The sales curse that has impacted releases from Blake Shelton, Lady Antebellum, Jason Aldean and many other high-profile country acts claims Little Big Town as its latest victim.
Per Hits Daily Double, the foursome’s new album “Pain Killer” is tracking to score an opening week sales total of only 30-35,000 units.
Even if the actual weekly total were to double that forecast–and it will not do so–it would fall dramatically short of the 113,000 mark set by predecessor “Tornado” in its first week of release. The 2012 album, which debuted in the #2 spot on the Billboard 200, ultimately went platinum in the United States.
As of press time, “Pain Killer” is tracking as the week’s fifth-hottest new release. Entries from Slipknot, Neil Diamond, Logic and TI are all on pace to sell considerably more copies.
The bleak forecast extends the reign of disappointment that has ruled the country kingdom in recent weeks.
Last week, Florida Georgia Line’s “Anything Goes” moved 197,000 copies rather than the 250-300,000 that had been originally expected. The previous week, Jason Aldean’s “Old Boots, New Dirt” moved 287,000 copies, which fell dramatically short of the anticipated 350-450,000 bow.
The week prior to that, Blake Shelton’s “Bringing Back the Sunshine” and Lady Antebellum’s “747” moved 101,000 and 74,000 copies, respectively. Below forecasts, the tallies also trailed those of their preceding albums by 49% and 56%, respectively.
Currently pegged at 71%, the album-to-album decline for Little Big Town’s “Pain Killer” would be even more dramatic.
