25 minutes ago, Daydream said:

I stand by this and I can't wait for Act II and III (her Dangerous and HERstory)

 

REN is her Off The Wall though

 

I’m in Barnes & Noble to sit in the cafe with a coffee and a book to check out the CD in person and… I don’t like it. The cover doesn’t look as good in irl, it’s kind of dull. I think she made a mistake not making the limited vinyl cover the only one, or literally any of the pictures from the booklet dd

 

Also a B&N employee confirmed that standard vinyls have not shipped yet and there is no ETA

 

The songs transitioning into each other is just another reason I think a visual album is on the cards. The music is perfectly set up for it. The album is pretty much bang on 1 hour long. The Renaissance film is gonna be a 1 hour nonstop extravaganza.

 

I think she is gonna top the ST and Lemonade visuals with ease if the photos are anything to go by.

12 minutes ago, R.E.M. said:

isn't it confirmed that there are 3 albums altogether recorded over the last 3 years?

Oh, was it confirmed? I just remember them explicitly saying it was part one of a 3-part project. It seemed kind of vague.

 

The CD says Act I RENAISSANCE on the back cover and spine. I don’t think that would be there if there aren’t going to be companion albums

3 minutes ago, ShouldersSideways said:

 

So there's still hope. I'm gonna say 350k-380k

6 minutes ago, ShouldersSideways said:

 

unless she does something, the prediction this time is going to stay the same

1 hour ago, ShouldersSideways said:

Can anyone explain to me why numbers are dropping the way they are for everyone? Is it because the industry isn't adapting quickly enough and adjusting streaming equivalents or because people aren't listening to music as much?

I follow economics and the world is just in a bad place in general atm. People aren't spending money on trivial things as much and lots of people don't have the time to do with music what has been done in the past. The internet allows for super echo chambers so we follow what we like and know first, but in reality the US and tons of other countries have major concerns right now and music is not as consumed right now.

 

Hopefully the tide turns for the whole world and people have the time and resources to enjoy tours and music again. That defined my teen and young adult years. 

1 minute ago, G'Day said:

Idk I think the ST and Lemonade’s predictions were less accurate because they were both non-traditional releases that were harder for HDD to properly gauge.

 

But RENAISSANCE is a very traditional release (digital, physical and streaming) so I’m sure their prediction is much more accurate.

I'm assuming that whilst HDD have insight into streaming and physical sales from stores/online retailers, they don't have any insight into how much she sold in pre-orders for CD/vinyl/digital album on her website for the month that they were available? Idk maybe they do and they have factored that into their calculation.

Did we ever decipher what exactly is America's problem?  Her ass?

 

Also, I really hope she drops an album full of instrumentals like she did for BMS. The production is too exquisite to not to.

5 hours ago, Space&Time said:

 

 

Beyonce drop the goddamn music video by Tuesday at last, I swear 2 God!!!!

 

1 hour ago, Danger said:

I don't wanna be that person but the HONEYYYY Miss HONEYYYY sounds super obnoxious sorry 'bout it...

Do you understand the context in which it is being used? Forreal, no shade? 

30 minutes ago, Starshine said:

I can’t believe people are trying to convince us 300k is bad when it’s similar to pulling 500k in 2016 given the drop in pure sales over the years. Streaming services are expected to grow 10x larger over the next few years marking the end of pure sales so miss BB200 will have to adjust.

We should be happy with the numbers. I was looking at other pop girls numbers for their last albums 

 

P!nk - 115k

Katy - 50k 

 

Most artists have had a big decline since Lemonade. 

The fact Gods Groove starts the second half really says everything you need to know

 

 

The fact this is the first time we have a Beyoncé album where the second half is better than the fisrt (we dont acknowledge I Am Spandex Fierce here)

 

Edited July 30, 20224 yr by Taz

2 minutes ago, Shelter said:

We should be happy with the numbers. I was looking at other pop girls numbers for their last albums 

 

P!nk - 115k

Katy - 50k 

 

Most artists have had a big decline since Lemonade. 

Right  

Beyoncé 25 years in- ~300k

 

Current it artists:

Olivia- 295k

Bad Bunny-274k

Billie- 238k

Drake- 204k 

The Weeknd- 148k

Ariana- 174k

 

I hope yall aren't taking these folks seriously. No black woman has sold as much in the first week since Beyonce with Lemonade. You literally have Adele, Taylor and Bey in the top 3 for women. She's the oldest. That's huge. 

 

They are always going to move the goalpost concerning Beyonce. And get ready for the excuses IF she gets a solo #1 with BMS. 

2 minutes ago, Starshine said:

Right  

Beyoncé 25 years in- ~300k

 

Current it artists:

Olivia- 295k

Bad Bunny-274k

Billie- 238k

Drake- 204k 

The Weeknd- 148k

Ariana- 174k

 

Yup tbh I didn’t realize how bad sales debuts got until I went looking. 

1 hour ago, ShouldersSideways said:

Can anyone explain to me why numbers are dropping the way they are for everyone? Is it because the industry isn't adapting quickly enough and adjusting streaming equivalents or because people aren't listening to music as much?

a) Pure sales have completely collapsed. Due to incoming reason c), pure sales always have the benefit of making up the majority of first week units. So since they're collapsing, they can't boost the first week numbers as much. 

b) Bundles are completely BANNED. Pure collapsing isn't a new thing. They've been steadily collapsing since 2016, but then came what we call the "Bundle Era". From 2017-2020 EVERY album received a plethora of bundles. Tour, merch, wtv. These sales were insanely front-loaded, but bolstered first week numbers so much to the point of extreme (the amount of legacy acts who would debut #1 with +200K then literally LEAVE the chart the next week was insane). Billboard first applied really loose rules to combat this, but people just found loopholes. Finally, in late 2020 they completely BANNED the practice! Positions by Ariana was the first major release in the post-bundle era.

***RELATED:*** Although they weren't bundles, Billboard also banned the practice of selling vinyls, CDs, etc on/before release week, it counting first week, but then not shipping for like +6 months. This was also very common (Savage Remix had this, folklore had this, etc.). It was more of an issue for the Hot 100, but for BB200 it still had its affects. The impact of this being gone means physicals only count for sale the week they are SHIPPED. This impacted releases such as evermore doing a "low" 320K first week because there was no physicals, but then 6 months later it jumped +50 spots on BB200 and sold +150K because the vinyls finally shipped. This reason is likely WHY Bey had to announce Renaissance such in advance. They wanted physicals first week, and had they done a surprise drop and people order the boxsets and vinyls yesterday, they would not be counting for this week.

c) The SEA (streaming equivalents) formula doesn't favour the first week. The formula is the same throughout an album's chart run, however it just simply doesn't give a lot of units for the first week. The biggest streaming week so far for the US is 700M for Scorpion, which is MASSIVEEEEE (the highest non-Drake album is only in the 400Ms), yet those 700M streams only give about ~500K units. Which isn't a lot for traditional big first week standards. For streaming, it takes time to gain units, so in the long run you will still be doing the same amount (Scorpion is about 7x Platinum within 4 years, and will only continue to grow hard), but your start will be weaker. Compared to sales where you start off massive, but then would fall off hard, for example albums in 00s would sell like 4M within their first year, but then struggle to add an extra 1.5M over the next DECADE.

Sorry for the essay, just trying to make it clear 

6 minutes ago, G'Day said:

The second half of 4 (the LOT-Countdown-EOT stomp) is arguably better than the first half. 
 

But yes the second half of REN is an out-of-body experience 

 

Wait this is 100% true

 

 

Renaissance has left me dizzy

 

I'M THAT GIRL slaying everywhere. 

 

I did NOT predict this at all. WTF?

6 minutes ago, Starshine said:

Right  

Beyoncé 25 years in- ~300k

 

Current it artists:

Olivia- 295k

Bad Bunny-274k

Billie- 238k

Drake- 204k 

The Weeknd- 148k

Ariana- 174k

 

Wow. Didn’t realize it was THAT bad out there. Thanks for the perspective.

 

Still hoping we come through and top DIL.

Edited July 30, 20224 yr by Space&Time

And I don’t even think those artists “declined”. Ofc sales aren’t as strong anymore, but anticipation and music consumption is higher than ever. The charts are just in a weird transition and doesn’t reflect that. Over the next few years, debut numbers will look barren until rules change.

3 minutes ago, jane said:

I'M THAT GIRL slaying everywhere. 

 

I did NOT predict this at all. WTF?

Normally the first song does the best. I think in a few days that will change and the ones people love the most will start overtaking. 

12 minutes ago, Starshine said:

Right  

Beyoncé 25 years in- ~300k

 

Current it artists:

Olivia- 295k

Bad Bunny-274k

Billie- 238k

Drake- 204k 

The Weeknd- 148k

Ariana- 174k

 

Yup. Many are blinded by hit singles, radio stats and streaming numbers from those younger artists who are supposed to be above old Bey but nope LOL. These are the fact. An artist 25 years into her career at 40 is still pulling numbers higher than them LMAO! That's why they hate her. They cant take her down or humble her.