Courtesy a show-stealing performance at the American Music Awards and another great rendition on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” Lorde’s “Yellow Flicker Beat” is back on the pop culture radar. Up to #65 on the Hot 100 based on last week’s data, the track could potentially fly higher next week courtesy renewed sales interest.
The light shining on the overall “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1” soundtrack, for which “Yellow Flicker Beat” serves as the lead single, is far less bright. Courtesy a soft opening week sales tally of 21,293 (as measured by SoundScan), the album debuts at only #18 on the Billboard 200 chart.
Solely curated by Lorde and subject to vast raves from the industry, the soundtrack nonetheless failed to resonate with buyers. Its opening week total dramatically trails the 55,000 mark set by 2013’s “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” soundtrack and the monstrous 175,000 inaugural tally commanded by 2012’s “The Hunger Games.”
While domestic interest in the franchise has undoubtedly cooled off (with $121.9 million in opening weekend receipts, “Mockingjay – Part 1” got off to the series’ slowest start at the box office), it remains hot enough to make the soundtrack sales total look disappointing in context.
From Ariana Grande, to Tinashe, to Charli XCX, to Tove Lo, to Pusha-T, to Kanye West, to Lorde herself, the “Mockingjay – Part 1” soundtrack is stacked with contributions from buzzworthy acts