David Archuleta New Single, Radio Release Pushed into the New Year

Love the video… is really cute… and Jordin is there… get you a teary eye

IÂ ´m not surprise that the single has being pushed to January hopefully it will be bigger than Crush…

I really like that video and I still love the waltz time in ALTNOY. It really works for montages.

Not surprised about the add date being pushed back either. The same was done for Crush when it was pushed back from August to September. Various radio stations can continue to test it and give it some plays in the month of December if they choose to.

I’ve decided I like the date change–it could work to their advantage in the long run.

I’ve got a friend who is releasing an album early next year and her single will be released in January. She was told by her label that January is actually a good time to release singles. So, hey, I’ll take their word for it.

It makes sense to me, anyway. And the song will get more pre-adds, will avoid competing with the monsters that are out right now (they’ll be allowed to drop on the chart before ALTNOY gets going). And the music video can be released around the same time as the song goes for adds. Sounds good.

It’s #174 today on Top 40 according to Mediabase. lol. Work those 13 published spins!! (It actually has more spins, but only 13 count).

Cool video! Nicely edited. Wow, it’s just been an amazing year for him.

Hmmm. I saw this at Snarky’s. Interesting. I’ll defer to the experts and those in the know. ^^^ ha!! It does seem like a busy time to release anything new.

The December release was kinda iffy, in the first place. So better that Not Over You comes out in a less crowded time for maximum effect.

Nice website. And one thing I love, an organized forum. Now, if only Cookie’s can be that neat. :tongue_wink_ee:

lol… the forum just recently got organized. The website looks much better than it did when it first went up, but there are still some things I would change (like the blue background). But ah, well. The community aspect is fun (your own blog, groups, chat, etc.). And they’re actually keeping it up-to-date which is a nice change of pace from most official websites.

Love Jordin and David posing together in the video.

The official website looks very organized.

^JORVID FTW

LOL Jorvid, the two-headed Popzilla. LOL

I am happy with the change. It makes sense. I also feel like Crush has not run its course yet. It is still selling very consistently and has never gone below it’s lowest sales week of around 45,000, so it makes sense to let it keep going.

I love the montage. That smile!

Here are some photos from the Jingle Jam at Sacramento

Meet & Greet

I’m a bit bummed about the single being pushed back because I don’t want him to have a gap where nothing of his gets played on the radio. I still do hear Crush though on of our stations out here about 3 times per day so that is good. The big hit Top 40 station though here quit playing it altogether. They don’t care much for Archie since they still see him as competition with Cook, our hometown boy. *rolls eyes*

Another interview with David:
Is about the Jingle Ball for Z100

I always find last minute changes like this intriguing. January 6th may indeed be a better release date, but presumably Jive would have known that back when they announced the original add date.

So, why the last minute change (just 4 days before the add date?). Is it because “Crush” has more staying power and they want to leave it where it is during the Christmas freeze and the big after-Christmas iTunes buying binge? Is it because switching to a new single didn’t give them enough time to prepare? Is it because they spent too much time trying to shepard another former-teen star around her release date? Or are program directors needing a bit more convincing? Or is there some other thing they have cooking? Is it that “Crush”/Pepsi thing they just did? Is the new single going to be featured somewhere? Who knows.

There is a lot that goes into single release strategy. We’ll have to wait and see if Jive made the correct call here. Obviously, they are the experts, but even experts make mistakes, but then they would know more about what is going on behind the scenes.

duplicate

I love what they’ve done with David’s official site. I’ll probably be visiting more often. That video is excellent. It’s almost like a counterpart to Cook’s TV commercial.

Kirsten you are scaring me :unsure_tb: :mellow_tb:

So, why the last minute change (just 4 days before the add date?). Is it because à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Crushà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  has more staying power and they want to leave it where it is during the Christmas freeze and the big after-Christmas iTunes buying binge? Is it because switching to a new single didnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t give them enough time to prepare? Is it because they spent too much time trying to shepard another former-teen star around her release date? Or are program directors needing a bit more convincing? Or is there some other thing they have cooking? Is it that à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Crushà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ /Pepsi thing they just did? Is the new single going to be featured somewhere? Who knows.

Who knows but Britney’s add date for Circus was also set for 12/9 and they just pushed it back to late December even though there’s every indication that song is going to blow up on radio.

There was a lot of hoopla going on to promote Crush before it’s official release, like the Z100 pre-add thingie and the buzz about the video, but virtually nothing yet for ALTNOY, and it’s already 4 days till the 9th. So maybe they really didn’t have time to set up any promos yet.

Kirsten you are scaring me

Sorry. Hopefully, all will be well and they have a plan.

They better promote the heck out of it. I don’t expect Kansas City to catch on anytime soon since this is Cook Town, but hopefully most stations will take to it like they did with Crush.

I have been very impressed with how JIVE has been flexible for David, such as quickly getting his music video going when Crush debuted so well and changing his next single from Touch My Hand to ALTNOY, so I think I should trust them. They haven’t failed him yet.

Idolfanatic- funny thing is that Salt Lake City plays both guys.

It seems like they would have switched the later Add date when they also switched the single from TMH to ALTNOY. It seems strange that they would first change the name of the single and then wait a little bit, then change the Add date. And they were willing to release TMH during the Christmas time, and then it seemed like they were still willing to release ALTNOY during the Christmas time. Now they are not? Well, I guess if they switch singles again to something else, then we will know that radio/PDs maybe didn’t receive ALTNOY all that well. I will never understand radio and all this stuff, but it is all very interesting all the strategies and such.

Has this been posted? It’s an interview w/David at Z100 about his appearance at MADISON SQUARE FREAKING GARDEN for the z100 JB on 12/20… MSG … SING PROUD DAVID!

http://video.msg.com/Videos/MSG-Networks/t1i6ol8WSJ30jPvQuMZDzHqQL7A5GC8U

I don’t think it has anything to do with reception by the PDs. ALTNOY is radio friendly-I’ve listened to enough CHR to get that. If we assumed a problem with the song everytime an add date changes, a lot of songs would be “problems,” including “Circus,” a lot of Rihanna’s singles, and even crush, which was pushed back a few weeks. Why did Jive schedule Circus for this Tuesday-presumably they knew it was too soon after Womanizer, yet they did it, only to push it back. Maybe Jive thought they could work altnoy quickly and then changed thier mind after further discussion. Maybe they watched the trend of the current chart, looked at what singles had just been announced by other artists and determined altnoy stood a better shot a month later. Each week brings in new info about the chart, new songs and general trends. That’s why add date changes aren’t uncommon, and neither are single changes (ask Beyonce).

Well, I guess if they switch singles again to something else, then we will know that radio/PDs maybe didnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t receive ALTNOY all that well. I will never understand radio and all this stuff, but it is all very interesting all the strategies and such.

I don’t see them switching to yet another single-ALTNOY is it. I guess I’m not reading too much into the decision to delay the adds date until January. I’m not sure it will make a huge difference either way. Crush’s original adds date was in August and they ended up delaying it until the first week of September, so this isn’t the first time something like this has happened. Downloads of Crush are still selling at a pretty decent clip and album sales so far are fine, so they can afford to delay it until after the new year.

Why did Jive schedule Circus for this Tuesday-presumably they knew it was too soon after Womanizer, yet they did it, only to push it back.

It sort of makes sense in moving Circus to a later date, because Womanizer has not yet peaked and still has an up arrow. It seems like new songs are added when the previous single has peaked and has started working its way down. That way, the momentum seems to keep going. Crush has already peaked. So by delaying the next single, it seems like the momentum will sort of get squashed and there will be a gap.

It sort of makes sense in moving Circus to a later date, because Womanizer has not yet peaked and still has an up arrow. It seems like new songs are added when the previous single has peaked and has started working its way down. That way, the momentum seems to keep going. Crush has already peaked. So by delaying the next single, it seems like the momentum will sort of get squashed and there will be a gap.

Labels don’t seem to wait for the adds date to push new singles. Crush was being tested and added in August and was already making progress on the chart by the time the September add date came around. The new add date for ALTNOY gives it more time to gain momentum in a slow month and that’s possibly what Jive/ZLG is going for.

It sort of makes sense in moving Circus to a later date, because Womanizer has not yet peaked and still has an up arrow. It seems like new songs are added when the previous single has peaked and has started working its way down. That way, the momentum seems to keep going. Crush has already peaked. So by delaying the next single, it seems like the momentum will sort of get squashed and there will be a gap.

My point was that it seems obvious that they shouldn’t schedule a December 9th add date for “Circus” because Womanizer was still going strong–yet Jive did anyway. Why? Who knows. They knew how Womanizer was doing. Basically, the argument was that Jive knew how radio was in December when they scheduled ALTNOY for December 9th and so there must be something wrong with how PDs were reacting to the song so they pushed it back. That’s like saying there’s something wrong with Circus so they had to push it back because they knew how Womanizer was doing on the radio when they schedule Circus for December 9th. And that’s just not correct.

Add dates get changed all the time because labels are getting new information every week–about the charts, about new songs, about how older songs are doing, etc. Who knows, maybe some more experienced exec saw when they scheduled both Britney and David, slapped some less experienced guy on the head and said, “WTF?” and so they changed them.

Plus, as serenade mentioned, labels don’t wait for the add date to push songs. ALTNOY is getting spins already. And it’ll get more spins through December. The add date (or impact date) is really more of a marker to gauge the timeline of a song and give radio stations something to hang on to. It doesn’t mean that stations can’t add a song earlier or later than the add date.

Who knows, maybe some more experienced exec saw when they scheduled both Britney and David, slapped some less experienced guy on the head and said, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“WTF?à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  and so they changed them.

I have to laught at this image…

lol I get the david wtf image in my head now and that slapping one eddie uses haha

^^ LOL.

Can Crush survive till Jan? Hope his album sales won’t be affected. z100 has dropped Crush as many stations have done and with ALNTOY not getting pushed till Jan, that means there’s very little David on the radio.

Would be interesting how effective this new move will be.

^ :huh_tb: :blink_tb: :mellow_tb:

I also am concerned about why Jive is so indecisive.
If songs sell albums then Archuleta’s cd may be in trouble during this crucial Holiday buying season.

Crush is not even on z100′s on line request page even though many much older and lower ranked songs are on that request list.

Is there any possibility that since Light On is being pushed so very, very aggressively, that Jive had to back off to RCA. Are they not both Sony?

I’m not as smart about the music business as a lot of you are on here, but I remember how I thought that DA would have these huge (ok, big) adds on the magic release date. Well, it didn’t happen. Same with Cook, the release date comes along, and no big increase. This makes me wonder why the fuss over a release date in the first place. Then again, maybe I’m missing something. Am I?

Hmmm… there seems to be some misunderstanding about what impact (or adds) dates are. They’re just markers to give radio stations a frame of reference and timeline for a song (as in, “here’s about the time we would like you to add the song”). And songs get pushed before the impact date, not just on the impact date. Jive is pushing ALTNOY right now. And we know this because several stations are playing test spins (WNCI just 10 minutes ago, in fact, and WDOD just now). Radio stations may add a song before the impact date or after. Crush was in the top 30 on CHR before the impact date because it had a lengthy lead time between premiere and the add date.

If there’s a time where an album can sell without a huge single, it’s during the holidays. David’s album is doing great. I think because we’re on a website that is also concentrating on other contestants’ album sales we forget that different former contestants are in different genres that sell differently. The way David is selling albums right now is excellent for his genre. Don’t let anybody tell you differently.

Plus, it’s not like ALTNOY was going to take off any faster with the add date on Tuesday. It just wasn’t–radio is slow right now. I never expected it to do a whole lot in December. So the situation really hasn’t changed. It’s not like the impact date happens on Tuesday, and all of a sudden tons of stations are playing it a lot. ALTNOY wasn’t going to help David sell albums this month. David and the holiday buying season were going to sell albums–and Crush, which is not dead. It’s still being played over 2000 times a week on Top 40 radio, plus another 1500 times a week on Hot AC (and a couple hundred on poor, pathetic AC). It’s still in the top 5 on Radio Disney. He’s fine. And there will be no real gap.

Is there any possibility that since Light On is being pushed so very, very aggressively, that Jive had to back off to RCA?

No. One has nothing to do with the other.

Is there any possibility that since Light On is being pushed so very, very aggressively, that Jive had to back off to RCA. Are they not both Sony?

Jive doesn’t care what RCA does, nor would they take a back seat to RCA with one of their artists.

Thanks Soundscene.

^Soundscene you are my hero…

Plus, ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s not like ALTNOY was going to take off any faster with the add date on Tuesday.

I don’t understand this statement. I thought the whole point of an Add date was to encourage more stations to add the song to their playlist on that date, and therefore, cause the song to take off faster after that date. Granted some add before and some after. It’s a ramping up, but the biggest spurt should be after the Add date. So, on Tuesday, and after, it would have started to get more Adds from stations, and therefore, take off sooner. Now it seems like it will ramp up at a slower pace until it gets to January, where it will then hit the Add date and then start taking off. Is that not how it works?

I donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t understand this statement. I thought the whole point of an Add date was to encourage more stations to add the song to their playlist on that date, and therefore, cause the song to take off faster after that date. Granted some add before and some after. Ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s a ramping up, but the biggest spurt should be after the Add date. So, on Tuesday, and after, it would have started to get more Adds from stations, and therefore, take off sooner. Now it seems like it will ramp up at a slower pace until it gets to January, where it will then hit the Add date and then start taking off. Is that not how it works?

What I meant is that ALTNOY *probably* wasn’t going to take off fast even with a December 9th add date. Radio is slow in December and there was very little lead time between choosing ALTNOY as the single and the impact date. That means that less stations were going to add the song on the impact date or earlier than they would with a longer lead-time. They wouldn’t have done many (or any) test spins, they wouldn’t have decided what songs to push down in rotation to fit ALTNOY in, etc. A longer lead-time gives stations the chance to get ready for a song–maybe add it early, maybe chose an add date in the future. Having the add date this coming Tuesday might not have been very effective. While an add date is really just a marker, it is kind of a wake-up call to stations–”here’s the single!” If the stations aren’t ready then the wake-up call may just got unnoticed by a lot. Move the add date back, they get ready for a song, and the add date has more meaning.

Maybe ALTNOY would have been picked up okay–I’m not attempting to make definitive predictions. It just makes sense that they would want more lead-time. Especially in a slow month.

Crush is not even on z100à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s on line request page even though many much older and lower ranked songs are on that request list.

Z100 is being really weird lately. I listen to them a lot since my office keeps it on and also on my commute so I have a good idea what they’re playing a lot of (Kanye and Rihanna overkill pretty much). There’s lots of songs I use to hear like 5 times a day and suddenly, poof they just stopped. It makes no sense to suddenly just pull a song that is so popular, especially in Crush’s case there where it seemed like up until two weeks ago they played it all the time. Now that you mentioned the online request form I looked and they also pulled No Air and Tattoo. No Air they use to play to the point I was sick of it.. I can understand slowing down spins to make room for a new single but to altogether just stop playing? Is there something behind this?

I don’t think pushing out the add date is a big deal really. It’s not like Jive won’t be promoting the record in the meantime. David is going to be performing ALTNOY at the bazillion jingle balls he’s appearing at this month. There will be radio stations that will pick up the song between now and January, just like they did Crush.

Z100 pulled a lot of songs all at once on the same week. I’m not sure whether it was to get ready to play a few Christmas songs or what, but they just yanked a bunch. They might have just pulled Hot N Cold and Better In Time this week, too.

Z100 is just very bipolar; they’ll kill a song only to resurrect it. They’ve got a different top 10 nearly every two weeks–it’s insane. They do whatever they want because they’re Z100. But I have every confidence they’ll add ALTNOY pretty soon. First off, ALTNOY is totally up Z100′s alley–they’re much more pop, pop-R&B oriented. Rock songs will make their playlist, but they aren’t Z100′s bread and butter. Plus, Z100 has a “special” relationship with Zomba Label Group. It’s why a lot of Zomba songs get premiered on Z100 (including Pink’s “So What” and “Sober,” Britney’s “Womanizer” and “Circus,” Jordin’s “Tattoo” and DA’s “Crush”).

Plus, ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s not like ALTNOY was going to take off any faster with the add date on Tuesday. It just wasnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢tà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’radio is slow right now. I never expected it to do a whole lot in December. So the situation really hasnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t changed. Ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s not like the impact date happens on Tuesday, and all of a sudden tons of stations are playing it a lot. ALTNOY wasnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t going to help David sell albums this month. David and the holiday buying season were going to sell albumsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’and Crush, which is not dead. Ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s still being played over 2000 times a week on Top 40 radio, plus another 1500 times a week on Hot AC (and a couple hundred on poor, pathetic AC). Ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s still in the top 5 on Radio Disney. Heà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s fine. And there will be no real gap.

I am so appreciative of all the information shared here…you’ve just explained all the things that had me scratching my head about the idea of “anybody” releasing a second cut from their album close to Christmas…it’s neither wise nor necessary, and it wouldn’t impact the album sales in time to make any difference….and this is what I was thinking, but didn’t “know”.

Like not knowing that two weeks before Christmas there was a freeze…or the ins and outs of Impact dates…and how a track can have significant ‘lead’ time that isn’t counted…it’s all very interesting.

And the image of a record company exec thwacking a junior member upside the head? That’s priceless!

You’ve been very patient, soundscene. I appreciate that very much. I hope you can clarify something for me. And please forgive my ignorance of the radio world, but if radio stations can pretty much choose to add a song at any time they want, then what is the point of an add date at all. You said it’s basically to tell the stations, “Here’s the single!” However, I’m pretty sure radio stations already know that ALTNOY is one of the songs on Archie’s album. And why would they want to play ALTNOY if they can just as easily play Touch My Hand, Works for Me, or any other song from the album, if they happen to like one of the other songs more? What behooves a station to play ALTNOY as opposed to one of the other songs simply because Jive says it’s the next single? What incentive is Jive giving them to play it, or any of Archie’s songs for that matter?

never mind

I’ve been curious to what happened to DA’s album sales over this last week on itunes. I don’t see him in the top 100 on all music (albums) anymore. Crush seems to be going lower on the chart at itunes also. That’s why I was hoping to see ALTNOY come out I guess. Are they buying the albums in physical stores more now? Ok, I’ll admit, I think I’m angsting a little bit this week (or handwringing, as MJ would say), lol. Forgive me. I probably need to back away some and allow those more in the know to mull over this stuff! lol

Who knows, maybe some more experienced exec saw when they scheduled both Britney and David, slapped some less experienced guy on the head and said, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“WTF?à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  and so they changed them.

That is an amazing visual. I kind of hope that’s what happened.

I can kind of see “Circus” having an early release date. I seem to recall that in the past Brit’s singles go up and down the charts very fast. “Womanizer” is being very robust for her. Maybe they just thought it would follow a similar trajectory to her last two singles. When it didn’t, they had to move out the add date for her second single (which may be more evidence as to why they pushed out Archie’s second single).

What behooves a station to play ALTNOY as opposed to one of the other songs simply because Jive says ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s the next single?

Radio stations are lemmings. They all like to have the same hip songs at the same time. If they aren’t playing the hip song that somebody else is playing, they look less hip themselves. So, the labels help out by saying “this is the hip song and you should play it now” (sometimes the radio stations say “I don’t think so”). The label likes all the radio stations to play the single all at the same time because the song can go higher up the chart. If some stations play it for the first three months and then others for the next three months, the song doesn’t climb too far in the charts. If they all play it at once, the song looks more successful (goes higher up the charts) and more lemmings are convinced to play it. Labels encourage radio stations by talking to them and giving them lots of good reasons to play their song (they are kind of like uber-fans with better phone numbers to call) such as music surveys.

Some labels like stations to start playing on the add date. Jive seems to like stations to start playing before the add date (as do a lot of other labels). Then, it looks like the radio stations are SO excited to play it, they can’t wait for the add date. “Look, it’s in the Top 40 already and it is hasn’t even been added yet”. Jive has been very busy this fall.

I don’t think that the problem is the PDs not wanting to play this song. If it was, Jive would have switched the single with the release date. They didn’t. So, it’s probably something else (“Crush” still has legs, new strategy, waiting for video, some kind of tie-in or something).

Ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s not like Jive wonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t be promoting the record in the meantime.

I’ve noticed that I’m seeing lots more google ads on this site for the CD and that it was given a better sales spot in my local record store (couldn’t help but notice it right at the entrance of the store as I walked by on my way to visit Santa today). Could be that Jive thinks those things are more useful at this time of year than concentrating on the second single. Who knows? Maybe they know what they are doing. Maybe not. Maybe the need another slap up-side the head.

Thank you so much, Kirsten! You did good.

If you think about it, this really isn’t that much of a delay. I somehow remember Crush had an add date of 8/11, then was pushed back to 9-something, but then the surprise premiere on Z100 was in the middle of the two dates! So really, they are probably going to start promoting the song in the next couple of weeks. I wouldn’t be suprised if the video is leaked in 2 weeks, this is about how long it took for the Crush video to come out. I just hope he doesn’t lose momentum because of the delay, but I think his Jingle Ball performances will keep him going thru the month.

By the way, Crush just passed 8 million views on YouTube!!! :cool2_tb:

Kirsten, maybe they put his cd out in front in the store because of the almost all red color….matches their Christmas decor maybe, LOL

Kirsten, maybe they put it out in front in the store because of the almost all red colorà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦.matches their Christmas decor maybe, LOL

LOL. Maybe. Score one for the art department.

Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ve been curious to what happened to DAà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s album sales over this last week on itunes. I donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t see him in the top 100 on all music (albums) anymore. Crush seems to be going lower on the chart at itunes also. Thatà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s why I was hoping to see ALTNOY come out I guess. Are they buying the albums in physical stores more now? Ok, Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ll admit, I think Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m angsting a little bit this week (or handwringing, as MJ would say), lol. Forgive me. I probably need to back away some and allow those more in the know to mull over this stuff! lol

His album was way down in the bottom of the Top 100 this past week when it sold 66K. He’s obviously selling more physical copies of his CD than anything else (as do all artists, but relatively more of his sales are from physical copies than other artists). Yet his sales overall are very good for a pop artist.

iTunes for albums is different than iTunes for singles. With singles, iTunes makes up a tremendous amount of the market. Pretty much whatever you sell on iTunes is how much you sell of your single each week because the competitors are barely there (Amazon, Napster, etc.). With albums, it seems like (and no, I don’t have access to Apple’s numbers, but it seems like), unless an album is in its first week of release, it’s just not going to sell much on iTunes at all (there are exceptions, like Taylor Swift).

For example, look at Lady Gaga’s album–it’s in the 20s on iTunes yet it didn’t make the top 50 in album sales this past week. It gets relatively more of its sales from iTunes than David does, but that’s apparently not that much anyway. iTunes supposedly makes up 17% of the album sales market (behind Walmart and Best Buy, I believe), but that doesn’t mean that it makes up 17% of each album’s sales. Because it’s digital, it has a much wider variety of albums for people to choose from–they don’t have to keep items “in stock” or in boxes out back and continue to reorder. They never sell out. So they’re continually selling their massive inventory. It seems that they only make up 17% of the market because they sell a little each of a lot of albums, not that the top 100 albums are necessarily selling much individually. I would be surprised if any album below the top 10 or even top 5 was selling more than 10K each week–in fact, I think it’s probably a lower threshold than that. A lot of $5 albums make the top 10 on iTunes each week as well, and none of them make the top 50 in overall sales. It’s just not enough.

And, not like it matters much, but David is splitting sales between two versions of his album. It’s not going to add up to tons either way, but if he weren’t, he would probably still be in the top 100 somewhere.

So, yeah, iTunes for albums? Don’t sweat it.

As for Crush–songs have to move down eventually. It’s being pushed down by a lot of Britney album songs and Christmas songs, but fact is that it’s not getting as much airplay anymore. Can’t go on forever. Even “So What” has moved down a lot and that was a massive seller.

Aw, thanks for answering to my angst with such a nice long post soundscene. It does help to hear things in perspective. It’s good too because others may wonder the same things at times (maybe).

BTW, thanks Kirsten for your insightful posts–you teach me a lot as well.

Definitely, ALWAYS a big thank you goes to Kirsten! She is my numbers hero!

Like the album, the Crush single on iTunes is also currently splitting sales with the Crush album version. CAV is still on the Pop chart. It might even be splitting sales with both album versions of Crush. That’s probably why even though Christina’s KGB seems ahead of Crush in the past weeks, it has been selling less when the digital sales come in. This is just to say, positions can be deceptive when sales are being split on iTunes.

lol I get the david wtf image in my head now and that slapping one eddie uses haha

Just though that we need that image here to laught a little today