How much has Say You Will sold in the US?
 

Surprisingly he's holding out better than Madonna's latest album which came out a week AFTER Say You Will. Granted, M's album isn't very good and the sales are reflecting that, but does anyone know how SYW is doing?

I'd imagine it is gold already, meaning 500,000+ copies (granted sold to stores, not actual customers), but I think the number is still up there. It sold 219,000 it's first week and I think by now has almost doubled that in customer sales (not including this past week).

While Madonna's album may not be as aesthetically pleasing as her other albums, I think the main reason her album is suffering a bit is because of her bashing of American life (as in the song American Life).

Not to go off topic but the title track American Life doesn't really bash America. She's making fun of herself really. But either way, the song isn't that great. And most of the songs on her album are pretty bland.

Well, she's making fun of herself as well as bashing America. She's talking about how superificial American life is, and even she was guilty of it just to stay on top. Here's a quote from an interview with her:

I feel like America has changed over the years and that a lot of our values seem to be materially oriented and so superficial. And we all seem to be obsessed with fame just for the sake of fame, no matter what sell your soul to the devil if that's what it takes. And we're also completely obsessed with the way we look. And I bought into a lot of that, so a lot of the record, especially the first three songs are just like, "What was I thinking?"

Sorry to stay off topic, but I wanted to clarify that while she is talking about herself, she's also pretty much criticizing America, and I feel that's a reason why her album is not getting much heat.

Am I wrong, but isn't the sales figure always the amount shipped. I mean those are sales, the stores had to "buy" them. When we hear Rumours sold 18 or 20 million in the US, isn't that 18-20 million shipped? We can never really know how many are bought once the retail stores have them. We would need access to each stores inventory records.

Well, I thought the "new system" the industry went to at the beginning of the 90's in effect had done this (getting more accurate records of what was actually sold) as this was the cause of Garth Brooks' album at the time (which I can't remember the name of now) "all of the sudden" being at number one on the album charts. Also, the figures had shown that much more country music was being bought in general than what had gone through in the old system and I can't remember what it was that was being bought "less" after the new system went in, but it musta been somethin'. Hmm...

John

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure that, under their "new" system, Billboard's Top 200 Albums chart is based on actual physical sales, while the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) certifications are still based on units shipped.

You are correct, Johnny.

Who's really not buying her album because of the lyrical content of "American Life?" Conservative people would be upset with it, but it's Madonna, those people probably haven't bought an album of hers since the Sex fiasco. I mean how many people really bought her albums but are NOW suddenly pissed off over what's she's said? It's not like she has a fan base that's like the Dixie Chicks fan base which is country music. People were more upset with her for burning crosses in Like A Prayer. She hasn't really gotten any negative publicity for this album and MTV has openly embraced it and her. The only controversy for this was the video and she pulled that before anyone could see it. If you check out her message boards, even a lot of her fans don't find this album to be very good. She's been a media darling recently since she's become more family oriented, it's just that no one was really impressed with this album. Just listen to it, there's not a lot of good stuff on there and I like Madonna myself, but her album is bland and that's the main reason sales of it haven't been great. Radio never boycotted her single either.

That's correct. Soundscan tracks actualy number of CD's purchased by consumers, not the retailers. Which is why in Europe it's harder to track actualy sales because they don't have that system in place. But as someone mentioned before, Soundscan didn't come around until the 90s so that's why Rumours actual sales are still a general figure. They'd only be able to track the sale of the album for the past 10 or so years and add that figure on to what it shipped before (I'm guessing).

Uh, yeah, that's what I meant, thanks for explaining it better than I did Johnny Stew. :)

John