NEILSTEIN SOUNDSCAM: OPETH CELEBRATE THEIR HERITAGE
The “Top Hard Music” Chart I’ve been using for this column for the past couple of years is a mixed bag; on one hand, a lot of the “Top Hard Music” albums are really old albums that continue to sell (Metallica’s Black Album, various greatest hits collections, catalogue albums of whatever big band happens to be on tour at the time, etc) which paints a skewed picture of what I’m really interested in, namely the new stuff. On the other hand, it’s interesting to see how those older albums continue to sell.
I was recently alerted to the existence of a different chart, “Current Hard Music;” I’m not sure what the criteria is for what constitutes “Current” as some albums on this chart have been on for 90+ weeks and some artists are certainly not “current” by any means, but it does seem to paint a much better picture of the sales of newer albums. Without perrenial classics and greatest hits comps hogging up precious chart space, fewer units need to be sold for a band to get into the Top 100 on the “Current” chart. I am contemplating a move to focusing on that chart in the future. For now, I’ll stick with Top Hard Music with some added albums from the bottom of the other chart. What do you guys think?
Anyway, this week we’ve got big debuts from Pearl Jam and Opeth, big second week drops from a number of artists (Anthrax, Dream Theater and more) that still have pretty big sales numbers, and a look at some albums that came out earlier this year (Black Dahlia Murder, All Shall Perish, more).
1 PEARL JAM – PEARL JAM TWENTY
Last week: 26,669 (debut)
Soundtrack to the new Pearl Jam documentary. Gotta admit, I’d love to see the film.
2 OPETH – HERITAGE
Last week: 19,339 (debut)
Nice! But are Opeth happy? What about Roadrunner? I can’t imagine that selling under 20k first week keeps the lights on at RR.
3 STAIND – STAIND
Last week: 15,002
Cume: 62,492
The dreaded 60-70% Week 2 drop.
4 ANTHRAX – WORSHIP MUSIC
Last week: 10,077
Cume: 39,603
Also a vicitim of the dreaded 60-70% Week 2 drop. But with nearly 40k sold to date, I can’t imagine anyone in Anthrax or at Megaforce is very upset about it!
5 DREAM THEATER – DRAMATIC TURN OF EVENTS
Last week: 8,031
Cume: 44,012
78% Week 2 drop. Ouch. Still, 44k really ain’t bad at all…
6 DEVIL WEARS PRADA – DEAD THRONE
Last week: 6828
Cume: 39240
79% drop. Yikers.
9 COOPER*ALICE – WELCOME 2 MY NIGHTMARE
Last week: 5474
Cume: 24122
70% Week 2 drop. I’m honestly kinda surprised so many people still care about Alice Cooper.
11 WE CAME AS ROMANS – UNDERSTANDING WHAT WE’VE GROWN
Last week: 4,324
Cume: 23,479
77% Week 2 drop.
62 BETRAYING THE MARTYRS – BREATHE IN LIFE
Last week: 1145 (debut)
I just checked out this band for the first time. They sound just like what you’d expect a Verbing the Noun band to sound like, although they’re definitely not horrible.
Current Hard Music
45 WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM – CELESTIAL LINEAGE
Last week: 789
Cume: 2300
I am shocked but happy that this relatively obscure band (to the generic metal public) has sold so many records. Great for them! I wonder how many copies were vinyl?
55 ARCH/MATHEOS – SYMPATHETIC RESONANCE
Last week: 663
Cume: 2570
I’m curious, who is buying Arch/Matheos records? Not meaning to be a troll, I’m legitimately wondering. Are these Fate’s Warning fans or just general fans of prog metal discovering these guys for the first time?
68 EVE TO ADAM – BANQUET FOR A STARVING DOG
Last week: 523
Cume: 727
Holy shit, these guys are still around! I saw them the very first time I ever went to CBGB’s, some matinee show in the late ’90s. Holy crap, I feel old.
85 VADER – WELCOME TO THE MORBID REICH
Last week: 423
Cume: 1,972
I would expect Vader to sell more records than this.
90 ALL SHALL PERISH – THIS IS WHERE IT ENDS
Last week: 383
Cume: 18,862
One of the year’s biggest releases for Nuclear Blast?
94 BLACK DAHLIA MURDER – RITUAL
Last week: 368
Cume: 29,276
See All Shall Perish above, but for Metal Blade. With this, BTBAM and Amon Amarth, it seems like MB is having a good year.
96 SYMPHONY X – ICONOCLAST
Last week: 365
Cume: 18,698
I had no idea this band was so popular!
99 IWRESTLEDABEARONCE – RUINING IT FOR EVERYBODY
Last week: 345
Cume: 12,708
I wonder if Century expected bigger from this band. I also wonder if Century has any merch rights with them, because these dudes RAKE IT IN with merch.
-VN
