One would have to believe religiously in the notion of “glass half full” to defend the opening week sales performance for Lady Gaga’s “ARTPOP.”<\/p>\n
According to Billboard, the album’s sales pace has slowed down since estimates were first issued Wednesday. It is now tracking to debut with a weekly total in the 240-250,000 range. The only saving grace is that it will likely top Eminem’s “The Marshall Mathers LP 2” for number one. After debuting with 792,000 first-week sales, that album is pacing for 210,000 in week two.<\/p>\n
While a bump in conjunction with her double-duty on Saturday’s “Saturday Night Live” could lift the “ARTPOP” total back into the original 250-275,000 range, it is clear Gaga is not going to drastically overperform. Her album, for all intents and purposes, will flop.<\/p>\n
Last month, Miley Cyrus’ “Bangerz” launched to the tune of 270,000. Though the figure satisfied most analysts, there was definitely prominent support for the notion that it underperformed.<\/p>\n
Two weeks later, Katy Perry’s “Prism” debuted with 286,000 first week sales. There was no ambiguity about that tally; given Perry’s stardom, it was a disappointment.<\/p>\n
Based on current pacing, Gaga’s album, the follow-up to a “Born This Way” album that sold more than one million in its first week (only 440,000 of which, contrary to common belief, came from Amazon’s 99-cent sale), will open with less sales than the Cyrus and Perry albums.<\/p>\n
Other debut week forecasts (from both Billboard and Hits Daily Double):<\/p>\n
Now 48: 90-100K
\nThe Beatles – “On Air – Live at the BBC, Vol. 2”: 35K
\nJhene Aiko – “Sail Out”: 30-35K<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[183,1047,206],"tags":[1208,1060,58,1209,105,718,1210,803],"adace-sponsor":[],"yoast_head":"\n