On the Charts: Jack White Sets Vinyl Sales Record for ‘Lazaretto’
The streaming-music business continues to clank along on its road to The Future of the Record Business. Apple bought Beats Music, but has yet to say what it’ll do with it. Amazon recently unveiled its own modest service. And YouTube reps are saying its service will come out later this year as Deezer continues to expand to various countries. In the meantime, old-fashioned CD and download sales continue to plunge. Albums are down 15 percent, tracks are down 13 percent and record labels pray streaming catches on quick.
Jack White Grooves, Burns Rubber, Explodes Guitar in ‘Lazaretto’ Video
HOW AGAIN DO YOU CRAM THIS JACK WHITE LP INTO THIS IPHONE?: Jack White rides the vinyl wave to Number One this week, selling 40,000 old-fashioned LPs of Lazaretto (the biggest week for a vinyl since SoundScan began tracking sales in 1991) plus 41,000 CDs and nearly 57,000 downloads. Excuse the use of “old-fashioned” — Lazaretto LPs actually play in three separate speeds, contains hidden tracks and Side A is like reading the Old Testament since it plays from the inside out. The album is the former White Stripes frontman’s second Number One, selling exactly the same number of copies as his 2012 debut Blunderbuss, and it’s a huge accomplishment for an indie-style rocker. Still, 138,000 is sparse for one of the year’s biggest rock albums.
SHAKIRA‘S NEXT BIG HIT—’KICK HIM IN THE FACE (YELLOW CARD)’?: If it’s World Cup time, Shakira must have a giant global hit that barely anybody in the U.S. has heard. “Dare (La La La)” hits all the crucial hooks — a catchy, “ole-ole-ole-ole”-style chorus, dubstep-lite dance music production, the singer’s delightfully slinky voice and an accompanying video of the scantilly clad singer. Although the song hasn’t hit the Top 10 in the U.S., it’s up to more than 31 million YouTube views. That’s enough for Number Eight on BigChampagne’s online-focused Ultimate Chart with a rise of 50 slots.
NUMBER-ONE ALBUMS—NOT WHAT THEY WERE IN MJ’S DAY: You know what’s depressing? Second weeks. Miranda Lambert’s Platinum loses 65 percent of its first-week sales, dropping to Number Two with 62,000; last week, Coldplay‘s Ghost Stories fell 45 percent in sales, falling from Number One to Number Five, and it drops another 26 percent this week, to Number Seven, with just 34,000 sales. Black Keys’ Turn Blue and Michael Jackson‘s XScape, which battled for Number One just a few weeks ago, with the Keys narrowly defeating MJ, did return to the Top 10—but it was more due to this week’s bleak release schedule than impressive sales surges. Turn Blue: 26,000, plus-9 percent, Number Eight. XScape: minus-2 percent, 25,000, Number Nine.