ATRLers regularly refer to Christina Aguilera's third album Back to Basics as a flop or at least an underperformance - why?

 

The album hit #1 in all major music markets, its lead single was a global hit and won a Grammy and the album has multi-platinum status in several countries.

 

So, whats the truth? 

No one calls it a flop

 

Do people even know about it?

No one calls it a flop.

 

It's seen as a mid success / slight underperformance, that in hindsight marked the beginning of the decline. Kind of like PRISM or The 20/20 Experience

6 minutes ago, Truth Teller said:

No one calls it a flop.

This is not true. Just last week there was a whole Katy VS Xtina thread where multiple users said it was a flop. 
 

For a double disk price album it was a massive success. Sure it didn’t match Stripped but B2B was not as commercial as Stripped. 

It was a successful era. It wasn't this mega smash but it's far from a flop

 

Calling a #1 album in US and Europe with a global #1 smash and top 10 Grammy winning hit in North America is far from a flop 

6 minutes ago, Facelessboy said:

This is not true. Just last week there was a whole Katy VS Xtina thread where multiple users said it was a flop.

Oh. I did not enter that

 

This is a site the call GUTS, Happier than Ever, and Lover flops…so seems like a ATRL issue. 

It wasn’t a flop. It was just mildly successful. 

Back to Basics was successful in Europe. Candyman was its biggest hit.

No one calls Back to Basics a flop, Xtina stans just seem to assume that anyone not calling it a 'huge blockbuster' is automatically calling it a bomb.

 

It debuted at #1 and sold 1.7M pure sales in the US. Those are genuinely good numbers, but not great.

Edited February 27, 20242 yr by Scars

Why not ?

it was an underperformance considering the climate during that time & what her peers were doing

 

Not a smash not a flop either. It was doing almost the same number as 4 in the US but 4 was leaked for one whole month and had no top ten single; in a much worse sales climate. Surprisingly, the numbers and Blackout/Circus wasn't that much of a difference. 

Very interesing overlap at all these new Justin defenders suddenly popping up that are also defending Christina. Someone should look into that

 

OT: It wasn't a flop but it was the beginning of the end like ARTPOP, Witness etc.

25 minutes ago, PrudenceHCharmed said:

Not a smash not a flop either. It was doing almost the same number as 4 in the US but 4 was leaked for one whole month and had no top ten single; in a much worse sales climate. Surprisingly, the numbers and Blackout/Circus wasn't that much of a difference. 

How is not much of a difference when Circus is 3x platinum with two 6x platinum songs only in the US.

 

OT: It’s wasn’t a flop

 

21 minutes ago, Jay07 said:

OT: It wasn't a flop but it was the beginning of the end like ARTPOP, Witness etc.

Back to Basics is 2x platinum while Witness isn't even Gold.  Bionic is a more apt comparison of "the beginning of the end" if you will

 

OT: ATRL has this weird obsession with trying to erase Xtina's career after Stripped but Back to Basics gave Xtina her biggest debut week and biggest tour.

 

The album spent almost a year charting on the Billboard 200 album chart but the era was cut short with only 3 singles due to Xtina's pregnancy.

It was a success selling 5 million albums worldwide. What's interesting about this era is that different songs were big in different regions. In the US ANOM was a top 10 single. In Europe Hurt was a #1 single and ANOM was a #2 single. The era was also big in Australia and Canada; and in Latin America Candyman was popular. 

Edited February 28, 20242 yr by toxicgenie