Heading Into The Weekend…

Tags: Album Sales, Industry Insight, Katy Perry

For months, it was being discussed whether or not Katy Perry would wind up breaking sales records with her new album, Teenage Dream.  Well it now looks like, that’s just not gonna happen.  Taking nothing away from her or Capitol who have managed to do a great job in building the artist, the album itself is actually being looked at as one that is under-performing, given all of the hype it had.  With 2 certified hits on the release in the chart topping “California Gurls” (which broke the record for radio spins in a week) and the album’s title track, early predictions had the album at roughly 300,000 in it’s first week.  The reality however, was that it sold 194,000.  That makes it the 9th biggest release of the year so far.  In it’s second week on sale, it looks like it will not only get bumped out of 1st place but will likely land at number 3 as the latest installment of the Now That’s What I Call Music series appears to have the advantage.  As for whether or not it will continue to decline or will be able to sell solid numbers each week ala Justin Bieber‘s My World 2.0, that remains to be seen.  As for the new chart topper, that will be hard rock act Disturbed who will see their 4th consecutive number 1 debut.

Have a look below at how Hits is saying the sales week will end come Tuesday.

* Disturbed (Reprise) 150-160k
* Now 35 (Capitol/EMI) 95-105k
Katy Perry (Capitol/EMI) 85-95k
Eminem (Shady/Aftermath/Interscope) 80-85k
Fantasia (J/RMG) 38-42k
*Lyfe Jennings (Asylum) 38-42k
* Goo Goo Dolls (Warner Bros.) 33-37k
* Heart (Sony Legacy) 27-30k
* 10 Years (Universal Republic) 20-23k
Justin Bieber (Island/IDJ) 20-23k
Usher (LaFace/JLG) 20-23k
Kem (Universal Motown) 20-23k
Lady Antebellum (Capitol Nashville/EMI) 20-23k
*Ryan Bingham (Lost Highway) 18-21k
Arcade Fire (Merge) 18-21k
Camp Rock 2 (Walt Disney) 18-21k
Ray Lamontagne (RCA/RMG) 18-21k
* Denotes debut (9/2p)

Heading Into The Weekend…

Tags: Album Sales, Industry Insight

As expected, Katy Perry will have the number 1 album of the week when the sales are tallied on Tuesday.  And from the way it looks now, Eminem is not only losing the top spot, but won’t finish in 2nd either.  Fantasia seems to have caused enough attention around her recent suicide attempt, to bring some needed positivity to her life.  Her album is doing better than expected and looks to finish behind Katy.  Usher and Little Big Town will fight it out for 4th place as both look to have around 40,000 sold.  Have a look below at how Hits thinks the results will pan out.

*Katy Perry (Capitol/EMI) 200k +/-
*Fantasia (J/RMG) 120-130k
Eminem (Shady/Aftermath/Interscope) 95-100k
*Usher Versus (LaFace/JLG) 40-45k
*Little Big Town (Capitol Nashville/EMI) 40-45k
Kem (Universal Motown) 30-35k
Trace Adkins (Show Dog) 27-30k
*Never Shout Never (Sire) 25-28k
*Randy Rogers Band (MCA Nashville) 24-27k
Justin Bieber (Island/IDJ) 24-27k
Kidz Bop 18 (Razor & Tie) 21-24k
Lady Antebellum (Capitol Nashville/EMI) 21-24k
Ray Lamontagne (RCA/RMG) 21-24k
*The Devil Wears Prada (Ferret) 21-24k
Rick Ross (Def Jam/IDJ) 18-21k
Drake (Young Money/Cash Money/Universal Motown) 18-21k
* Debuts (8/26p)

Bono Buying Into Pandora?

Tags: Bono, Hearsay, Industry Insight, Music News, U2

We’re not sure what took us so long to get on the Pandora bandwagon, but we’re glad we did.  For those of you still sitting on the sidelines, Pandora is a web based, user controlled radio system.  Basically, you can create a station simply by telling the system an artist you like.  The station will then play songs from that artists as well as artists that are similar.  They also just announce a genre-based model in addition to the artist-based model.

Well apparently Bono is a fan of the widely growing service.  It’s being reported that the U2 frontman is a partner in the company Elevation Partners, which has signed a letter of intent to purchase a significant share of Pandora.  Apparently Elevation could be spending as much as $100 million on the deal.  This will no doubt raise Pandora’s visibility as you can only assume Bono will be promoting the service in some fashion.

Lil Wayne Hits #1 From Prison

Tags: Drake, Hip Hop, Industry Insight, Lil Wayne, Music News

Is it ironic that the first time Lil Wayne was able to hit number 1 on the Digital Song chart, he wasn’t even around to promote it?  Well it’s true.  He has officially taken over the top slot from Eminem with his latest single “Right Above It” featuring Drake.  Even being locked up in prison couldn’t stop this one from climbing the charts.  Looks like someone’s team is working overtime for him while he serves his sentence.

The Week In Sales

Tags: Album Sales, Industry Insight

The kid’s still got it.  Eminem still has the number 1 album of the week, although this is going to be his last stand as Katy Perry is likely to post some monster numbers this week with the release of Teenage Dreams.  Behind Em though, you’ll see the next 4 spots all coming from brand new albums.  Out of the recurrents in the top 10, only Lady Antebellum is seeing an increase in sales as their Need You Now album jumps up 39% and lands at number 7.  Have a look below at how it all played out.

#1 – Eminem – Recovery (Shady/Aftermath/Interscope) – 116,558

#2 -Kem - Intimacy (Universal Motown) – 76,406

#3 – Ray LaMontagne & The Pariah Dogs – God Willin’ & The Creek Don’t Rise (RCA) – 63,817

#4 – Iron Maiden – Final Frontier (Columbia) – 61,935

#5 – Trace Adkins – Cowboy’s Back In Town (Show Dog) – 48,419

#6 – Arcade Fire – Suburbs (Merge) – 34,121

#7 – Lady Antebellum – Need You Now (Capitol Nashville) – 33,084

#8 – Justin Bieber – My World 2.0 (Island) – 30,169

#9 – David Gray – Foundling (Downtown) – 25,610

#10 – John Melloncamp – No Better Than This (Rounder) – 23,777

File This Under… WTF????

Tags: Industry Insight, Media, Music News, New Music, Remix

We get it.  The music business is hurting.  Sales aren’t what they used to be.  But you know things are bad when a song created from a news interview and was supposed to simply create laughs, actually hits the Billboard Top 100.  Some of you may have seen the now famous news report of the guy who claims to have saved his sister from a rape.  There’s nothing funny about that.  However, the clip became an overnight sensation because of the… umm… special way he delivered his message.

Well someone has taken the news report, chopped it up and threw some Auto Tune on it, to create a remix song of sorts.  The track is labeled “Bed Intruder” and hit number 89 on the charts due to an immense amount of iTunes sales.  Its currently number 59 at the digital retailer.

Seriously?  This song is selling better than Kanye West‘s new single “Power,” Travie McCoy‘s “Billionaire,” and Justin Bieber‘s “Baby?”  Wow, no wonder labels are failing.

Heading Into The Weekend…

Tags: Album Sales, Industry Insight

Well what do we have here?  Seems as though the sales week which ends on Tuesday, will feature 4 brand new albums in the top 5.  But of course, Eminem will still be at number one.  That will most certainly change next week when Katy Perry‘s Teenage Dream hits the shelves.  But for now anyway, it looks like Em is still the king of the sales.  He’s also the only one who will hit the 6 figure mark this week.  Take a look below and how Hits is predicting the final numbers will look.

Eminem (Shady/Aftermath/Interscope) 115-120k
*Kem (Universal Motown) 70-75k
*Iron Maiden (Columbia) 65-70k
*Ray Lamontagne (RCA) 60-65k
*Trace Adkins (Show Dog) 45-50k
Arcade Fire (Merge) 30-35k
Lady Antebellum (Capitol Nashville/EMI) 30-35k
Justin Bieber (Island/IDJ) 27-30k
*David Gray (Downtown) 24-27k
Rick Ross (Def Jam/IDJ) 22-25k
Drake (Young Money/Cash Money/Universal Motown) 22-25k
*John Mellencamp (Rounder) 21-24k
Avenged Sevenfold (Warner Bros.) 21-24k
Kidz Bop Kids 18 (Razor & Tie) 20-22k
Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam (Walt Disney) 20-22k
*Denotes debut

Coldplay Signs Huge Publishing Deal

Tags: Hearsay, Industry Insight, Pop, Rock, Signing

Coldplay have reportedly signed one of the biggest publishing deals in the history of music.  The British rockers re-upped with Universal Music Publishing for an undisclosed amount and for an undisclosed length of time.  President of the company, Paul Connolly had this to say about the deal, which is certain to bring millions to all 4 of the act’s members…

“They’ve sold more than 50 million albums worldwide and their huge success is entirely deserved. We’re obviously very proud.”

We’re not surprised to hear they got a big deal.  We are however a bit surprised that ANYONE is getting one of the biggest in the history of music, as is being reported.  The whole industry is in the crapper right now.  Bravo to Chris Martin and co. for making the deal happen.

The Week In Sales

Tags: Album Sales, Industry Insight

Over the course of 8 weeks, Eminem has had the number 1 album in sales.  And this past week is one of them.  The Detroit rapper beat out Arcade Fire (by a long shot) who saw a 65% dip in sales from their debut week, keeping them at bay in 2nd place.  Em’s Recovery has now gone over the 2.1 million mark.  4 Albums in the top 10 are debuting this week, most notably Disney’s Camp Rock 2 which landed at number 3.  Have a look below at the final figures.

#1 – Eminem - Recovery (Shady/Aftermath/Interscope) - 130,810

#2 – Arcade Fire – Suburbs (Merge) – 50,424

#3 – Soundtrack – Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam (Disney) - 41,863

#4 – Black Label Society – Order Of The Black (E1 Music) – 35,722

#5 – Blake Shelton – All About Tonight (Warner Bros. Nashville) – 35,465

#6 – Justin Bieber – My World 2.0 (Island) – 32,863

#7 – Mike Posner – 31 Minutes To Take Over (J Records) – 29,611

#8 – Rick Ross – Teflon Don (Def Jam) – 29,110

#9 – Kidz Bod Kids – Kidz Bop 18 (Razor & Tie) – 28,300

#10 – Avenged Sevenfold – Nightmare (Warner) – 26,699

Jay-Z = Hip Hop’s Richest

Tags: Hip Hop, Industry Insight, Jay-Z, Music News

Every year, Forbes Magazine releases a list of the top earners in the hip hop scene.  Well today they let loose the names from the past year that are raking in the most dough and Jay-Z is at the top pulling in $63 million last year.  Behind him was Diddy who pulled in $30 million, followed by Akon who earned $21 million, Lil Wayne who pocketed $20 million and Dr. Dre who raked in $17 million.  Have a look at the complete list here.