After debuting to an impressive 481,000 copies in January 2010, Lady Antebellum’s “Need You Now” rode the mainstream success of its title single to sell more than 3.5 million copies. The country trio’s profile rose greatly, situating them behind only Taylor Swift as a country crossover sensation.
It’s far too early to speak to its longevity, but against the lofty standards, follow-up “Own the Night” will disappoint in its opening sales week.
Based on opening day sales, Hits Daily Double is only forecasting 275-300,000 first-week sales for the group’s third album. That would mark a staggering fall from the predecessor and represent a sign that the trio has lost luster over the past year.
While the underwhelming response to lead single “Just a Kiss,” which seemed to represent a step backwards–rather than forwards–from the pop-appeal of smash “Need You Now,” resulted in some curbing their expectations for the album, the debut still should have been expected to be in clear excess of 300,000.
In the case of a group like Lady Antebellum, “industry declines” in album sales would not be an especially-relevant excuse. As a point of comparison, country crossover Taylor Swift’s third album “Speak Now” sold over a million first-week copies, besting the roughly 600,000 for her second album “Fearless.” And, “Own the Night” lead single “Just a Kiss,” “Speak Now”‘s first release “Mine” did not garner the same buzz as some work from the preceding album.
Just a few weeks ago, Lil Wayne moved a million units of his “Tha Carter IV,” and his profile, if anything, seemed to have fallen since the release of “Tha Carter III,” which also opened in that range.
There have, however, been some other disappointments in the country album sales game. While releases from names like Eric Church and Luke Bryan outpaced expectations, the latest releases from Brad Paisley and Blake Shelton fell short of what observers anticipated.