Even though it achieved number one, Paramore’s self-titled album proved that returns to the limelight do not always come with big sales figures. Sales for the album, which released last week, fell considerably from the opening-week tally for the band’s 2009 predecessor “Brand New Eyes.”
Based on early sales data, Fall Out Boy’s comeback album “Save Rock and Roll” will not face the same challenge. Billboard tracking suggests the album will achieve roughly 145,000 opening week sales, which would mark only a slight decline from the 150,000 tally for 2008’s “Folie a Deux.”
And that album had the benefit of releasing in the holiday season.
While Fall Out Boy’s scenario is slightly different in that the band is reuniting after an actual “breakup” (whereas Paramore parted ways with two founding members but never ceased to exist), the bigger impact likely comes from the album’s lead single “My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark.” Far more successful than at least three of the song releases from “Folie a Deux” (and one can easily argue that, due to inclusion in television and sports promotion, it is also more successful than that album’s lead “I Don’t Care”), the song has given the band renewed mainstream visibility.
Despite the solid tally, Fall Out Boy’s album might not claim number one on the Billboard 200. As of press time, Kid Cudi’s “Indicud” is tracking in the same territory, which should mean a tight race until the close of the chart Sunday night.
