After the severe underperformance of Confessions II, predicted to exit the Billboard 200 after 5 weeks, many fans are saying this result should be expected given her age and that no artist that old is able to perform much better. So I decided to check some other projects released by older acts and was surprised by some:

At 67, Cher released 'Closer to the Truth', an original studio album that charted for 24 weeks on the Billboard 200. Her ABBA covers album also managed to outlast Confessions II, charting for 8 weeks.

At 88, Tony Bennett released Cheek to Cheek, the Grammy-winning joint album with Lady Gaga that went to sell nearly 1 million copies in the US alone and charted for 30 weeks. The follow-up Love for Sale also outlasted Confessions II with 8 weeks charting.

At 74, Elton John released his "The Lockdown Sessions" project that charted for 31 weeks and spawned one of the biggest hits of the decade with 'Cold Heart', the result of a collaboration with a younger/current pop star (similar to what Madonna tried with 'Bring Your Love'), as well as the global top 10 hit 'Hold Me Closer' with Britney Spears.

Then we have Madonna at 67, using the Confessions brand as a promo tactic, releasing a Sabrina Carpenter collab tailor-made for radio and streaming, getting exposed to over 1 billion people at the World Cup final halftime show and the result is barely a month on the charts. Is it actually because of her age or are there other factors for this project's rejection?

Yes, among others, such as the general public having terrible taste.

Yes

Yes

Love for sale charted for 8 weeks? Not a random cover album outdoing so many pop girls

Do not compare her to the likes of Cher and Tony. They weren't even from the same music era. Compare her to Janet and Mariah. She easily destroyed Jan and Mimi.

More a symptom than an excuse. Because misogyny doesn't allow women to age in music.

Because to be honest she's very much chased trends, worked with young trendy artists and it still hasn't worked since the 2000s. So yeah, her age plays into it.

Also, her fanbase is from the pure sales era and streams run everything nowadays. I'm not old but I still only listen to music I've bought and hate streaming.

Edited August 12Aug 12 by mercury.co.uk

it's not an excuse. it is just what it is. she delivered a quality body of work and topped the chart without the help of streaming hits nor radio and that's ok.

Yes

Yes as she obv can't do the thing's she did 20-30 years ago..

I think she did well to chart for 5 weeks. She doesn't have a big streaming hit. Without that an album will simply die very quickly.

Yes, you want chart runs go look her 80s/90s/00s albums.

I'm confused at OP painting Closer 2 The Truth as some superior success over Confessions II when it debuted with half of Confessions II's first week sales and Confession II is also released during the streaming era. Even Cher was disappointed at its performance.

12 minutes ago, Before the Dawn said:

At 67, Cher released 'Closer to the Truth', an original studio album that charted for 24 weeks on the Billboard 200.

im sorry but this made me SREAM

2 minutes ago, Rhyme said:

I'm confused at OP painting Closer 2 The Truth as some superior success over Confessions II when it debuted with half of Confessions II's first week sales and Confession II is also released during the streaming era. Even Cher was disappointed at its performance.

Cher's album has almost 300k pure units in USA. Not too bad for someone's 25th studio album.

3 minutes ago, Rhyme said:

I'm confused at OP painting Closer 2 The Truth as some superior success over Confessions II when it debuted with half of Confessions II's first week sales and Confession II is also released during the streaming era. Even Cher was disappointed at its performance.

Cher didn't have Grindr (payola) sales though...

Hopefully I won't be here on atrl.net when Gaga releases her 15th studio album at the age of 68 but I hope to god the twenty-something yo fans of the AI singer or whatever that will be charting then drags Gaga to hell and back when her album underperforms and y'all cry ageism

Closer To The Truth and C2C were released before streaming took off

Elton recycled his old songs + is a man so yes, ageism does affect him differently than it does Madonna.

also, the US hasn't been Madonna's strongest market since Like A Virgin, so I would be more interested in her numbers elsewhere

Edited August 12Aug 12 by John Slayne

2 minutes ago, Rhyme said:

I'm confused at OP painting Closer 2 The Truth as some superior success over Confessions II when it debuted with half of Confessions II's first week sales and Confession II is also released during the streaming era. Even Cher was disappointed at its performance.

Half the debut and charting 5x longer makes its performance even more impressive, no? Shows how much better received the album was. And if anything the streaming era makes it easier for albums to chart for longer with fans being able to keep contributing to weekly units for months (or not in this case) vs only the first week.

3 minutes ago, Killah said:

im sorry but this made me SREAM

Wait was Katys a cover?

Just now, DaphneGuinness said:

Cher's album has almost 300k pure units in USA. Not too bad for someone's 25th studio album.

It's not an insult against Cher, but you can't really say Madonna didn't do well for her age and using Cher's album as proof against ageism when it wasn't a superior success over Confessions II.

1 minute ago, Venice B said:

Hopefully I won't be here on atrl.net when Gaga releases her 15th studio album at the age of 68 but I hope to god the twenty-something yo fans of the AI singer or whatever that will be charting then drags Gaga to hell and back when her album underperforms and y'all cry ageism

Gaga isn't known for attacking artists younger than her so that analogy doesn't make sense

Edited August 12Aug 12 by DaphneGuinness

what happened to the tomatoes when you downvote a post????

1 minute ago, Before the Dawn said:

Half the debut and charting 5x longer makes its performance even more impressive, no? Shows how much better received the album was. And if anything the streaming era makes it easier for albums to chart for longer with fans being able to keep contributing to weekly units for months (or not in this case) vs only the first week.

Neither Madonna nor Cher are streaming artists. I wouldn't say either album did too well over the other.

Also using a man as an example against ageism shows this thread was misguided from the start.

Yes