Weekly Register: Warming Temps Heat Sales

Music City marketers got a few rays of sales sunshine this week as warming temps starting making their way into Tennessee. For example, country’s Y/Y comparison  improved by .5 percent while track sales remained ahead by 6 percent. And even all-genre data felt some spring-like fancy as it improved Y/Y from -7.8 percent to -7.2 percent.
Luke Bryan’s party album earned a second week atop the Current Country 75, but units dropped 59 percent from last week to 61k. In two weeks the Georgia lad has amassed a RTD of over 210k units setting him firmly on the road to Gold… and beyond.
Every title in the Top 30 positions sold over two thousand units this week. Let’s check in on some of the 2013 debuts. Tim McGraw’s Two Lanes of Freedom is perched at No. 5 with a RTD of over 226k after six weeks; Gary Allan lands at No. 11 after eight weeks with RTD of about 237k; Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell’s three-week old pairing is at lucky No. 13 with 31k RTD; and Ashley Monroe’s second week lands her at No. 18 with RTD of 15k.
Rounding out the 2013 debuts in the Top 30 are Shooter Jennings, new this week at No. 19 with 4k units; Mavericks (No. 20; wk 3; RTD23k), Randy Houser (No. 22; wk 8; RTD 67k); and Katie Armiger (No. 28; wk 9; RTD28k).
So while country took the week off in terms of mainstream debuts, Bon Jovi (No. 1; 96k/35 percent digital) and David Bowie (No. 2; 85k/48 percent digital) entered the Top 200 album chart with new product pushing Mr. Bryan’s Spring Break to No. 3.
One of the more interesting new charts which helps us measure the marketplace is YTD Albums with TEA. As Weekly Register readers know, TEA means Track Equivalent Albums where 10 digital downloaded tracks is equated to one album.
Country artists enjoying premium Top 30 positions on this all-genre YTD list include Taylor Swift Red (No. 3; 728k), Florida Georgia Line Here’s To The Good Times (No. 17; 347k), Tim McGraw Two Lanes of Freedom (No. 21; 307k), Gary Allan Set You Free (No. 22; 294k) and Hunter Hayes Hunter Hayes (No. 24; 282k). Among these five artists we note that the top three are part of the Big Machine label Group, two are baby acts that are quickly growing up, there’s one superstar and one heritage act. Also high on the chart are Dualtone Records’ roots band The Lumineers Lumineers (No. 5; 600k).
The Music Row release season, like the spring weather forecast, is set to heat up. Click HERE for a full list, but expect new sets from talked about newcomer Kacey Musgraves and Maggie Rose, plus music from Blake Shelton, Alan Jackson, The Band Perry, Brad Paisley and Eric Church. All aboard..