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NEWS ARCHIVE
Album Sales Hit 16 Year Low!
The week commencing the 14th of May saw UK album sales at their lowest in 16 years according to Music Week. Figures dropped a further 2.65% in the week following, which led to the total 7-day sales in Britain being just 1,312,971.
The current number one album, Emeli Sandé’s ‘Our Version Of Events’, reached the coveted spot after selling only 13,430 copies. Sandé’s sales are the lowest for a chart leader since ‘Happy Nation’ from Ace Of Base which sold 12,042 copies in 1994. Indie band Keane were at the top spot for two weeks previous to Emeli with their album ‘Strangeland’ but saw a sales decrease of 52% in the second week. Keane and Emelie Sandé are two out of only three artists this century who have reached number one with less than 20,000 albums sold, the third being Adele with her album ‘21’.
Only 85 copies behind Sandé at number two is Joe Bonamassa with his 13th studio album ‘Driving Towards The Daylight’. The lack of new releases from big selling artistes has made it easier to achieve a better chart position with lower sales figures, leading to some higher than expected debut entries. Tom Jones came in at number seven with his album of covers, ‘Spirit In The Room’ and Indie/Blues singer John Mayer entered at number four with ‘Born And Raised’, a far cry from his number 35 record ‘Battle Studies’ back in 2009.
Last year, Coldplay commented on the plummeting sales labeling them as "meaningless" in today's climate, adding: "The days of selling tens of millions of copies has gone, so there's no point using that yardstick anymore." (Though this could just be because their last album didn’t do so well!)
The current number one album, Emeli Sandé’s ‘Our Version Of Events’, reached the coveted spot after selling only 13,430 copies. Sandé’s sales are the lowest for a chart leader since ‘Happy Nation’ from Ace Of Base which sold 12,042 copies in 1994. Indie band Keane were at the top spot for two weeks previous to Emeli with their album ‘Strangeland’ but saw a sales decrease of 52% in the second week. Keane and Emelie Sandé are two out of only three artists this century who have reached number one with less than 20,000 albums sold, the third being Adele with her album ‘21’.
Only 85 copies behind Sandé at number two is Joe Bonamassa with his 13th studio album ‘Driving Towards The Daylight’. The lack of new releases from big selling artistes has made it easier to achieve a better chart position with lower sales figures, leading to some higher than expected debut entries. Tom Jones came in at number seven with his album of covers, ‘Spirit In The Room’ and Indie/Blues singer John Mayer entered at number four with ‘Born And Raised’, a far cry from his number 35 record ‘Battle Studies’ back in 2009.
Last year, Coldplay commented on the plummeting sales labeling them as "meaningless" in today's climate, adding: "The days of selling tens of millions of copies has gone, so there's no point using that yardstick anymore." (Though this could just be because their last album didn’t do so well!)
