Crystal Bowersox ‘Farmer’s Daughter’ sells 58K

By On 12/22/2010 · 113 Comments · In American Idol, Crystal Bowersox

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Crystal Bowersox had a solid bow on the charts this week. Her producer, David Bendeth, tweeted her stats early this morning. Here are some of her first week numbers:

  • Units Sold via Nielsen Soundscan: 57,804
  • Billboard 200 – #28
  • Billboard Digital Albums – #8
  • Billboard Rock Albums – #2 (Kid Rock is #1)
  • Billboard Canadian Albums – #90
  • Most of the records sold in the East North Central

Kirsten will post the numbers for the rest of the Idols later this morning when they become available.

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  • 1952

    WHile Crystal’s numbers were good, and she was higher that Lee’s, the numbers weren’t really that much higher, and the ranking on the BB200 was lower.

    Yeah .. whats up with that? She sells 19k more and he debuts higher on the chart.

  • earthy

    Christmas music sales always make it competitive with people gift buying for the holidays this past week so that is likely why a lot of them big mainstream artists continued to have huge weeks not allowing Crystal to have the best position on the chart yet overall sales are more important anyways.

  • plays strings

    It seems to me that everybody and their brother (sister, uncle, distant cousin) released something for Christmas. Really a lot of music to choose from. So, I think Crystal did really well in that environment. We’ll know more in the new year. I think there’s a world of possibilities for her.

    Lee is a bit more troublesome to explain because he was a little ahead of the season. But he’s not done by any means.

  • shlitzy

    How can you even begin to compare this sales week to any other week of the year? She was going to sell to her core fan base no matter what. The numbers are real, and that is how many fans she had that loved who she was and supoorted her. If in the next few weeks it drops off dramatically, then she will be like every other artist.
    This record is a record that needs to be diagnosed over a year at least. And not just for musical value alone. She does not have a top 40 hit on FD we all know that, and this is where everything goes haywire.
    She never wanted one to begin with. AI has never been about artist development, it has always been about a hit song with a TV star. The biggest artist in CB’S genre is Ray Lamontagne and he has only sold I think 250k. Dave Matthews would have never won on the show either.

    They need to stick to singers with no talent for songwriting ability. A lot of people will never be able to tell the difference between an entertainer and an artist, or even care less for that matter. S10 should be the make it or break it year for this show,

  • karenc

    1952:
    12/22/2010 at 9:04 pm
    WHile Crystal’s numbers were good, and she was higher that Lee’s, the numbers weren’t really that much higher, and the ranking on the BB200 was lower.

    Yeah .. whats up with that? She sells 19k more and he debuts higher on the chart.

    It’s because more total albums were sold that week, so the amount for all the rankings goes up.

  • karenc

    They need to stick to singers with no talent for songwriting ability. A lot of people will never be able to tell the difference between an entertainer and an artist, or even care less for that matter. S10 should be the make it or break it year for this show,

    Many of the singers that have done the best after the show have had some songwriting ability, including Kelly Clarkson and Daughtry.

    And actually, some of the singers that are doing the best outside of AI do write their own music, including Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Bruno Mars, and Taylor Swift. And part of their appeal is that they write their music.

  • mozart4898

    This record is a record that needs to be diagnosed over a year at least. And not just for musical value alone. She does not have a top 40 hit on FD we all know that, and this is where everything goes haywire.

    Do we know that? I mean I tend to agree, I doubt she does, but then again things do happen. I don’t think Jewel was expected to be the breakout star she was. Not sure about Alanis either. In hindsight they are (were) both big names, but when their albums first dropped were they already big names that were expected to have the hits they did? Farmer’s Daughter (the song, not the album) could take off, who knows. If I had to guess I don’t think her core fanbase really is too thrilled with LWCA or HO (I think they’re ok but nothing spectacular), but both of them may have some radio appeal as well.

    To me, Crystal selling 58K in her debut week and having a manager who seems to have good connections, as well as she herself being a very talented live performer, shows me that there might be potential for some kind of breakout from her yet. Maybe not, but I wouldn’t write off her chances at a top 40 hit at this point, at all. And no, I don’t think it was Crystal’s goal, but yet at the same time, I doubt she’d be too upset if FD really touched a nerve with many many listeners and the song ended up taking off on HAC. Likely…no. But possible? Heck, anything’s possible. I keep going back in my mind to the swing revival in the late 90s…who really thought that would happen? Yet several groups and songs in that genre made quite a splash then.

  • Ratna12

    MrDuffin:

    Plus Kris had Adam’s coattail to ride on since Adam created the buzz for the season.

    LOL, too funny. Thanks for making me laugh.

  • fuzzywuzzy

    Though the selling album of Lee and now Crystal was solid after all AI 9 negative press, but in my opinion it still sell not good.

    I agree. It’s great that she sold more than what was expected, but the expectations were extremely low in the first place. Both Lee and Crystal got a built-in fanbase of millions, and this is the result. One can’t blame all for the show getting old.

    Yes, relatively speaking and considering the exposure to 20-25 million potential fans every week for months, these sales figures are not impressive (especially since Kris was trashed for selling ~80K). The older demographics of the Idol viewership should have been more compatible with Crystal attracting and retaining a larger fanbase from the show.

    However, who can argue that overall S9 has been a disaster in terms of Idol bragging rights as a selling machine. i think the combined first weeks sales of the finalists on Idol were S7=450k, S8=270K S9= 95K. That’s just not a good development for the show. (And I won’t even get into S2 when first week tally was 1M albums. Those days are gone forever)

    That’s true and does suggest a troubling trend for the franchise.

    I’ll take the numbers for Crystal because they’re better than the really bad numbers I’d been expecting. Now let’s see what kind of legs the album gets and whether Crystal is able to make inroads into the folk/alternative scene. I still think it’ll be tough for her but at least she has the right lead single.

    The numbers are better than I expected too, but still not great in Idol terms. It will be interesting to see if Crystal can build a fanbase and transition successfully beyond Idol.

    To me, her numbers indicate that she attracted interest due to her TV and live appearances. I would say she’s alreday reached beyond the Idol audience a bit. That’s a good thing. The next month should help give us an indication of where her sales will go.

    I disagree. Like all Idol alums, first week sales are primarily due to the fanbase that they attracted from the show. What happens with sales after the first few weeks will show if Crystal will be able to transition successfully to acquiring fans from the non-Idol public.

  • fuzzywuzzy

    They need to stick to singers with no talent for songwriting ability. A lot of people will never be able to tell the difference between an entertainer and an artist, or even care less for that matter. S10 should be the make it or break it year for this show,

    If you mean that singers/entertainers who are not songwriters are not artists, then I disagree. I don’t think that generalization holds true. There are lots of singers/entertainers who are artists (Ella, Frank, Bennett), and not all songwriters are good singers/entertainers (Dylan). Some are both (James Taylor).

  • fuzzywuzzy

    Atypical songs can become hits on CHR/HAC radio, so it’s hard to predict which songs will be successful in advance. Mraz’s “I’m Yours” and Owl City’s “Fireflies” are 2 relatively recent examples of such oddities (IMO). So it’s possible for a song of Crystal’s to be a mainstream radio hit, but just not likely.

  • shlitzy

    fuzzy, Sinatra? Ella? James Taylor? I was speaking if the last 20 years not the last 50. Which Entertainer is an artist that I missed LATELY?

  • shlitzy

    Mozart, the problem with CB radio songs is they have nothing to do with launching her in the area of AAA she wants to be in. Jewel and Alanis had both the direction and the songs. Triple A will not support this record. Country should.

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