Despite moving nearly one hundred thousand additional copies in its first week, Katy Perry’s latest album “PRISM” required seven more weeks than predecessor “Teenage Dream” to reach the 1.5 million sales mark.
According to Yahoo!, “PRISM” crossed the 1.5 million threshold during last week’s sales frame, which was its 48th period of marketplace availability.
Perry’s “Teenage Dream,” which launched in August 2010, sold its 1,500,000th copy during its 41st week of release.
Spearheaded by blockbuster single “Roar,” Katy Perry’s “PRISM” debuted atop the Billboard 200 last October with opening week sales of 286,000. “Teenage Dream,” which also debuted at #1, achieved the feat on the strength of 192,000 inaugural week sales.
That “Teenage Dream” was able to not only overcome that initial handicap but actually reach the 1.5 million mark in a shorter timeframe speaks volumes about its successful commercial run.
The comparison is not, however, apples to apples. Insofar as Perry was a less proven commodity when “Teenage Dream” launched, the opportunity to convert single listeners into fans and then fans into buyers was significantly larger during that album’s cycle.
By the time “PRISM” entered the market, a greater portion of mainstream music fans had likely determined whether or not they were interested in a Katy Perry album. Given that reality–and the fact that the five “PRISM” singles have, on the whole, been markedly less successful than the first five “Teenage Dream” singles–“PRISM” deserves to be praised for still finding a way to increase its opening week sales total by a multiple of five within a single year.
