Let's discuss about the most shocking or surprising U.S. album first-week sales, both positive or negative ones.

 

I'll start.

 

Ricky Martin – “Ricky Martin” (1999)

661,000; the biggest first-week sales of 1999.

 

This is right after It Ain’t Me came out and was a global smash 

 

 

 

I mean over 3 million for Adele's 25 will always be surprising. That will never happen again.

 

 

 

Edited June 23, 20233 yr by hausofdave

At this point knowing Taylor could release "Recorded in an oven (from the vault) " and still do numbers is crazy

Ava Max opening with higher sales than Ellie Goulding, Chloë and Bebe, who two of them have bigger hits than her in the US and one of them has a way friendlier sound for the Billboard charts 

Billboard 200: #1(new) @taylorswift13, Midnights 1,578,000 [549.26 million on-demand streams | 1,140,000 pure sales].

Edited June 23, 20233 yr by aotearoa

Midnights really shocked me. After not selling over a million first week since 2017, I didn’t imagine it would ever happen again. She created the perfect storm for it though: (1) I think the re-recordings really stirred up the nostalgia factors for her older fans, (2) the sound was very current (and lbr, a little radio-pandering basic) for her younger TikTok fans, and (3) the acclaim she deservedly earned from folklore and evermore helped her gain even more industry respect. Almost everyone was rooting for her when it dropped. 
 

I don’t love the album, but it’s very impressive what she’s accomplished. To sell a million by the scrape of your teeth is one thing (not completely impossible when you have stans willing to buy so many variants of the same album), but to sell 1.5 million is a whole other. 

Edited June 23, 20233 yr by HeavyMetalAura

29 minutes ago, StarsAllAligned said:

This is right after It Ain’t Me came out and was a global smash 

 

 

 

Wait… 37 copies???

25 absolutely obliterating the first week record

41 minutes ago, Fastlane said:

Let's discuss about the most shocking or surprising U.S. album first-week sales, both positive or negative ones.

 

I'll start.

 

Ricky Martin – “Ricky Martin” (1999)

661,000; the biggest first-week sales of 1999.

 

If this was after "Livin' La Vida Loca", it makes sense 

 

36 minutes ago, StarsAllAligned said:

This is right after It Ain’t Me came out and was a global smash 

 

 

 

53 minutes ago, StarsAllAligned said:

This is right after It Ain’t Me came out and was a global smash 

 

 

 

37 copies??? 

Adele’s 25 and Taylor’s Midnights were the most shocking I have witnessed.  
 

 

460
 

orh really lost in the end

 

https://classic.atrl.net/forums/showthread.php?t=942359

Edited June 23, 20233 yr by Katamari

I don't think the purpose of this thread is mentioning Adele and Taylor 

 

OT: I recently learned that Mumford & Sons opened with 600k units in 2012. (I know 600k in 2012 and now it's not the same, but still).

Edited June 23, 20233 yr by Bonicap

 

 

25

 

460 is iconic

1 hour ago, Fastlane said:

Ricky Martin – “Ricky Martin” (1999)

661,000; the biggest first-week sales of 1999.

 

How is this shocking?

 

Ricky was the biggest male artist of 1999. His English language debut single is still one of the best selling physical singles of all time. 

460.

 

6 years later…

 

6x platinum with 5.5M+ units sold.

 

 

Honestly, midnights. NO ONE excepted it to do 1.5 MILLION. 

I don’t think 25 is a right example here, given the fact everyone expected it to do insane numbers, especially after the slayage of hello.

-

1 hour ago, aotearoa said:

Billboard 200: #1(new) @taylorswift13, Midnights 1,578,000 [549.26 million on-demand streams | 1,140,000 pure sales].

this.

Adele’s 25 for sure

Beyoncé’s Self Titled too. Everyone thought she was over and scared to release an album, and then over 600K digital sales in 3 days obliterating everyone on her path. ATRL was in shambles  

1 hour ago, schnetzka said:

I mean over 3 million for Adele's 25 will always be surprising. That will never happen again.

Taylor can do that if she puts photocards in albums. It's really up to the female BTS. 

2 minutes ago, GoodGuyGoneGhetto said:

460.

 

6 years later…

 

6x platinum with 5.5M+ units sold.

 

 

Was this actually shocking tho? It was only sold on Tidal webstore for an hour or two. Most people knew it was going on streaming at midnight. Then it did over 100K which is the real debut