Nope...it's nowhere to be found. I'm not a betting man, but that would have been a safe bet, even with those thousands upon thousands of Target backorders... Top 200 Albums | Billboard 200 chart
Actually Target shipped 10K in previously uncounted, back orders for WHO the past week. That order alone was enough to place them back up the charts. Not to mention all the other orders. However, Yikes ! Billboard & Rolling Stone just ignored WHO & all the sales...not placing it as would be appropriate. The only people that knew WHO wouldn't chart are the people that prevented it, through sleight of hand. Or worse. Deborah Dugan might be able to explain it, a bit down the road. The Grammy president just relieved of duty, not for corruption, but for reporting corruption. All kinds of horrible irregularities going on.
Does anyone know if WHO 2019 is still getting played & added to UK playlists, with the song Break The News. Several weeks ago it was said here, that BBC In the UK had added it to some playlists & was doing fairly well.
I get it that you like this album and would like it to be a big commercial and chart success. But the notion that there is some sort of conspiracy to ignore sales by trade publications like Billboard strikes me as silly. And you've cited no evidence that it happened, nor given a plausible reason why anyone would have a vested interest in making this record appear less successful than it is. There's a ceiling on potential interest in new work by veteran acts. Most young listeners are not interested in the Who, and most old listeners are not interested in new music. That's just the way it is. No conspiracy necessary.
Right I cited no proof. I simply said that in the current week now charting, from one group of Target back orders alone, 10,000 or thereabouts copies were shipped, for this week alone. This group of orders shipping 6 or 7 weeks late by Target numbered approximately 10,000, not counting Amazon, or anybody else. Or just look at charts like HDD-Buzzangle for the week, showing WHO as high as #3 in physical sales, but not even listed in Billboards top 200. What proof do I need to provide ? I'm not running a business or conducting investigations...the proof is easily available...charts like Buzzangle focusing on physical sales show WHO in the top ten for sales of physical units, yet Billboard doesn't even have it the top 200 ? That suggests an awful lot of things, not good ones either. Not my fight, I like the album & the band, I'm a fan & hate to see them cheated out of chart placement. As far as conspiracies, it is factual that the president of the Grammys was just suspended for reporting graft, not indulging in graft. For reporting it to their Human Resources dept.
I find it hard to believe that in 2019 or 2020 Target sold over 10,000 copies of any one cd title be it Taylor Swift or The Who.
What is your source for the claim that 10,000 back-ordered CDs were shipped by Target last week? And even if that is true, how do you know these sales were not counted during week one? I'm puzzled as to how alleged corruption in the Grammy nominating process has any bearing on a discussion of chart placement in various trade publications. What would be the motivation for Billboard or any other publication to deliberately distort and minimize the popularity of the Who's album?
We should change the title of this thread to "WHO: Supply Chain and Chart Success Thread." I mean, enough already. Who cares? How about the songs on the album? Do you like them? Do you not like them? Why? What's your favorite song? Who plays which instruments on what songs? Radical topic departures, I know.
Fortunately the quality of "WHO" speaks for itself. Those who think the album will get, or needs, further validation from the Billboard albums chart at this point are mistaken.
Thanks for asking! I absolutely LOVE this album! I realize it's not mid 70's Who stuff. Maybe because I am far removed from being a teen in the late 70's/early 80's. This record works for me. I have played it dozens of times already. Fave tracks for me are "I Don't Wanna Get Wise" and "Break The News", but I think EVERY song is fantastic.
Tin foil hat conspiracies aside (re: the powers that be who are keeping WHO down), I too dig “Break The News”. I’ve always been of the belief that albums benefit from an additional influence/songwriter put in the mix. I love The Who By Numbers, my favorite Who record. Entwistle’s songwriting counterpunch with his contribution “Success Story”, not only makes it the perfect start to Side 2 of the album, it’s texture compliments/augments the other tunes. “Break The News” softens some of the Andrew Lloyd Webber/Broadway show tune tendencies that have crept into some of Pete’s songwriting. Completely off topic... does anyone know why Townshend’s Deep End Live release doesn’t list the musicians? Was listening to it last night and wanted to show my Gilmour obsessed wife that David Gilmour played in Townshend’s big band. I’ve never seen musicians not credited in liner notes before.
I too am gaga for WHO. My favorite songs include "All This Music Must Fade," "Ball And Chain," "Beads On One String," "Hero Ground Zero," "I'll Be Back," and "Rockin' in Rage." And the bonus tracks are awesome! As are the other songs! This album has surpassed Face Dances and It's Hard for me. A strong commendation, I know.
Favourite songs? 'All This Music Must Change' excited me in a "Yeah! They sound like The Who again! I'll give this album a chance!" kind of way. 'Break The News' I found an interesting, emotionally-soulful departure. 'Street Song' somehow manages to tick all of those boxes and throw in an added experimental edge.
Taking the last part first, hypothetically when the WHO were vying for a #1 album, a competitor might want their group to hit #1 instead, for promotional & other purposes, or even if it's not that explicit, there could be a spoken or unspoken agreement to promote younger artists & allocate too high a percentage to streams, which are easy to forge, because these younger artists are where they want to make their money. As to where did I get my info ? Most of it comes from several people involved with the WHO, & a few things i learned on my own. I put it out there as a friend of the board & a fan of the band....if you don't accept it, that's fine, lets get back to this great album !! People are happily naming their fave tunes from the album, what's blowing me away, is I think every song is very good to great ! Not a rotten one in the bunch. Imho. I agree 'mildly' or up to a point, with the people complaining about mastering & mixing, sonics, choices made...but imo people should recognize, most ( 98% ) of studios don't even have a 2 inch 24 track ! A few holdouts & museums !...techniques have changed, it might be sad, but it's true..the current equipment can do lots of amazing things, & over time, audio engineers , producers, have learned how to simulate good vintage sounds using the modern gear.. So sonics yeah I liked 2, 2 inch 24trk analogue machines better personally, you could still make a protools free album all analogue, but it's difficult & expensive, most places don't have them anymore.. As to the musical content, the songwriting, lyrics, performance, arrangements, I think it's great, its not entirely retro, it's partially contemporary, & has some modern stuff thats not my bag, & a few songs that aren't Who like, I'll Be Back & Break The News aren't Who-like, oh well they're still really good tunes, all 12 are good !... it's not the original Who, but 55 years after their 1st album, a lot of their hallmark signatures are still there on the new album..
The Billboard chart rankings are produced from a standard formula that equally applies to everyone. As of December 2015, 10 digital track sales from an album equals one album sale, and 1,500 song streams from an album equals one album sale. These changes were made to reflect the way music consumers engage with music in the digital era. While there is still is a market for physical product, buyers of physical product tend to skew older, whiter and more male than the public at large. Many of these buyers prefer albums from legacy artists and will either pre-order or purchase on release day, which means legacy artists often see strong debuts but then abruptly fall off the charts once those physical sales are counted. Unsurprisingly, this is the pattern the WHO followed. None of this takes away from the quality of the Who's new album. For me, hearing vital new music from Pete Townshend and the Who in 2019 is enough cause for celebration...regardless of the charts, and I suspect Pete and Roger are pleased too.
What does having (or not having) a 2” 24 track machine have to do with mastering sonics and mixing choices?
I like having Street Song ending the album...I think it is a fitting closer to what may be their final album. Here is my preferred track listing: SIDE ONE Ball and Chain (classic Who intro) I Don’t Want To Get Wise Detour All This Music Must Fade Beads On One String This Gun Will Misfire SIDE TWO Hero Ground Zero I’ll Be Back Break The News Rockin’ In Rage Danny and My Ponies Street Song Bonus Tracks: She Rocked My World The other one from 1965 that I can’t even remember the title to, lol (sounds out of place on this album...it’s the only song I skip)
Heh, I saw what I did there just before going to bed after 24 hours with no sleep. OH, GOHHHHHHHHD...
People get upset about streaming being "counted" but the point of charts has always been to gauge popularity of songs/albums rather than sales. Even in the old days, radio play was a factor in chart success though it represented no sales. Regardless of how one feels about streaming, there's no argument that songs/albums by many young artists are far more popular than Who in the sense of being listened to repeatedly by a much larger amount of people via streaming. It's also worth noting that the sales figures of Who distort its popularity to a notable degree because they include bundling sales, and the majority of people who received a CD bundled with a ticket likely would have purchased the same ticket for the same price even if it did not include a CD... the CD is a free gift moreso than an actual purchase. And a majority of them likely aren't spending a lot of time listening to this bundled CD. A majority of Who concert-goers/ticket buyers just want to hear the old stuff. You've suggested a conspiracy to actively keep Who off the charts, and that seems pretty unlikely to me. Your evidence seems to be rumors you've heard from unnamed off-the-record sources and your own speculation, and that doesn't enhance the plausibility of those theories. I think the more likely explanation is a simpler one... that there is a hard ceiling on the sales potential of new music from a legacy act who tours as a nostalgia band, regardless of the quality of the new music. You are right that we don't need to dwell on this, and I've only commented on it because you've pushed the conspiracy theories so hard and been so focused on chart placement, a thing that doesn't really matter for a band like this in this day and age. What we can agree upon is we've got an unexpectedly good album, much better than probably most folks expected it to be at this point in their careers. It doesn't need to be pumped up with fake chart success... the subset of fans who want new Who music appreciate it for what it is.
