Lionel Richie’s ‘Tuskegee’ is the best selling album of 2012 so far

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[Edited 8/18/12 17:12pm]

Not bad for a covers record!

Uh, Adele's pushed like over 3 million this year so uh...no. It's the best-selling NEW album of 2012 though...so far.

Go Lionel!!!

Timmy84 said:

Uh, Adele's pushed like over 3 million this year so uh...no. It's the best-selling NEW album of 2012 though...so far.

That's what I was going at. Lionel was just lucky...

Awesome! Go Lionel

Congrats to him.

I expect other legends to rip off this strategy.

I'm really glad for his comeback... Doesn't mean I'll pick up yet another duet album though...

silverchild said:

Timmy84 said:

Uh, Adele's pushed like over 3 million this year so uh...no. It's the best-selling NEW album of 2012 though...so far.

That's what I was going at. Lionel was just lucky...

I don't think it was luck so much as people underestimating the old farts out there who like easy-listening, mellow music.

And to be fair to Richie, he CAN sing and isn't exactly a bad writer so it's not like he's putting out a pile of shit whenever he does release something. He does real music and although sometimes it doesn't seem that way, there are still people out there who appreciate and respond to that.

Analyst said:

silverchild said:

That's what I was going at. Lionel was just lucky...

I don't think it was luck so much as people underestimating the old farts out there who like easy-listening, mellow music.

And to be fair to Richie, he CAN sing and isn't exactly a bad writer so it's not like he's putting out a pile of shit whenever he does release something. He does real music and although sometimes it doesn't seem that way, there are still people out there who appreciate and respond to that.

Again, LUCK!

His success goes to show that older age and peaking doesnt necessarily mean you can not still have future sell successes even though of course it is more harder. I dont think his album is the best selling album of 2012 solely by luck.... he worked hard and was smart about his marketing.

I think it is more than mere luck... Lionel was smart enough to know about marrying his previous music with a genre that still experiences success... He calculated this move and it paid off for him big time--although it could have failed--but it didn't. I respect that...even if I don't care for the music. Good for him.

Timmy84 said:

Uh, Adele's pushed like over 3 million this year so uh...no. It's the best-selling NEW album of 2012 though...so far.

Yes, the article is misleading.

Who has the biggest selling album of 2012 so far? Adele? Yes

But still good for Lionel. Always liked this guy.

purplethunder3121 said:

I think it is more than mere luck... Lionel was smart enough to know about marrying his previous music with a genre that still experiences success... He calculated this move and it paid off for him big time--although it could have failed--but it didn't. I respect that...even if I don't care for the music. Good for him.

Darius Rucker, Bon Jovi, & The Eagles have also experienced latter day success by marketing to the country audience and appearing on country music programs. When Lionel made songs with Akon and other young R&B acts, it didn't sell.

[Edited 8/18/12 22:47pm]

silverchild said:

Analyst said:

I don't think it was luck so much as people underestimating the old farts out there who like easy-listening, mellow music.

And to be fair to Richie, he CAN sing and isn't exactly a bad writer so it's not like he's putting out a pile of shit whenever he does release something. He does real music and although sometimes it doesn't seem that way, there are still people out there who appreciate and respond to that.

Again, LUCK!

Lady Gaga's success is LUCK.

Lionel's is TALENT.

*stands up and starts scream-singing* YOU ARE THE SUN, YOU ARE THE RAIN/ THAT MAKES MY LIFE THIS FOOLISH GAME....

*runs out like my nuts are on fire*

MickyDolenz said:

purplethunder3121 said:

I think it is more than mere luck... Lionel was smart enough to know about marrying his previous music with a genre that still experiences success... He calculated this move and it paid off for him big time--although it could have failed--but it didn't. I respect that...even if I don't care for the music. Good for him.

Darius Rucker, Bon Jovi, & The Eagles have also experienced latter day success by marketing to the country audience and appearing on country music programs. When Lionel made songs with Akon and other young R&B acts, it didn't sell.

[Edited 8/18/12 22:47pm]

Yup. Lionel's lucky that some of his hits were either country or country-oriented hits anyway so he was able to use that to his advantage. Like silverchild said: luck, pure and simple.

Analyst said:

silverchild said:

Again, LUCK!

Lady Gaga's success is LUCK.

Lionel's is TALENT.

*stands up and starts scream-singing* YOU ARE THE SUN, YOU ARE THE RAIN/ THAT MAKES MY LIFE THIS FOOLISH GAME....

*runs out like my nuts are on fire*

You don't understand the music business, do you? Lionel has talent yes, but talented people can get lucky too. Lionel used a strategy that he knew would pay off. Country music is selling real good or albums with country influences. Why'd you think some country audiences bought Adele's album? Because it was found that Adele had country influenced songs on her album and country folks loved her album so they bought it in droves along with the rest of the population. To say that the only reason Lionel succeeded was because of talent is like saying one got by with just his wills and/or prayers. You need more wills and prayers to get to where you need to get. Lionel, at 63, is thanking his lucky stars he was able to use his country ties to do this record and find success. Don't believe me, ask Ray Charles' family. Look at how successful he was with country records in the '80s after his pop/R&B success tapered off.

Timmy84 said:

Analyst said:

Lady Gaga's success is LUCK.

Lionel's is TALENT.

*stands up and starts scream-singing* YOU ARE THE SUN, YOU ARE THE RAIN/ THAT MAKES MY LIFE THIS FOOLISH GAME....

*runs out like my nuts are on fire*

You don't understand the music business, do you? Lionel has talent yes, but talented people can get lucky too. Lionel used a strategy that he knew would pay off. Country music is selling real good or albums with country influences. Why'd you think some country audiences bought Adele's album? Because it was found that Adele had country influenced songs on her album and country folks loved her album so they bought it in droves along with the rest of the population. To say that the only reason Lionel succeeded was because of talent is like saying one got by with just his wills and/or prayers. You need more wills and prayers to get to where you need to get. Lionel, at 63, is thanking his lucky stars he was able to use his country ties to do this record and find success. Don't believe me, ask Ray Charles' family. Look at how successful he was with country records in the '80s after his pop/R&B success tapered off.

That means he was smart....... not lucky

But to each is own... people interpret that differently..

Timmy84 said:

MickyDolenz said:

Darius Rucker, Bon Jovi, & The Eagles have also experienced latter day success by marketing to the country audience and appearing on country music programs. When Lionel made songs with Akon and other young R&B acts, it didn't sell.

Yup. Lionel's lucky that some of his hits were either country or country-oriented hits anyway so he was able to use that to his advantage. Like silverchild said: luck, pure and simple.

Darius released a neo-soul record before the country one, and it didn't do much either. But neo-soul has a limited audience. Lionel's record is not really any different than what Frank Sinatra, Carlos Santana, B.B. King, Ray Charles, & Tony Bennett did already, which is releasing collabo/duet albums in their old age that happened to be popular. Others like Rod Stewart and Michael McDonald released a series of covers albums. Tuskegee is both, a duet covers album.

MickyDolenz said:

Timmy84 said:

Yup. Lionel's lucky that some of his hits were either country or country-oriented hits anyway so he was able to use that to his advantage. Like silverchild said: luck, pure and simple.

Darius released a neo-soul record before the country one, and it didn't do much either. But neo-soul has a limited audience. Lionel's record is not really any different than what Frank Sinatra, Carlos Santana, B.B. King, Ray Charles, & Tony Bennett did already, which is releasing collabo/duet albums in their old age that happened to be popular. Others like Rod Stewart and Michael McDonald released a series of covers albums. Tuskegee is both, a duet covers album.

That's exactly what I was thinking... Because of Lionel's country ties he made a strategic business decision that paid off when he did the duets album...in the way that he saw worked for other artists that you mentioned. Maybe a little luck paid off...but it was a very calculated move on Lionel's part.

mjscarousal said:

Timmy84 said:

You don't understand the music business, do you? Lionel has talent yes, but talented people can get lucky too. Lionel used a strategy that he knew would pay off. Country music is selling real good or albums with country influences. Why'd you think some country audiences bought Adele's album? Because it was found that Adele had country influenced songs on her album and country folks loved her album so they bought it in droves along with the rest of the population. To say that the only reason Lionel succeeded was because of talent is like saying one got by with just his wills and/or prayers. You need more wills and prayers to get to where you need to get. Lionel, at 63, is thanking his lucky stars he was able to use his country ties to do this record and find success. Don't believe me, ask Ray Charles' family. Look at how successful he was with country records in the '80s after his pop/R&B success tapered off.

That means he was smart....... not lucky

But to each is own... people interpret that differently..

So you're saying a smart person can't be lucky either? A'ight if it makes you feel better.

Congratulations to Lionel on his success. IMHO, this strategy could have easily tanked.

Timmy84 said:

Analyst said:

Lady Gaga's success is LUCK.

Lionel's is TALENT.

*stands up and starts scream-singing* YOU ARE THE SUN, YOU ARE THE RAIN/ THAT MAKES MY LIFE THIS FOOLISH GAME....

*runs out like my nuts are on fire*

You don't understand the music business, do you? Lionel has talent yes, but talented people can get lucky too. Lionel used a strategy that he knew would pay off. Country music is selling real good or albums with country influences. Why'd you think some country audiences bought Adele's album? Because it was found that Adele had country influenced songs on her album and country folks loved her album so they bought it in droves along with the rest of the population. To say that the only reason Lionel succeeded was because of talent is like saying one got by with just his wills and/or prayers. You need more wills and prayers to get to where you need to get. Lionel, at 63, is thanking his lucky stars he was able to use his country ties to do this record and find success. Don't believe me, ask Ray Charles' family. Look at how successful he was with country records in the '80s after his pop/R&B success tapered off.

What im not hearing people talk about is the artists that were on this album, HELLO they werent no names most are the biggest in country now, or in a few cases are freaking legends of the genre. Just with Kenny Chesney, jennifer nettles, blake shelton, billy currington, tim mcgraw and shania twain and then factor in Kenny Rogers whom Lionel wrote LADY for, and then legendary Willie Nelson, and then put in Jimmy Buffet who has been selling tons for years, this was basically something that couldnt miss, sorry to let people know this, but the country audience is ALOT more loyal and open minded than the RB and RAP and POP genres, where a whole lot of crap comes into play, this why Lionel didnt go out and do some Ne-yo garbage rb album again.

lastdecember said:

Timmy84 said:

You don't understand the music business, do you? Lionel has talent yes, but talented people can get lucky too. Lionel used a strategy that he knew would pay off. Country music is selling real good or albums with country influences. Why'd you think some country audiences bought Adele's album? Because it was found that Adele had country influenced songs on her album and country folks loved her album so they bought it in droves along with the rest of the population. To say that the only reason Lionel succeeded was because of talent is like saying one got by with just his wills and/or prayers. You need more wills and prayers to get to where you need to get. Lionel, at 63, is thanking his lucky stars he was able to use his country ties to do this record and find success. Don't believe me, ask Ray Charles' family. Look at how successful he was with country records in the '80s after his pop/R&B success tapered off.

What im not hearing people talk about is the artists that were on this album, HELLO they werent no names most are the biggest in country now, or in a few cases are freaking legends of the genre. Just with Kenny Chesney, jennifer nettles, blake shelton, billy currington, tim mcgraw and shania twain and then factor in Kenny Rogers whom Lionel wrote LADY for, and then legendary Willie Nelson, and then put in Jimmy Buffet who has been selling tons for years, this was basically something that couldnt miss, sorry to let people know this, but the country audience is ALOT more loyal and open minded than the RB and RAP and POP genres, where a whole lot of crap comes into play, this why Lionel didnt go out and do some Ne-yo garbage rb album again.

That's practically what I meant to say. Like I said, dude got by on luck because he knew who sold.

Awesome, he's been working hard to sell this album - he's been touring in Europe, appeared on talk shows. It was also very smart to make music for the country audience who still buy albums.

What about Adele?

I'm really happy for Lionel's success and no disrepect to him or this project, but this makes me a little sad and angry that this is the best selling album of 2012, and the #2, #3 etc, are lack luster projects. But, it's the sad state of the music biz.

Maybe I'm a little bitter, because I grew up on Lionel/The Commodores and this project is NOT for me!

I scanned through this project, lionel doing country covers of his songs...meh, again this is not for the folks that grew up with him and not for me.

I would never buy this nor listen to it again, but I'll be happy to put on his first solo CD, "Can't Slow Down" & "Dancing On the Ceiling."

Is it any good?

Graycap23 said:

Is it any good?

I'm not saying it's good or bad...they are just interpretations of old songs...songs that I'm happy to hear in its original form...not country-fied remakes.

Just because you add a steel guitar and a twang in your voice...doesn't make it a country song.

If Lionel were to make a "country" album of original songs..I would be more likely to lend an ear.

Timmy84 said:

MickyDolenz said:

Darius Rucker, Bon Jovi, & The Eagles have also experienced latter day success by marketing to the country audience and appearing on country music programs. When Lionel made songs with Akon and other young R&B acts, it didn't sell.

Yup. Lionel's lucky that some of his hits were either country or country-oriented hits anyway so he was able to use that to his advantage. Like silverchild said: luck, pure and simple.

Well, it also happened to be a REALLY good album as well. I don't just purchase anybodies CD, but each of the songs on this album were really good. They weren't just remakes of the originals, they each took on a slightly different flavor. I love what Willie Nelson added to "Easy", "Say You, Say Me" with Rasmus Seebach was real nice, and Shania Twain was much more than just a Diana surrogate on "Endless Love". So while I'm sure "luck" always plays a part with any musical project, these songs were really nicely done and well produced. In my opinion, it sold well because it was a good CD.