One Direction has their fourth number one album with “4”. They’ve only released 4 albums starting in 2012, so that is a pretty respectable track record. They were formed from a group of failed soloists on the X-Factor UK show. They quickly became a hit with the girls and finished third that year. Who won that year, you might ask (Matt Cardle wiki will tell you – he’s had success in the UK, but he could walk the streets in the rest of the world without turning a head – Niall, Zayn, Harry, Liam and Louis cannot). Being popular while on a reality singing show doesn’t guarantee success (just ask the contestants on The Voice), but these guys paired with an excellent A&R team have made Simon a very happy man. This week, HDD estimates they moved 401,454 units (that’s a lot of 4’s – do you know in some cultures, 4 is the bad luck number? New buildings wear I live miss floors 4, 13, 14, 24, 34 and I don’t know what happens when they hit 40 – but isn’t bad luck for these 5 lads from all over the UK and Ireland). Great job.
Taylor Swift has the number 2 album with 212,839 and she’ll probably be in the running for number one album next week. One Direction will likely see a typical drop of around 70% cushioned a bit by Black Friday. Taylor Swift is into the leg portion of her album, so I think she may uptick in sales this week. Eminem is expected to have the biggest debut with 140-150K in sales (remember when he used to easily sell a million? But, it’s not really his album, so it’s all good). Next week streams and single sales count in the BB200 so that should Shake things up a lot.
Finally, we have Pentatonix in the mix surging a massive 198% for almost 100K in sales in their 5th week. Next week should be very good for them and the two weeks before Christmas. They are doing everything right. Get that smash! Their last year Christmas album is at 24.
I’m giving up on predicting who will hit the top of the Hot 100.
This is the weekly sales thread. Please post numbers as you find them.Thanks!
