Eight Hundred and Fortieth One Is Unpopular Again

The spring of 2014 was a little weirder than expected.

First of all, the "One Day King VS Pharrell-Williams" duel suddenly emerged, attracting countless attentions, and the once deserted spring market suddenly became lively.

Secondly, the second series "Nine" of the One-Day King soared into the sky. It broke through the million threshold and entered the top ten in history in the first week of its release. Justin Timberlake and Bruno Mars made history first.

Then, Pharrell's album "Girls" debuted under the eyes of the public, but it was greeted with disappointment and embarrassment. It's just sprinkling water, here is the thunderous storm, and another unexpected upset.

The outbreak of "Nine" was unpopular, and the downturn of "Girl" was also unpopular.

And then--

112,000 sheets.

This is the first-week sales of "Girl" instead of the first-day sales. The cumulative sales for a whole week are less than a fraction of the first-week sales of "Nine", and even less than the first-day sales of "Nine". Such a figure caused a shock. I was so stunned that I didn't even know how to evaluate it so as not to hurt others.

Shocking upset!

There was no strong explosion, and even the 300,000 sales predicted by professionals did not reach, only a mere 110,000. Such a performance is indeed too unexpected, even if both the media comprehensive evaluation and the public evaluation are both lower than 70 points, taking Farrell's Judging from the popularity of the topic, album sales shouldn't be so bleak.

But after calming down and thinking about it carefully, I found that... the unpopularity is not so unpopular.

reason?

Again, the North American music market is relatively mature. Singles sell popularity, and albums sell loyalty.

To put it simply, for a single to be successful, it needs the likes of passers-by and audiences. Every Billboard singles champion is a work that has been recognized by the entire market. It is impossible to rely solely on the concentration of fanatic fans .

It is precisely because of this that some "monster singles" often appear on the single charts. The three major monster singles in 2012 and the two classics in 2013 are all like this. The song sparked an explosive response and then worked wonders—Daft Punk being an exception.

The album is different,

Relying on the support of fanatical fans, especially in the scene where digital audio sources are becoming more and more popular, both vinyl and CD need special machines to play. If they don’t like it very much, most people don’t need to buy physical albums at all, so the sales mainly come from Loyal fans, and a small number of pure physical album lovers or collectors.

In the same way, dark horses are rarely seen on the Billboard album charts, and singers who have established a large fan base are often able to occupy the top positions on the charts. The success of "21" is undoubtedly the best proof.

Singles and albums are actually two systems.

Farrell, three singles hit the charts one after another, the popularity of the passers-by is particularly good, and the discussion rate directly breaks the charts, but the diehard fans who really like Farrell and are willing to buy the album are far from as many as imagined——

Judging from the sales figures, it is even much lower.

The truth seems to make sense.

But despite this, the figure of 112,000 still makes people dislocate their jaws. Farrell, who has high hopes, has only such meager energy——

As an aside, the sales of the album "Girl" in overseas markets far exceeded that in the North American market. The cumulative sales in the first week in major markets such as the UK, Japan, and Australia reached 190,000. The sales volume has passed the 300,000 threshold, and the performance is not too bad.

But...below expectations is to be below expectations. It is rumored that there is a lot of mourning inside EMI Records, and no one expected such a tragic result.

So, is there still a need for competition in "One Day King VS Pharrell Williams 3.0"? The starting point is no longer an order of magnitude. Even if the follow-up performance of "Girl" is against the sky, it is almost an impossible task to counterattack "Nine". What's more, the stamina of "Nine" must not be underestimated.

To make matters worse, before people had time to compare the two albums of "Girl" and "Nine", Pharrell had already encountered another dark horse counterattack——

Another dark horse? And again?

To be precise, not the dark horse of the dark horse, Rick-Ross (Rick-Ross).

Why is it not a dark horse?

Since he became active in the mid-1990s and signed a contract with Jay-Z to release his first album in 2006, Rick Ross has always been a backbone member of the East Coast rap lineup. He has released five albums so far, each album Both reached number one on the Billboard Albums Chart.

In the past three years, Rick Ross has successfully nominated for Grammy twice; and has cooperated with superstars such as Nicki Minaj, Drake, Usher and Lil Wayne many times, and has won many awards in the entire rap industry. There are big names with names and surnames, and they are definitely not unknown pawns who came out of the cracks in the rocks.

Why is it called a dark horse?

"Mastermind" is Rick Rose's sixth studio album, but before the release, there was no overwhelming publicity, no prelude song or interview promotion, it was more like a surprise album, and a press release was released After a brief notification, it will be released directly by airborne.

At that time, all the eyes of the entire market were focused on the troika body, and one day the duel between the king and Farrell was an absolute hot spot. Naturally, the "decision maker" who lacked publicity and had no voice was forgotten, just like ...a dark horse that popped out of nowhere from the cracks in the rocks.

Then……

170,000 copies!

Quietly, the "decision makers" erupted with such amazing energy, because they were unprepared, so that the media was a little confused.

what... what?

In fact, the comprehensive media evaluation of "Decision Maker" is also mediocre. The score of 68 points is basically on the same level as "Girl". However, Rick Ross has released his sixth studio album, and all the previous five albums have reached the top. Billboard's album charts show the diehard fans, which gives it an advantage over Farrell.

As a result, the "decision maker" also broke out with good results.

When the eyes of the media were all flocking to the Billboard album charts, they found that Rick Rose had become the spoiler, breaking the expected strong showdown of "One Day King VS Pharrell Williams 3.0", So much so that when the list came out, I was a little dumbfounded——

Ah, miscalculation.

Champion, "Nine", King for a Day.

Runner-up, "The Decision Maker," Rick Ross.

Runner-up, "Girl," Pharrell Williams.

Runner-up, "Frozen" OST.

With much attention and anticipation, "Nine" won the Billboard album chart for the second consecutive week without any suspense. Although the ranking data is slightly off track, when you browse the detailed data of the list carefully, the exclamation is naturally light. to leak out:

It is worthy of being a king for a day. After breaking the historical record in the first week, he once again made an amazing performance in the second week. Even if Farrell played normally, he would not have a chance. So, can this be the first time this week after Farrell's abnormality and Rick's rise? What about the three upsets?