HDD is only reporting at 78%, but man, are those some depressing numbers. 11K gets you in the top 10 right now. The music biz continues to find ways to be depressing. That number 10 is predicted to be about double in sales so, there is that.
Panic at the Disco is looking at a number one release with a very impressive 165K-175K in sales. What makes it more impressive that is about double what their last album did with “Too Weird to Live, To Rare to Die” opening with 84K back in October of 2013. What brought this on? Good for them. This will be their first number one album. Fueled by Ramen continues to be my favourite label name.
Adele has to settle for number 2, but she is selling gangbusters for Januay. David Bowie nostalgia continues to fuel sales with his latest album at 3 and his greatest hits album at 10. The Kidz Bop to their 31st album and continue to sell well as parents pick up sanitized versions of what’s hitting the top of the chart. The Kidz bravely take on everything from Phone Sex (Hotline Bling) to loving-and-leaving them (“Exes and Ohs”). One Direction’s “Drag Me Down” gets their special kid-friendly treatment as well.
Justin Bieber is 5th (he got two tracks on the Kidz Bop album), Chris Stapleton continues to be a monster at 5th, Lecrae (Christian Hip Hop) debuts at 7th with Hank William Jr debuting right behind at 8th and Brothers Osborne (Country) at 9th).
One Direction, Carrie Underwood, Pentatonix and Jordan Smith are 21st, 32nd, 38th and 40th respectively representing X-Factor UK, American Idol, The Sing-off and The Voice. American Idol’s latest winner, Nick Fradiani, appears on the Now 56 album at 21st.
Labels are trying a new strategy – release near the Grammys. Kayne West recently tweeted he is releasing an album 2/11 and it is expected that Drake and Rihanna will release about the same time (when is Drake not releasing an album? I’d tell him to stop, but he consistently rakes in huge numbers so clearly he doesn’t need my advice. This will be his third album in a year).
HDD Sales Chart (78%)
— 1 PANIC! AT THE DISCO DEATH OF A BACHELOR DCD2/FUELED BY RAMEN 113,754
2 2 ADELE 25 XL/COLUMBIA 74,888
1 3 DAVID BOWIE BLACKSTAR COLUMBIA 52,924
— 4 KIDZ BOP KIDS KIDZ BOP 31 RAZOR & TIE 33,469
3 5 JUSTIN BIEBER PURPOSE DEF JAM 23,123
5 6 CHRIS STAPLETON TRAVELLER MERCURY NASHVILLE 20,295
— 7 LECRAE CHURCH CLOTHES 3 REACH 18,982
— 8 HANK WILLIAMS JR. IT’S ABOUT TIME NASH ICON/BMLG 16,682
— 9 BROTHERS OSBORNE PAWN SHOP EMI NASHVILLE 13,440
4 10 DAVID BOWIE BEST OF BOWIE RHINO/PARLOPHONE 10,605
…
13 20 NOW 56 VARIOUS ARTISTS NOW/LEGACY 5,544 [Nick Fradiani]
14 21 ONE DIRECTION MADE IN THE A.M. SYCO/COLUMBIA 5,511
…
24 32 CARRIE UNDERWOOD STORYTELLER 19/ARISTA NASHVILLE 3,556
…
33 38 PENTATONIX PENTATONIX RCA 2,630
…
25 40 JORDAN SMITH THE COMPLETE SEASON 9 COLLECTION REPUBLIC 2,414
,,,
47 50 DRAKE & FUTURE WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE YMCMB/REPUBLIC/EPIC 1,776
