“Break Anotha”: 43 Pop (48), 290 Rhy (274), 193 HAC (452)
“How Many Words”: 521 Pop (-)*
Check out the full Pop, Rhythmic, and Hot AC charts. You can find the quick cut info here.
*From Kirsten @ MJ’s. My link doesn’t show this. Thanks!
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More importantly from Ken Barnes:
Good, he got a SoundScan bump.
That’s not really bad at all. I’m pleased.
So do they go with the 58,000 instead of the…?
If so, that is a nice little bump:)
SoundScan is the official sales reporter.
Yay for 58K as official number! I think all this late news, is good news.
Lara, I think I love you. You too, Lisa. :)
Ken Barnes is the music editor for USA Today, and he’s been doing this stuff for years… monitoring airplay, reviewing albums and singles, etc. He not only runs the Idol Chatter blog, but he runs the regular Music blog on the website too. I trust his judgement quite a bit, and if he thinks “Break Anotha” is performing well so far and is “healthy”, well, I have trust in that.
Honestly? I think the only people worried about airplay are those of us who monitor it on a daily basis hoping for some huge surge in spins. He’s not Alicia Keys or Chris Brown or Fergie, peeps. They’re known radio darlings. It takes a while to break in a brand new artist. Time and patience are key.
I’ll be posting more later about all this, but I gotta go meet my sis-in-law right now to Christmas shop. :)
Sarah,
the main thing that concerns me is the fact he is getting ZERO airplay in the major markets, not the sheer number of spins themselves. Fewer people hear his song = not good, at least to me. LOL.
I had always thought the big markets play a single first and the other stations follow suit, but apparently not.
It’s really a shame that these Idol finalists have such expectations thrown at them. If Blake were a non-Idol new artist just starting out he’d be considered a huge success(Top 10 album…150,000ish sold so far). But because he was the “No.2 Idol Finalist” the microscope is on him. I’d hate to be in that position. I imagine Blake’ll have a much more relaxed time making his second album(like Bo did). I wish Blake a long career making music,even if he doesn’t become the new JT or whatever.
And frankly, out of 60 American Idol finalists since it’s beginning, there have been only 4 bonafide blockbuster sellers: Kelly,Clay,Carrie and Daughtry. Kelly’s popularity is in question now and Clay has lost his earlier appeal, which leaves Carrie and Daughtry, both probably headed for long patches of superstardom(unless Daughtry goes dance-rock). Others like Fantasia and J.Hud are finding success as actors. Bo has dropped off the radar. Elliot,Bucky and Kellie are off to great starts but none of them are boffo sellers yet. And who knows the futures of Taylor and Kat. I guess I’m trying to say that despite what AI boasts about making stars, the reality is that Carrie and Daughtry can really be considered flukes. The public ultimately decides who its wants to make superstars. Whether Blake is meant to be one only time will tell.
I don’t care if Blake isn’t a superstar, I just would like his song to get SOME actual friggin’ play in major markets is all ;).
Some of the big stars in the music industry don’t appeal to me in the least (Daughtry and Carrie not included here, lol).
My point is simply that daily stressing that it’s not getting said airplay is not going to make said airplay happen any faster. He’s not already an established radio star, AND he came from the “least popular” season ever of Idol. These things take time.
You know, when last season was done, I thought Blake would eventually become a success aka Carrie or Daughtry but now I am not so sure. His style is just not that mainstream, I guess.
The beatboxing is polarizing too, so that doesn’t help. I don’t think his sound is appealing to the big masses. Carrie’s and Duaghtry’s music are very much what people like to hear nowadays.
Anyways, IMO what’s important right now is that Blake’s radio play increases and he keeps selling records in the long term.
I think all the radio play for “Tattoo” and “No Air” has actually helped Jordin quite a bit the last couple of weeks, she has been selling consistently.
Blake needs some of that to keep going. I hope it works out later with BA or with his new single, I would hate to see a good record go down so quickly.
maracaibo, his album has been out for a total of two weeks. Let me say this again, two weeks. It is way too early in the game to know what his success; or lack there of, will be. And the majority of his songs on the album are very mainstream.
Yes it is, I get that. And right now BA is still moving up the MB chart with the same pack that it started with. As long as it is still going up, it will get played by the major stations.
Now when we see the little red arrow gone from Blakes name, then by all means we should start with the hand wringing.
As far as Jordin is concerned…good for her. She got alot of crap for having the lowest sales of an AI winner. But at least now she has the highest ranking single from a debuet album from all the winners. Tattoo is now #8 on Billboard betting Kelly’s MI, which I believed got as high as #9. So, go Jordin.
I know you are worried, just saying…breathe in, breathe out:)
Hey, Anne I am breathing.. he, he. Don’t worry.
I just think it’s easier for me not to have high expectations, it’s better to not be disappointed. I love the record, so don’t get me wrong I still believe it will do very well. Crossing fingers.
Just so you all will know, we won’t be getting any info from Ken Barnes for the next couple of weeks on sales or chart info due to Christmas and New Years. He posted an assesment of Jordin and Blake’s progress as far as creative control of the CD, airplay, promotion (he forgot about the big NYE gig for Blake & Jordin LOL), etc., but I will only post this part about Blake which was brought up in here yesterday from Ken Barnes also.
I don’t doubt for a second that you don’t love the album maracaibo:)
But the first few weeks of sales don’t always paint the full picture. If they did then Taylor, Kat, Bo…they would all be doing; well, better than they are.
But like you, I am keeping my toes and fingers crossed:) It is the first CD in along time that I have actually listened to all the way through and really enjoyed.
mara,
You have to stop comparing Blake to Daughtry and Carrie. Even before the album was released you kept saying you believed Blake was Daughtry pt. 2 while myself and others tried to tell you you were setting yourself up for a letdown because there was no guarantee. Now it looks like you ARE very letdown because he isn’t selling their numbers
You can still be a success and not sell millions. You keep talking about how well Jordin is doing but you know what? She’s not at their level either, nowhere close.
Hell, even Jordin really isn’t selling that well in the grand scheme of things, considering the massive radio airplay she’s receiving. But, as I’ve said before, CD sales AS A WHOLE are not strong.
I never really thought Blake would ever be as huge as Carrie or Daughtry, for the simple fact that he IS less mainstream sounding than they are. Actually, Chris D. was pretty much forced to go mainstream because his old band Absent Element was very much screamo hard alt-rock and that music would have NEVER been played on Top 40-HAC stations. Blake’s natural inclination is to do weird electronic music and that also wouldn’t have sold what his current CD is, so both had to compromise to some degree. The difference is that Blake just seems naturally quirkier than the other two, and will tend to have less broad-range appeal.
I DO see potential for Blake doing well overseas though, especially in Europe and Asia.
Exactly! At least Blake did come very close to his 1st week projected sales while Jordin did not and he is still doing quite well even though airplay is minimal at the moment. His TV appearances has helped his sales along with the Christmas shoppers. Personally, I’m not looking for Blake to have Daughtry type numbers. As far as I’m concerned, if the label is satisfied with how things are going, then that is good enough for me.
No, I am not letdown at all, I am just accepting the fact that he will not have Daughtry or Carrie numbers. Yes, I believed he could be like them before, but now I understand that’s out of the question.
I realized his music doesn’t have that broad appeal and that is fine. Honestly I just want him to have now some success aka Elliott Yamin, that would be great for him to keep recording albums.
FOr example, I just heard Ruben got dropped from J Records and I don’t want the same thing happening to Blake. IMO aHe has potential to be a moderate success just like Elliott, Bucky and Kellie Pickler.Maybe he won’t be a superstar, but he will be fine and that’s what is important.
I definitely agree, Nic.
The label already has Blake booked on Kimmel for the 8th and hopefully Leno will follow that same week. Yes, radio airplay does play a factor with sales. We all know that but as we were told last night and this is true. Blake is a new artist and is just getting started. He is not Daughtry or Carrie as was pointed out here earlier and I guess there were a few of us (myself included) who expected big things right off the bat. All I care about is that the label considers the CD successful enough so that when Blake is ready, he can make another one.
Hey, that’s the only thing I care about too at the moment. I am glad he is already booked on Kimmel and Leno, that is great promo!
I’m not going to discuss Blake’s current airplay for now TOO much, but I DID hear “Tattoo” on two different Top 40 stations within 10 minutes of each other earlier this afternoon and then her song on yet ANOTHER station a few hours later. She’s getting massive airplay, so it’d be nice if he could get the same one of these days.
Oh, I also heard the new Maroon 5 song on two separate stations in a close time span, wasn’t that one officially released the same time as Blake? Maybe that’s a sign that B’s single will start showing up more.
Pam,
I really didn’t expect huge things right off the bat, but I will admit that I DID expect the big markets to play his song more than ZERO or ONCE so far. LOL. Hopefully this will change verrrrrry soon in the next few weeks or else I will not have much confidence that the label is backing Blake the way he deserves to be.
I know that Blake really is a little offbeat (strange? lol) and for that reason, he may never sell tons of CD’s. Don’t get me wrong, his quirkiness is one of the major reasons I’m attached to him but I realize it’s not for everyone.
No offense to any Ruben fans here, but I’m not that surprised that his record label dropped him. I must confess that I never understood Ruben’s appeal on Idol and why the producers-judges pimped him to death; he always seemed to lack that intangible “it” or “X” factor to me that Simon harped about and was rather boring on stage.
It’s not like Ruben got dropped immediately. Ruben has been with J. since 2003 and sold a lot of records for them. He’s got a good airplay record and he’s actually the winner with the highest first week sales to date - not to mention he’s a Grammy nominee. Like with several other idols his popularity slid over time.
One more thing I want to say about the subject of major markets. I feel like we’re goimg in circles about this. A year ago I was living in LA and I’m a huge Top 40 listener, I didn’t hear Daughtry a single time until sometime after the new year. Since I didn’t watch AI last year I barely even knew who he was at the time. Just because Blake is not getting major market play does not mean he won’t EVER get it.
Lisa,
yes, that’s true, Daughtry didn’t get too much airplay until after the New Year which is why I’m taking a “wait and see” approach with Blake. IF Blake’s single is not getting significantly more airplay after the New Year, I think I will have a legitimate gripe. Until then, I’ll just see what happens.
And to be honest, Chris probably didn’t need the airplay as much as Blake does at this moment. That Daughtry CD sold 500,000 in its first two weeks alone (!!).
I know that here in NC that Chris was not played immediately right off the bat even though now, a year later, you wouldn’t know that lol. The DJ’s thought he had sold out because he signed with Clive, but once they really gave the music a decent listen, they had to admit to themselves that it was good. I didn’t start hearing INO shortly after the beginning of the year.
I know Daughtry really is record selling machine, a year has passed by and he already has sold 3 Millions or so. Impressive.
I hope that after the NYE gig major market stations will give Blake a chance, he does need it for the new year. I am hoping to see Blake’s album go gold at least!