Love etc. midweeks.

[Undertaker]

If Integral was a 'single', everything released is a single. Gin and Jag, Were All Criminals Now and everything else thats available for download. Can anything chart now? For example ;- If 10,000 people all decided to go download Shaddap your Face, would it chart? I've already said the chart has been ruined anyway. The hit parade was a national institution, now it's a complete mess. As much as we all like to look at the midweeks, it was the publishing of these that started the downward spiral of the enjoyment of listening to the charts on a Sunday.

Anyway, all thats an argument for another day.

As for distribution, there were no singles to be found in Meadowhall on Wednesday. I've said it earlier but could it be that the record company have planned this? Make the cd unavailable for the first 3 or 4 days, hoping people will turn to downloads, then also buying the cd when it's available? PSB need to increase sales by over 200% to compete in the top 20, so maybe this is a sly way of trying it. I dunno. Just a thought.

[Radiophonic]

If Integral was a 'single', everything released is a single. Gin and Jag, Were All Criminals Now and everything else thats available for download. Can anything chart now? For example ;- If 10,000 people all decided to go download Shaddap your Face, would it chart? I've already said the chart has been ruined anyway. The hit parade was a national institution, now it's a complete mess.

Let Your Love Flow by the Bellamy Brothers became a top 50 hit based on it being in a TV ad. Over Christmas Hallelujah by Jeff Buckley was top 5 because of the X Factor winner's song.

I agree there's a danger that today's charts don't represent music and culture as in previous years. That's why, even before downloads, I was against reissues - the Elvis Presley ones a few years ago were a farce.

[Undertaker]

Up to number 14 in the midweeks.

[Martin W]

Up to 14? Ok, has the numerical order of things been reversed while I've been asleep? PSB singles are meant to go down in the charts during the week, not up. Still, and I apologise for this... w00t \o/

I wonder what's caused this reverse trend? It's like the 80's all over again... maybe your theory about EMI releasing CD1 in the latter part of the week might be right? Any idea of sales Undertaker?

[Undertaker]

Up to 14? Ok, has the numerical order of things been reversed while I've been asleep? PSB singles are meant to go down in the charts during the week, not up. Still, and I apologise for this... w00t \o/

I wonder what's caused this reverse trend? It's like the 80's all over again... maybe your theory about EMI releasing CD1 in the latter part of the week might be right? Any idea of sales Undertaker?

It is a strange occurence but we will take it. Especially as it looked like we would be lucky to get a top 30 hit at the start of the week.

No idea of any sales, sorry. You don't tend to get much info like that for midweeks but it certainly doing much better in the download charts than expected. A great achievement IMO.

I think it might stall a bit now though but hopefully hold on to a top 20 placing, which will be a great achievement considering a top 20 is what the older bands seem to get now.

[dVTB]

If Integral was a 'single', everything released is a single. Gin and Jag, Were All Criminals Now and everything else thats available for download. Can anything chart now? For example ;- If 10,000 people all decided to go download Shaddap your Face, would it chart? I've already said the chart has been ruined anyway. The hit parade was a national institution, now it's a complete mess. As much as we all like to look at the midweeks, it was the publishing of these that started the downward spiral of the enjoyment of listening to the charts on a Sunday.

My statement is: legal downloads are killing music.
I'll explain why: thanks to legal downloads, there's no control anymore over what's a single, which means: no control over which song can become a hit, which has a bad effect on album promotion. The physical cd-single is being killed, record companies are lazy and want easy money: putting some compressed files online is easier and cheaper for them than actually delivering a proper product.

Basically, the whole idea of the "single" is about to disappear. An album track of the new U2 album (Magnificent) popped up in the Dutch single charts already, despite not being a single (yet). Same with the track 42 by Coldplay. In theory, it could also happen with any track on the new PSB album. It's an interesting subject to discuss, but perhaps not in this topic...

As for distribution, there were no singles to be found in Meadowhall on Wednesday. I've said it earlier but could it be that the record company have planned this? Make the cd unavailable for the first 3 or 4 days, hoping people will turn to downloads, then also buying the cd when it's available? PSB need to increase sales by over 200% to compete in the top 20, so maybe this is a sly way of trying it. I dunno. Just a thought.

Considering the improving midweeks position, it might indeed be a possible scenario. On the other hand, I can't imagine EMI wanting to risk a poor chart entry thanks to some experiments. Your thought is interesting, but somehow I don't think EMI really understands the wishes of PSB fans. If they did, they wouldn't have come up with a digital bundle including an exclusive song. They would have released a proper 3 or 4-track EP.

At least the midweeks position is developing in the good direction. I'll be happy if it reaches the UK Top 20, although I still don't dare to bet any money on that.

[Radiophonic]

I am surprised and thrilled at the possible chart placing of 14! Wowwowow.

[Rusty]

Up to number 14 in the midweeks.

Excellent news! I wonder if top10 is completely out of the question after all? We've gone from 20 to 14 in two day! It's up to # 30 on iTunes top songs. Still # 26 on Amazon download where it has hovered for the past few days. I notice as well that Pop Art has charged back up the iTunes album chart to # 53. Also, Yes is the # 5 album on 7 Digital download. All this is looking VERY good for Yes!

Edit: Forgot to add that Yes is now #59 on iTunes album chart on pre-orders.

[DazzerUKUK]

The surge in the charts is down entirely to digital sales. Perhaps fans have given up trying to buy it in its physical form??!

14 PSB 7849
13 La Roux 9059
12 James Morrison 9272
11 Lady Gaga 10216
10 Kings of Leon 12129

Digital sales now account for 67% of Love etc sales. Compare that to the first midweek report. 775 downloads have now taken place on mobile phones.

A word of caution though. Just 959 sales separate PSB at number 14 and falling OUT of the top 20.

The most shocking news of all is physical sales - a total of 2268 sold by Tuesday, it now stands at just 2569. Wakey wakey EMI !!!! Where are those CD's we're all trying to buy????

So boys and girls, if you have any downloads included in your phone package (as I do!) download Love etc now!

[Patrick Bateman]

Good to see La Roux doing well.

[Kris]

The surge in the charts is down entirely to digital sales. Perhaps fans have given up trying to buy it in its physical form??!

14 PSB 7849
13 La Roux 9059
12 James Morrison 9272
11 Lady Gaga 10216
10 Kings of Leon 12129

Digital sales now account for 67% of Love etc sales. Compare that to the first midweek report. 775 downloads have now taken place on mobile phones.

A word of caution though. Just 959 sales separate PSB at number 14 and falling OUT of the top 20.

The most shocking news of all is physical sales - a total of 2268 sold by Tuesday, it now stands at just 2569. Wakey wakey EMI !!!! Where are those CD's we're all trying to buy????

So boys and girls, if you have any downloads included in your phone package (as I do!) download Love etc now!

Thanks, Dazzer, really interesting stats there. Unless the stocking of the CD gets sorted out, I guess now the chart position will depend strongly on how LE holds up on iTunes for the rest of the week. The fact it's still climbing is encouraging; the question is whether the fanbase are consolidating in the absence of the CD, as you say, or whether the song is genuinely picking up a steady stream of casual sales.

If - and it's a big if - the CD gets restocked properly, a top 15 position should be comfortably secured.

[Undertaker]

Cheers Dazzer.

I'd guess that the current sales of 7,000+ would need to double to ensure a top 15 placing. I doubt thats likely to be fair but hopefully, it will hold on to a top 20, which looked highly unlikely on Tuesday.

[dVTB]

The amount of physical sales is disturbingly low. This can only be explained by the poor availability of the cd-singles. I wonder where PSB would have been with normal physical sales. Perhaps some of these sales will happen in the second half of the week... Like Undertaker suggested, it *might* be a deliberate EMI tactic...

[Rusty]

The surge in the charts is down entirely to digital sales. Perhaps fans have given up trying to buy it in its physical form??!

14 PSB 7849
13 La Roux 9059
12 James Morrison 9272
11 Lady Gaga 10216
10 Kings of Leon 12129

Digital sales now account for 67% of Love etc sales. Compare that to the first midweek report. 775 downloads have now taken place on mobile phones.

A word of caution though. Just 959 sales separate PSB at number 14 and falling OUT of the top 20.

The most shocking news of all is physical sales - a total of 2268 sold by Tuesday, it now stands at just 2569. Wakey wakey EMI !!!! Where are those CD's we're all trying to buy????

So boys and girls, if you have any downloads included in your phone package (as I do!) download Love etc now!

Thanks for those figures Dazzer. That answers my question then, a top10 is completely out of the question. Love etc is light years from a top10, being 4,000 units behind the current #10!

[dVTB]

Thanks for those figures Dazzer. That answers my question then, a top10 is completely out of the question. Love etc is light years from a top10, being 4,000 units behind the current #10!

How many physical units did recent Pet Shop Boys singles sell in their first week? Must be way more than 2,500. And even if you add 4,000 units, that's still not very much. Does anybody how many physical units tracks like I'm with stupid, Minimal and Numb sold? I remember Numb being in the Top 10 of the physical single charts, while it landed at #23 in the actual charts. So it's hard to believe that PSB sales would now be 2/3 downloads and just 1/3 physical. There must be a lot of sales potential left for physical sales.

An English friend of mine is trying to buy me some copies too, btw