David Archuleta’s First Week Sales Headed for #2, 225-240K

Good job David!!!!!!… and good luck for the future…

Great numbers for David. I predict 220,000.

Those are indeed great first week numbers for David.

Go David! Your fans love you.

Hey I was happy with anything over 100k LOL Good luck with sales! *thumbs up*

Excellent numbers! Anything over 200K is amazing (especially with albums selling lower these days).

Those are some big numbers. Pretty good.
And Taylor’s numbers are crazy btw.

Go ARCHIE!!

This is the number that definitely makes me happy and proud, hope it’ll appear to be true. I know nothing about country but Taylor is a monster, yes, she is beutifull girl but still a monster.

Yeah Leome.. Taylors numbers are crazy… though not unexpected… promo budget of a small country… haha

I knew he could do it
I havent been this happy with a contestant during and after the show in a long time (prob clay, maybe elliot)

having said that, i just listened to all the bonus track and WorksForMe and LetMeGo and SomebodyOutThere should 150% be on the album. the other 2 tracks are good too. i dunno which ones they would replace, i just know they should be on the album.

im a happy camper.

Kristen, just wondering is there some place numbers are posted for world-wides sales of a particular album?

Damn, that’s an excellent opening week! Good for him!

@Duke, there are as many different opinions as many there’re fans but I would take a risk and agree that most of us think WFM should have been the highlight of the regular version. Maybe I’m not that young anymore, my favourite ones (WFM,WFY,Falling,SOT) are being sold as additional ones. Anyway it worked for Jive, I bought regular one and waiting for a good chance to purchase two other editions.

Off topic but was just curious MJ, will we be able to hear some snippets of Cook’s debut album?

Another review:

David Archuleta (Jive) What’s there to say about David Archuleta? A masterful singer who captured the heart of the world via his many appearances on American Idol, Archuleta represents all that is magnificent about performers with surnames resembling characters from a Hercules movie! Though it’s true he wasn’t Season 7′s “big winner,” masterworks such as opening track “Crush” ultimately make all of us–speaking purely as eager music consumers–winners! In closing, let’s just point out that there must be something special about an exciting new artist whose name forms the anagrams “Avatar Child Due” and “Cadaver Ail Thud”!

http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/newthisweek/4779/everythings-archie/

BTW, Congratulations David!!! you deserve all your success (and more)!!

Yeah congratulations all around, especially David Archuleta! may your album be as consistent as Crush sales.

#2 seems to be David’s lucky number

Rascal give his opinion about the Bonus Tracks:

Somebody Out There… is Clueless

In the creative industries and in the media and marketing world, a lot of people think the word à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“hackà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  describes someone who can perform work capably, but without any real inspiration or creativity. In other words, servicable but ultimately sub-standard. Thatà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s not quite accurate. A hack is someone who has the ability to do more thoughtful, more creative, or more inspired work but who lacks any real respect for their audience. Consequently they rationalize short-cuts and rote, standard fare as à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“good enoughà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  because their clueless audience wonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“getà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  anything more interesting anyway. A hack is a cynic.

I think Jive has been hack in their treatment of Davidà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s album. They apparently think, for example, that because à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Somebody Out Thereà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  is organic, soulful, authentic and sweet (precisely the nature and character of Davidà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s most heartfelt work) that his current core market of teenage girls wonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“get it;à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  that they require something between Chris Brown and the Jonas Brothers in order to respond favorably.

What Jive is evidently failing to recognize is that Davidà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s core market is both smarter than they are giving them credit for, and entirely responsive to who David already is…

Those are great numbers for David. He trounced my prediction. lol (I predicted 170K-190K)

I’m thankful to Jive, so not much complain from me. David needs to get his name out there to broaden his fanbase, eespecially younger ones. and it’s not like they totally restricted David’s artistry input, ie collaboration with Chasez and Bedingfield. They are just being smart marketing. I hope fans won’t make Jive mad lol. You take some you give some.

What Jive is evidently failing to recognize is that Davidà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s core market is both smarter than they are giving them credit for, and entirely responsive to who David already isà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦

Pleasing the “core market” isn’t the point. David needs to broaden his appeal to earn new fans, or he won’t be long for the music business. Obviously, Jive’s methods are working. Jeff was wise to push back, but not too much.

David has plenty of time to stretch his creative muscles. Something he can’t do if there isn’t a second album

Rascal give his opinion about the Bonus Tracks:

Who is Rascal?

MJ, I’ve been wrestling with this since hearing Works for Me–a song and performance I always believed he was capable of delivering. But your post above I believe is the point that overrides all others. I think that song points the way to the future for him. We diehards want everything for him now–but we need to be patient It doesn’t work that way, especially for a 17 year old runner up on AI. While I still think they could have made room for 1 or 2 of the bonus tracks, I agree Jive’s plan is working. And that is all that matters for now.

Who is Rascal?

A blogger, he is a journalist and a David ´s fan…
http://www.notingdavid.org

David has plenty of time to stretch his creative muscles. Something he canà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t do if there isnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t a second album

I agree with you…

houston- I agree. JIVE has been good to David and has an excellent track record. Maybe if the fans love a certain song, they could include it on another album or maybe release it as a single, but so far so good.

Question:a song that it isn ´t released as a single or is a bonus track in the album can be considered to Grammy nomination???I guess notor I ´m wrong…

This is random, and not what everyone is talking about, but I just gotta comment that this album release coverage here on MJ’s is very exciting! I’ve never followed AI or paid attention to album release weeks before, but this is so fun! Seeing the pure joy on Archie’s face and the overwhelming public response he’s deservedly getting just warms my heart. Couldn’t have happened to a better kid. Go Archie!

heh smallie, yeah its so nice!

I love Rascal and his blogs. (He also runs a great blog called Walt Whitman’s Brooklyn, which has some really incredible info and pictures for Brooklyn history buffs). This time I must say I don’t agree with him. David can’t grow singing to the choir, and I don’t believe that this Cd dumbs down David’s talent. I think because they went the direction that they did David will have the kind of opportunity that Justin, Diana, Kat and others did not have. They found a voice that managed to bridge the gap between old fans and new ones. I am not disappointed in this cd at all. Well I would have liked more of David’s own compositions, but that is something as a fan that I will have to look forward to. Works for me….I am gonna work that into so many posts after a while that I will be sick of it. LOL!

Jive has been very good to David, IMO. After all, it’s not like they have a history of being failures at what they do–quite the contrary. They, probably more than any other label in the past 10 years, know how to sell their artists very well. It would be foolish to push back too hard. I think Jeff and David are smart enough to realize that.

While I do wish that more of David’s songs would have ended up on the main album, I can’t complain too much–after all, there isn’t a song on the main album I don’t like and there are several I love.

Give David a few years. If this album sells well (and it’s certainly off to a great start), I foresee that Jive will loosen the reins a bit more on the subsequent ones.

Pleasing the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“core marketà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  isnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t the point. David needs to broaden his appeal to earn new fans, or he wonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t be long for the music business. Obviously, Jiveà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s methods are working. Jeff was wise to push back, but not too much.

David has plenty of time to stretch his creative muscles. Something he canà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t do if there isnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t a second album

Couldn’t agree more MJ.

Interview in Blogamole for MTv:

Exclusive “Entrevista” with David Archuleta

There is no secret that the 17-year-old à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“American Idolà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  alum is captivating el mundo entero with his new self-titled album, which dropped on November 11th. The Honduran-American singer may have lost his crown to opponent David Cook, but he still won over 97 million votes and countless of adoring fans. We caught-up with the cantante while eating chicken fingers backstage after his Mi TRL performance. Thank goodness that was only the appetizer! Find out the delicious treats we have in store right below the jump!

Jive is smart, they know how to sell young and new artists. I heard they gave David lots of freedom. I guess Jive and David have built good relationship during the process. They’ll make better album later. I hope next album will hear more David’s songs.

I’m satisfied with David’s album. I won’t say this is a perfect album, but it is great. As a debut album, Even there’re couple of songs writen/co-writen by David. I was surprised how many songs he (co)wrote. I love every songs in the album even bonus tracks. They’re not just fillers. Each bonus track has potential. That’s very very enough for me.

For now, he needs to spread his name out there.

Again…Congrats David! Even though this is just a prediction, still great number!!

Those are great numbers predicted for David. I hope it is even higher. I went by Walmart today and his cds are right next to Taylor Swift’s cd’s. They have a whole section to themselves in the front. There was half of Archie’s cds left. I bought another copy for a friend. I agree that longevity is the key. Archie is on the right road. Crush is in regular rotation now in Florida. I hear it every single day on the radio. Congrats to Archie!

Pleasing the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“core marketà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  isnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t the point. David needs to broaden his appeal to earn new fans, or he wonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t be long for the music business. Obviously, Jiveà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s methods are working. Jeff was wise to push back, but not too much.

David has plenty of time to stretch his creative muscles. Something he canà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t do if there isnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t a second album

But couldn’t his appeal been broadened to reach the type of audiences that enjoy John Mayer, Jack Johnson, Colbie Caillat, James Blunt? These are the types of sounds on David’s best songs (Somebody Out There, Works for Me, You Can, Falling….). I like the album, don’t get me wrong, but after hearing the bonus tracks don’t understand why they needed to go pop. I think he would have done great as well by sticking with his authentic sound. This is also a hugely popular sound in music today, for teens and adults.

But couldnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t his appeal been broadened to reach the type of audiences that enjoy John Mayer, Jack Johnson, Colbie Caillat, James Blunt? These are the types of sounds on Davidà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s best songs (Somebody Out There, Works for Me, You Can, Fallingà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦.). I like the album, donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t get me wrong, but after hearing the bonus tracks donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t understand why they needed to go pop. I think he would have done great as well by sticking with his authentic sound. This is also a hugely popular sound in music today, for teens and adults.

I got the impression that DA did the bulk of his songwriting relatively late in the process when the tone of his album was already set. Jive couldn’t just go to the usual suspects who specialize in beats and pop hooks and tell them to write a bunch of acoustic Jason Mraz and Jack Johnson songs. If David wants to put out that kind of album, he’ll need the time to write a whole album of that type of material (and get the label’s blessing to pursue music that wouldn’t necessarily make the same immediate impact on Top 40)

I got the impression that DA did the bulk of his songwriting relatively late in the process when the tone of his album was already set. Jive couldnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t just go to the usual suspects who specialize in beats and pop hooks and tell them to write a bunch of acoustic Jason Mraz and Jack Johnson songs. If David wants to put out that kind of album, heà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ll need the time to write a whole album of that type of material (and get the labelà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s blessing to pursue music that wouldnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t necessarily make the same immediate impact on Top 40)

I respectfully disagree. Before tour even started, when asked what type of album he wanted to make, David’s answer was “organic pop.” Somewhere along the line, though, his answer changed to “you know, I like top 40, it’s fun to listen to, so it’ll be a pop record.” It sounded like he had to compromise. Also, “Works for Me” was written during tour with Daniel Bedingfield when they were in Toronto – wasn’t that mid-tour or so? I think it was more a matter of the label dictating the direction the album would take, rather than David making the album he wanted to at the start. I don’t get it, because a 17-year old singer-songwriter is still a great story to tell, and his organic songs, IMO, are his best.

Tatiana, I get what you’re saying. And believe me I sympathize. As much as I love the album, Works for Me is on a whole other level. It really does showcase David as a more rounded, sophisticated artist. I think Jive’s goal for the first album, because of the challenges all idol alums face, is to move units, as many as possible. The first album is all about a numbers game. Find out where most of the fans are in the demographics spectrum and target THEM. I agree with you and have argued until I’m blue in the face that David’s fanbase is much more diverse in age and type than cynics think. I don’t fall in their target group, for example. But big name record labels aren’t in to high stakes gambling. They want a safe investment. Low risk. The truth is if David’s first album didn’t sell well, he might not get another album. And if he did, he’d have very little artistic freedom, if any. And while I love the idea of David recording the type of music you mention and yes it sells well, I guarantee you the label would consider that a higher risk move for his first album. His album selling well will earn him more freedom with the label. Earn is the key word. They don’t just give that kind of freedom to a 17 year old alum of idol. The track record for idol alums is spotty. And the bottom line is it is selling. It is working. Before long, he’ll have a platinum single to his credit and he will most likely have a gold album by near the first of the year.

I don’t think the album could sell this well if all the bonus tracks are included on the main album. and, I would be mad if my favourite songs were taken out in place of those bonus tracks, which not all I like. Let David and Jive do their thing. Let him try different things, isn’t that what he wants for now, not to be pigeonhole? I don’t know why some fans are complaining, Jeff and David certainly aren’t. He is still young. Pushing him too early in that direction is not good.

I still don’t fully get it. Look at Josiah Leming – he has a major label album coming out, and he is singing his type of music. idk. I hear what you all are saying, but that doesn’t mean this is absolutely the right choice for David, or that other options wouldn’t have worked too. That’s all I’m saying. Anyway, I am fully behind him and Houston the idea that his album will be Gold by January is so exciting!

BTW, now having heard “Works for Me” and “Somebody Out There” I am even more curious about his original arrangement for “Longer”. My guess is that it was a fresh, unique redition of a totally dated song, and would have gotten a ton of buzz.

tatiana.. I’ve always been curious about that lost ‘longer’ arrangement….

Tatiana: I get what you are saying and I am excited for his future. Josiah can do his stuff because he doesn’t need to live up to high expectations. He is not the runner u of AI. imo WFM is the only bonus track good and catchy enough to be included on the main album.

He’ll get the chance to work on the 2nd one I am sure.

Well, I’ll say this, having heard the bonus tracks, I’m so so excited about his future. Not that I wasn’t before. But I’m more convinced than ever that his is a career that will grow and transcend limits like age, audience and trends.

houstonrufus – I concur!!!! :thumbup_tb:

As said before, Jive did right thing for the debut album. I’m not gonna say this song should be the main track or not. In a big picture, this is on the right direction. Let’s look back AI season 7. Many ppl said, “He cannot do current songs”, “He’s boring”, “He cannot be in the mainstream”. And look now! He’s one the most popular pop singers. He and Jive prove David can do current music. The main goal of his debut album is that. After his success, he can have more opportunities to write songs and sing his songs more.

In interviews, he mentioned that “I’m in a learning process and I’m looking for who I am and what I’m going to do musically.” We can say I wanna hear this kinda song from u, that kinda song from u. However, nobody knows what will be the best. well…even David himself…haha. Who knows? Someday he’ll do heavy metal or rap. ( I don’t think so though lol )

I understand all his fans wish his success. That’s why there’re different voices and concerns. However, I’m going to just enjoy his growing in front of my eyes. How fun is that?

I just noted on iTunes that all the 12 major tracks in Archie’s album charted in the top 100…does this mean that people are buying individual tracks?…

I just noted on iTunes that all the 12 major tracks in Archieà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s album charted in the top 100à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦does this mean that people are buying individual tracks?à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦

Yeah, they are. All of them are charting in the top 100 of pop. Crush, A Little Too Not Over You and Touch My Hand are charting in the overall iTunes 100. I think the order in which their charting is pretty much based on which songs got better “clips” when people preview the song. Although, I do have to say that I’m very impressed with ALTNOY’s success–it’s at #59 overall. There’s zero promotion for that song and it’s never played anywhere but on people’s iPods or CD players. And knowing David gets a bigger piece of the pie for that song’s sales (because he’s a co-writer too) makes me happy.

Crush is actually competing with itself now. The original single is #24 (pushed down by Taylor Swift’s mega-album tracks), and the album version of Crush is at #36. If you look in the pop section of iTunes, Crush shows up at #9 and #10 on the main pop page. lol. I’m hoping this means that the combined sales will push it over 1M next week.

^^thanks soundscene for your valuable insight (as always )

Thanks, Soundscene. I would be so elated if indeed Crush ends up platinum by next week. It’s so pleasing to see Archie’s face multiple times on the iTunes Pop Chart Top 100. And it’s interesting how each of the 12 songs on his album stacks up against each other in popularity.

BB put out a bulletin on it’s building chart. It’s predicting that Archie will be top 10, but didn’t provide numbers. It did post numbers for Taylor Swift (600K) which are at the high end of HDDs estimates (550K-600K).

Here is some info on how BB builds their chart:

Unweighted sales of “Fearless” through the close of business Tuesday (Nov. 11) stood at 217,000. Billboard estimates the eight merchants who report to Nielsen SoundScan’s Building chart — Trans World Entertainment, Best Buy, Circuit City, iTunes, Starbucks, Borders, Target and Anderson Merchandisers — comprise about 80% of all U.S. album sales.

They are probably predicting Archie will be second:

Other albums looking to debut within the top 10 on the Billboard 200 next week include David Archuleta’s self-titled album (19/Jive), T-Pain’s “Thr33 Ringz” (Konvict/Nappy Boy/Jive), the “Now 29″ compilation (UMe) and Enya’s “And Winter Came…” (Reprise).

Billboard.biz

thanks kirsten

ozarka, yeah it is interesting but like Lisa said I think its more which ones have better clips. Some clips arent really all thar representative of a song.. but C’est la vie.

Ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s so pleasing to see Archieà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s face multiple times on the iTunes Pop Chart Top 100. And ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s interesting how each of the 12 songs on his album stacks up against each other in popularity.

Yep, is really cool see his songs doing so good in the Top Pop, specially ALTNOY, the song is great but with zero promotion and airplay as Soundscene said is great…

ETA.
I told you guys that my dad was going to US this week, he called yesterday to report that in the store he went to look for David ´s album, there was only one left… I ´m goint to take that as a good sing ;D, a regular version only 12 songs… Go David!!!

ETAA:
Article at Routers India:

Q: This first album was put together pretty quickly. How much does it reflect the real David Archuleta?.

A: “We didn’t have a ton of time. We were experimenting with different things. There is something for everyone. People are expecting a Josh Groban thing from me but I didn’t want to get stuck in that category, especially since I am 17. I wanted to prove that I wasn’t just someone who sings only standards and covers. I wanted to show that I am still young and fresh and that I’m a teenager and I don’t want to grow up too fast.”

Continue reading here:

http://in.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idINTRE4AC2XG20081113?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0

I told you guys that my dad was going to US this week, he called yesterday to report that in the store he went to look for David ´s album, there was only one leftà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦ I ´m goint to take that as a good sing ;D, a regular version only 12 songsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦ Go David!!!

Oh no! Don’t tell me he went all the way to the States to get that Walmart CD with the bonus track but could only find the one with just the 12 main songs to bring back to you?

ETA: Nice article, btw.

^No they were going shopping anyway :smile1_tb: , and it ´s a coincidence that is the week that David Archuleta cd ´s was release… my sister and I have being asking him to get the album at Walmart the version with 13 songs, so he still have two days to find it, so wish me luck :happy_tb:…

Here are this week’s Crush numbers…

TW lw Chart
22 20 Hot 100
37 42 Hot 100 Airplay
17 14 Pop 100
16 18 Pop 100 Airplay
15 13 Mainstream Top 40
12 13 Hot AC Tracks
18 18 Hot Adult Top 40 Tracks
18 15 Hot Digital Tracks
19 15 Hot Digital Songs
19 18 Canadian Hot 100
22 24 Hot Canadian Digital Singles
32 38 Hot Ringmasters

It’s interesting to note that even though its sales have actually gone up in the past couple of weeks, its position in the Hot Digital Tracks/Songs have actually gone down. I assume this is a reflection of the tougher competition it is up against lately.

So, Kristen, does that mean that any albums bought at walmart or amazon.com don’t count toward BB numbers?

LK08–they all will count.

So, Kristen, does that mean that any albums bought at walmart or amazon.com donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t count toward BB numbers?

No, it does not mean that.

It would appear that the albums purchased at Amazon do not count towards the building charts (i.e. they don’t report sales early in the week). They do report for the final charts. Soundscan receives reports from vendors on Monday and Tuesday of the week and then release the numbers to their subscribers on Wednesday morning.

Walmart is a little different. From what I’ve read, it doesn’t actually own the CD departments in its stores. It kind of rents out the space to two retailers: Handleman and Anderson Merchandisors. If you watch the HDD reports come in, you will likely see two big spikes when tehse two Walmart retailers check in (this was most obvious when the Eagles Walmart exclusive album was dominating the charts). Anderson Merchandisors is one of the vendors mentioned in the BB report so we have some of Walmarts numbers already. Ultimately, both will report for the final report. Handleman recently sold its Canadian music operations to Anderson Merchandising, so perhaps it has done that in the states as well (so Walmart may now have one vendor. I’m not sure).

I just thought the numbers were interesting. If I’m reading it correctly, Taylor Swift moved 217K units in raw numbers with only 80% of vendors reporting in. In one day. Wow! It kind of shows you how many CDs get sold on a Tuesday and why the one day reports are useful. If we extrapolate out (always risky because we don’t know the mix of the vendors not reporting), Archie sold 90K in one day. LOL. Don’t publish that elsewhere because I have no idea how they arrived at the 217K numbers, how raw they are, if they are only the raw numbers from the 80% or if they have been extrapolated out to 217K or a million other variables. I’ve just used a simple ratio. Fun with numbers. Lies. Damn Lies and Statistics.

By the way, I was at Sam’s Club today, and noticed that they are selling David Archuleta’s cd with the Walmart exclusive song, Works For Me!. So if you don’t live near a Walmart, perhaps a Sam’s Club will do.