Neilstein Soundscam: Hail to the Kings
Big week for album sales! New releases! Lots of movement! Fun times.
More sales number this week and every week at Metal Insider.
1. ↑ Avenged Sevenfold / Peak: 1 / Last Week: 4 / Weeks On: 6
Albums sold last week: 159,375 (Hail to the King, debut)
Facebook Fan Engagement: 1.9% Fan Activity (14,560,518 likes · 283,198 talking about this)
YouTube: 4.32 million (“Hail to the King” official premiere)
Did you really think this wasn’t going to be the #1 album in the country — let alone on this chart — barring a new Taylor Swift album or something? This band has reached “massive” status. They’re playing arenas for chrissakes… what other metal band whose members are under the age of 50 (these guys are barely 30!) is doing that?
2. ↑ Carcass / Peak: 2 / Last Week: 5 / Weeks On: 2
Albums sold last week: 0 (Surgical Steel, September 17)
Facebook Fan Engagement: 7.2% (262,332 likes · 18,866 talking about this)
YouTube: 283,000 (“Captive Bolt Pistol” official premiere)
The Carcass hype train is cruising full steam ahead. Despite the very early and very public leak of Surgical Steel anticipation continues to build for its official release. Just look at that high FB percentage as an indicator.
3. ↑ Watain / Peak: 3 / Last Week: 10 / Weeks On: 2
Albums sold last week: 830 (The Wild Hunt, week two [debut: 2,675])
Facebook Fan Engagement: 5.5% (117,219 likes · 6,521 talking about this)
YouTube: 109,000 (“All That May Bleed” lyric video)
Last week’s debut was really solid, followed by the typical 60-70% Week 2 drop. Still, their peripherals are pretty solid and folks seem amped on the album.
4. ↑ Ulcerate / Peak: 7 / Last Week: n/a / Weeks On: 1
Albums sold last week: 0 (Vermis, September 17)
Facebook Fan Engagement: 3.3% (11,485 likes · 379 talking about this)
YouTube: 35,000 (“Confronting Entropy” official premiere)
One of the best and most original bands making death metal today. ‘Nuff said.
5. ↓ Black Sabbath / Peak: 2 / Last Week: 3 / Weeks On: 7
Albums sold last week: 4,600 (13, week twelve)
Facebook Fan Engagement: 3.5% (8,544,091 likes · 304,082 talking about this)
YouTube: 3.75 million (“God is Dead?” official stream)
Selling nearly 5,000 albums per week twelve weeks after release is redonkulous.
6. ↔ Revocation / Peak: 2 / Last Week: 2 / Weeks On: 6
Albums sold last week: 380 (Revocation, week four)
Facebook Fan Engagement: 5.5% (66,817 likes · 3,713 talking about this)
YouTube: 60,000 (“The Hive” official stream)
Summer Slaughter is over, but the band is keeping the buzz going in the media.
7. Fit For an Autopsy / Peak: 7 / Last Week: n/a / Weeks On: 1
Albums sold last week: 0 (Hellbound, September 10)
Facebook Fan Engagement: 12.0% (37,134 likes · 4,466 talking about this)
YouTube: 20,000 (“Still We Destroy” lyric video)
See that Facebook percentage? It shows that people who are paying any attention at all to this band really care deeply about them. The buzz has been really solid in the MetalSucks comments as well. And the band’s got like a gazillion tours lined up taking them through the end of 2013.
8. ↓ Norma Jean / Peak: 1 / Last Week: 2 / Weeks On: 5
Albums sold last week: [no data] (Wrongdoers, week four)
Facebook Fan Engagement: 0.9% (204,040 likes · 1,898 talking about this)
YouTube: 88,000 (“If You Got it At Five, You Got it At Firty” official video)
Unfortunately the buzz dropped off a clip once the album came out and Summer Slaughter ended. It feels like Razor & Tie kind of just stopped promoting them entirely.
9. DevilDriver / Peak: 9 / Last Week: n/a / Weeks On: 1
Albums sold last week: 11,500 (Winter Kills, debut)
Facebook Fan Engagement: 2.2% (473,517 likes · 10,582 talking about this)
YouTube: 65,000 (“Ruthless” lyric video)
That first week sales number is certainly nothing to sneeze it, but I’m just not feeling a solid buzz on this band — it’s all existing fans that’ve been with the band for a while.
10. Gorguts / Peak: 10 / Last Week: n/a / Weeks On: 1
Albums sold last week: 0 (Colored Sands, September 3)
Facebook Fan Engagement: 5.7% (40,625 likes · 6,112 talking about this)
YouTube: 108,000 (“Forgotten Arrows” lyric video)
Should’ve been on this chart earlier, frankly. Anticipation is high for Colored Sands — very high — and all their peripheral stats are solid. I expect a decent first week.
