David Archuleta – First Week Sales 183K, Debuts at #2 on The Billboard 200

By On 11/19/2008 · 42 Comments · In Uncategorized

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From Billboard:

With the best sales week for a country album in a year, 18-year-old Taylor Swift debuts at No. 1 on The Billboard 200 and Top Country Albums with her sophomore set, “Fearless.” The Big Machine release sold 592,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan, the largest sum for a country album since Eagles’ “Long Road Out of Eden” started with 711,000 last November.

“Fearless” shifted 129,000 copies digitally, the fourth biggest week for a digital album since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking them in 2004. Swift is already No. 1 on Hot Country Songs with “Love Story” and has posted five top 20 debuts on the Hot 100 this year alone.

The next three slots on The Billboard 200 are debuts, with “American Idol” runner-up David Archuleta starting at No. 2 with his self-titled 19 Recordings/Jive album on sales of 183,000. The 29th edition of the multi-label “Now That’s What I Call Music!” series begins at No. 3 with 172,000, while T-Pain’s “Thr33 Ringz” (Kovinct/Nappy Boy/Jive) opens at No. 4 with 167,000.

Congrats David, on a great first week! The continued success of singles released off the album should keep the sales numbers healthy in the coming weeks. David outpaced both T-Pain and the popular compilation series Now That’s What I Call Music. Very impressive.

From Kirsten, stats from Idol 2nd place finishers, posted in this week’s Sales Thread:

1. Clay – à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Measure of a Manà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  (Oct 14, 2003) – 612,859 (# 1)
2. Bo – à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“The Real Thingà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  (December 13, 2005) – 226,976 (# 4)
3 David A – “David Archuleta” (November 11, 2008) – 183K (#2)
4. Katharine – à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Katharine McPheeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  (January 30, 2007) – 115,761 (# 2)
5. Blake – à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Blake Lewisà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  (December 4, 2007) – 98K (#10)
6. Justin – à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Justin Guarinià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  (June 10, 2003) – 57,000 (# 20)
7. Diana – à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Blue Skiesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  (December 7, 2004) – 47,000 ( # 52)

I updated the list with David’s numbers. Keeping in mind the steep decline of the last couple of years, (according to Billboard, album sales are down 24% from the same week last year) David’s numbers this week are very good, indeed.

Kirsten also posted stats for all Idols, and David comes in at #10, behind Jennifer Hudson.

 
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  • ianamy

    Yay David. Congrats

  • clee1107

    Congrats David!! You did a great job!! I’m so proud of David. :clap_tb:

  • Allison

    Would anyone be privy to the number of Taylor Swift’s albums that were sold by Amazon in mp3 format?

  • E

    Congrats David! very much deserved! now healthy sales for the coming weeks, and hoping the 2nd single is a steady seller as Crush.

    So proud of this guy :D

    Yes I think Jive is celebrating and another celebration next week.

  • JudyOhio

    Curious….Does HDD predict for Archie’s second week in sales or does HDD only predict first weeks sales? How is that done usually. I’m thinking they just predict the top 5 or 10 albums. Anybody know?

    ???

  • LK08
  • ozarka

    From what I’ve seen so far, they’ve only been predicting the top 10 selling albums of each week. The album does not necessarily have to be a first week’s sale.

  • soundscene

    Curiousà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦.Does HDD predict for Archieà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s second week in sales or does HDD only predict first weeks sales? How is that done usually. Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m thinking they just predict the top 5 or 10 albums. Anybody know?

    They usually do top 5 or so in their first projection, and any notable debuts. We may see some projections for Archie on Friday, but I doubt it.

    First week sales usually drop off by about 75%, and with all the new releases, he’ll probably get bumped out of the top 10.

  • JudyOhio

    Thanks for the quick response ozarka and soundscene! I really like watching “the numbers”, so I was wondering.

  • LK08

    This is noteworthy- the first time since 1999 that two teens held the top two spots (Brittany Spears and Justin Timberlake).

    http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/chart_watch/20227/week-ending-nov-16-2008-teens-on-top

  • hardkandy

    I have read several places that Amazon was selling Taylor Swifts download album for $3.99, which seems unfair because all of those count toward album numbers, but I guess her label decided to do that.

    I doubt that would have made such a huge dent in the final sales number had they not done that. And like someone said above, her $45-$75 dollar preorders would’ve more than made up for this. Let’s give credit where credit is due.

    Anyway, those are excellent numbers for Archie. I wish he would’ve broke the 200k mark but the way record sales are nowadays, I would say that is outstanding especially for a first album.

  • JudyOhio

    Regarding single releases to itunes. So many albums that are selling for their first week seem to have tons of singles being purchased and therefore have multiple rankings on itunes. I’m confused as to why some albums do this and some seem not to. I know that all their singles are available to purchase when the album goes on itunes, so what is the significance of releasing a single officially one at a time. There’s always talk about an actual date for a release date for ONE single at a time. For example: Jordan – Tattoo, then later No Air, then later One Step at a Time. Then there is Archie’s Crush by itself, and then a 2nd release will come out. Again, it’s one single standing alone and selling at a time (a release).

    I guess my question is why do they appear like they release ONE single at a time, when multiple single purchases can be made immediately at the albums release? I don’t understand that. What’s to be anticipated when it can be purchased right off the bat….with no official release of any kind.

    Are they talking releasing only one single at a time to radio, or to itunes, or both. ???????

    Geez, I hope I didn’t confuse anyone by this rambling. It’s something I had a hard time putting in words, lol. Sorry.

  • E

    My David Archuleta CD arrived today (it was released 18 Nov in this country) and guess what, there are 13 tracks, #13 “Works For Me” :D

  • http://widyatarina.wordpress.com widz

    ^Really, E? Lucky you!
    I checked Archie’s CD in HMV today..
    but there are only 12 tracks there..
    (I live in Singapore, btw)

    Same with Cookie’s CD..
    only the main versions of it are released here..:(

  • ozarka

    JudyOhio, I’ll quote what FrogCooker said on another thread because she explains it pretty well…

    YEah you can download them now from the album seperately, but the purpose of releasing a single is more for album promo. They release a new single to radio. Its what will help keep album sales up hopefully. So people are aware of their music etc etc.

    Some people just listen to the radio, hear a song they like and then look up the person.. Maybe theyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ve now heard 2 song by a particular artist and say à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹oh hey I like both these songs, maybe ill check out their albumà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ or they just buy the single. Its all sort of promo.

  • ozarka

    Crush numbers for this week…

    TW lw Chart
    21 22 Hot 100
    41 37 Hot 100 Airplay
    17 17 Pop 100
    18 16 Pop 100 Airplay
    18 15 Mainstream Top 40
    11 12 Hot AC Tracks
    17 18 Hot Adult Top 40 Tracks
    13 18 Hot Digital Tracks
    14 19 Hot Digital Songs
    20 19 Canadian Hot 100
    21 22 Hot Canadian Digital Singles
    34 32 Hot Ringmasters

  • cruzceleste

    My David Archuleta CD arrived today (it was released 18 Nov in this country) and guess what, there are 13 tracks, #13 à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Works For Meà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  :D

    You are so lucky….

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