Idol Album Sales – November 29, 2007
November 29, 2007 by Jeanne
I got my hands on these stats yesterday so they are valid as of November 28, 2007. I think that they provide a pretty interesting look at Jordin Sparks‘ first week as well as at how some of the other former American Idol contestants are doing. Check it out (from USA Today):
Jordin’s 119,000 first-week sales, according to Nielsen SoundScan, which landed her at No. 10 on the Billboard album chart, are not only the lowest for an Idol winner, but total less than half of the previous low. And, it came in a week when overall sales were up nearly 20%, a seasonal event that helped a number of other Idols increase their sales.
Jordin’s not even the top Idol on the chart. That honor belongs to Carrie, who rises from No. 9 to No. 7 thanks to a 25% increase in sales to 141,000. That brings her five-week total to 1.07 million.
Wow! That just hurts. Poor Jordin! I really am shocked by her sales. Okay, here’s the rest of it:
Daughtry nearly doubled sales to 43,000 for a total of 3.33 million.
Carrie’s Some Hearts is also up, 29% in fact, to 20,000, bringing its total to 6.05 million. It moves 72-68 on the chart.
Elliott’s Sounds of the Season album appears at No. 170 after selling a bit more than 7,000 copies. Its total is slightly more than 9,000.
The Idol first-week sales chart (winners’ first albums only):
417,000: Ruben (debut at No. 1)
315,000: Carrie (No. 2)
298,000: Taylor (No. 2)
297,000: Kelly (No. 1)
240,000: Fantasia (No.
119,000: Jordin (No. 10)
Clay is the all-time first-week sales champ for an Idol debut album with 613,000 for Measure of a Man.
Off-chart Idol sales:
Kellie fell off the chart from No. 185 last week despite increasing her sales about 8% to 5,400. Her total is 659,000.
Elliott’s self-titled album sold 5,000, up from 4,000, to bring its total to 446,000.
Kelly’s My December sold 5,000, up from 3,700, to top the 700,000 mark (703,000). Kelly had a good week in general — Breakaway jumped from 3,700 to 10,000 to bring her total to 5.90 million, and Thankful was up from 700 to 1,000 and has totaled 2.7 million.
Clay’s Merry Christmas With Love, which jumped from 3,000 to 5,000 this week and has sold 1.3 million. Otherwise, A Thousand Different Ways sold 300, up from 200, to total 520,000, and Measure of a Man sold 100 and is just a bit below 2.8 million total.
Bucky was up from 2,000 to 2,600 and is drawing close to 300,000 (298,000 now).
Bo sold 2,400, same as last week, to hit 23,000. (His first album is at 670,000 now.)
Fantasia was up a little, 1,500 from 1,400, with a total of 494,000.
Mandisa chalked up 1,000 this week, up from 900, to total 58,000. Her Christmas EP sold 400 in its second week to bring its total to 800 (although the total might be missing some Christian bookstore sales).
Katharine sold 500, up from 400, reaching 361,000 total.
Kimberley sold 400 of her Christmas album, up from 200, for a total of 700. Her Based on a True Story album is still selling 100, and totals 17,000.
Constantine is up to 300 from 200 and totals 22,000.
Taylor is steady at 200 and is at 697,000.
Ruben sold 100, same as last week, and totals 235,000.
Paris sold 100, same as last week, for a total of 20,000.
I am shocked..But she will caught on.
You know, I actually think over 100,000 is pretty good for a week.. but thats my opinion lol.. But you know most people see that stupid album cover and forget that shes the girl who won American Idol, I about had a fit when I seen they used that cover! The cover for the TATTOO promotional CD was better then this cover! I think she will catch up.. maybe not.. Either way I still love her.
Well here is the problem with 100K, which is usually considered great, Idol is a promotion powerhouse and after being on TV twice a week for 5 months straight and touring for 4 months, you are expected to have a fan base ready to buy your albums. If you can’t sell a lot of albums right onthe heels of all this, you have lost your momentum and the AI advantage.
The further away from their year on idol people release their albums, the more they need publicity and are in the “pool” competing with the non-idols on equal footing.
Clive Davis once said that the promotion of being on Idol should bring at least 500K to sales, anything more than that is the real popularity of the performer.
Of course, sales have dropped off this year, but not by 50%! So, even though it just matters how the final sales go and we don’t know the future career of any idol and show business has it’s ups and downs, this is very bad for the hottest selling week of the year.
500k, maybe.. if Jive would have did a better job marketing her, and getting a single out quicker, they waited so long, now people forgot!
Plus piracy is very bad too.. many people regardless if they like an artist will download the album and thats all.. so there goes album sales also.. its only getting worse, if all of the online album sales sites would take DRM out of the mp3s and various types of music they sell, I think artists would sell a lot more too. Now if 100,000+ is just CD sales, then shes not doing bad, I wonder if thats a TOTAL amount including Digital sales too.