NEILSTEIN SOUNDSCAM: GOLD, GOLD COBRA, Y’ALL
Let’s give Axl Rosenberg a hearty golf clap for capably handling Neilstein Soundscam while I was away, shall we? But the party is over, so it’s back to the grind of boring albums selling soon-to-be insignificant pieces of plastic (and soon-to-be insignificant digital files once Spotify launches).
You should all be elated to learn that Limp Bizkit claimed the #1 spot on the Hard Music charts last week (#15 overall), so let’s all take a great big sigh of relief in knowing that good music reigns supreme.
I keed. Queensryche had a solid debut, while In Flames, Symphony X and The Black Dahlia Murder had decent second weeks despite large percentage drops. Check out the numbers for those and several others after the jump.
1 LIMP BIZKIT – GOLD COBRA
Last week: 27,432 (debut)
By contrast, 2005’s The Unquestionable Truth (Part 1) sold around 37,000 units first week and that album received no support from the record label whatsoever. Still, 27,000 is a large number. I would like to meet someone who actually bought this record and hang out with them for 5 minutes; what is a Limp Bizkit fan in 2011 actually like?
2 TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON – TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON
Last week: 12,181
Cume: 24,940
This album has that new song by Mastodon on it, but it’s buried as the soundtrack’s very last track; more prominently featured are Linkin Park, Black Veil Brides, Theory of a Deadman, Staind, My Chemical Romance… you can see where this is going.
3 FOO FIGHTERS – WASTING LIGHT
Last week: 8,850
Cume: 497,343
Still can’t believe how well this album is selling. So awesome.
4 QUEENSRYCHE – DEDICATED TO CHAOS
Last week: 8,209 (debut)
I’m as big a Queensryche fan as just about anyone you’ll meet, so trust me when I say that this album is a steaming pile of shit. This band lost the ability to keep their heads out of their own asses when DeGarmo left the band. True, utter crap.
6 AUGUST BURNS RED – LEVELER
Last week: 7,971
Cume: 36,292
11 BLACK VEIL BRIDES – SET THE WORLD ON FIRE
Last week: 5,029
Cume: 36,055
Will someone who works at this band’s label / management / PR / agency etc please tell me HONESTLY: do you think this band is good or do you just see an opportunity to make money? I promise I will not publish your opinion (unless you want me to).
14 IN FLAMES – SOUNDS OF A PLAYGROUND FADING
Last week: 4,453
Cume: 18,557
68% drop from its first week. Between 60% and 70% seems to be the magic number for first to second week drops these days.
19 BLACK DAHLIA MURDER – RITUAL
Last week: 3,664
Cume: 16,917
72% drop. Still, with the numbers this album and Amon Amarth’s Surtur Rising have put up it’s been a good year for Metal Blade so far.
29 SYMPHONY X – ICONOCLAST
Last week: 2,581
Cume: 9,984
65% drop… but I had no idea this band was popular enough to move 2,581 units in any week. I never paid Symphony X much attention but I’ll need to check out this album.
32 BURN HALO – UP FROM THE ASHES
Last week: 2,317 (debut)
Long live Jame Shart! But srsly, I’m glad this album finally came out… he’s been working on it for like four years.
-VN
