.... is the sound of Musicology dropping from #12 to #122 in its first post tour chart week. 23 week total with this weeks 8,000+ now at approx. 1,876,000


1 * GREEN DAY|AMERICAN IDIOT 266637
2 NELLY|SUIT 159609
3 * URBAN*KEITH|BE HERE 148043
4 NELLY|SWEAT 127536
5 MCGRAW*TIM|LIVE LIKE YOU WERE 101921
6 CHARLES*RAY|GENIUS LOVES COMPA 93931
7 VARIOUS|NOW 16 88768
8 * CHEVELLE|THIS KING OF THINKING 88671
9 SIMPSON*ASHLEE|AUTOBIOGRAPHY 74566
10 MAROON 5|SONGS ABOUT JANE 62610
11 USHER|CONFESSIONS 51599
12 L.L. COOL J|DEFINITION 51445
13 YOUNG BUCK|STRAIGHT OUTTA CASH 49736
14 LAVIGNE*AVRIL|UNDER MY SKIN 49631
15 JACKSON*ALAN|WHAT I DO 47667
16 BAKER*ANITA|MY EVERYTHING 46073
17 KELLY*R.|HAPPY PEOPLE/U SAVED 44609
18 WILSON*GRETCHEN|HERE FOR THE P 44126
19 SCOTT*JILL|BEAUTIFULLY HUMAN:W 43579
20 * SHADOWS FALL|WAR WITHIN 39250


122 PRINCE|MUSICOLOGY 8407

We all knew it was gonna drop once the tour ended,but all the way to 122??!! Wow!

For comparison purposes...some selections from the second half of the Top 200..

100 TEARS FOR FEARS|EVERYBODY LOVE 10073

101 * ALCHEMIST|1ST INFANTRY 9979

103 LYTTLE*KEVIN|KEVIN LYTTLE 9819

107 JONES*JIM|ON MY WAY TO CHURCH 9661

120 OUTKAST|SPEAKERBOXX-LOVE 8620

122 PRINCE|MUSICOLOGY 8407

126 SNOW PATROL|FINAL STRAW 8200

134 * CULLUM*JAMIE|TWENTYSOMETHING 7690

151 DEM FRANCHIZE B|DEM FRANCHIZE 6842
152 ROOTS|TIPPING POINT 6750

169 SCISSOR SISTERS|SCISSOR SISTER 6149

175 MARIE*TEENA|LA DONA 5653

194 B.G.|LIFE AFTER CASH MONEY 5137

200 50 CENT|GET RICH OR DIE TRYIN' 4969



after nearly 6 months , whens the last time a Prince album has still been on the charts?
[Edited 9/29/04 6:48am]

newpower99 said:

The real question is now that it's off of the bestselling racks at the stores if it will even move 8,000. I think the brilliance of the giveaway is that it gave him some prime real-estate in the record stores.

DavidEye said:

That's cool. If the Cinnamon Girl video gets some airplay, it might push it back up a bit.

It would take some MAJOR promotion to get Musicology back into the Top 100, much less the Top 40.

Face it, it's over.

New album, please.

TheBigBang said:

Having his lawyers write threatening letters to his fans isn't that publicity. Consider Musicology dead. It was fun while it lasted, right?

Luv & Peace,
Alex
Clubbin' in Mpls/A Night w. Prince

on the plus side, anita baker, ray charles *and* jill scott in the top twenty..

lovemachine said:

I dunno.....I've noticed at least the last 3 months or so that even at Best Buy Musicology is never displayed on the best-selling or new release racks - I guess because technically it was neither. I bet you're right about a lot of stores though - and heck, most Best Buys for all I know, just not the one I'm gonna go to at lunch to score my copy of the Eternal Sunshine DVD.

Whatever, isn`t 122 verry near to the peak of TRC in his FIRST week???? I mean he sold still 8400 after more than 4 month.... COOL (beside that: he mad nearly 60000 $ in 7 days - thats not bad) here in germany he would still be in the top ten with this high numbers

we will see what happen with the new single.

some weeks ago someone posts that there will be a video for "a million days" too. got any ideas whats up with that info? means this that there is a longer promotion stratagy for musicology?

newpower99 said:

Remember when 8,047 copies would have been a good week for an album like The Rainbow Children?

122 was higher than I expected!!...hey it was released in April!

Call me crazy, but okay, he's had more top twenty success than most people in the last five years. This should hold him for a while. If I know him, he's going to go back to what he was doing before, and release another TRC quality album. I am actually missing the days when only his die-hards were with him. in a strange way, it made him more accessible. I was listening to some old ONA footage that I lucked into, of the pre-show, when he was letting folks come up and sing into his mike and play his instruments, and that was WAAAAAY cool. I would like those days to return for a couple more years, and then he can have another hit album. JK. No matter what, it's all good.

newpower99 said:

there's a small silver lining though, if you want to see it:



moved up to #1 aleady

As far as musicology is concerned, it had an incredible run...we'll be talking about this year for decades to come!

I still say that it's a miracle that in 2004, after 5 months a Prince album can sell over 8,000 copies. This strategy really worked.

CynicKill said:

Can he use the strategy again if he gives concert goers the choice of purchasing the CD w/ their ticket? For example: For the next tour, when people purchase their tickets could they have the option of paying $1 more and also recieve the new album with their ticket and have it counted officially as a sale?

If nothing else, it shows that Prince was willing to do the work, and WORK he did. The amazing Musicology tour kept the album high on the charts, and now that the tour is over (for now) Prince is taking a well deserved rest. We all knew the the album would plummet downwards after the tour, but it doesn't change the incredible year Prince has had.
And if Cinnamon Girl gets some radio and video play, it ain't over.
P.S. Every time I hear the word cinnamon now, I keep hearing Marco from Sealab 2021.

Yeah, isn't that the key point here.....I mean, maybe it has seen its day. Are we not expecting a bit much since it was released in April?

mymocha

hey it was released in April![/quote]

skywalker said:

No he cannot. Billboard has rules that a cd has to have a certain minimum price attached to count as a sale and I think it's $6.99.

skywalker said:

Yes, If the option is given then the sale will count. Prince has other options in this sort of situation also, like if you purchase the cd with a ticket; you will also receive exclusive downloadable tracks. Its interesting that this idea was balked at by the industry so much! Remember the 99 cent cd single? My guess is as long as the artist can include the price of the cd in with the ticket sale, many will do this and not so much worry about the charts. I also think there are other ways to influence the chart via concery promotions if someone cares enough. In the scheme of it all I just do not see Prince working the charts like this again, if he ain't going to be playing the hits, he will most likely go back to the ONA style shows.

I think a loophole for him could be if he bypasses retail alltogether and only have the cd as a part of his ticket price like last time. With retail out of the way he can legitimately say that his cd is part of the ticket price. When he has his next big tour he should do this. Of course he should have a mail-order system set up for people that the tour doesn't reach (hint hint).

sloopydrew4u said:

Agreed. Nothing like slapping your fans in the face, or worse yet - spitting in their faces. Which in my opinion is exactly what he and his attorney's have done.

He could use his time, energy and money for better causes in this world than to disrespect his own fans ... not the "fams" but the fans.

and rememebr as long as Prince keeps touring under the MUSICOLOGY banner cd sakes will continue to count until that tour is over, he could tour the next 5 years as long as the tour is titled MUSICOLOGY - the album will be on the charts more than any other album !!

does he have that much sense ?

i'd like to see prince release another single or two...definitely another video. maybe its pointless since they won't get played. i think with some grammy noms and continued support on columbia's part, it could still sell a few hundred thousand copies. if he is asked to play the grammies, he should. it will help the album with a last chance push.

Well, it was GREAT while it lasted!! It's all good.....it was 2 B expected. In the end NPG made a financial killin'.....nobody's going hungry 4 years 2 come.

that's GOT to be a record, right?

as big as this drop is, its better than expected, im sure this is the highest retail sales he's had in about a month, can someone check that up? i know we were expecting about 5k this week so the fact its up 3k on the expected is great really.

its been a looooong time since Prince had an album stay in the billboard top 200 album chart for 23 weeks! in fact its higher right now than i thought it would be after the concerts were over

the irony of this is that the tour, which forced the sale of musicology and pushed the album up on the charts, was about prince's 'old hits' from twenty years ago and his nostalgia appeal to the audience.

i'm afraid musicology won't be back on the charts anytime soon now the tour is over