Ask Billboard

[joe68]

Another non-answer!


NEXT NICKS?

OK, Keith, I've got questions,

I don't usually write, but I just can't seem to locate any information about her, and I've never seen you write about her... so, I guess it's time to do this.

It's been five long years since Stevie Nicks' "Trouble In Shangri-La" debuted on the chart. It's been almost three and a half years since Fleetwood Mac's "Say You Will" came out. While I understand that she's never been very prolific, is Stevie Nicks going to release any new music soon? I have not come across any information about her recording new material. Is there any word?

Next: I visit the RIAA site (www.riaa.com) frequently to see how well certain titles are selling and at around Christmas time, I looked up Stevie's "Bella Donna" album. At that time, there was a line item listing this record as having sold 5 million copies. When I look it up now, however, the certification has vanished. I know I'm not crazy. It was there. I even wrote about it to Nicks' official Web site www.nicksfix.com, and they included it on their sales stats. Can you help me to figure out what happened there?

Last question: Can you tell me how Stevie's recordings have sold in the SoundScan era (1991-present)? If you want to throw Fleetwood Mac in there too, that would be fun to see as well!

Faithfully checking every week for your words of wisdom,

Alex D. Falcone
Gibbsboro, N.J.


Hello Alex,

Actually, I'm a fan of Stevie's work and I, too, would love to hear some new music from her. I really enjoyed the "Trouble In Shangri-La" album -- and even the fun dance mixes of that set's single, "Planets of the Universe." I've written about her, and Fleetwood Mac, numerous times in the past. But you're right: it has been a while since I last mentioned her.

We asked Nicks' publicist, the intrepid Liz Rosenberg, for a comment, but she didn't get back to us by deadline -- alas. Luckily, Nicks herself occasionally answers questions at her NicksFix.com Web site. The last time someone asked her about recording a new album, she said "I'm sure I will do another record somewhere down the line." Yeah, that's not exactly very specific. Here's to hoping we get some real news soon. After all, the "Trouble" album was fairly successful -- it debuted at No. 5 on The Billboard 200 and spent 20 weeks on the chart. It has sold 655,000 copies in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Regarding the certification status of Nicks' "Bella Donna" album: that's a curious question. A spokesperson for the RIAA indicated that it simply could have been a processing error that led you to see a certification for 5 million. An application was processed for the certification of "Bella" at 5 million; however, it only qualified for 4 million. So, perhaps there was a temporary data entry error on the RIAA's end that had them input a 5 million certification to its Web site but then withdrew it after establishing the album was only eligible for 4 million. Does that make sense?

Generally speaking, all questions about the gold and platinum certification program administered by the RIAA should be directed to the organization directly via its Web site RIAA.com.

Finally, here is a quick rundown of Nicks' SoundScan-era releases, with and without Fleetwood Mac:

"Timespace: The Best of Stevie Nicks" (1991; 1.5 million)
"25 Years: The Chain" (a Fleetwood Mac box set, 1992; 79,000)
"Street Angel" (1994; 229,000)
"The Dance" (Fleetwood Mac, 1997; 4.4 million)
"Enchanted" (box set, 1998; 168,000)
"Trouble In Shangri-La" (2001; 655,000)
"The Very Best Of Fleetwood Mac" (2002; 1.1 million)
"Say You Will" (Fleetwood Mac, 2003; 853,000)

[SpyNote]

Originally Posted by joe68

"Street Angel" (1994; 229,000)

Ouch!

[ELIUD]

I'm surprised and disappointed that Enchantes sold less than Street Angel.

[SpyNote]

Originally Posted by ELIUD

I'm surprised and disappointed that Enchantes sold less than Street Angel.

If I'm not mistaken, Enchanted was certified gold (500,000 copies shipped to retailers) because each disc counts towards the tally. So Enchanted actually sold extremely well for a box set. If you multiple 168,000 by 3, you get 504,000, which is on target for a gold certification.

[strandinthewind]

I seem to remember SA going gold around the time of Enchanted. Maybe that was units shipped.

[DashingDan]

The Dance's numbers and Say You Will's...the difference is astounding. They waited too long to make that damn SYW.

[RockALittle250]

These numbers are inaccurate as Street Angel and Enchanted have been certified gold and The Dance has sold over 5 million copies.

[SpyNote]

Originally Posted by RockALittle250

These numbers are inaccurate as Street Angel and Enchanted have been certified gold and The Dance has sold over 5 million copies.

Being certified gold doesn't mean you've SOLD 500,000 copies. It means 500,000 copies have been SHIPPED to retailers. The actual copies SOLD could be slightly below or above that number.

The numbers above issued by Billboard are from SoundScan, which monitors copies SOLD (or scanned). The RIAA uses SoundScan figures to determine their certification awards, but there are other criteria involved as well.

So... I question Street Angel's gold certification if only 229,000 copies have been sold/scanned. Could it be possible that there are some 271,000 copies still sitting on retailer shelves? Doubtful. Billboard hinted at possible clerical errors in the case of Bella Donna's 5th platinum certification, so we knows how reliable the RIAA's information is. I'd imagine there also could be politics at play, depending on how big an artist you are or how pushy an artist's label is to get the certifications.

[foxyluva]

Im pretty sure that a CD/DVD has only ONE YEAR to achieve gold/platinum status that were released after 1991 - after that, the sales are included, but even if it pushes over the gold or platinum mark, it will not be a gold/platinum record. This would explain "Street Angel" only pushing 229,000 - because Im sure that it went up over the 500,000 sales mark once The Dance became so succesful

This is all from memory so don't quote me on it

[face of glass]

For comparison, here's what the list looked like at the end of 2003:

http://ledge.fleetwoodmac.net/showthread.php?t=12691

Here is the rundown on Stevie Nicks' Nielsen SoundScan era (1991-present) albums and their respective sales:

"Timespace - The Best Of Stevie Nicks" (1991), 1.4 million
"Street Angel" (1994), 226,000
"Enchanted" (1998), 162,000
"Trouble In Shangri-La" (2001), 640,000

As for Fleetwood Mac's Nielsen SoundScan-era albums, here they are:

"25 Years - The Chain" (1992), 79,000
"Time" (1995), 50,000
"The Dance" (1998), 4.3 million
"The Very Best of Fleetwood Mac" (2002), 796,000
"Say You Will" (2003), 793,000

[MacMan]

Originally Posted by SpyNote

The numbers above issued by Billboard are from SoundScan, which monitors copies SOLD (or scanned). The RIAA uses SoundScan figures to determine their certification awards, but there are other criteria involved as well.

Just a little info on their criteria to certify (From the RIAA site) - and I personally think the RIAA should use actual sales instead of shipments. It gives a true accounting of what's actually been sold.

The audit calculates what product has been shipped for sale, net after returns, versus product used for promotional purposes, for the life of the release. When certifying audio and music video releases, the independent auditor is careful to survey the entire music marketplace. An artist's Gold® or Platinum® award represents sales through retail, record clubs, rackjobbers, and all other ancillary markets that legitimately distribute music. Once a title’s sales has been audited and verified as having reached requisite levels, a formal certification report is issued and sent to the title's record company.

We are often asked why we don’t just use sales figures from SoundScan. SoundScan measures over-the-counter sales at music retail locations, while the RIAA®'s certification levels are based on unit shipments (minus returns) from manufacturers to a wide range of accounts, including non-retail record clubs, mail order houses, specialty stores, units shipped for Internet fulfillment or direct marketing sales, such as TV-advertised albums. The other difference is that SoundScan's archive is only a few years old, while the RIAA® has tracked artists' sales levels for more than 40 years.

The RIAA® certification program is open to member and non-member companies. RIAA® certification entitles the authorized record company to purchase official RIAA® award plaques bearing the trademarked RIAA® hologram seal from licensed plaque manufacturers.

All certification audits are conducted for a fee. If multiple sales levels are simultaneously certified, only one audit certification fee is charged. Companies requesting their initial certification audit must incur any travel expenses by the RIAA®'s independent auditor. The charge for certifications is $350 for RIAA® member companies. Non-members are charged $450 per certification, which must be pre-paid. Companies will be charged the full audit certification fee for any requests that do not meet the Gold® and Platinum® Program requirements. A 30-day time limit is set for pending certifications. If a full audit cannot be completed within this time, a charge of $100 will be rendered to member companies and $200 to non-member companies.

[BlackWidow]

Originally Posted by ELIUD

I'm surprised and disappointed that Enchantes sold less than Street Angel.

I was too baby...

[nightbird89]

2 bad that TISL didn't do better! It is SUCH a great album. Maybe if Stevie duz Decades Rock Live, it'll boost the sales of TISL.