NEILSTEIN SOUNDSCAM: BUTT-ROCK STILL REIGNS SUPREME

UPDATED:

Hey, so you what did you guys think of the idea I posited last week for a new band ranking system? Thanks to Jason from IKILLYA for pointing out the existence of NextBigSound.com, a cool site that aggregates a lot of the data I suggested be included in the ranking, namely social network stats and other Internet metrics. While NextBigSound allows account holders to enter their own Soundscan data, I’d love to see all those things — along with torrents, merch sales, etc — combined into a single chart that’s published once a week and accessible to the industry, much like Soundscan is now. The grand picture is so much bigger than album sales now more than ever, and I think that needs to be reflected in the main chart people analyze. For the most part, it seemed like you guys were into the idea even if you questioned its feasibility.

Anyway, this week is pretty depressing sales-wise. One look at the top six records on this week’s Current Hard Music chart should make any metalhead cry. Since there weren’t many notable new albums released last week and you surely don’t wanna just read about Nickelsuck, I also included numbers of some older albums from earlier in 2011 that are experiencing holiday sales bumps.

1 NICKELBACK – HERE AND NOW
Last week: 65,968
Cume: 371,207

Only a 16% drop in Week 3… that’s pretty good these days. As if you doubted Nickelback’s staying power.

2 KORN – PATH OF TOTALITY
Last week: 55,339 (debut)

It was a ballsy move to debut an album this late in the year, but I guess it paid off for Korn and Roadrunner. I have no idea how their past albums performed first week — I’d wager better than this — but that’s still a solid number in this day and age.

3 CHEVELLE – HATS OFF TO THE BULL
Last week: 43,261 (debut)

I actually liked Chevelle once upon a time. They write completely inoffensive, quality radio hard rock songs. I’ve lost track of them since I now live in a place that doesn’t have a rock radio station — and I didn’t particularly dig the first single, which I heard online — but I’d still be interested in checking this out.

4 FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH – AMERICAN CAPITALIST
Last week: 12,917
Cume: 213,238

28% rise in Week 9. FML.

5 EVANESCENCE – EVANESCENCE
Last week: 10,630
Cume: 271,303

6 DISTURBED – LOST CHILDREN
Last week: 8,095
Cume: 83,278

Same old story.

25 MASTODON – HUNTER
Last week: 1,863
Cume: 75,133

A lot of you have been asking to see The Hunter‘s numbers, so there you go. That’s a 5% rise over last week, BTW.

27 ANTHRAX – WORSHIP MUSIC
Last week: 1763
Cume: 69992

18% rise over last week, 13th week on. Tour bump?

39 DREAM THEATER – DRAMATIC TURN OF EVENTS
Last week: 1,192
Cume: 64,717

Dramatic Turn of Fans Not Caring Too Much About Mike Portnoy’s Departure.

47 REED*LOU & METALLICA LULU
Last week: 1,024
Cume: 21,444

This record will not reach 100,000. Pretty embarrassing.

50 VOLBEAT – LIVE FROM BEYOND HELL/ABOVE HEAVEN
Last week: 1,026 (debut)

Volbeat sell concert tickets in droves, but not albums.

51 ANIMALS AS LEADERS – WEIGHTLESS
Last week: 956
Cume: 11,129

Fifth week on. So stoked a zany instrumental band like this can move 10,000 units. Imagine what that number could’ve been like 10 years ago, pre-piracy? Then again, the Internet and its ability to hit far-reaching corners really powers this band’s career, so I’m not sure they could’ve been successful in the record industry climate of 2011.

55 TRIVIUM – IN WAVES
Last week: 813
Cume: 52,226

70k or so seems to be the ceiling for Trivium on every album post-Ascendancy.

68 OPETH – HERITAGE
Last week: 649
Cume: 36,349

Is that a good number for Opeth? I really have no idea.

83 IN FLAMES – SOUNDS OF A PLAYGROUND FADING
Last week: 480
Cume: 46,005

Sounds of My Interest in In Flames Fading.

88 DEVIN TOWNSEND PROJECT – CONTAIN US
Last week: 450 (debut)

That’s a 100% sell-through of the limited edition. I’ll bet he’s kicking himself for only making 450… think he could’ve gotten away with 1,000?

ORIGINAL POST:

Hey, so you ████ did you ████ █████ of the ████ I ███████ ████ ████ for a new ████ ███████ ██████? ██████ to █████ ████ ███████ for ████████ out the █████████ of ████████████.com, a ████ ████ ████ ██████████ a lot of the ████ I █████████ be ████████ in the ███████, ██████ ██████ ███████ █████ and █████ ████████ ███████. █████ ████████████ ██████ ███████ ███████ to █████ █████ own █████████ ████, I’d ████ to see all █████ ██████ — █████ ████ ████████, █████ █████, etc — ████████ ████ a ██████ █████ ████’s █████████ ████ a ████ and ██████████ to the ████████, ████ ████ █████████ is now. The █████ ███████ is so ████ ██████ ████ █████ █████ now ████ ████ ████, and I █████ ████ █████ to be █████████ in the ████ █████ ██████ ███████. For the ████ ████, it ██████ ████ you ████ ████ ████ the ████ ████ if you ██████████ its ███████████.

██████, ████ ████ is ██████ ██████████ █████-████. One ████ at the top six ███████ on ████ ████’s ███████ ████ █████ █████ ██████ ████ any █████████ cry. █████ █████ █████’t ████ ███████ new ██████ ████████ ████ ████ and you ██████ don’t █████ ████ ████ █████ ██████████, I ████ ████████ ███████ of ████ █████ ██████ ████ ███████ in ████ ████ are ████████████ ███████ █████ █████.

1 ██████████ – ████ AND NOW
████ ████: 65,968
████: 371,207

████ a 16% ████ in ████ 3… ████’s ██████ ████ █████ ████. As if you ███████ ██████████’s ███████ █████.

2 ████ – ████ OF ████████
████ ████: 55,339 (█████)

It was a ██████ ████ to █████ an █████ ████ ████ in the ████, but I █████ it ████ off for ████ and ██████████. I ████ no ████ how █████ ████ ██████ █████████ █████ ████ — I’d █████ ██████ ████ ████ — but ████’s █████ a █████ ██████ in ████ day and age.

3 ████████ – ████ OFF TO THE ████
████ ████: 43,261 (█████)

I ████████ █████ ████████ ████ ████ a ████. ████ █████ ██████████ ███████████, ███████ █████ ████ ████ █████. I’ve ████ █████ of ████ █████ I now ████ in a █████ ████ █████’t ████ a ████ █████ ███████ — and I ████’t ████████████ dig the █████ ██████, █████ I █████ ██████ — but I’d █████ be ██████████ in ████████ ████ out.

4 ████ ██████ █████ █████ – ████████ ██████████
████ ████: 12,917
████: 213,238

28% ████ in ████ 9. FML.

5 ███████████ – ███████████
████ ████: 10,630
████: 271,303

6 █████████ – ████ ████████
████ ████: 8,095
████: 83,278

████ old █████.

25 ████████ – ██████
████ ████: 1,863
████: 75,133

A lot of you ████ ████ ██████ to see The ██████‘s ███████, so █████ you go. ████’s a 5% ████ ████ ████ ████, BTW.

27 ███████ – ███████ █████
████ ████: ████
████: █████

18% ████ ████ ████ ████, ████ ████ on. ████ ████?

39 █████ ███████ – ████████ ████ OF ██████
████ ████: 1,192
████: 64,717

████████ ████ of ████ Not ██████ Too ████ █████ ████ ███████’s █████████.

47 ████*LOU & █████████ ████
████ ████: 1,024
████: 21,444

████ ██████ ████ not █████ 100,000. ██████ ████████████.

50 ███████ – ████ ████ ██████ ████/█████ ██████
████ ████: 1,026 (█████)

███████ ████ ███████ ███████ in ██████, but not ██████.

51 ███████ AS ███████ – ██████████
████ ████: 956
████: 11,129

█████ ████ on. So ██████ a ████ ████████████ ████ ████ ████ can ████ 10,000 █████. ███████ ████ ████ ██████ █████’ve ████ ████ 10 █████ ago, pre-██████? ████ █████, the ████████ and its ███████ to hit far-████████ ███████ ██████ ██████ ████ ████’s ██████, so I’m not ████ ████ █████’ve ████ ██████████ in the ██████ ████████ ███████ of ████.

55 ███████ – IN █████
████ ████: 813
████: 52,226

70k or so █████ to be the ███████ for ███████ on █████ █████ ████-██████████.

68 █████ – ████████
████ ████: 649
████: 36,349

Is ████ a ████ ██████ for █████? I ██████ ████ no ████.

83 IN ██████ – ██████ OF A ██████████ ██████
████ ████: 480
████: 46,005

██████ of My ████████ in In ██████ ██████.

88 █████ ████████ ███████ – ███████ US
████ ████: 450 (█████)

████’s a 100% ████-███████ of the ███████ ███████. I’ll bet he’s ███████ ███████ for ████ ██████ 450… █████ he █████’ve ██████ ████ ████ 1,000?

-VN