It now takes 823 sales to top the US Album Charts

[VoR]

Sort of.

New York rapper A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie has topped the US album chart with sales of just 823 digital copies, a record low.

His No 1 was mostly powered by streams, with his album Hoodie Szn streamed 83m times across different platforms. With no release for the album on CD or vinyl, the 823 people purchasing it in the week ending 10 January bought digital downloads.

A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie, AKA Julius Dubose, knocks rapper 21 Savage from the top of the Billboard 200 chart. 21 Savage set the previous record low just one week previously – his album I Am > I Was sold 3,481 non-streaming copies versus 84m streams.

The data shows how, certainly among the youth demographics that dominate rap’s fanbase, the market for digital downloads is rapidly diminishing. Data from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry found that while global digital revenues grew 19% in 2017, download revenues dropped by 20%. Nielsen Music then found that in the first half of 2018, the number of single song downloads in the US dropped by 27%, while album downloads fell by 22% – streams increased 42% in the same period.

Rumours frequently circulate about Apple phasing out its iTunes download store. Apple Music executive Jimmy Iovine has said the decision would be made “when people stop buying – it’s very simple”.

CD sales dropped 47% year on year in the US, while in the UK in 2018, 32m CDs were sold, a drop of 23% (9.6m) year on year.

 

[Diddy]

Sort of?

Are you writing click bait these days, VoR dear?

 

[VoR]

I thought it was interesting.

 

[Diddy]

It now takes 823 sales (oh and 83,000,000 streams) to be number one

The charts are so confusing these days

 

[OutSynk]

Are they closing the iTunes store?

 

[Alla]

To be honest, it did sell 823 copies. Interesting article. And worrying.

 

[Jætike]

CDs are for bougies

 

[OutSynk]

It now takes 823 sales (oh and 83,000,000 streams) to be number one

The charts are so confusing these days

There can be 83,000,000 streams made but it only takes 823 sales to get to #1.

 

[Dark Carnival]

There can be 83,000,000 streams made but it only takes 823 sales to get to #1.

That’s what Lady Gaga has been saying non-stop for a couple of months!

 

[OutSynk]

Well...yes.

 

[Dark Carnival]

oh

 

[lolly]

And it takes 35 sales to get to #23 in the UK album chart.

There’s also a hat trick for New York rapper A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie’s first chart entry, Hoodie SZN, which has progressed 59-42-29-23 since release in December, and attracted consumption of 3,283 units last week, although a mere 35 of them were paid-for sales (downloads).

 

[Halli]

"Hi Simon Fuller, YA, it's me, Geru, aged 37, JadknowwhadImean? Yas, It's TIME to rush release PASHUN in the states, chop chop"

 

[POP!]

I remember in 2006 when it was unfathomable that an album could chart at #200 with 5,000 sales. Those were the days

 

[Diddy]

does this even prove anything? It’s not like it was a normal release, it was digital only!

If anything wouldn’t it mean that physicals are still sort of holding on, but it’s downloads that are getting squeezed out by streaming?

Or maybe this rapper is a load of shit and nobody wants to spend any money on him, and his label don’t want to piss their money away on an unwanted physical release?

 

[lolly]

Downloads are definitely getting squeezed harder than physical sales. Which kind of makes sense to me. If I feel the need to OWN something, I want something tangible.

I get the whole business (recently highlighted by the R Kelly business) of labels being able to withdraw songs from streaming platforms leaving you without it if you rely on streaming, but that would make me far more likely to order the CD from Amazon rather than head to Amazon mp3 or iTunes.

I suspect people who had fully moved from physical to digital downloads made the jump to streaming far quicker than people still buying the physical product.

 

[Jark]

Physical sales could STILL be salvaged (to a degree) if they stopped pricing people out. In Germany a new CD costs 16 euros or something MAD like that. They don't cost much to produce so just make them 8 quid EVERYWHERE and they'll have a decent life yet. How labels have not figured this out yet I'm not sure.

 

[Pipo]

Physical sales could STILL be salvaged (to a degree) if they stopped pricing people out. In Germany a new CD costs 16 euros or something MAD like that. They don't cost much to produce so just make them 8 quid EVERYWHERE and they'll have a decent life yet. How labels have not figured this out yet I'm not sure.

but but distribution costs! the marketing campaign! the glossy paper with nice pictures by some highly regarded photographer!

 

[Zu]

Physical sales could STILL be salvaged (to a degree) if they stopped pricing people out. In Germany a new CD costs 16 euros or something MAD like that. They don't cost much to produce so just make them 8 quid EVERYWHERE and they'll have a decent life yet. How labels have not figured this out yet I'm not sure.

I noticed that new CDs on amazon.de cost much more than the tenner you’d pay for them here (and unfortunately there isn’t much market for Schlager queens in the UK so I’m reliant on what you might have called German imports in the old days. Actually I suppose they still ARE.) What a swizz

 

[Diddy]

The Japanese CD market appears to be doing well too, streaming hasn’t really crossed over yet.

But Japanese CDs are so fucking expensive too, and there are lots of fan versions with DVDs etc.

Even the singles are fucking expensive (and surviving!). It might be their model though, normally you’d get 3 or 4 singles before an album, even with a major release.

One of the biggest names at the moment, Gen Hoshino, released his biggest song in 2016, and followed with 3 singles before FINALLY releasing the parent album last month!

And even then, the album is basically those singles plus the B-sides and a few extra tracks. It’s almost like a GH for the last few years