charts discussion HDD: Adele 833k (biggest debut of the year), Taylor 165k

[Virtual_Insanity]

8 minutes ago, By the Water said:

Yeah, people seem to be pretending ATRL didn't call reputation and Lover all sorts of things from underperformance to straight up bombs

 

From calling rep her BTW and TS7 her artpop to laughing at the idea of puta outselling Lemonade and Anti to that one navy that claimed all of Rihanna's albums but her debut were bigger than Lover. Hell, even folklore was called frontloaded

 

The key point is both those albums were heavily boosted by merch and multiple copies. Someone pulling similar numbers with no merch is not the same thing. Its a pretty basic thing to grasp. 

[Chemical X.]

3 hours ago, Trent W said:

It’s Reputation 

 

3 hours ago, wastedpotential said:

Reputation did 1.2M

 

3 hours ago, wehavetostan said:

reputation debuted with 1,238,000 units (1,216,000 pure sales) in 2017

my bad y’all xx

[Cloröx]

52 minutes ago, Hot Volcano said:

I feel like she will surpass both Lover (869k) and folklore's (846k) opening weeks 

I think the prediction will decrease, remember that this based on three days data. Streaming number kinda underwhelming, and the CDs/Vinyls not selling as much as expected.

[Communion]

This basically confirms that the last few years with the final instances of 1M sales weeks was largely due to non-music bundles.

 

It's fair to say no artist can do 1M SEA units in the streaming era with the ratios currently how they are - not Adele, not Drake, not Taylor, etc. yet we know people are consuming music more than ever before; There's probably a conversation to be had now, or in the upcoming future, on if the ratios should be lowered and the relative value of a stream increased.

 

There's no way anyone with a straight face can argue that a cd, let alone a digital download, has a market value of $9.99 in 2021.

 

If the value of a purchase goes down, then the threshold of 1 SEA unit also then goes down.

[JonginBey]

Not reading any of the previous pages because I’m sure this topic isn’t that deep.

[darthdevidem01]

Underperformance for sure and pretty upsetting as a big fan

 

But still great sales objectively.

 

I hope the era has better legs than 25 with strong single releases

[Cloröx]

32 minutes ago, Virtual_Insanity said:

All too well is a single. What rubbish are you talking ? These re recordings are the most promoted albums in the history of music. 

This sounds very stupid, you are not even trying anymore 

[Bloodflowers.]

Biggest debut week in this decade (so far)

 

Album is very personal and not commercial friendly so I am not surprised that she isn't pulling 25 opening numbers this time since she didn't release an in-your-face spectacular song like Hello this time around

 

[slw84]

2 hours ago, UNNAMI said:

it will increase over 1m

I believe this too

1 hour ago, Darkgalord said:

Omg so Taylor is now officially the most powerful artist on the planet. 

We were expecting Adele to show her dominance and reclaim the crown but these numbers ain't it... 

This won't go over well...

[CandyBling]

great big number for literally anyone including adele... however she did lose most of her audience from her peak and this is an underperformance she is no longer on a sales pedestal

[Virtual_Insanity]

20 minutes ago, simmnfierzig said:

Um yeah. Having airplay is usually exactly what being a single means

 

But yes she performed it once on TV and released a 15 minute video for it. It obviously had to smash

The mental gymnastics. It was sent to radio. It has a video. It has two versions on her website as single downloads. 

It has ten pieces of specific merch on her website. It's a single. 

[tost1]

I kinda feel bad for her, but tbh the album is extremely dull so maybe it makes her at least up her game

[By the Water]

14 minutes ago, Communion said:

This basically confirms that the last few years with the final instances of 1M sales weeks was largely due to non-music bundles.

 

It's fair to say no artist can do 1M SEA units in the streaming era with the ratios currently how they are - not Adele, not Drake, not Taylor, etc. yet we know people are consuming music more than ever before; There's probably a conversation to be had now, or in the upcoming future, on if the ratios should be lowered and the relative value of a stream increased.

 

There's no way anyone with a straight face can argue that a cd, let alone a digital download, has a market value of $9.99 in 2021.

 

If the value of a purchase goes down, then the threshold of 1 SEA unit also then goes down.

No album that sold 1M+ first week had bundles of any sort

 

Merch bundles for albums weren't really a thing until Travis did it in 2018 and no album since sold over 1M first week

[slw84]

28 minutes ago, CaptainMusic said:

This album is NEVER going diamond, y’all need to stop setting her up. 

This album will likely go 3x platinum by the end of the year...

then they'll push full out singles 3-4 more.

 

The album will serve longevity if they can push it to 7-8x platinum in its initial run it's possible later on it can.

[Cheers]

These are huge numbers for any artist especially in today's climate. A decline was to be expected. She doesn't have 21 hype anymore. 

 

It's obvious she did lose some commercial appeal though and she's no longer an unstoppable juggernaut.. BUT no one else is seeing these 1st week numbers so.. congrats. I could see her starting to fade if this album has no legs tho. 

[LosingHimWasBlue]

Little Monsters, Katycats, Arianators, Navy, Belieber, Please comeback to place where you belong. 
 

Daydreamers, i’m so sorry you need to fix this mess after they did it. 

[simmnfierzig]

1 minute ago, Virtual_Insanity said:

The mental gymnastics. It was sent to radio. It has a video. It has two versions on her website as single downloads. 

It has ten pieces of specific merch on her website. It's a single. 

It was absolutely not sent to radio. Wtf. We have been hoping and praying it would be. Instead Message In A Bottle was half sent to radio

 

The downloads on her website were for 48 hours.

Didnt know that singles came with specific merch

But I have no problem with you calling it a single. It's not really, but that's fine. That's whatever.

 

Saying the album, or albums including Fearless (loooooooool), have been heavily promoted is just dumb. They absolutely havent been. Red has been some. Fearless got nothing

[Pink Matter]

And to think people were so certain that she would trounce Taylor with ease  Great numbers but I expected at least 1M tbh.

[Vespertine]

14 minutes ago, By the Water said:

No album that sold 1M+ first week had bundles of any sort

 

Merch bundles for albums weren't really a thing until Travis did it in 2018 and no album since sold over 1M first week

Right!!! Anything to discredit Reputation though, right?

 

Everyone can scream “bundles!!!” all they want, but they better buckle up for TS10. Folklore did its numbers with none of Taylor’s usual album campaign, NO physicals at Target/Walmart, no lead single, minimal airplay, minimal promo until weeks or even months later. Lover did its numbers with her most universally reviled lead single ever. 

 

She is only growing on streaming and Red TV just showed how many physicals she can move for a 9 year old album  

 

If TS10 launches like an old school Taylor era, proper lead single, CDs and vinyl available first week in stores… whew. 

 

 

[Virtual_Insanity]

12 minutes ago, simmnfierzig said:

It was absolutely not sent to radio. Wtf. We have been hoping and praying it would be. Instead Message In A Bottle was half sent to radio

 

The downloads on her website were for 48 hours.

Didnt know that singles came with specific merch

But I have no problem with you calling it a single. It's not really, but that's fine. That's whatever.

 

Saying the album, or albums including Fearless (loooooooool), have been heavily promoted is just dumb. They absolutely havent been. Red has been some. Fearless got nothing

She has been talking about these re recordings for two years. The whole thing with Scooter was heavily publicised. Thats all promo sweetie. 

 

[Vespertine]

Also, what’s with everyone claiming Red TV had a massive hype campaign building up to release week?

 

Swifties were complaining for months about how she wasn’t doing anything to hype up Red TV   Turns out she was just saving up the good stuff so we had an iconic and enjoyable first week

 

She certainly wasn’t projecting the Red TV album cover across every monument on earth!  

 

 

[QueenofCopyPaste]

HUGE update for a first update only

 

It might even go up

[Mudkip]

4 hours ago, ***** Destroyer said:

I think they originally predicted 3.5m for 25 and it went down from that (slightly)

 

November 20, 2015

https://hitsdailydouble.com/news&id=298636&title=ADELE-EARLY-RESPONSE%3A-BEYOND-BELIEF-(UPDATE)

Quote

With many retailers open on Thanksgiving evening, will that provide the last-minute surge to move 25 beyond the 2.4m first week record set by NSYNC in 2000 and possibly even hit 3m in its first week.

At this point, 2m+ is a lock. Can it hit 3m? Stay tuned.

November 22, 2015 

https://hitsdailydouble.com/news&id=298650&title=ADELE%3A-BYE-BYE-BYE%2C-RECORD-BOOKS

Quote

Adele is now on track not just to break the existing record for first-week sales (NSYNC's 2.3m), but to smash it to dust. The current projection for the debut of her new XL/Columbia set, 25, is 2.5-2.9m.

November 26, 2015 

https://hitsdailydouble.com/news&id=298711&title=AN-ADELE-THANKSGIVING%3A-3.5M-IN-SIGHT

Quote

Adele’s 25 continues to surge, up 25% from Tuesday. Forecasts now put the megastar’s new set at 3.5 million for her debut week—leaving prior sales records in the dust—and possibly as much as 6m for the season.

 

[Dingdong123]

39 minutes ago, slw84 said:

This album will likely go 3x platinum by the end of the year...

then they'll push full out singles 3-4 more.

 

The album will serve longevity if they can push it to 7-8x platinum in its initial run it's possible later on it can.

Good luck booking that 8x Platinum you speak of

[Mr.Link]

40 minutes ago, slw84 said:

then they'll push full out singles 3-4 more.

Which singles? Do you expect the GP to consume 6 minute non-radio friendly songs? Let alone 3-4 of them. The album has 1-2 single worthy songs at most and that’s probably what her label was aiming for. At this point I wouldn’t be surprised if they were summoning her back to the studio for that 30 - Deluxe edition featuring 2-3 new pop songs as we speak.