Neilstein Soundscam: Surgical Sales

It was a big week of debuts and upward chart movement! New records by Carcass, Gwar, Ulcerate and Cult of Luna dropped last week, resulting in a significant rise of their stars in Neilstein Soundscam Land. Metal Insider also has debut sales numbers for Tyr, Satyricon, Stray From the Path, American Sharks, Windhan, Haken and more.

As an aside, check out the Facebook Fan Engagement of the Housecore Horror Film Fest — 100%! If they were a band they’d be #1.

1. ↑ Carcass / Peak: 1 / Last Week: 2 / Weeks On: 5

Albums sold last week: 8,500 (Surgical Steel, debut)
Facebook Fan Engagement: 5.0% (284,656 likes · 14,352 talking about this)
YouTube: 354,000 (“Captive Bolt Pistol” official premiere)

Absolutely killing it. Solid debut number, great FB fan engagement percentage, and a hot but brief U.S. tour to coincide.

2. ↔ Avenged Sevenfold / Peak: 1 / Last Week: 2 / Weeks On: 9

Albums sold last week: 17,800 (Hail to the King, week four)
Facebook Fan Engagement: 1.4% Fan Activity (14,842,093 likes · 209,279 talking about this)
YouTube: 4.82 million (“Hail to the King” official premiere)

Continuing to move those units.

3. ↑ Gwar / Peak: 3 / Last Week: 7 / Weeks On: 3

Albums sold last week: 3,525 (Battle Maximus, debut)
Facebook Fan Engagement: 8.6% (250,220 likes · 21,548 talking about this)
YouTube: 47,700 (“Madness at the Core of Time” official stream)

It’s pretty remarkable that this band has managed to stay so visible and relevant over all these years. Kudos!

4. ↑ Ulcerate / Peak: 4 / Last Week: 6 / Weeks On: 4

Albums sold last week: 660 712 (Vermis, debut) [Updated number per Relapse Records reflects CD, digital and direct sales]
Facebook Fan Engagement: 25.3% (17,770 likes · 4,510 talking about this)
YouTube: 45,000 (“Confronting Entropy” official premiere)

That Facebook number says it all: the band’s fans care. Stream the entire new album here.

5. ↑ Cult of Luna / Peak: 5 / Last Week: 8 / Weeks On: 3

Albums sold last week: 360 (Vertikal II, debut)
Facebook Fan Engagement: 4.4% (54,175 likes · 2,392 talking about this)
YouTube: 48,200 (“Vicarious Redemption” official video)

Don’t read too much into that sales number; it’s an EP for the die-hard fans only. Meanwhile CoL are KILLING it nightly out on the road right now with Katatonia. A good portion of the room cleared out the other night in NYC when they finished and before Katatonia took the stage.

6. ↓ Nine Inch Nails / Peak: 1 / Last Week: 1 / Weeks On: 3

Albums sold last week: 12,075 (Hesitation Marks, week three)
Facebook Fan Engagement: 0.5% Fan Activity (3,049,263 likes · 17,099 talking about this)
YouTube: 2.74 million (“Came Back Haunted” official video

I think the Facebook engagement number says that the band’s fans have kind of tuned out now that the album has been released. Were they ever that engaged in the first place or are casual listeners the ones picking up units? Not sure.

7. ↑ Dream Theater / Peak: 7 / Last Week: 10 / Weeks On: 2

Albums sold last week: 0 (Dream Theater, September 24)
Facebook Fan Engagement: 1.9% (3,284,926 likes · 61,208 talking about this)
YouTube: 659,000 (“The Enemy Inside” lyric video)

Stream the record in full here.

8. ↑ Protest the Hero / Peak: 8 / Last Week: 9 / Weeks On: 2

Albums sold last week: 0 (Volition, October 29)
Facebook Fan Engagement: 2.4% (282,842 likes · 6,960 talking about this)
YouTube: 9,000 (“Clarity” lyric video, U.S. version)

That YouTube number got gutted because the previous version is now not available for streaming in the U.S. But the buzz is still great.

9. ♦ Red Fang / Peak: 9 / Last Week: n/a / Weeks On: 1

Albums sold last week: 0 (Whales and Leeches, October 15)
Facebook Fan Engagement: 7.6% (113,611 likes · 8,580 talking about this)
YouTube: 24,000 (“Blood Like Cream” official track)

The Fang seem to have the best buzz of their career right now; everyone’s loving ’em from all corners of the metalsphere.

10. ↓ Fit For an Autopsy / Peak: 4 / Last Week: 4 / Weeks On: 4

Albums sold last week: 430 (Hellbound, week two)
Facebook Fan Engagement: 17.2% (53,295 likes · 9,162 talking about this)
YouTube: 41,000 (“Still We Destroy” lyric video)

It’s been a good run for this band — they’ll surely be back. Really strong first effort.