Not one of last week’s top fifteen albums, Tessanne Chin’s first post-“The Voice” release “Count on My Love” was not the subject of published forecast reports. All that was clear was that the season five winner’s release was not pacing for a strong debut.
A near-official number is finally available, and it is predictably disappointing.
According to Hits Daily Double’s weekly sales report, which usually differs only slightly from the authoritative Billboard/Nielsen SoundScan data, Chin’s album debuted to a weekly sales sum of approximately 6,568. (Update: Billboard reports that the album sold approximately 7,000 copies for a #41 debut on its Billboard 200 chart)
Unless SoundScan offers considerably more favorable data, the total will rank as the worst for a “Voice” winner’s first post-show release. Javier Colon, who won the inaugural season, previously held that distinction with opening week sales of 9,974.
Season two winner Jermaine Paul (and, obviously, season six winner Josh Kaufman) has yet to release a post-show studio album, while season three winner Cassadee Pope and season four winner Danielle Bradbery scored inaugural week sales of 43,000 and 41,000 for their respective albums.
While the number does not speak positively about the season five winner, it also likely has rooting in label Republic’s limp marketing effort. That effort scored Tessanne little in the way of press or promotional platforms, which was also the first winners’ album since Colon’s “Come Through for You” to ship while NBC’s “The Voice” was on hiatus.