To go along with Johan de Witt's post on UK sales, I thought you might want to post Morrissey's US sales.
Current Soundscan numbers from albums released in the Soundscan era (Dec. 2006):
ROTT - 94,419
YATQ - 223,829 copies (22,195 from the Deluxe Edition)
Maladjusted - 88,149
Southpaw Grammar - 66,528
Vauxhall & I - 291,055
Your Arsenal - 363,856
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Maladjusted---- (Score:0)
Thanks. (Score:1)
Really appalling sales for ROTT in the US, only just above Maladjusted.
By contrast, YATQ actually did really well in the US.
(User #1478 Info)
no US tour yet for ROTT (Score:1)
(User #14012 Info)
Alain! (Score:0)
Well, for the love of all that is holy, Moz:
BRING BACK ALAIN!!!
Tour (Score:1, Interesting)
I thought he sold more (Score:0)
not a big surprise... (Score:2, Insightful)
still, it does say something positive if it's sold more than Southpaw and Maladjusted.
(User #36 Info)
The US in U.S. (Score:1)
Let's presume at least half of those would have owned the album before seeing the show. Let's presume they were Morrissey fans and got it on the week of release. Such is the case elsewhere.
Now, let's also assume that a fan will buy a new album. I know you can illegally download and stuff... but let's say every Morrissey fan in the US bought one. That's 90,000 on the above stat. Why should he tour if he has no fanbase?
It's shocking that less than 100,000 people in the US bought ROTT, no matter what you might think of it.
Whilst I know he has a passionate fanbase stateside, surely it's the most diluted in terms of population. He probably sold more per-head in Bulgaria.
What's going on America?
(User #9752 Info | http://www.stanleymchale.merseyblogs.co.uk/)
No more apologies...... (Score:0)
Regardless... his comments about the US? The fact that it was a progressive LP? RA RA RA I AM A GULL
it's all W's fault (Score:0)
gold records (Score:0)
No Surprise (Score:1)
So...he lost over half of his American fans, but Julia's still wasting the best years of her life following him around the globe to hear the same sub-par songs every night. "Ohhh, Steven, you changed a word in 'See The Boy Happy' for us tonight, how cooool!!!"
A lot of those sales were people who bought more than one copy, as it came out in multiple editions.
No, it's not enough to hook up with that gold digging whore of an ex-wife to Paul McCartney and call Canada a Nazi state. Anything else up your sleeve? How about a new band, for starters.....
(User #778 Info)
Here's what Morrissey should do (Score:0)
broken
To sell albums, all Moz needs is 2 brilliant (Score:0)
Quarry had one, ROTT had none.
Tours virtually make no difference. He's toured loads in the UK this year and ROTT sold 35% the amount of Quarry. He hasn't toured at all in the US this year and ROTT sold 35% the amount of Quarry.
Go figure!
Maurice
PS Suggestion about selling current album at concerts at a wholesale price is very good. Like many other artists who've been around a while, many of the audience at a Morrissey concert will not have bothered to buy his latest album.
Smiths sales. (Score:1)
I was wondering how well ROTT had sold in the US.
But where are Viva Hate, Bona Drag or Kill Uncle? They must have sold something beyond 1992 too.
For those interested I also got the Smiths-sales in the US in the Soundscan era i.e. post 1992:
Smiths - 118,331
Meat Is Murder - 227,831
Queen Is Dead - 264,616
Strangeways Here We Come - 210,996
Louder Than Bombs - 378,018
Singles - 340,196
Best Vol 1 - 411,041
Best Vol 2 - 201,974
2-5 on this list must certainly have gone gold, as well as Viva Hate and Bona Drag.
(User #4231 Info)
how much per unit (Score:0)
quarry still rules (Score:0)
only the 1 of rott,and i'm not sorry
(User #13161 Info)
Here's a thought (Score:2, Insightful)
Your Arsenal -- featured his new rockabilly sound, it revived his career, and he did numerous talk-show appearances to promote it. "Tomorrow" and "Certain People I Know" both received significant US airplay.
Vauxhall & I -- probably his best album, and had his biggest US hit in "The More You Ignore Me."
YATQ -- Had huge advance buzz, Morrissey practically lived on US talk shows, and had two big hits in "Irish Blood" and "First of the Gang."
So, when Morrissey gives anyone but his hardcore fans a reason to care about him, the sales go up. It has to do with quality and marketing on Morrissey's part, and a little luck.
(User #13585 Info)
Sad line up (Score:0)
In the past, Morrissey managed to generalize his songs in such a manner that even if they were autobiographical, they were easily manipulated by the listener.
I can't count the number of times that Morrissey has written songs in the first person post Smiths. You feel as if he has completely forgotten about his audience, which of course, is always the downfall of any artist.
That, coupled with his inability to progress musically on any kind of large scale is why we see such up and down numbers. He apparently requests what he is being given musically.
The hype of a long layoff is what re-energized his status during the YATQ tour, nothing else.
All in all, it's quite bizarre reading over these comments, and realizing that there really is nothing that Morrissey could do to let some people down.
My how blind devotion lowers one's standards.
Sales decline ? (Score:0)
I don't know if such emblematic singers as David Bowie or else sell more than Mozz.
These people are icons and that's it...