Yep, couldn’t agree more. I know this has been brought up a few times too.
1 Like
That’s an UMG W.
1 Like
1 Like
Aria sales figures
Taylor Swift- Life of a Showgirl LP- #1 (debut) sold 101,140 copies made up of 8596 digital, 19,043 streaming, 39,939 cd’s & 33,562 vinyl.
In the UK the LP sold 423,444 copies made up of 194,596 cd’s, 126,592 vinyl, 2,652 cassettes, 16,535 digital & 84,069 streaming sales
Very impressive numbers
3 Likes
Good to see a breakdown, that’s very interesting. I’m surprised that iTunes sales (digital) were that low.
What counts as a “stream” here, is it only the whole album from start to finish?
As impressive as Taylor Swift’s figures are, it really is a very poor reflection on the current state of the music industry.
It wasn’t totally surprising that she has again flooded the charts worldwide and the playlists of most radio stations at that.
In Australia, every track took up the top twelve - we didn’t see this when Ed Sheeran dropped “Play” last month nor when Coldplay released “Moon Music” last year.
Had Dua Lipa released her third album “Radical Optimism” well away from the TTPD period last April/May, it would’ve gone to number one. But Taylor stopped it from happening (Taylor herself was stopped from having her album “Fearless” go to number one by the Kings of Leon, whose 2008 hits “Sex on Fire” and “Use Somebody” came from the top-charting album “Only by the Night”, in 2009 though).
1 Like
Artists don’t stay popular forever. There comes a tipping point when they no longer sell huge numbers of their albums or singles.
Artists are now purposely avoiding clashes and will delay an album or single release in the hope that they will have a huge debut, which will give them more publicity. Robbie Williams was going to release his next album now but decided to wait until February.
2 Likes
Though there seems to be less competition these days to the juggernaut that is TayTay, which I think makes her releases even more eagerly anticipated.
Yes, one day someone else might come along and knock her off her perch, but at the moment, everyone else seems like a sideshow as they have more limited appeal or don’t produce music of the same quality consistently enough.
1 Like
I think a lot of people will keep buying the music from their favourite artists even when the quality drops off. I really don’t think she is producing any quality music now. It’s all same same.
One example of such is David Kushner whose debut album “The Dichotomy” failed to even chart in Australia or New Zealand despite its lead single “Daylight” being a top five hit in both countries, and in the latter, number one.
It dropped a week after Sabrina Carpenter released “Short n Sweet”, which topped the albums chart here and in NZ.
Also, at the time of Kushner’s Australian tour being abruptly cancelled in November 2023, either one or both of his headline shows in Sydney and Melbourne were sold out.
That’s different. You can’t really sell an album based on one track these days, especially on debut. A lot of artists release multiple singles without even doing an album. Calvin Harris for example, had many singles but took years before he released any album.
And that is pretty symptomatic of music these days… makes it feel more ‘disposable’ when there is little of any substance to back it up (like an album).
1 Like
2 Likes
On this week’s ARIA singles chart, songs from The Life of a Showgirl has the top 2 spots, and positions 5 to 10. Meanwhile, Golden bounced back to No.3, followed by Olivia Dean’s Man I Need at No.4.
3 Likes
Jackson’s Telethon appearance was part of an agreement with Perth billionaire and then-owner of Channel 7, Robert Holmes a Court, who had just recently sold a music publishing catalogue to Jackson for $47.5 million (USD).
Despite often being referred to as the “Beatles’ music catalogue” (as it included the Northern Songs catalogue), Jackson’s 1985 purchase of the ATV Music catalogue not only gave him control of around 250 Lennon-McCartney songs, but also roughly 4000 tracks from other artists, including Bruce Springsteen, the Rolling Stones and Elvis Presley.
Jackson later merged this catalogue with Sony in 1995 to form Sony/ATV Music Publishing, which to this day remains the largest music publishing catalogue in the world.
With Jackson credited as co-founder, Sony Music Publishing now holds the rights to more than six million songs.
It wasn’t until 2016 that the Michael Jackson Estate sold its 50 per cent share in Sony/ATV Music Publishing for $750 million (USD), in a deal led by John Branca, co-executor of the estate and the attorney who originally helped negotiate the purchase with Holmes a Court.
3 Likes
Natalie Bassingthwaighte on The Morning Show spruiking her Shirley Valentine theatre shows in Sydney and Brisbane said that she had recorded a new album with the Rogue Traders which will come out next year.
3 Likes
While The Life of a Showgirl remains on top of the ARIA albums chart this week, Tame Impala’s latest release Deadbeat has debuted at No.2 on the same chart.
1 Like
Meanwhile, on the Singles Chart, The Fate of Ophelia remains at the top, with “Man I Need” by Olivia Dean rising back to number two.
Dean has another top ten entry with “So Easy (to Fall in Love)” coming in at number ten.
2 Likes