Neilstein Soundscam: Ghost are On Fire
It should be noted that the following bands had huge sales debuts last week but do not appear in the Soundscam Top 10 (figures come from Metal Insider):
Volbeat – Outlaw Gentlemen & Shady Ladies – 39,150 sold
Stone Sour – House of Gold & Bones Part 2 – 35,275 sold
Device – Device – 35,000 sold
Take that for what it’s worth.
Onto more pressing matters:
1. ↔ Killswitch Engage / Peak: 1 / Last Week: 1 / Weeks On: 4
Albums sold: 12,450 (Disarm the Descent, week two)
Facebook: 2.0% Fan Activity (2,049,336 likes · 41,624 talking about this)
YouTube: 712,000 (“In Due Time” official video)
Cumulative sales total is now over 60k, which is fantastic. “In Due Time” video gains around 80,000k views. But the band’s Facebook interaction is still startling low.
2. ↔ Ghost / Peak: 2 / Last Week: 2 / Weeks On: 6
Albums sold: 0 (Infestissumam, April 16)
Facebook: 11.2% Fan Activity (107,231 likes · 12,016 talking about this)
YouTube: 660,000 (“Secular Haze” official video); 78,000 (“Year Zero,” official video [censored version])
The Facebook activity level finally reflects the buzz on this band after weeks of languishing. I expect a big first week when the numbers for Infestissumam are published next week… how big, I’m not sure.
3. ↔ Sevendust / Peak: 3 / Last Week: 3 / Weeks On: 4
Albums sold: 4,050 (Black Out the Sun, week three)
Facebook: 1.6% Fan Activity (536,876 likes · 8,623 talking about this)
YouTube: 100,000 (“Decay” official video)
Sales are around 60k cumulative in week three; not bad, not bad at all. Facebook activity is extremely low, though.
4. ↑ The Ocean / Peak: 4 / Last Week: 5 / Weeks On: 4
Albums sold: 0 (Pelagial, out April 30)
Facebook: 11% Fan Activity (27,111 likes · 3,124 talking about this)
YouTube: 33,000 (“Bathyalpelagic II” official premiere)
Band continues to build steam with yet another new track premiere this past week. 11% Fan Activity rate on FB is phenomenal, although the total number of likes is low.
5. ↓ Clutch / Peak: 1 / Last Week: 4 / Weeks On: 7
Albums sold: 2,750 (Earth Rocker, fourth week)
Facebook: 3.1% Fan Activity (198,088 likes · 6,181 talking about this)
YouTube: 121,000 (“Earth Rocker” lyric video)
Social activity fell again from 4.5% (after falling from 7.8% the week prior) and the video only gained a few thousand new views. But sales are still strong.
6. ↑ Shining / Peak: 6 / Last Week: 8 / Weeks On: 3
Albums sold: 0 (One One One, out April 23)
Facebook: 11.8% Fan Activity (12,749 likes · 1,508 talking about this)
YouTube: 26,000 (“I Won’t Forget” official video)
The band’s existing fans are amped (very high FB Activity %), but the band still sorely lacks in this department overall. Still, buzz is good, and the album has yet to “be released” in the U.S.
7. ↑ Kylesa / Peak: 7 / Last Week: 7 / Weeks On: 2
Albums sold: 0 (Ultraviolet, May 28)
Facebook: 2.8% Fan Activity (44,066 likes · 1,246 talking about this)
YouTube: 18,000 (“Unspoken” official premiere)
Facebook activity percentage is stubbornly low, but this band is gonna stick around here for a while… album’s still not out for over a month and much hype is still to come.
8. Alice in Chains / Peak: 8 / Last Week: n/a / Weeks On: 1
Albums sold: 0 (The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here, May 28)
Facebook: 2.0% Fan Activity (3,326,780 likes · 67,977 talking about this)
YouTube: 60,000 (“Stone” official video). 72,000 (“Stone” lyric video)
The freight train towards the album release is starting to roll forward. People are excited.
9. The Black Dahlia Murder / Peak: 9 / Last Week: n/a / Weeks On: 1
Albums sold: 0 (Everblack, June 11)
Facebook: 3.9% Fan Activity (956,821 likes · 38,282 talking about this)
Soundcloud: 33,000 (“Everblack” track premiere)
Trevor Strnad caused quite a stir with his comments about music piracy, didn’t he? But before that happened the band released a brand new track, the first from their forthcoming new album, and it’s got 33,000 listens already.
10. ↓ Anciients / Peak: 9 / Last Week: 9 / Weeks On: 2
Albums sold: no data (Heart of Oak, out now)
Facebook: 18.5% Fan Activity (3,243 likes · 600 talking about this)
YouTube: nothing
18.5.% is by far the highest Fan Activity % I’ve ever posted to this chart. Yeah, the sample size is small, but that surely means something. With an opening slot for Death To All Anciients are bound to see their visibility increase. Stream Heart of Oak here.
