as of now, with 78.31% of the sales figures in, usher is at 380,955 and janet is at 326,224. maybe things will dramatically change in the next few hours but its unlikely. oh well. i did hope for a number one record debut.

1 1 USHER LAFACE/ZLG 470,251 -57%
CONFESSIONS

-- 2 JANET JACKSON VIRGIN 384,297 --


well, while usher's album declined by 57%, janet was not able to sell enough to get a number one record. is this the first time since dream street she didn't hit number one? i'm not a pro on that stuff. i do think if she had released one of the stronger tracks (all nite, rnb junkie, sexhibition) first, she would have sold that extra 100,000.

SassierBritches said:

Yup, sure is. Not that she doesn't have a chance in coming weeks, but let's just say that in today's market, a big star either hits #1 out of the gate or misses it entirely. Give her a 50-60% drop next week and a final tally somewhere around 1M - 1.5M.

VoicesCarry said:

that's my fear. i'm really not a charts position kinda guy but with someone like janet, mj or madonna, i know it is a big deal. they weren't really disappointing first week sales (even though all for you, a lesser album, sold 605,000 its first week) but they include all the die-hards. fromthis point on it is relying totally on word of mouth and singles power. virgin best get on the ball and release all nite...quick!

SassierBritches said:

It's very dissapointing. If they released a stronger single and pushed it the album would have no doubt debuted at number one but Janet made quite a few enemies even though she made some good TV appearances. I wouldn't doubt if something like "All Night" is released that the album will climb to number one. BTW, I'm not 100% sure that "Control" made it to number one on the pop charts.

SassierBritches said:

Why was "All For You" a lesser album? Not that it's one of her best but it is much better than Damita Jo in so many ways I don't know where to start. Any way, good for Usher. Good to see someone put out a quality R&B album and do well with it. Hopefully others will follow his lead and bring the "hook" back to R&B after years of "hookless" trash.

intha916 said:

it ain't no thang...we just have different opinions.

its the album...people were buzzing about ALL FOR YOU not only based on the single but the album itself..I remember playing it at my work and people were all over it...It was only after repeated listenings that people realized what an inconsistent album it was..


with Damito, after one listen you've had enough...

ok...why did they release that whiny song anyway? I was confused why they didn't make a bigger slash with the first single. Maybe they were thinking...Kanye West is hot right now...so people would be into a Kanye West production???

VinnyM27 said:

It had a 2-week stay at the top in '86.

Just as I predicted a few months ago,Janet would experience a slight backlash with this album.Not necessarily because of the Super Bowl mess,but just because that's how show business works.Every artist goes through a period where they sell less records and get less-than-glowing reviews from critics.It's happened to Madonna,to Michael and Prince.I predict that this new CD will probably be her weakest-selling album since 'Dream Street'.


But there are other problems with this CD.It's simply a run-of-the-mill R&B sex album.With everything going on in the world today (war,terrorist attacks,etc) and with the stuff going on in her personal life (her new romance with Jermaine Dupri,her brother's never-ending scandals,etc),now would have been a perfect time for Janet to try someting new,bold and challenging.But instead,she gives the world another sex album.We already know her views on sex,how about some strong commentary on other issues?


Still,it's hard to believe that a new Janet CD will not debut at Number One.Even 'American Life' debuted at Number One in over a dozen countries.Perhaps Janet's CD is doing better in other countries? What number is it on the R&B Album charts?

DavidEye said:

I agree...in these troubled times....Janet could have put her black army gear back on and resurrected the Rhythm Nation and attacked every single social issue one by one instead of putting her bedroom diary to music!

intha916 said:

I wouldn't say "All For You" was a lesser album but it wasn't as good as "Damita Jo" (IMHO). Then again, I loved that album for a while that I just out grew it. The same could happen with DJ.

DavidEye said:

Yes, but AL sold only about 240K copies and Madonna had no real competition. It seems like records sales are really up this year..and I don't totally understand it. I mean...Usher selling a million copies in a week? Where am I? I'm not sure what the final numbers for this album will be, but they are probably around the 400K level. I would assume that DJ will be number 2 on the R&B albums as well considering Usher is the kind of R&B! Also, while TVR debuted at number one only barely outselling a poshthumus Tupuc release, it peaked at number 2 on the R&B charts, so who knows.

DavidEye said:

Sales are in the toilet in all major markets except Japan, where she's incredibly popular.

VinnyM27 said:

Closer to hell than you think .

Apparently, downloading has hurt sales. Yeah, right. Over 800 million CDs were sold in the US last year alone. According to the pigs at the RIAA, 2.6 discs are shared on the net for every one sold. SO, we're supposed to believe that over 2.4 BILLION CDs would have been sold in the US if file-sharing were not around. UH HUH.