Well, this underwhelming. Album sales haven’t been looking too good for the past few years compared to the golden era 10-15 years ago, and this year is absolutely no different as we strike the 3rd quarter of 2012. Despite all the major releases thus far from money making names like Nicki Minaj, Madonna, Linkin Park, Justin Bieber, Usher, Chris Brown , only 3 albums have got the distance to sell over a million copies – and 1 of them was released back in 2011. Spoiler alert, but the clear winner for the biggest album of the year – barring any Susan Boyle-esque miracles, will once again be Adele with her smash of an album 21. 21 will become the 1st album since Nielson Soundscan began tracking sales to top the yearly album sales charts twice, as turns over 4 million copies on it’s road to Diamond status.
Pulling up the rear as the only two platinum sellers released this year are Up All Night by One Direction and Tuskegee by Lionel Richie. We could see One Direction have two platinum sellers this year as their newest album, “Take Me Home” is predicted to have a major first sales week considering their success with their singles and their die-hard legion of fans.
Who could pass over the million mark before it’s all said and done? Well Justin Bieber’s Believe has just sold over 900k copies looks primed to join the other set of teeny boppers in the platinum palace, as well as American Idol alum Carrie Underwood, and quite possibly Maroon 5 if they continue with their winning streak of singles.
Rank – Sales – TITLE – Artist
01 – 4,027,000 – 21 – Adele
02 – 1,254,000 – UP ALL NIGHT – One Direction
03 – 1,020,000 – TUSKEGEE – Lionel Richie
04 – 902,000 – BELIEVE – Justin Bieber
05 – 857,000 – THE GREATEST HITS – Whitney Houston
06 – 823,000 – BLOWN AWAY – Carrie Underwood
09 – 667,000 – PINK FRIDAY: ROMAN RELOADED – Nicki Minaj
10 – 659,000 – MAKING MIRRORS – Gotye
12 – 641,000 – SOME NIGHTS – Fun.
13 – 624,000 – OVEREXPOSED – Maroon 5
15 – 600,000 – BABEL – Mumford & Sons
21 – 508,000 – MDNA – Madonna
26 – 482,000 – LIVING THINGS – Linkin Park
32 – 432,000 – SIGH NO MORE – Mumford & Sons
33 – 417,000 – GOD FORGIVES I DON’T – Rick Ross
38 – 386,000 – LOOKING 4 MYSELF – Usher
40 – 375,000 – THE TRUTH ABOUT LOVE – Pink
46 – 360,000 – BORN TO DIE – Lana Del Rey
52 – 333,000 – CHANNEL ORANGE – Frank Ocean
54 – 317,000 – FORTUNE – Chris Brown
58 – 305,000 – LIFE IS GOOD – Nas
60 – 303,000 – BASED ON A T.R.U. STORY – 2 Chainz
61 – 302,000 – CARELESS WORLD – Tyga
69 – 261,000 – KANYE WEST PRESENTS GOOD MUSIC CRUEL SUMMER – Various
80 – 239,000 – SCARY MONSTERS AND NICE SPRITES (EP) – Skrillex
81 – 238,000 – CHAPTER V – Trey Songz
82 – 238,000 – MMG PRESENTS: SELF MADE VOL. 2 – Various
84 – 233,000 – STRANGE CLOUDS – B.o.B.
91 – 214,000 – THE BODYGUARD – Soundtrack
via UKMIX
This point last year, we had 5 platinum sellers Adele, Lady Gaga, Lil Wayne, Mumford & Sons, and Jason Aldean and by the end of the year, 13 albums topped the million mark.
Looking towards the future of the fourth quarter, we don’t see to many other artists that will continue to make a strong push to meet the 13 platinum albums that 2011 delivered. As we have stated before, the boys of One Direction look primed to make a major dent in the charts with their sophomore release Take Me Home (November 13th) – but also the Billboard juggernaut Taylor Swift could also rack up another million-seller 1st week with how the forecast for her new album Red (October 22nd) is looking.
Christmas albums aren’t dead if you’ve looked at the past couple years with Susan Boyle’s The Gift and Michael Bublé’s Christmas selling gangbusters. Country music group Lady Antebellum are releasing a Christmas album of their own called On This Winter Night on October 22nd – which will no doubt begin to swell as we approach the holiday season, and we can’t forget the eccentric host of The Voice Cee Lo Green, who will be releasing Cee Lo’s Magic Moment on October 30th which will be accompanied by a special show released on November 26th on YouTube. Scotty McCreery and Rod Stewart are also releasing Christmas albums this year, and with the high competition for holiday tunes the albums might take a blow in sales.
Lil Wayne hasn’t quite perfected his own climate for the release of I Am Human Being 2, but with his December release it could make a strong push toward a million units. Let’s not forget Tha Carter IV blasted onto the charts in 2011 falling just short of a million copies in it’s first week. Whitney Houston’s TV special We Will Always Love You on November 16th debuts 3 days after her newest Greatest Hits release and could have quite respectable sales in this holiday season.
Other major releases this year will come from Alicia Keys, Christina Aguilera, Kendrick Lamar, Wiz Khalifa, Jason Aldean, Ke$ha, and Rihanna – who should fare well this holiday season.
Sources: Yahoo / Billboard Biz
Source:
http://www.thisgoesin.com/2012/10/third-quarter-album-sales-report-adele-dominates-platinum-predictions-sales-album-chart-billboard-blast/