How Did Older Albums by Madonna, Mariah Carey & Janet Jackson All See Sales Gains This Week - Keith Caulfield
A sale promotion in the iTunes Store lifted a number of older albums to sales increases, and fans took notice.
It might be the year 2020, but if you glanced at the U.S. iTunes Store’s Top Albums tally this past week, it’d be hard to tell what decade you were in.
Thanks to sale pricing and fan promotion, a trio of older albums by Mariah Carey, Madonna and Janet Jackson all jumped into the iTunes Store's always-updating Top Albums tally. On April 27 and 28, Carey’s 2008 album E=MC2 was No. 1 on the iTunes Store’s Top Albums tally, while Madonna’s 1994 set Bedtime Stories visited No. 1 on April 30. Meanwhile, Jackson’s 1986 album Control also visited the top 10 during the week -- and at one point, all three albums were together in the top 10.
According to initial sales reports to Nielsen Music/MRC Data, E=MC2 sold about 2,000 copies total across all retailers in the U.S. in the week ending April 30. About half of that sum was driven by digital sales on April 27, the day the album topped the iTunes tally. Traditionally, the album sells a negligible figure on a daily basis.
As for Bedtime Stories, it shifted a little over 1,000 copies for the week, while Controlsold just under 1,000. Again, the bulk of each album’s sales were driven by digital sales -- nearly 1,000 for Bedtime Stories on April 30 (the day it was No. 1 in the iTunes Store) and a little under, 1,000 for Control across three days (April 28-30). Like with E=MC2, both Bedtime Stories and Control generally sell a negligible figure on any normal day.
It doesn’t necessarily take a large number of sales to reach No. 1 on the iTunes Store’s Top Albums ranking, especially considering album sales have been on the decline for years, and it was a particularly soft week for new releases on April 24. The trio of albums were part of an iTunes Store promotion where more than 100 pop albums were discounted to $4.99 and advertised in a banner ad that appears at the top of the front page of the Store, directing consumers to “$4.99 Pop Albums at a Great Price.”
As generally happens with deeply discounted albums (most new titles sell for at least $9.99), they start to rise up the iTunes Store Top Albums list, since it reacts in real time to customers’ purchases. After that, fans of the divas took notice of the albums dotting the iTunes Store Top Albums list and began awareness campaigns on social media to drive attention to the albums. That promotion then helped engineer more sales for the albums, which brought them to the top 10 of the store. At that point, the albums got much wider attention, since the top 10 of the Top Albums list is visible on the front of the iTunes Store, and casual music fans likely saw the albums in the top 10 -- perhaps encouraging even more sales.
E=MC2 debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart dated May 3, 2008. Bedtime Stories debuted and peaked at No. 3 (Nov. 12, 1994), and Control hit No. 1 on July 5, 1986. None of the albums are expected to re-enter next week’s Billboard 200 chart, despite their surge on the iTunes Store.
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I've never found any reliable source to understand how it works.
I used to believe it was the most played songs in the past 30 days, but the most popular version of Hung Up has received more plays than the most popular version of Material Girl in the past 5 weeks, so it doesn't make sense. I've read somewhere that they mix the number of plays and the number of playlists the song is played/added up. But again, it's only assumptions, not facts. -
SPOTIFY UPDATE - FROM 24/04 TO 30/04/2020
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..# ALBUM WEEK STREAMS %± LW TOTAL STREAMS 01 (=) Like A Virgin 1.728.656 -3,54% 310.121.774 02 (=) Confessions on a Dance Floor 1.430.755 -0,57% 200.606.158 03 (=) True Blue 1.421.897 -0,17% 216.535.909 04 (=) Like A Prayer 1.221.339 -2,20% 226.898.731 05 (+1) Madame X 803.079 -3,09% 144.776.209 06 (+1) Hard Candy 783.495 -0,85% 180.382.360 07 (-2) Madonna 777.372 -6,86% 145.444.051 08 (=) Ray of Light 652.751 -1,23% 123.708.826 09 (=) I'm Breathless 568.373 -0,46% 111.167.300 10 (=) Music 466.462 -0,45% 89.083.642 11 (=) Rebel Heart 441.221 2,29% 211.888.105 12 (=) Bedtime Stories 333.482 23,10% 49.420.971 13 (=) MDNA 264.149 -0,70% 87.343.813 14 (=) American Life 227.533 -5,45% 50.089.596 15 (=) Erotica 170.004 -1,62% 34.274.375
..# SONG WEEK STREAMS %± LW TOTAL STREAMS 01 (=) Hung Up 957.176 0,14% 115.268.606 02 (=) Material Girl 943.020 -0,41% 155.852.570 03 (=) Like a Prayer 939.857 1,32% 171.340.295 04 (+1) La Isla Bonita 730.719 0,80% 103.805.614 05 (-1) Like a Virgin 670.826 -7,92% 130.946.533 06 (=) 4 Minutes 581.662 0,14% 130.846.287 07 (=) Vogue 541.926 -0,82% 105.324.774 08 (=) Holiday 460.376 -2,40% 81.760.931 09 (=) Crazy for You 339.650 0,39% 39.769.655 10 (=) Papa Don't Preach 321.984 -1,92% 46.084.271 11 (=) Frozen 258.474 0,11% 46.467.023 12 (=) Into the Groove 237.614 -0,20% 48.750.171 13 (=) Medellín 216.607 -2,70% 48.573.428 14 (=) B**** I'm Madonna 198.996 2,80% 61.130.229 15 (=) Sorry 179.081 -0,87% 29.318.568
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Some milestones:
* Confessions on a Dance Floor - 200 million streams (radio edits included)
* American Life - 50 million streamsLeave a comment:
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Even this happened:
Give Me All Your Luvin':
iTunes:
#148 Ireland
(Yay, justice for GMAYL!
)
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Can someone explain again Madonna's top 10 songs on Spotify? Is it weekly or daily?Leave a comment:
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Now that this incident has been cleared please move on.
This subject is closed.Leave a comment:
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Lol what I meant is that my post was off topic by saying the video was good, basically I was shading myself not you.Originally posted by thebigham View Post
But now this weird rant of yours is VERY off-topic
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Anyways .... it seems like AL is already falling some places. I wish it could have made it to #1 like BS did.Leave a comment:
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^ Off Topic but that was an amazing video montage of her career.
... Anyways, glad to see the “Music” album rising too.Leave a comment:
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I Don't Search I Find enters top 20 and becomes Madonna's 3rd album in the top 20 on US iTunes and 4th top 100 album at the same time!
#8 Bedtime Stories
#14 American Life
#17 I Don't Search I Find
#76 MusicLeave a comment:
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Spotify
Bedtime Stories
28.04.2020 42.087.615
29.04.2020 42.126.955 +39.340
30.04.2020 42.222.881 +95.926Leave a comment:
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United States
iTunes:
898. Like a Prayer
iTunes Albums:
6. Bedtime Stories
14. American Life
32. I Don't Search I Find
86. Music
202. You Can Dance
226. The Immaculate Collection
246. Hard Candy
436. Ray of Light
852. Confessions on a Dance Floor
1228. True Blue
1252. Erotica
1287. I'm BreathlessLeave a comment:
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Italy
iTunes Albums:
1. I Don't Search I Find
3. Madonna
4. Ray of Light
6. Bedtime Stories
14. The Immaculate Collection
141. Rebel Heart
244. Confessions on a Dance Floor
300. MDNA
319. Hard CandyLeave a comment:
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Madonna is about to have 4 albums charting inside the iTunes Top 100 albums chart. She is currently the only artist with 3 albums inside Top 100.
US iTunes Albums:
6. Bedtime Stories
13. American Life
80. Music
106. I Don't Search I FindLeave a comment:
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She said on her Instagram that she tested positive for COVID-19 antibodies, which if true would mean that she had COVID-19 at some point in time, but obviously she didn't have any significant symptoms as from what she was sharing she seemed to be in good health all this time.Originally posted by tir69 View PostLeave a comment:
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Sorry for this OT but tg5 news in Italy just report that Madonna is positive to Covid 19
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I hope that this old records revival can give her new fans interested also in Madame X.Leave a comment:
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Madonna has currently 8 albums in the top 100 of the US iTunes Pop Albums Chart:
#1 Bedtime Stories
#5 American Life
#25 Music
#47 You Can Dance
#68 The Immaculate Collection
#70 Hard Candy
#77 Ray Of Light
#96 I Don't Search I FindLeave a comment:
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On Italian iTunes:Originally posted by music126 View Post
#1 Madonna
#3 Ray of Light
#4 I Don’t Search I Find (Remixes) - EP
#20 Like a Virgin
#21 Bedtime Stories
And none of them is discounted, they’re all full price
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