I had thought top 10 would be doing well, but seeing how the album is now #1 at amazon.com and all of the reports of it flying off of the shelf at best buy, is it possible Prince could have a #1 debut?

Doesn't seem too difficult for anyone else.
[This message was edited Wed Apr 21 7:13:35 2004 by OdysseyMiles]

OdysseyMiles said:

Not true - Janet debuted at #2 despite the fact she has had a LOT more chart success this past decade than Prince. Eric Clapton debuted at #6. Has Prince even had a #1 album since the symbol album?

William Hung debuted at #34 - Prince has to at least do better than that.

alandail said:

Janet didn't make #1 because her album is not hot.
I don't think Clapton was expected to make #1. My point was that it's not hard for people (especially new artists who are riding the wave of a hit single)
to debut at #1 if they have a really good push.

That's not the question, though - the question is, can Prince, who hasn't had a #1 album in a decade despite multiple tries with major labels as well as many independent releases, hit #1 with Musicology? I'm not even sure the last time prince had an album in the top 10.

>>I'm not even sure the last time prince had an album in the top 10.<<

The Gold Experience debuted on the US album charts at # 6 back in 1995. Sold in the neighborhood of 90,000 coipies in week 1. It fell quickly and was out of the top 50 in 4 weeks.

The last # 1 album in the US - Batman Soundtrack

alandail said:

When was the last time Santana was anywhere near a chart before he hit us with Supernatural?
I should have just said, "Yes. Anything is possible."

I'm hoping [and praying] that he'll knock Usher out the water. It's a long shot but nothing is IMPOSSIBLE. Improbable? Yes. Impossible? No.

i never would have thought we would even ben discussing this, so that's pretty amazing

that being said, i believe #2 or #3 is more likely. Usher will likely hold on to #1.

But it's possible...

If all the die-hards didn't have copies already from the website and the shows, it would have a better chance.

If they count the 'give-away' CD's (which is still not being confirmed either way), then it'll be 2 or 3.

if not it'll be 8.

I can't believe it is even a matter of discussion--- Musicology will debut at #1 next week at Billboard's album charts!!

it will rise after the single gets released

NME said:

if the giveaways are counted wont all the ones given away so far count, hence 400k on top of the 150k it seems to be in the region of selling. so thats like 550k. would that get over usher? with 150k it seems it will be about #5. cos thats what happened with honkin on bobo for aerosmith. about 160k and 5. that region.

softandwet said:

You'd have thought so. but from what i've been told the amount 'scanned' does not correspond with tix sold. not sure why, but i think it might be either of the following:

Tix sold doesn't count as a 'scan' but tix sold, performance done and CD actually in the hand of the buyer is a 'scan'. not sure how many this would add.

or

the deal with soundscan to accept these give-away's as sales only counted after a certain date, so it's not counting every tix sold.

or - they're not going to count at all, but prince will claim a 'moral' victory over the record industry and forever clain in interview he was robbed by his slavemaster of his number one album...

i kind of thing the third outcome is the more likely.

NME said:

I gotta disagree with your last point. I think Columbia is more concerned with the charts then Prince is. He's already begun to prove his point, whether Musicology is #1 or not.

I think the copies given away at the shows has boosted sales. How many people got it at the show and played it for their friends? How many people got it at the shows and bought it anyway to get the art work/lyrics (I did).

I stopped by the local Best Buy today and it was sold out. The question may be did they ship enough copies to get enough sales to hit #1.

It also appears that NEWS will have it's biggest selling week ever on the coattails of Musicology.

I stopped by the local Best Buy today and it was sold out. The question may be did they ship enough copies to get enough sales to hit #1.



so you think its selling far more than columbia expected it to? thats so amazing, its weird how the single isnt even on the top 100. it could essentially be a number, or even top 3 album without a charting single to go with it!


It also appears that NEWS will have it's biggest selling week ever on the coattails of Musicology.[/quote]


how many is that selling?? i know on amazon.com its gone up from like 500 to 150 in the space of 2 days but dont know how that translates to sales. do you think it will chart? it will need to sell, what? 10k to get a top 200 position? 20k for a low 100 position?
i wonder why peeps are buying it though, cos all reviews, good or bad, of musicology seem to spare a sentence to pan NEWS. amazon is doing it as part of the "buy these two and save x percent" though so i imagine thats a few sales.

Since when would giveaway CD's labelled 'Promo' count to sales anyway?

I'm not up on the US charts but he might just surprise everyone including Usher. It's not like he hasn't been putting himself about lately.

I just picked my copy up at best buy, and there were about 15 musicology cd on the shelf. One slot was empty which leeds me to believe that they sold at least 25 of them so far.

P.S. I think that the rainbow children will do better that news as far as people looking through the prince section.

Marrk said:

They aren't labeled "promo" anymore. And they have soundscan bars.

I still think it was a mistake to "give away" the CD in a commercial sense. On a purely artistic level, I understand why he did it...to get the music out there so that people can hear it. But on a commercial level, there is so much at stake and I think giving it away could cause some selling gliches: case in point, I know some black people [including myself] will just tell someone to burn it for them rather than go out and buy it. The industry has been in a slump for years due to burning CD's and the Internet.

http://www.hitsdailydoubl...ws05052m01

has some semi interesting bits.

They obviously aren't counting give-aways because he has been giving them away for a month now and he isn't anywhere on the charts. Do you think that they will count the give-aways for the entire tour on this weeks charts?


.
[This message was edited Wed Apr 21 16:12:42 2004 by lovemachine]

lovemachine said:

my guess is, if it never came up before then there would be no reason for anyone to address it. if sony is making an issue out of it now, then who knows what will happen.

If the album was good, it could have gotten to #1.

EvilWhiteMale said:

Excellent bait!

regardless if an album is good or not...it doesn't make or break it!

PROMOTION AND MARKETING IS WHAT SELLS!

Thats The Key...not if the album sucks...

plenty of artist who make albums that aren't worth crap, still rank high and its all due to the promotion of their product, so stop dissing prince's music...If you hate his new music and havent for quite sometime, why are you still here?

Leave and find some other artist to like!

Anyways...promotion is what makes the product shift...whether or not an album sucks or not!

There is a good possibility that PRINCE could rank #1 but I honestly believe he'll enter at #2 or #3!
Which is good enough for a PRINCE who hasn't been mainstream or commercial in a while!

EvilWhiteMale said:

well, it IS #1 on amazon.com and is averaging 4 out of 5 stars on reviews there. Of course, some people decided they wouldn't like it before they ever even heard it.

It would be nice to see a real artist to go number 1.