Will Lightning Bolt go Gold?

[Dr. Van Nostrand]

Methinks they need to change the standards for Gold and Platinum, or add new ones like 250K = Sapphire.

LB went Sapphire guys.

[Dr. Van Nostrand]

The album is great whether or not it goes gold.

I agree with this

[C4lukin]

So the current numbers I have. The rankings are all Billboard 200 numbers, and some of the sales numbers are straight up Billboard numbers. The rest again are extrapolated from looking at the hitsdailydouble top 50 and making an educated guess on Lightning Bolt sales.

Week 1. 1 170k
2. 2 40 K
3. 11 28k
4. 18 16k
5. 28 12k
6. 31 10k
7. 63 10k
8. 65 11,293
9. 60 12k

So over 300k so far. It just may make it. With shipping included it may be close to 500k already.

I must say the album is holding on much better then the past few PJ albums.

[McParadigm]

So the current numbers I have. The rankings are all Billboard 200 numbers, and some of the sales numbers are straight up Billboard numbers. The rest again are extrapolated from looking at the hitsdailydouble top 50 and making an educated guess on Lightning Bolt sales.

Week 1. 1 170k
2. 2 40 K
3. 11 28k
4. 18 16k
5. 28 12k
6. 31 10k
7. 63 10k
8. 65 11,293
9. 60 12k

So over 300k so far. It just may make it. With shipping included it may be close to 500k already.

I must say the album is holding on much better then the past few PJ albums.

About 314,000 right now, but there's a caveat to that . Where the last album benefited from the Target deal and sold a disproportionately high number of physical copies, this record has stuck to recent trends and maintained about 66 to 70% digital sales. That means there probably isn't a huge number of physical copies being ordered, and stocked copies aren't going to do much to push it over the mark.

It could do it, but it needs a push right about now to do that.

[Tuolumne]

It looks like it'll sort of inch around the middle rungs of the charts for awhile. Overall, it appears to be another moderate success. Similar to Backspacer, s/t, and also Yield. Their big commercial "flops" are No Code, Binaural, and Riot Act, and their outright smashes are the first 3 albums. "Flop" is always relative, as in it's how it's done compared to expectations.

At this point in their career, they're sort of heading into the Neil and Bruce territory where each record doesn't have these great commercial expectations, except to further enhance and honor their existing catalogue. I'd never expect an old-school "big comeback", but they're established as an act with longevity and who can stick around, it's up to them how artistically relevant they want to be. I'd rather that than the U2 model, where each record is deemed a "smash" or a "flop".

[sweeper]

So the current numbers I have. The rankings are all Billboard 200 numbers, and some of the sales numbers are straight up Billboard numbers. The rest again are extrapolated from looking at the hitsdailydouble top 50 and making an educated guess on Lightning Bolt sales.

Week 1. 1 170k
2. 2 40 K
3. 11 28k
4. 18 16k
5. 28 12k
6. 31 10k
7. 63 10k
8. 65 11,293
9. 60 12k

So over 300k so far. It just may make it. With shipping included it may be close to 500k already.

I must say the album is holding on much better then the past few PJ albums.

About 314,000 right now, but there's a caveat to that . Where the last album benefited from the Target deal and sold a disproportionately high number of physical copies, this record has stuck to recent trends and maintained about 66 to 70% digital sales. That means there probably isn't a huge number of physical copies being ordered, and stocked copies aren't going to do much to push it over the mark.

It could do it, but it needs a push right about now to do that.

You don't think they can average 3k in sales a week over the course of 2014? That's all they would need on the high end and it would realistically be much lower than that given the units shipped distinction. I think it's an absolute slam dunk this CD gets declared gold.

FWIW, I'm pretty sure their other CDs in the 2000s received the declaration with sales around 350k-ish. I think they'd probably get the Gold label not too far around 400k in sales.

[MattA75]

So the current numbers I have. The rankings are all Billboard 200 numbers, and some of the sales numbers are straight up Billboard numbers. The rest again are extrapolated from looking at the hitsdailydouble top 50 and making an educated guess on Lightning Bolt sales.

Week 1. 1 170k
2. 2 40 K
3. 11 28k
4. 18 16k
5. 28 12k
6. 31 10k
7. 63 10k
8. 65 11,293
9. 60 12k

So over 300k so far. It just may make it. With shipping included it may be close to 500k already.

I must say the album is holding on much better then the past few PJ albums.

About 314,000 right now, but there's a caveat to that . Where the last album benefited from the Target deal and sold a disproportionately high number of physical copies, this record has stuck to recent trends and maintained about 66 to 70% digital sales. That means there probably isn't a huge number of physical copies being ordered, and stocked copies aren't going to do much to push it over the mark.

It could do it, but it needs a push right about now to do that.

You don't think they can average 3k in sales a week over the course of 2014? That's all they would need on the high end and it would realistically be much lower than that given the units shipped distinction. I think it's an absolute slam dunk this CD gets declared gold.

FWIW, I'm pretty sure their other CDs in the 2000s received the declaration with sales around 350k-ish. I think they'd probably get the Gold label not too far around 400k in sales.

seeing as Ten does roughly 2500 copies a week on average, no I don't think a new Pearl Jam album can average 3K in sales a week for an entire year...and as others have pointed out, with average sales being 65-70% digital, actual physical copies shipped will have only gone down dramatically even from 2009, to say nothing of the "minimum" requirement that was most likely a part of that Target deal (which probably guaranteed the band a gold cert)

[Whale and Wasp]

I really hope they are happy with their following today, its pretty strong all things considered. I think LB is worth owning on Vinyl and the singles worth grabbing online to show love. I like to see people supporting Pearl Jam, it is miraculous that they are they are still making music, revel in the good times while we may I say!

[Buby]

I think LB is worth owning on Vinyl

I totally agree... If they'd only make them available, they've been REALLY hard to find (al least in Mexico).

[VinylGuy]

they dont even sell LB in cd in their web page?

[worldwithyourheart]

with about 50% reporting this week, they are at no. 22 with over 8k sold......

[McParadigm]

Yeah, sales have stayed fairly strong. They'll probably be somewhere north of 360,000 overall by the time this week's totals are in. At this point they've got about a 70% chance of going gold in the initial chart run. Still needs something to boost it...a little television work, a strong third single, something to that effect.

[Chain75]

Yeah, sales have stayed fairly strong. They'll probably be somewhere north of 360,000 overall by the time this week's totals are in. At this point they've got about a 70% chance of going gold in the initial chart run. Still needs something to boost it...a little television work, a strong third single, something to that effect.

They need a Getaway single with lots of airplay... this song will rock everyone! Gold i say... Gold!

[Oh, Jimmy]

At this point in their career, they're sort of heading into the Neil and Bruce territory where each record doesn't have these great commercial expectations, except to further enhance and honor their existing catalogue. I'd never expect an old-school "big comeback", but they're established as an act with longevity and who can stick around, it's up to them how artistically relevant they want to be. I'd rather that than the U2 model, where each record is deemed a "smash" or a "flop".

Is it success to land in Neil/Bruce territory, when they've clearly been aiming for U2 territory?

[VinylGuy]

At this point in their career, they're sort of heading into the Neil and Bruce territory where each record doesn't have these great commercial expectations, except to further enhance and honor their existing catalogue. I'd never expect an old-school "big comeback", but they're established as an act with longevity and who can stick around, it's up to them how artistically relevant they want to be. I'd rather that than the U2 model, where each record is deemed a "smash" or a "flop".

Is it success to land in Neil/Bruce territory, when they've clearly been aiming for U2 territory?

aiming for u2 territory? goddam no...they didnt.

[stip]

At this point in their career, they're sort of heading into the Neil and Bruce territory where each record doesn't have these great commercial expectations, except to further enhance and honor their existing catalogue. I'd never expect an old-school "big comeback", but they're established as an act with longevity and who can stick around, it's up to them how artistically relevant they want to be. I'd rather that than the U2 model, where each record is deemed a "smash" or a "flop".

Is it success to land in Neil/Bruce territory, when they've clearly been aiming for U2 territory?

aiming for u2 territory? goddam no...they didnt.

there's no way they were pushing for U2 territory.

[Oh, Jimmy]

They've pretty clearly made an attempt at a later career resurgence, is all I meant. I think they waited too long and spent too much time cultivating a different kind of fanbase for it to really work.

[C4lukin]

Week 1. 1 170k
2. 2 40 K
3. 11 28k
4. 18 16k
5. 28 12k
6. 31 10k
7. 63 10k
8. 65 11,293
9. 60 12k
10. 40 ?
11. 41 ?
12. 28 11,511

[VinylGuy]

They've pretty clearly made an attempt at a later career resurgence, is all I meant. I think they waited too long and spent too much time cultivating a different kind of fanbase for it to really work.

They have a late career resurgence. They dont want to be U2 but to be more present in the media than in the RA years.

Week 1. 1 170k
2. 2 40 K
3. 11 28k
4. 18 16k
5. 28 12k
6. 31 10k
7. 63 10k
8. 65 11,293
9. 60 12k
10. 40 ?
11. 41 ?
12. 28 11,511

Its on the 28 spot on Billboard with 11.511 units??

[C4lukin]

They've pretty clearly made an attempt at a later career resurgence, is all I meant. I think they waited too long and spent too much time cultivating a different kind of fanbase for it to really work.

They have a late career resurgence. They dont want to be U2 but to be more present in the media than in the RA years.

Week 1. 1 170k
2. 2 40 K
3. 11 28k
4. 18 16k
5. 28 12k
6. 31 10k
7. 63 10k
8. 65 11,293
9. 60 12k
10. 40 ?
11. 41 ?
12. 28 11,511

Its on the 28 spot on Billboard with 11.511 units??

It is 28 on Billboard, and Hitsdailydouble has it at 11,511 units, and they also have it at number 28. Hitsdailydouble took the holidays off so that is why there is a question mark for weeks 10 and 11 but those are the Billboard rankings. I would guess they did 10k easy both weeks considering Christmas and all, but I did not want to put a number on something With no real resource to attribute to it.