I don't have the exact numbers but, based on calculations from HITS Daily Double, Musicology has now sold between 565,000-575,000 copies. That is SOLD, not given away but sold at retail. Next week, the album will go over the 600,000 mark. 10 weeks, 600K...for a Prince album...in 2004!!! That is frigging fantastic. That has got to be more than the sales for his last 3 albums combines. (I think Rave hit 500,000, TRC about 100K, and The News...I think there is actually an alphabetized list out there of the people who own it). So for anyone to still be harping on the concert giveaways and how the album hasn't sold anything...step off. Yes the album is not the 6th best seller (as Billboard has it listed) but so the @%$# what. The album only had a 12% decline and looks to have hit a 25,000-30,000 weekly pace. With the video for Call My Name finally out , the album should stay steady for at least a few more weeks. If the album tops out at 750,000 retail sales and 1.5 million or so "official sales" is there anyone here with enough balls to say that it is not a hit.

Multii-platinum albums are hard to come by these days. There are only a handful of artist who can reach 2+ million sold so a million albums sold has pretty much become a benchmark for a big hit. It is an age of Napster and Morpheus and completely corporate radio and artists like Prince traditionally don't have a place any more. Prince beat the system, though. He has overcome the almost complete lack of radio support by re-inventing the CD sales process and, against overwhelming odds, he has also done enough to get 575,000 people to the record stores to buy the product. Haters can stuff their "well it says he's number 6 but he's actually 47" up their buttless chaps.

I have said it before and I will say it again...Musicology is a hit!!!

That's the truth! Yay for Musicology!!!!!

So if sales equate an albums worth, with all your glorious number crunching, does that mean you're finally willing to admit Prince's last few albums prior to Musicology sucked?

He made several high profile TV appearances and its the 20th anniversary of Purple Rain. Those two things have drummed up interest in Prince lately. It's not some miracle.

Prince has made several stabs at re-entering the mainstream over the past 13 years. This one just happened to work. The thing is, I've heard more people rave over his performance with Beyonce and the RRHOF, than Musicology.

purplecam said:

Love that CD

luv4u said:

Me too. I listen to it at least every other day. There are 3-4 really great songs on this cd and the rest are quite good too.

What's funny is those that said Prince would never have another commercial hit are afraid to admit that he did it because of the "loophole". These same folks didn't decline the cds when they went to the show after the cd was released. Many still bought a retail release of the cd after the tour started mainly for the purpose of liner notes, official cd for the collection, etc. So knowing that the loophole isn't the most "honest" tactic for the sales of Musicology shouldn't be an issue, because the music business isn't the most ethical business entity. For once, Prince proved that he could outsmart the system. I've shitted on him for so long about being a lousy businessman. Now, he finally shut me the fuck up.
[This message was edited Wed Jun 23 12:08:18 2004 by psykosoul]

Tom said:

I did not say a single thing about album quality in my post. I am only talking about sales. Sales for a former multi-platinum artist who has not had a million seller since 1992. I do believe that TRC, News, and Rave sucked quality-wise. But other albums that have sucked have sold very well and other brilliant albums didn't sell at all. My qualm with prince has always been in the marketing of his products. Even strong sellers could have been stronger if he would released a different single or put a video out earlier or, in general, just not been such a prat with the various record companies. The thing I have never understood about Prince is why he would put so much effort into various projects and create some really brilliant material and then just let them die on the vine.

I am harping on sales because I would like for Prince to become a mainstream force again. He's just too brilliant to be a cult artist that a few of us talk about glowingly but the free world considers insignificant. I am proud of virtually all of his moves this year. The RRHOF was brilliant as was the Grammies and I loved all of the interviews. I have just wanted to see the man get back his commercial instincts, to show the Ushers of the world just how untalented they are.

This year is different from 1996 and 1999 (the only two years in recent memory that he has made an effort to get back into the mainstream) because the man is not sabotaging himslef. He released a good (not great) CD with some potential singles and he has worked his ass off to promote his artistry and to keep his offputting quirks to a minimum.

Tom said:

You are sooooo fucking right. That pretty much sums it up.

GottaLetitgo said:

For years I wanted Prince to make a strong comeback and become mainstream again because he was still producing some hot stuff that got no play. Now he's making a nice comeback, but the music is very lame. So he got no props for the good stuff, and lots of props for the bad. Of course musical taste is all relative. I just wish he used these marketing techniques when he still had a fair amount of good songs on the albums.

EWM:

YOU ARE SO FUCKING ON POINT, MAN!!!!!

Let me tell you: the REAL tradegy about Prince's story is that there are so many brilliant songs that he's written, produced for others, created for himself, but he does a God-awful time selecting songs for an album. Meanwhile, the critics praise his most boring, shitty music while forgetting the simply brilliant creations. I still believe, and I realize that I'm in the minority, that Purple Rain had to be the MOST overrated album that he's ever done. SOTT, Parade are among the best, along with countless other boots and songs that he never released and never put on an album.

I think Prince has the worse sense of what it takes to make it in the mainstream and that's his downfall. It is very sad that most people will never have the opportunity to hear some of his best work. They'll still want to hear fucking Purple Rain when he's done so much more than that and has come quite a long way from that...

laylow03 said:

Prince is 46 years old. How can you hold him to a standard of what it takes to make it in the mainstream when he did that more than 20 years ago. Every artist who has continued beyond their creative peak needs some sort of vehicle to ride back into public existence on. Everyone knew it would be Purple Rain for Prince. He almost had the opportunity with 1999, but he released a subpar album that disappeared with the last millineum. The only way Prince is going to expose the masses to new music at his age is via a "farewell to the greatest hits" tour. I totally understand if one wants to judge Prince on his past catalouge...but I think folks are using a standard that isn't applied to anyone else...

Well, you also have to take into account that it's his most commercially appealing album since the album Prince in 1979. He knows his audience. It's a very safe album as far as songs go: no blatent concept or hidden message, just good songs + no swearing + no rebelliousness + simply sophisticated = very playable. He hasn't really "beat" the system, he's just playing with it (for a change). That's not to say it's a bad album, I love it, but it lacks the daring-genius-insanity of albums like 1999, Lovesexy or The Rainbow Children.
[This message was edited Wed Jun 23 13:53:32 2004 by toejam]

psykosoul said:

I'm not arguing with you here. I think so many people expect to keep hearing Purple Rain over and over again. And I DO think it's unfair. My whole point is that he's so much more than Purple Rain. People seem to be missing this point. Everyday we come on the Org to talk about brilliant songs that Prince had created that will never see the light of day. I'm just saying that he has so much great music from which to promote in the mainstream that could've been MAJOR hits. But what does he do: fail to promote and tour SOTT in the states, which I believe cost him a grammy. Yes, no other artist has been held to that kind of standard. On the one hair, it's unfair to Prince; on the other hand, we need to admit that on some level, Prince does a poor job getting himself back into the limelight...and believe me; he DOES want to be a mainstream hit. Don't get it twisted. No matter what Prince says, he DOES want a major comeback.

Musicology is a hit. Not too confusing. Not too long. Not too much filler. Not his most brilliant album.
But I have to say that people are warming to the idea of Prince more than to the album.
The tour is a bigger success than the album or songs.
The tour went to #1, but not the album.

laylow03 said:

I think I understand what you're saying. But it still seems like you're trying to hold Prince to a standard that no one else is held to. It fair only fair to judge an artist on his back catalogue. But Prince will never be remembered for "Sometimes It Snows in April" or "The Cross" He's going to be treated like any other legend.

Marvin Gaye will always be remembered for What's Goin On and How Sweet It Is; not Anger and Since I've Had You. Stevie Wonder will always be remembered for Isn't She Lovely and I Just Called to Say I Love You; not Tuesday Heartbreak and Outside My Window. Joni Mitchell will always be remembered for Woodstock and Big Yellow Taxi; not Edith and the Kingpin or Hejira. Elton John is gonna be remembered for Candle in the Wind and Bennie and the Jets, not I Want Love. The list could go on and on...

As artists, the only way they will acquire new fans is by blending the old with the new. Musicology is by no means Prince's best work. But it shows where his head was at the time. Fortunately with this tour he's playing hits and obscure jams that weren't necessarily hits like Let's Work and D.M.S.R. In the meantime, he's gonna have to open a show with Musicology and make damn sure he closes with Purple Rain. Sure Prince makes decisions that we deem stupid or unorthodox but it's kept the ride pretty interesting up to this point.