ADTOE chart positions/sales figures

[Bertielee]

Blabbermouth is reporting that it's #8 on Billboard:

"A Dramatic Turn Of Events", the new studio album from progressive metal giants DREAM THEATER, sold 36,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to enter The Billboard 200 chart at position No. 8.

https://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=163574

Still pretty great.

In before MP says they sold more units of BC&SL in the us!

B.Lee

[coffees for closers]

Wow, what happened in Poland?

Riverside?

-Marc.

Maybe they all ordered from RR/Omega and don't even have the CD yet like myself.

[DeanTheater]

Keep in mind also that, in a way, the number have nothing to do with how many copies people actually buy.  It is based off of how many copies ship from the distributors to the retailers, which is based off of what the label, the distributors, and the retailers project the first week sales to be.  So, in a way, it's very artificial.

I am just reposting what Bosky stated earlier in the week, because it really does specify how things work very nicely.  Distributors base things alot on previous album sales so retailers dont overbuy a product.  That being said week #2 may be a more significant bump than past week 2's for DT.  Who the hell knows.


And as an aside, as a true Ryche fan of 20 plus yrs.......................UGH! DT outselling QR's first week by 4 times is just another illustration of a band in a long cancerous decline.  so sad

[DeanTheater]

This site states DT is at #7 with 36K sold....semantics.


https://www.fmqb.com/article.asp?id=2291168

[Millais]

I wonder how many pre-ordered ADTOE in comparison to BC&SL because if I remember correctly that doesn't count towards chart positions...

[bosk1]

This site states DT is at #7 with 36K sold....semantics.


https://www.fmqb.com/article.asp?id=2291168

So either #7 or #8, depending on which secondary source is more accurate.  Either way, not bad at all.  I know people were hoping it would have been higher, but I would say this should be considered a success.  Looking at the numbers, it's possible they might have hit #6 or maybe even #5 with a bit more promotion and not had the distribution issues I've been hearing about.  But as I and others have been saying, the jumps in numbers start to get bigger the higher up the chart you go.  They would have had to ship over 50K to crack the #4 spot, and well over 100K to get into the top 3.  There's no way a prog metal band is going to hit those kinds of numbers in their debut week.

[nikatapi]

I was wondering if an album that has a special edition with more than one cd inside is counted by the number of disks in the sales.
I think i heard that somewhere. So if it is indeed true, and given that BC&SL had a 3 disk special edition many of us bought, maybe the new album actually sold more than BC&SL.
Of course i might be saying stupid things.
I just think i read somewhere about multi-disk editions and how they are counted in sales.

[BlobVanDam]

I was wondering if an album that has a special edition with more than one cd inside is counted by the number of disks in the sales.
I think i heard that somewhere. So if it is indeed true, and given that BC&SL had a 3 disk special edition many of us bought, maybe the new album actually sold more than BC&SL.
Of course i might be saying stupid things.
I just think i read somewhere about multi-disk editions and how they are counted in sales.

There was a discussion about that a couple of weeks ago. I believe that the special editions don't count for any extra towards sales.

[DreamerTV]

This site states DT is at #7 with 36K sold....semantics.


https://www.fmqb.com/article.asp?id=2291168

So either #7 or #8, depending on which secondary source is more accurate.  Either way, not bad at all.  I know people were hoping it would have been higher, but I would say this should be considered a success.  Looking at the numbers, it's possible they might have hit #6 or maybe even #5 with a bit more promotion and not had the distribution issues I've been hearing about.  But as I and others have been saying, the jumps in numbers start to get bigger the higher up the chart you go.  They would have had to ship over 50K to crack the #4 spot, and well over 100K to get into the top 3.  There's no way a prog metal band is going to hit those kinds of numbers in their debut week.

Talking about distribution, i've emailed Warner for informations about the box set, and they said that the producer has sent them a very restricted number of boxes and that they're waiting for more to come. As we've heard something similar about cd's, maybe they've understimated  DT potential sales, especially outside the US ...

[gmillerdrake]

How does album sales from say iTunes or other music downloadable sites get figured into this? Or does it have to be a physical CD/Album sold to go towards the 36k figure?
It just seemed to me that this album given the circumstances was way more anticipated than any other. I thought for sure it'd beat BC&SL's spot. Oh well, for me it beat it in content and that's all that I could have asked for.

[Addy]

Wow, what happened in Poland?

Poland happened to have shitty music taste Believe me, I live here But yeah, a lot of people I know are yet to buy the CD or they ordered it from non-polish sites (dunno why really).

[SnakeEyes]

So..... I keep hearing that DT is #8 on the Billlboard chart.... so...... WHERE THE HELL IS IT?  It's not on the Billboard site, that's for sure....

[CrimsonE]

I'd say # 7 or 8 is pretty good for a band that doesn't really get promoted all that much in the US. 

BTW, I was able to pick up the regular edition for $9.99 at Best Buy the day of sale.  Does anyone remember if this was the same for their other albums? 

[Kayleigh]

So, I had a look at the album charts and it seems ADTOE is this week's #1 in Finland.

https://www.ifpi.fi/tilastot/virallinen-lista/albumit/2011/38

For reference, on it's second week, BC&SL reached #1 as well.
SC was #3 at best, Octavarium #2.

[Ħ]

I'm kinda disappointed.

[ZirconBlue]

Billboard bases their numbers on Nielsen SoundScan data:

Sales data from cash registers is collected from 14,000 retail, mass merchant, and non-traditional (on-line stores, venues, digital music services, etc.) outlets in the United States, Canada and the U.K.

So, as long as you bought your copy, physical or digital, from one of the participating retailers, it counts.  Internet presales are supposed to be counted when the product ships.




Also

Because these numbers are supplied by a subset of sellers rather than record labels, it is common for these numbers to be substantially lower than those reported by the Recording Industry Association of America when Gold, Platinum and Diamond album awards are announced (RIAA awards reflect wholesale shipments, not retail sales).

[bosk1]

What is the source of those quotes?  I'd like to see that.  I based what I said earlier on the RIAA method, but if what you are saying about how Billboard counts its numbers is true, then what I said was actually mistaken for purposes of this thread.

[Zukuduku]

So, I had a look at the album charts and it seems ADTOE is this week's #1 in Finland.

https://www.ifpi.fi/tilastot/virallinen-lista/albumit/2011/38

Excellent news! I was really worried that as Finland's chart week is from Wednesday to Tuesday and ADTOE was released on Tuesday, that sales would be divided into the opening week (with just preorders and first day sales) and second week. But it seems that ADTOE did not chart at all on the opening week for some reason, but then debuted strongly at the first place for the first whole selling week.

[Dynia]

Wow, what happened in Poland?

Poland happened to have shitty music taste Believe me, I live here But yeah, a lot of people I know are yet to buy the CD or they ordered it from non-polish sites (dunno why really).

I don't think the results are accurate, on the polish charts website DT is indeed 38th, but the list appears to be outdated, it only sums up sales from 5th to 11th of September... so i don't think it's actually that bad 

[reneranucci]

Just in case anybody wants more details about how BC&SL did on its debut week:

Just got this below email from our A&R guy at Roadrunner....
 
Dream Theater's Black Clouds & Silver Linings entered the US Billboard Charts today at #6!!

This is truly amazing....that after almost 25 years together, this band is still growing and progressing and doing bigger and better numbers than ever.....I can't think of many bands that can claim that...

Plus - a progressive metal album with four songs over 12 minutes in the US Top 10???
(wedged between Jonas Brothers, Eminem and Hannah Montana!)
Hell must've frozen over!!!!
(this must be a first of its kind.....)
 
See the statistics below.....
 
Thank you everybody!   
MP


-------------------------

from Monte Conner (Roadrunner Records):

We did 40,285 units in the first week to come in at #6 (!!!) 
 
That is DT’s highest US chart number ever, beating “Systematic Chaos” which charted at #19 back in May 2007 and until now was the band’s highest chart debut.
 
That is also DT’s highest first week units total ever - handily beating “Awake” which did 36,160 first week back in October 1994 (#32 on the chart). “Awake” was the first (and very heavily anticipated) DT album in the wake of the band’s previous breakthrough album “Images And Words” - with its smash hit “Pull Me Under” - and yet here we are 15 years later totally crushing it. 

Previous DT highs:
Systematic Chaos:  35,689 (#19) – May 2007
Awake: 36,160 (#32) – October 1994
 
FYI, 4,783 of those sales were digital (over 10%), and we have actually scanned 40,591 to date because there were pre-release street violations of 306 units last week.
 
AND lastly, we are the #2 debut of the week. Below is the Top 10:

1. BLACK EYED PEAS
E.N.D. (ENERGY NEVER DIES) \
 
2. JONAS BROTHERS
LINES VINES & TRYING TIMES 

3. SPEKTOR*REGINA
FAR 

4. MATTHEWS*DAVE BAND
BIG WHISKEY & THE GROOGRUX KIN

5. EMINEM
RELAPSE
 
6. DREAM THEATER
BLACK CLOUDS & SILVER LININGS

7
TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE F
SOUNDTRACK

8. LADY GAGA
FAME
 
9. GINUWINE
MAN'S THOUGHTS

10. HANNAH MONTANA
HANNAH MOVIE SNDTRK

So there you have it. To achieve all of this 25 years into the band’s career is simply a monumental feat, not to mention it was done in a poor economy, where it is hard to find a real record store and where sales are down 52% since 2001 and probably down close to 20% this year from 2007.
 
Congrats to all!!!!!!!!!

I don't know exactly if they "competed" directly against Lady Gaga and beat her?

[bosk1]

I didn't know the numbers on Awake, but that's interesting to know.  So with ADTOE, they've basically matched what they did with Awake in the first week.  That is pretty amazing.

[ResultsMayVary]

Lady Gaga's "FAME" was out for several weeks before BC&SL was released.

[TL]

Considering the competition, #8 is still quite good (and their second best charting album ever in the US). It is disappointing that it sold fewer copies than BC&SL though, since ADToE is far and away a better album. It did feel like this one got a bit less promotion in the lead-up.
Also, why did that Beatles "1" album have a resurgence recently? It's not a new album (according to Billboard, it has been on the chart for 115 weeks).

I'm more disappointed in my fellow countrymen, with the album debuting at #9 here in Canada (behind fucking LMFAO, who need to go die in a fucking fire). Though there were some severe distribution problems, with some people here completely unable to even find a copy to buy, so that may be a factor.

It's still an impressive debut, and I'm very happy for the band. I just think such a great album deserved even better.

[TL]

The album did debut at #17 in the UK, making it their highest charting album there. BC&SL debuted at #23.

[SystematicThought]

I wonder if distribution was better if it would have done better.....

[DarkLord_Lalinc]

Reading MP so excited about BC&SL feels weird, heh.

[Resonate]

So..... I keep hearing that DT is #8 on the Billlboard chart.... so...... WHERE THE HELL IS IT?  It's not on the Billboard site, that's for sure....

https://www.billboard.com/charts#/charts/billboard-200

[ResultsMayVary]

So..... I keep hearing that DT is #8 on the Billlboard chart.... so...... WHERE THE HELL IS IT?  It's not on the Billboard site, that's for sure....

https://www.billboard.com/charts#/charts/billboard-200

The chart wasn't officially released when SnakeEyes made that comment. 

[?]

#1 in Finland (as I predicted)!

[erciccio]

# 3 in Italy !!!

Not bad!!! 

https://www.fimi.it/classifiche_artisti.php

[ZirconBlue]

What is the source of those quotes?  I'd like to see that.  I based what I said earlier on the RIAA method, but if what you are saying about how Billboard counts its numbers is true, then what I said was actually mistaken for purposes of this thread.

They're from wikipedia.  I linked the first one; it's from the "Nielson SoundScan" article.  The second is from the "Billboard 200" article.  I poked around some other sites, which seemed to confirm the wiki info.  For completeness, here's the RIAA article.


Over time, it seems the RIAA number is the most accurate, but it is a measure of shipments minus returns, rather than a direct count of actual sales.






 

[3xodus]

What is the source of those quotes?  I'd like to see that.  I based what I said earlier on the RIAA method, but if what you are saying about how Billboard counts its numbers is true, then what I said was actually mistaken for purposes of this thread.

They're from wikipedia.  I linked the first one; it's from the "Nielson SoundScan" article.  The second is from the "Billboard 200" article.  I poked around some other sites, which seemed to confirm the wiki info.  For completeness, here's the RIAA article.


Over time, it seems the RIAA number is the most accurate, but it is a measure of shipments minus returns, rather than a direct count of actual sales.

Who the hell lets you return cds? I'm shopping there from now on.

[TL]

Who the hell lets you return cds? I'm shopping there from now on.

I think they mean returns of unsold copies from the retailer to the label.

There was a discussion about that a couple of weeks ago. I believe that the special editions don't count for any extra towards sales.

This is correct. Only the main album counts toward sales. The two other discs in the BC&SL special edition were 'bonus content' and did not count toward sales.
It only counts if it's part of the main album, available in all versions. As well, for a two disc release, it has to be at least 100 minutes, so Six Degrees and Porcupine Tree's 'The Incident' both only count as one unit each. The only exception is 'vinyl era' albums which don't have to be as long (so something like The Wall, at eighty-something minutes, counts).

[reneranucci]

Reading MP so excited about BC&SL feels weird, heh.

I felt the same when I read it.

[KevShmev]

Reading MP so excited about BC&SL feels weird, heh.

I think he was more excited about where it charted than anything else in that message he wrote.