It looks a little bad for Princey:

40-45k for AOA

and

21-24k for PE

not totally certain where it will place them in the overall chart.. these look like just new release projections...

YOUR NEW RELEASES: It looks like Blake Shelton will battle Barbra Streisand for next week's #1. It just so happens that The Voice coach Shelton (seen here in a mullet-tastic pic from more than a decade ago) is one of Streisand's duet Partners, so he'll have some claim on the top spot no matter what. Here are this week’s key debuts:

Blake Shelton (Warner Bros. Nashville) 80-90k
Lady Antebellum (Capitol Nashville) 65-70k
Prince (NPG/Warner Bros.) 40-45k
The Script (Columbia) 24-27k
Prince & 3RDEYEGIRL (NPG/Warner Bros.) 21-24k
Tove Lo (Island) 19-22k
Colbie Caillat (Republic) 17-19k
Melissa Etheridge (Me) 10-12k
Gerard Way (Warner Bros.) 10-12k

And yes, Prince is indeed releasing two albums this week, a funky affair under his own name and a rock-skewing workout with distaff trio 3RDEYEGIRL. We'd love 2 know what U think of them. (10/1p)

[Edited 10/1/14 19:53pm]

itsjustaroundthecorner said:

It looks a little bad for Princey:

40-45k for AOA

and

21-24k for PE

not totally certain it will place them in the overall chart.. these look like just new release projections...

YOUR NEW RELEASES: It looks like Blake Shelton will battle Barbra Streisand for next week's #1. It just so happens that The Voice coach Shelton (seen here in a mullet-tastic pic from more than a decade ago) is one of Streisand's duet Partners, so he'll have some claim on the top spot no matter what. Here are this week’s key debuts:

Blake Shelton (Warner Bros. Nashville) 80-90k
Lady Antebellum (Capitol Nashville) 65-70k
Prince (NPG/Warner Bros.) 40-45k
The Script (Columbia) 24-27k
Prince & 3RDEYEGIRL (NPG/Warner Bros.) 21-24k
Tove Lo (Island) 19-22k
Colbie Caillat (Republic) 17-19k
Melissa Etheridge (Me) 10-12k
Gerard Way (Warner Bros.) 10-12k

And yes, Prince is indeed releasing two albums this week, a funky affair under his own name and a rock-skewing workout with distaff trio 3RDEYEGIRL. We'd love 2 know what U think of them. (10/1p)

Hmmmm...this is interesting...usually labels get projections of the 1st day sales on wednesday and the weekly projections on thursday, friday morning the very latest. What source is this from? Not saying it's wrong just surprised how fast these numbers were compiled.

wow .. 2 million likes on facebook but only 40 thousand records sold .. unfortunately it makes sense .. prince has 40 thousand that will buy anything .. the rest is based on the quality of the music .. 2 million people want to like the new prince record but just cant

those projections r way 2 low 4 everyone... if those projections r true it will make history as the lowest debut sales for all of those artists...

we will c with hits daily double next week.

of course the sales wont be high for PRINCE... he's done no promotion.

TrevorAyer said:

wow .. 2 million likes on facebook but only 40 thousand records sold .. unfortunately it makes sense .. prince has 40 thousand that will buy anything .. the rest is based on the quality of the music .. 2 million people want to like the new prince record but just cant

They're projections [Flame deleted - langebleu - moderator!] It could come in higher, it could be lower - who cares? (except for WB and Prince).

And you will distort anything to uphold your negative view. You KNOW the industry is in decline, I've seen you lecture people about declining sales. FB likes (not a yard-stick of anything concrete) do not equate to sales - most people will d/load for free as you well know. It has nothing to do with the quality of the music. It is the way it is.

You goobers, this is only one day sales! You don't count sales until the seven day period.

this was pulled from a site called UKMix which is all about the charts.

This thread pulls it's numbers from Hits Daily which projects out the sales... They are usually pretty close even after the first day.

Usually every Wednesday, the projections come out based on the first day of sales that are reported.

I think the telling thing is that 40-45 K would ensure a Top 5 finish; this shows that the record industry is at a pretty significant lowpoint. Does anyone go platinum anymore, much less multiplatinum? So it's hard to gauge what standards to set this up against. Yeah it would be awesome if it sold 100K the first week but there is still the issue of no radio single, no video, and a 56 year old artist who has not been on top of the cultural radar in a while...plus if you add the two up it is about 70 K. Who buys one without the other though?

TrevorAyer said:

wow .. 2 million likes on facebook but only 40 thousand records sold .. unfortunately it makes sense .. prince has 40 thousand that will buy anything .. the rest is based on the quality of the music .. 2 million people want to like the new prince record but just cant

Irrelevant. That page wasn't made official until the day of the album release, and even still there was no post about a new album, just the Q&A. Aside from the GMA announcment there hasn't been any promo for this album so sales are right about where I'd thought they be.

2freaky4church1 said:

You goobers, this is only one day sales! You don't count sales until the seven day period.

U are exactly correct. There are a bunch of people on here that seem like they don't want the album to sell. When in fact, i could care less what it sells. If i bought music that way i would have passed on a slew of great albums. I remember the bad reviews D'angelo's Voodoo album receicved. It is an all time classic. I love the new AOA album. I don't care much for the girls effort. That band just limits him. They are adequate, but nothing to write home to mom about. People in the industry (musicians) love AOA. There opinions hold a lot more weight.

Since 2004

U.S. Sales:

2004 -Musicology

- 2M

Debut #5

2006- 3121

- 750,000 +

(first week sales = 183,436)

Debut #1

2007- Planet Earth

- 300,000 +

Debut #3

(first week sales = 96,000)

LotusFlow3r

-545,000 +

Debut #2

(first week sales = 168,000)

TrevorAyer said:

wow .. 2 million likes on facebook but only 40 thousand records sold .. unfortunately it makes sense .. prince has 40 thousand that will buy anything .. the rest is based on the quality of the music .. 2 million people want to like the new prince record but just cant

Facebook = International.

These sales projections = America Only.

How are these numbers "bad" considering what typical record sales are these days? I mean, we aren't comparing him to Beyonce or Taylor Swift are we?

thekidsgirl said:

How are these numbers "bad" considering what typical record sales are these days? I mean, we aren't comparing him to Beyonce or Taylor Swift are we?

2 b in honest in the last 10 years since Musicology

Prince has had 1 platinum album and 2 gold albums in the U.S. alone. I think that's pretty damn good for the state of the industry and a 30 + year career.

feeluupp said:

Since 2004

U.S. Sales:

2004 -Musicology

- 2M

Debut #5

2006- 3121

- 750,000 +

(first week sales = 183,436)

Debut #1

2007- Planet Earth

- 300,000 +

Debut #3

(first week sales = 96,000)

LotusFlow3r

-545,000 +

Debut #2

(first week sales = 168,000)

Why is everyone so shocked at 45,000 for first week? Im waiting for people to say the album is pulling the sales of this one down lol. I mean you would think this was the 80's and charts were actually somewhat relevant? Personally I am not shocked at all because outside of billboards around NYC in some areas, who would know there was even a new record....US!! Get over it people this is where its at. Ask yourself do you like the album? OK then it is what it is, where did you think he was going with this at age 56?? Top 10 singles radio play video play come on i really thought we all stopped drinking purple kool aid apparently i was wrong. Sales will drop, then these two records if planned right will see a little push when and if the 30yr PURPLE RAIN comes out because that is his chance back in the spotlight.

feeluupp said:

thekidsgirl said:

How are these numbers "bad" considering what typical record sales are these days? I mean, we aren't comparing him to Beyonce or Taylor Swift are we?

2 b in honest in the last 10 years since Musicology

Prince has had 1 platinum album and 2 gold albums in the U.S. alone. I think that's pretty damn good for the state of the industry and a 30 + year career.

Back in the day you had to sell a lot more units to achieve gold or platinum records. The total numbers are relevant.

[Edited 10/1/14 16:14pm]

Two albums in the top five don't sound so bad to me.

TOP 5 WORLD WIDE SALES

1. PURPLE RAIN 20M

2. BATMAN 7M

3. 1999 6M

4. DIAMONDS AND PEARLS 6M

5. AROUND THE WORLD IN A DAY 4.8M

Since 2006 Prince has had 2 GOLD records which is excellent in today's slump of the industry...

Se7en said:

AOA and PE are on Spotify. Most casual fans will listen to the albums for free. Only true fans buy CDs of their favorite artist(s).

Chris Browns latest album flopped... Sales r just down the drain now a days.

I was hoping he would hit number one, but top five is still cool

lastdecember said:

feeluupp said:

Since 2004

U.S. Sales:

2004 -Musicology

- 2M

Debut #5

2006- 3121

- 750,000 +

(first week sales = 183,436)

Debut #1

2007- Planet Earth

- 300,000 +

Debut #3

(first week sales = 96,000)

LotusFlow3r

-545,000 +

Debut #2

(first week sales = 168,000)

Why is everyone so shocked at 45,000 for first week? Im waiting for people to say the album is pulling the sales of this one down lol. I mean you would think this was the 80's and charts were actually somewhat relevant? Personally I am not shocked at all because outside of billboards around NYC in some areas, who would know there was even a new record....US!! Get over it people this is where its at. Ask yourself do you like the album? OK then it is what it is, where did you think he was going with this at age 56?? Top 10 singles radio play video play come on i really thought we all stopped drinking purple kool aid apparently i was wrong. Sales will drop, then these two records if planned right will see a little push when and if the 30yr PURPLE RAIN comes out because that is his chance back in the spotlight.

Yeah, that, and when and if he does a Musicology scale tour again.

keep in mind that the pre-orders to the official WB store (probably) are not counted. nobody trusts numers that come directly from an artist's/label's own online personal retail outlet.

since that was what the primary promotional push for buying was focused, I'd be surprised if these numbers are low compared to what was really sold. I wouldn't expect it to be double the number or anything like that, but I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that a rather large number of sales aren't being accounted for in these estimates (or even the published total) for the first week of sales.

stillwaiting said:

These people with the sales projections obviously didn't know that Prince had a secret weapon: Maya Whatshername with the album launch party. Her wonderful performance at the party at least should bring another 50,000 in sales for both albums. Her alarming knowledge of Jimi Hendrix, and music history was quite a site to see. And nobody else has ever given such interesting commentary on "Prince And The Power Generations."

ha ha, no kidding.

''lovesex, that's my jam.''

yes, evidently.

These days,even "hot" artists don't always sell alot of CDs.I don't think that Prince is expecting to go platinum with these albums.Still,I think it's a shame that a great song like "Clouds" isn't getting alot of promotional support.He should have filmed a stunning video for it.

TrevorAyer said:

i know cd sales have collapsed in recent years..but i would still be very surprised if prince didnt sell more than 40,000 in the first week ?...i take it online sales must be counted on soundscan...and the uk charts now include streaming from the likes of spotify and google music...i dont know if its the same with the american charts...lotusflower sold roughly 180,000 cds in the first week in the usa and that was only 5 years ago...need to wait and see then.

[Edited 10/2/14 1:19am]

Would be interesting if the torrents/download sites could be compiled to show how many people have downloaded the albums too. That way we could see how many people actually have the album rather than how many people paid for the album.

Everyone says the industry is in decline, and it is. But it doesnt mean the human race has lost interest in music. We are just getting it by other means these days. A true reflection of popularity is how many people HAVE the album rather than how many gave money to the archaic corporate machine.

blackbob said:

i know cd sales have collapsed in recent years..but i would still be very surprised if prince didnt sell more than 40,000 in the first week ?...i take it online sales must be counted on soundscan...and the uk charts now include streaming from the likes of spotify and google music...i dont know if its the same with the american charts...lotusflower sold roughly 180,000 cds in the first week in the usa and that was only 5 years ago...need to wait and see then.

[Edited 10/2/14 1:19am]

Would be interesting to know how the warner sales count....

AOA is pretty high on iTunes and Amazon (#4), but around 40-50 k is really low, i have to admit...

Seems the strategy just to promote tha album through viral marketing and press did not work out...

I am sure there will be more promotion, but usually the first week is the strongest in sales, of course...