M. Shadows Wishes You Wouldn’t Mention Avenged Sevenfold’s Dip in Sales Figure
M. Shadows is upset that every website in metal noticed that Avenged Sevenfold’s new album, The Stage, sold significantly fewer copies than the band’s three previous releases. Never mind that those same websites pointed out that the band’s sales figure was still enviable, especially given that the band released the album as a surprise, with virtually no prior promotion.
“To be fair, The Stage still did really, really well, selling approximately 72,000 copies in its first week of release. And it’s entirely possible that the lower sales are due, at least in part, to the fact that the band released the album as a surprise, with prior announcements suggesting the record wouldn’t be out ’til December.”
“While this is better than almost any band can hope for, the showing was inconsistent with Avenged Sevenfold’s previous two albums, which both debuted at No. 1 on the aforementioned chart and sold around 160,000 copies each.”
“The number is an impressive feat for any band no doubt, but when given that their last album, 2013’s Hail To The King, sold 159,000 copies in its first week and 2010’s Nightmare sold 163,000 copies during its debut bow, with both opening at no. 1 on the Billboard 200, it might sting a bit.”
“The band’s seventh album sold about 72,000 copies, which is a pretty impressive first week for 2016, debuting at #4. However, comparatively speaking, it’s the band’s worst week they’ve had since 2005’s City of Evil, which sold about 30,000 it’s first week.”
“While it was brave and daring of Avenged Sevenfold to try to do a surprise release, this is proof that such promo tactics that could get across big in the pop world, don’t exactly translate into the metal world.”
So, I guess none of us media types were supposed to be able to basic arithmetic or, if we were able to do basic arithmetic, we were not supposed to point out its conclusion. Sorry, M. No one ever told me math wasn’t allowed in metal.
You can read Shadows’ entire statement below. He concludes by proposing a pool in which people guess “the title of the click bait” websites use to report his comments. I sincerely hope I helped him win.
[via Metal Injection]
