[MiguelPortugal]

Originally posted by Billboard

When Chris Brown claimed his second No. 1 debut on the Billboard 200 this week, he also logged an unexpected accomplishment. The singer/songwriter became the second R&B hitmaker in a month to bow at No. 1 with a comparably soft launch.

Brown's fifth studio album, "Fortune," sold 135,000 first-week copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. That sum is half of the 270,000 units that launched "F.A.M.E.," the artist's 2011 album, atop the Billboard 200 - and gave Brown his first No. 1 debut. Four weeks ago, RCA labelmate Usher came in at No. 1 with 128,000 for his latest, "Looking 4 Myself." That figure marked a significant 61% slide from the 329,000 first-week sales for his last full-length album, 2010's No. 1-debuting "Raymond v Raymond."

While overall album sales are down 3.2% from last year (see story, page 4), bright spots have still dotted the landscape. Nicki Minaj's sophomore set, "Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded," and Carrie Underwood's "Blown Away" bowed with a healthy 253,000 and 267,000, respectively. And more recently, Justin Bieber's "Believe" served up 374,000 in sales for a No. 1 debut on the Billboard 200.

However, given the hit-churning stature of Usher and Brown and their highly anticipated sets -- two summer flagship releases under the newly restructured RCA Music Group -- their resulting opening sales frames raise a few questions. Are Usher and Brown, with their pop- and dance-leaning album tracks, alienating their core audiences? Are segmented singles targeting multiple formats fostering confusion instead of album sales? Or is this just another sign of the times in a singles-dominant, consolidating industry? While RCA executives couldn't be reached for comment, several executives from radio and retail did weigh in on the matter.

Derrick "DC" Corbett, director of urban operations for Clear Channel's New Orleans cluster of stations that includes R&B/hip-hop WQUE, suggests that the Usher and Brown albums may not provide enough material for their core R&B fans. Brown performed "Turn Up the Music" and "Don't Wake Me Up" at the recent BET Awards - two songs that aren't being played on R&B/hip-hop radio. Of the five songs released prior to "Fortune's" debut, only "Strip" became a hit, reaching No. 3 on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. "Sweet Love" topped out at No. 27 while "Till I Die" rises 37-27 this week.

While Usher's "Climax" spent 11 weeks atop Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, it peaked at No. 36 after only three weeks on the Mainstream Top 40 chart. Conversely, his pop-focused "Scream" isn't being heard on R&B/hip-hop radio even as it reached the top 10 on Mainstream Top 40. Another album track, "Lemme See" with Rick Ross, rises 5-3 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs.

"There's nothing wrong with growing creatively or crossing over," Corbett says. "But you also have to superserve your audience. The same audience that built you is the one you have to stay consistent with. You can get away with a 'Yeah 3X' and a 'DJ Got Us Fallin' in Love,' but that can't be the crux of your album. You can't leave your core shaking their heads."

Indeed, last time out, Brown's "F.A.M.E." catapulted him back into the limelight - and a first-time Grammy Award - thanks to a solid foundation of R&B hits that included "Deuces," "Look at Me Now" and "B.S." Likewise, Usher's last album was propelled by such R&B-focused hits as "Papers" and "Hey Daddy (Daddy's Home)" before he dropped the full-throttle pop/dance track "OMG," a hit on both the Mainstream Top 40 and Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop airplay charts.

Acknowledging that first-week physical sales for both artists' new albums fell well below projections, an urban buyer for a major chain notes that the gap between releasing singles and the album's arrival may have played a harmful role. "Labels want that traction at radio. But sometimes it's too long in between or an album is pushed back, then labels miss the key time to release the album. But scanning 100,000 first-week nowadays is still good."

Dedry Jones, of Chicago's Music Experience store, says, "If you're releasing singles so far in advance of the album and people are buying all of those on iTunes, what's the reason to buy the albums?"

Others contend that first-week sales aside, Usher's and Brown's standing as key R&B format artists remains strong. "Both of these artists are part of my core rotation," Perry Broadcasting VP of radio programming Terry Monday says. "It's still early, and honestly nothing to be alarmed about. The industry is changing. Album sales overall aren't going to be the huge numbers they used to be."

Neke Howse, PD of WKYS Washington, D.C., agrees. "Between the economy and this changing industry, it's a sign of the times," she says. "But both of these artists will be fine, and their albums will do OK."

Article: http://www.billboard.com/news#/colum...07574352.story

[Katamari]

um, there only like 3 electro pop songs on L4M tho

[Damien M]

Great read, and i agree for the most part.


You should've posted this in Base by the way, would've made for an interesting discussion.

[Cap10Planet]

Originally posted by Katamari

um, there only like 3 electro pop songs on L4M

Yes, but "Scream" received a lot of promotion. While "Climax" received promotion, "Scream" was still given more attention. People buy albums based on the singles and the amount of promotion presented to them. If something like "Scream" is getting a ton of promo, his core base might believe that the album is full of dance-pop songs, even if it's not.

I say it's Usher's fault that his album is performing poorly (yes, poorly... his album should not be out of the top 10 already). He did something similar with his EP. He promoted the hell out of "DJ Got Us Fallin' In Love," and ignored the urban single, "Hot Tottie." No video, no live performance, nothing.

If Trey Songz ends up with similar or better numbers, I think this article will make even more sense.

[RIHDRAKEBRITUSH]

Right now Usher just wants to make the music that he likes, he has sold enough albums anyway so he doesn't care. Chris does not have that privilege yet, he is just 6 yrs in the game, while Usher is 2 decades in the game

[isupportCBE]

Fortune only had 3-4 electro type of songs. .__. both Usher & Chris came back with an R&B sound but the world just dislikes great music!

[Flaca.]

I don't think Usher cares about his sales anymore considering all whats been going on for him, hell I wouldn't care either if I had a diamond selling album.

[UnusualBoy]

It's both of them fault, neither of their albums are full of dance-pop tracks but they prefered to focus on the dance singles (to only get digital sales) instead of promoting the urban singles (the ones that get you album sales)

[iamvladd]

Originally posted by Damien M

Great read, and i agree for the most part.

.

I feel like Trey will out sell both of their first weeks. Still too early to tell.

[Flaca.]

Originally posted by UnusualBoy

It's both of them fault, neither of their albums are full of dance-pop tracks but they prefered to focus on the dance singles (to only get digital sales) instead of promoting the urban singles (the ones that get you album sales)

This. Instead of promoting Scream, Usher should've promoted Climax, that song had so much potential.

[crumprKID]

Usher is definitely isolating his core fanbase. I don't know about Chris tho. His fanbase is the type that like R&B but mainstream stuff too.

I think both of them would have sold more with better promotion.

[isupportCBE]

i dunno what y'all talkin about but Climax slayed the charts. it was #1 on R&B/Hip-Hop for 11 weeks. longer than deuces and look at me now. his 2nd urban single is doing amazing aswell so...

[Flaca.]

Originally posted by isupportCBE

i dunno what y'all talkin about but Climax slayed the charts. it was #1 on R&B/Hip-Hop for 11 weeks. longer than deuces and look at me now. his 2nd urban single is doing amazing aswell so...

Climax should have been promoted more, but at least it was successful on the urban charts. Climax took a big **** on the other RnB songs released this year too.

[MusicTalker]

Honestly, Looking 4 Myself should've been released a month earlier than it was released. Climax was still big at that time.

Fortune should've been released in its original release date. The guy is so right when he says they waited too long to release their albums.

[FAME.]

There are only 3 remotely pop songs on Fortune. The rest is straight R&B
Besides, they're both still on top R&B wise regardless regardless. From the past year alone the R&B winner at every major award show Billboard, AMA'S, Grammy's, EBT Awards etc, was pretty much either Chris or Usher

[MiguelPortugal]

Originally posted by FAME.

There are only 3 remotely pop songs on Fortune. The rest is straight R&B
Besides, they're both still on top R&B wise regardless regardless. From the past year alone the R&B winner at every major award show Billboard, AMA'S, Grammy's, EBT Awards etc, was pretty much either Chris or Usher

OK, but the problem with Usher and Chris is that they promote their dance-pop stuff too much. Their urban fanbases just don't care about it.

[RIHDRAKEBRITUSH]

May be next album will be impressive to their core fanbases

[SoulLow]

I kept saying that the pop fanbase doesn't see it for buying albums of crossover artists. I can't think of the last crossover artist that has had lengthened success in staying in both genres, but possibly lessened success (Measuring album sales, with the dancepop singles themselves doing just OK)

[TheGeoKing]

Agree with the article.

[esteee12]

Both of them looks like they are going to struggle to hit gold let alone hitting plat. Especially usher. I think he should have a higher debut considering he was such a album seller during confessions.