The Astonishing Billboard Chart Prediction (merged)

[SebastianPratesi]

It was $18 at FYE here in the States. Is $18 really that much dough? With the lower gas prices you save that much every week on gas.

I'm not sure if you meant to ask me that, or if it was rhetorical, but $18 is about 250 pesos, with which you eat at McDonalds twice, basically.

[Crow]

damn, mcdonalds is expensive where you live

[SebastianPratesi]

damn, mcdonalds is expensive where you live

Crap - talking about McDonald's has made me hungry. It's midnight here and I still haven't had dinner. Off I go, I guess.

[erwinrafael]

It was $18 at FYE here in the States. Is $18 really that much dough? With the lower gas prices you save that much every week on gas.

I'm not sure if you meant to ask me that, or if it was rhetorical, but $18 is about 250 pesos, with which you eat at McDonalds twice, basically.

Well, my HDTracks purchase cost me an equivalent of ten Big Mac meals here in the Philippines. So that shows my commitment to an artist to buy original stuff rather than gogin the illegal download route. 

[Crow]

damn, mcdonalds is expensive where you live

Crap - talking about McDonald's has made me hungry. It's midnight here and I still haven't had dinner. Off I go, I guess.

thinking of mcdonalds actually makes me lose my appetite a little these days, haven't been there in years and if i never go again i'll be the better for it

[Progmetty]

Now I want a double cheese burger, haven't been to McDonalds in at least a year..

[BlobVanDam]

The Astonishing Billboard prediction thread, brought to you by McDonalds.

How many Big Macs does The Astonishing cost in your country? Does it mean that The Astonishing is expensive, or just that the Big Mac is great value? Find out soon, on DTF!

[SwedishGoose]

Ha ha ha......

Someone with lot's of time on their hands should create the Astonishing index. It should take over from:

https://www.economist.com/content/big-mac-index

For those who care.... in Sweden you get about 4 Big macs or one Astonishing deal...

[TL]

11 in the US is a bit disappointing, but charts are very relative given that they're entirely dependent on other releases. There are a lot of very high profile releases on the charts right now, including several that are new this week.

That said, if first week sales in the US really are sub-30k, yeah, that's not great.

Edit: Huh, apparently the Billboard 200 isn't just album sales anymore. Now they throw a bunch of individual track sales and streaming metrics into the mix.
The actual sales chart in the US now is the 'Top Album Sales' chart; https://www.billboard.com/charts/top-album-sales
On that chart, The Astonishing is #6.

[cramx3]

But those numbers seem to be what was expected.  I don't see any reason to be disappointed.  People just don't have the time to buy hard copies of music anymore.

[TL]

But those numbers seem to be what was expected.  I don't see any reason to be disappointed.  People just don't have the time to buy hard copies of music anymore.

Even when it was just album sales, the Billboard 200 has included digital album sales for years.

[cramx3]

But those numbers seem to be what was expected.  I don't see any reason to be disappointed.  People just don't have the time to buy hard copies of music anymore.

Even when it was just album sales, the Billboard 200 has included digital album sales for years.

Really? I did not know that.  I thought the ~28,000 number was albums sold.

[Architeuthis]

The Astonishing Billboard prediction thread, brought to you by McDonalds.

How many Big Macs does The Astonishing cost in your country? Does it mean that The Astonishing is expensive, or just that the Big Mac is great value? Find out soon, on DTF!

.
Now someone needs to make an alternate version of The Astonishing album cover with Big Macs hovering above instead of Nomacs..

[TL]

But those numbers seem to be what was expected.  I don't see any reason to be disappointed.  People just don't have the time to buy hard copies of music anymore.

Even when it was just album sales, the Billboard 200 has included digital album sales for years.

Really? I did not know that.  I thought the ~28,000 number was albums sold.

It is. It includes both physical albums, and digital albums as long as it was bought as an album.

That said, something I literally just learned in the past few minutes; the Billboard 200 apparently takes album sales, track sales, and streaming into account now. So ~28,000 is just albums sold, which makes it the 6th best selling album that week. When those other things are taken into account, it gets bumped down to #11.

[ariich]

People just don't have the time to buy hard copies of music anymore.

This is never going to get old is it?

[King Postwhore]

People just don't have the time to buy hard copies of music anymore.

This is never going to get old is it?

Aounds like a lyric from The Astonishing!

[cramx3]

People just don't have the time to buy hard copies of music anymore.

This is never going to get old is it?

Aounds like a lyric from The Astonishing!

Even in the Astonishing they didn't have time for hard copies, it was a digital player 

[bosk1]

People just don't have the time to buy hard copies of music anymore.

This is never going to get old is it?

Aounds like a lyric from The Astonishing!

People just don't have the time for spell-check anymore.

[TAC]

People just don't have the time to buy hard copies of music anymore.

This is never going to get old is it?

Aounds like a lyric from The Astonishing!

People just don't have the time for spell-check anymore.

Anymore??

[bosk1]

Well, okay, fair point. 

[Podaar]

Anymore??

What are you, a Cambridge professor? Anymore is perfectly acceptable in American English. 

[TAC]

Anymore??

What are you, a Cambridge professor? Anymore is perfectly acceptable in American English. 

Well, Cambridge Massachusetts is about 25 miles away. I'm American, and I speak English. 3 for 3. Yay!!

[hefdaddy42]

People just don't have the time to buy hard copies of music anymore.

This is never going to get old is it?

Aounds like a lyric from The Astonishing!

Dammit king

[Kotowboy]

Anymore is fine by me.

Alot = no.

[bosk1]

No, I don't think he was saying "anymore" was spelled incorrectly (if he was, the joke is on him).  I think he was joking that "anymore" is the wrong word in context, because King's spelling is always bad.

[TAC]

No, I don't think he was saying "anymore" was spelled incorrectly (if he was, the joke is on him).  I think he was joking that "anymore" is the wrong word in context, because King's spelling is always bad.

Correct!

[Podaar]

Oh, for Pete sake...I was trying to make a double joke... never mind.

If I have to explain it...

[ResultsMayVary]

11 in the US is a bit disappointing, but charts are very relative given that they're entirely dependent on other releases. There are a lot of very high profile releases on the charts right now, including several that are new this week.

That said, if first week sales in the US really are sub-30k, yeah, that's not great.

Edit: Huh, apparently the Billboard 200 isn't just album sales anymore. Now they throw a bunch of individual track sales and streaming metrics into the mix.
The actual sales chart in the US now is the 'Top Album Sales' chart; https://www.billboard.com/charts/top-album-sales
On that chart, The Astonishing is #6.

Woah, that's very interesting. Is the Top Album Sales chart essentially what the billboard used to be the last time DT released an album?

[Kotowboy]

So based on actual album sales i was right after all

[TAC]

Oh, for Pete sake...I was trying to make a double joke... never mind.

We know. You've been TRIPLE JOKED!

[thosava]

Number 2 in Norway, their highest ever! Above JB, Bowie and Adele 

[The Stray Seed]

#1 On the US Billboard Rock Album Chart

https://www.facebook.com/dreamtheater/photos/np.1455140684270162.100004736863603/10153243461232181

[CharlesPL]

#11 in Poland :

https://olis.onyx.pl/listy/index.asp?lang=

Recent positions:

ToT - 44
Octavarium - 8
SC - 10
BC&SL - 4
ADTOE - 7
DT - 4

#37 in Denmark :

https://www.danishcharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Dream+Theater&titel=The+Astonishing&cat=a

[TL]

11 in the US is a bit disappointing, but charts are very relative given that they're entirely dependent on other releases. There are a lot of very high profile releases on the charts right now, including several that are new this week.

That said, if first week sales in the US really are sub-30k, yeah, that's not great.

Edit: Huh, apparently the Billboard 200 isn't just album sales anymore. Now they throw a bunch of individual track sales and streaming metrics into the mix.
The actual sales chart in the US now is the 'Top Album Sales' chart; https://www.billboard.com/charts/top-album-sales
On that chart, The Astonishing is #6.

Woah, that's very interesting. Is the Top Album Sales chart essentially what the billboard used to be the last time DT released an album?

It seems that way.

[countoftuscany42]

can someone explain where the sales numbers came from? I don't see anything on Billboard's site that shows numbers, only positions.

what i find interesting about how the Billboard 200 chart has changed is that it really shows that DT is a band that can sell albums, not one that is relying on streaming and digital sales.  Compare TA to the new Megadeth album: Dystopia landed at 3 on the Billboard 200, but 2 on the Total Albums chart.  Not  a wide margin, it shows that they sold a good amount of albums, but also did well with streaming and digital sales relative to other releases.

TA on the other hand, when looking at the difference from 200 to Total Albums, makes a pretty sizable jump from 11 to 6, showing that Dream Theater were able to sell a lot of albums, but once they have to compete with artists with massive streaming and downloads, they weren't as strong.  This makes DT's strategy of releasing the album on youtube interesting, as I wonder if their streams or downloads might have been higher without that as an option.

Someone can correct me if i'm wrong, but my understanding is that "album sales" on the billboard 200 are now aggregated from all sources, even if the stream or download is of a single track.  So Justin Bieber can put out a shitty album with one great track that blows up and gets tons of downloads, yet that boosts his album sales numbers; doesn't that feel unfair when comparing to a 34-track rock opera that isn't relying on singles?  Or am i just a whiny fanboy