BigChampagne's Ultimate Chart (a/o February 10th):
1. “What Doesn't Kill You (Stronger),” Kelly Clarkson
2. “Set Fire to the Rain,” Adele
3. “Turn Me On,” David Guetta
4. “Rack City,” TYGA
5. “Good Feeling,” Flo Rida
6. “Smooth Criminal (Glee Cast Version),” Glee Cast
7. “Young, Wild & Free,” Snoop Dogg & Wiz Khalifa
8. “Domino ,” Jessie J
9. “Sexy and I Know It,” LMFAO
10. “Ass Back Home ,” Gym Class Heroes
Chinese Democracy, the long-awaited comeback album from Guns N' Roses, scanned 261,000 copies during its debut week. The tally, published by Nielsen Soundscan, largely confirms earlier whisper estimates of 250,000.
The total falls behind US chart-topper Kanye West, whose 808s & Heartbreak pushed past 450,000; and second-place finisher Taylor Swift, whose Fearless pulled 267,400. Others in the top ten included Beyonce, Ludacris, Nickelback, and the Killers.
Instead of stirring a pent-up spending spree, Chinese Democracy attracted a drizzly reception. On Tuesday, Digital Music News examined a broad number of variables related to the release, including terrestrial radio play, file-sharing requests, MySpace plays, iTunes figures, aspects of the Best Buy exclusive, and intangibles related to demographic appeal.
That stirred considerable feedback, and continued comparisons to the highly-successful Black Ice by AC/DC. The AC/DC album was afforded lavish floorspace at Wal-Mart, and scored an impressive 784,000 during its first week. Best Buy offered less of a blast, though the story goes far beyond brick-and-mortar exclusives and into the work ethics of the groups involved.
Axl Rose refused interviews, sat on approvals, and declined to tour. In stark contrast, AC/DC triggered a major tour just as Black Ice was hitting the market. "You can't discount the old-fashioned way of touring to support the album release as another contributor to the AC/DC success," Bruce Taylor, vice president of Digital Distribution at SPIN Magazine wrote Digital Music News.
And, what about the most important aspect of all, the music itself? The topic is highly subjective, and fans of either band could argue the merits relentlessly. Still, in terms of an attention-grabbing song, AC/DC edged out Guns. According to Mediabase, AC/DC's "Rock n Roll Train" grabbed 564 spins across Rock Mainstream stations in the United States last week, higher than a spin tally of 409 for "Chinese Democracy." The radio figures were pulled from BCDash, a portfolio of online and offline metrics supplied by exclusive data partner BigChampagne.
What else? In an era of complete, pre-purchase previewing, the Guns N' Roses may have faltered. MySpace garnered millions of on-demand, pre-release streams for Democracy, though the sneak peek might have played against the band. "If you've listened to the album - as I and millions of others did on MySpace - you'll know there's nothing memorable," wrote Seth Keller of LA-based SKM Artist Management. "No great hooks or melodies."
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