again.

 

That's great, I also noticed that they have pulled all titles for the free digital back up "locker" from Amazon prime service. Had to buy a cd copy as well to have on the road with me.

 

"The Showman " is my favorite thing on this album, at least so far.

 

I hear it too. I only have the Deluxe Edition of the CD. At first, I assumed it was an intentional part of the song, but if - as you say - the download version doesn't have it, then it might be a CD mastering error.

 

i hear it loud & clear on the vinyl. it just sounded like it was supposed to be part of the song at first.

 

That number doesn't make a lot of sense to me. I thought they were counting the "free" copy being sold with every concert ticket bought which if one does the math, would very conservatively equal well over 300,000 units even with many shows not near selling out yet (24 shows x 15,000 tix minimum). Are they saying the (measly) 6,000 number is albums "redeemed' through ticket sales? And then you factor in whatever retail CD and Vinyl and whatever official downloads count for.... that number should be way higher even for just the USA.

 

I think the ticketbuyer needs to affirmatively redeem in order to be counted? Either way, I think that it’s impressive to debut at no. 1 at this stage in their career. It doesn’t bother me that some of the copies are from ticket bundles. These days, it’s a common strategy, and certainly not close to what Taylor Swift did (awarding up to 13 multiple purchases of her album with better “access” to tickets). The question is whether the album will have legs.

I think it’s a decent record but doesn’t strike me as an album that will generate a huge “buzz.” But, you never know. If someone had told me that in 2016, The Rolling Stones would sell 2 million copies worldwide of an album of old blues covers, I don’t think I would have believed it.

 

This is one band I don't own a single album buy.

I do like some various songs like "Where The Streets Have No Names" but I can count them one, two & three.

Edge has given them a distinct sound and gave them the longevity they have had IMO.

Bono is the weak link...below average singer with a below average mind.

 

Have you checked your iPhone? You might own a copy of their last album.

 

I remember that I did...lol...never listened to it then and have since gotten a new phone.

I don't think so...it's my opinion. Like I said, people like them, support them.

A mystery to me

 

For all the rightful criticisms Bono gets being a below average singer is not one that is thrown about too often. I mean he is usually praised vocally especially in his prime by his peers and most critics but to each their own. Cheers for your insight.

 

A below average singer who would belt out Pavarotti's part in Miss Sarajevo night after night... Sure.

 

I believe that 180,000 includes the copies redeemed with the concert tickets. As noted by someone else, the purchaser has to actively redeem their copy (either physical or download). It has to go to a US address (or Canadian, but that will likely not count for the US charts) and it has to be redeemed during that first week.

 

In his mid-fifties, giving such an emotional and great vocal performance like this, weak link? I think not.