• ABOUT
    • Contact
    • The Team
    • FAQ
    • Use & Privacy Policy
  • ADVERTISE
  • ROWFAX
  • JOB LISTINGS
MusicRow.com
  • CALENDARS
    • Album/EP Releases
    • Single/Track Releases
    • Industry Events
  • OBITS
  • CHARTS
    • Radio Chart (Current)
    • Radio Chart (Archives)
    • No. 1 Challenge Coin
    • Songwriter Chart (Current)
    • Songwriter Chart (Archives)
  • REVIEWS
  • MY STORY
  • NEWSLETTER
    • Newsletter (Current)
    • Newsletter (Archives)
    • SIGN UP (FREE!)
  • SUBSCRIBE
  • STORE
  • Click to open the search input field Click to open the search input field Search
  • Menu Menu

Weak Release Slate Puts Coal In Country Sales Stockings

December 14, 2011/by bossross

Like turning lemons to lemonade, it’s coal dust soufflé when you receive lumps of the black rocks in your holiday stocking. And that’s exactly what country sales departments will be forced to munch as consumers shop their way through the final three weeks of 2011.

What’s the problem you ask? Well, if Nashville had thought to release something with the appeal of Michael Buble’s Christmas album we would have had registers ringing about 480,000 times this week, owned the No. 1 album on the Top 200 all-genre chart, plus had a disc that had sold over 1.5 million units in 7 weeks. Nashville—but not country music—does have some ownership in the Black Keys who have the No. 2 disc this week with the band’s El Camino debut selling over 206,000 units. But, I’m sorry to say, country music couldn’t even muster a top ten showing this week on the all genre Top 200 album chart. Country’s best selling bin bopper was Scotty McCreery who clocks in at lucky No. 13 for the all genre crowd with sales of almost 52,000. McCreery and other performers likely got some boost from last week’s ACA Awards show, but because of the holiday time period it is hard to measure.

A brief look at our graph shows the disappointing trend. At the end of Q3 country YTD sales were ahead of last year by 9% and stretched up to 9.8% a few weeks later before starting a steady and consistent downward slide. Country album sales (physical and digital) this week totaled 1.248 million units bringing our YTD sales unit total to 38.206 million. Doing the math against last year’s total album sales—43.72—shows that breaking even with last year will require sales of 1.838 million units each week. That’s a lot of units without some truly magic shiny disc to draw people away from other format debuts, which are plentiful. Just this past week we saw Top 20 debuts from Black Keys, Amy Winehouse, the Glee Cast, Korn, The Roots and Chevelle. From Nashville—nothing.

Tracks
As we follow the tracks trail we see a bit more vibrancy. Toby Keith’s “Red Solo Cup” was downloaded 96,000 times which would equal almost 10,000 TEA albums increasing his album sales this week by over 30%. I guess having the song performed on Glee last week didn’t hurt. YTD country track sales have passed the 135 million range which in TEA (track equivalent album) language means an additional 13.5 million albums worth of sales. However, as one of this column’s mentors and behind-the-scenes contributors would note, the 13.5 million TEA must be compared to last year’s TEA sales so we are ,”talking apples to apples.” Duly noted, and if anyone out there has last year’s TEA number broken out for country it would be greatly appreciated. Unfortunately, Nielsen SoundScan, our keepers of the data, did not break country tracks out on a separate chart last year and so that number remains a mystery.

Apples to apples. OK. But even so, 13.5 million albums worth of track sales is a large line item on the country music balance sheet and cannot be ignored. (135 million X $1.29=$174.2 million). Isn’t it time that TEAs became a larger part of the lingo? Focusing on tracks greatly changes the economics of the business. It’s like selling singles beers instead of 12 packs, but the world is a changing folks. And each of us has a choice when it comes to running our business. Stand in front of the train, or climb on board.

What are you going to do?

  • Author
  • Recent Posts
bossross
bossross
bossross
Latest posts by bossross (see all)
  • Exclusive: Meghan Trainor Entices Nashville On Untouchable Tour - August 8, 2016
  • Weekly Register: SoundScan Discounts Jay Z Promotion; 'The Voice' Reigns - June 26, 2013
  • Weekly Register: An Unstoppable Freight Train - June 19, 2013
Share this entry
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on X
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Share by Mail
https://musicrow.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/MusicRow-header-logo-Mar19B.png 0 0 bossross https://musicrow.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/MusicRow-header-logo-Mar19B.png bossross2011-12-14 09:57:422011-12-14 09:57:42Weak Release Slate Puts Coal In Country Sales Stockings
You might also like
LifeNotes: Songwriter/Producer Norro Wilson Passes
Bobby Karl Works The Room: Ashley Gorley, Warner/Chappell Reign Again At ASCAP Country Awards
Luke Bryan Declares Spring Break in Louisville
ACM Unleashes Niche Expanding Tour De Force
Bobby Karl Works Trisha Yearwood’s Hall of Fame Exhibit Preview
McBride Helps Raise $35,000 for Musicians On Call

RECENT NEWS

  • Recording Academy Nashville Chapter’s Annual Block Party Set For May 20 May 16, 2025
  • Musicians Hall Of Fame Renews Lease At Nashville Municipal Auditorium May 16, 2025
  • MusicRow Weekly (2025 InCharge Issue, News, Charts, More…) May 16, 2025
  • MCA Announces Lineup For 2025 ‘Sounds Like Nashville Live’ At Skydeck On Broadway May 16, 2025
  • Tyler Braden Brings The Live Experience Into The Studio On Debut Album [Interview] May 16, 2025
  • Old Dominion’s ‘How Good Is That – World Tour’ Adds Arena Dates May 16, 2025
  • Jessica Willis Fisher Releases Sophomore Album ‘Blooming’ May 16, 2025
  • Sugar Hill’s Barry Poss Passes May 16, 2025
  • Jordyn Shellhart Inks With Kobalt May 16, 2025
  • Old Crow Medicine Show’s Ketch Secor To Release Solo Project In July May 16, 2025

Like Us on Facebook

Follow Us on Twitter

Tweets by MusicRow
© 2025 Music Row Enterprises, LLC – All rights reserved.
Website hosted by Nashville web design company, All My Web Needs.
  • Link to Facebook
  • Link to X
  • Link to Instagram
Scroll to top