Will Lightning Bolt go Gold?

[C4lukin]

Every PJ album has gone gold or better. With the industry as it is, that is becoming more difficult especially for Rock bands. I remember there was once a member who had straight RIAA numbers, but I have not noticed them around for awhile. I believe it comes down to shipped or sold to stores instead of sold to consumers.

Anyway these are the numbers I have, which are a combination of billboard press releases and placements, and hitsdailydouble providing numbers where I could not find them elsewhere.

Week
1. 1. 170k
2. 2. 40k
3. 11. 28k
4. 18. 16k
5. 28. 12k
6. 31. 10k

Total: 276k

With Black Friday and the holidays I think they will make it. Plus the general drop off from week to week is really good compared to past albums.

They have the potential to release a couple more singles as well. Not sure if any of them would be a hit, but Lightning Bolt, Getaway, and maybe Pendulum have the most potential.

[BladeRunner]

500k should be gettable at this rate and also worth noting that they sell well international markets as well so the album may even hit two million like the last two albums. But I do believe that they have to release some singles this time around though. Even if they are just promos or sent to radio without physical release. To keep up the momentum they gained from Sirens, they should release SBM, Lightning Bolt or Swallowed Whole. Pendulum or Getaway won't be that popular IMO.

[Blenheim Augustine]

Pendulum would be the worst single choice.

I agree that SBM, Lightning Bolt or Swallowed Whole would be best options at this stage.

[hopethatuchoke]

But...but..but they said on the message pit that Sirens was going to be their biggest hit ever and this album would sell as much as Vs. because of Sirens. There's no way this WON'T hit 5 million in sales before Christmas.

[McParadigm]

I'm still guessing it will end up somewhere in the space between 300-350k. Maybe a little north of that with a little help. Very comparable to Backspacer in comparison to industry statistics....which in turn makes it very comparable to Yield.

It's actually gone gold in Poland and Canada.

the album may even hit two million like the last two albums.

ha ha, no. Currently, it's a little under 540,000 copies worldwide. Realistically, more than half of its sales are already behind us. Whether they sell another 120,000 or another 500,000 copies depends on future promotional efforts.

[stip]

McP, how did bad as me sell? it was his first real record since he started becoming a bit more of a household name. (for a certain value of household name).

[EJ]

I'd guess either Lightning Bolt or Sleeping By Myself would be the next single. Really depends what the goal is: mainstream rock or crossover into adult contemporary. I don't think either would make too much of a dent in their sales. I agree with McP, I don't think this one will sell much north of 350K.

[stip]

The sales numbers are less interesting to me than the comparisons across time. I wasn't necessarily aware that the backspacer sales were about the equivalent of a platinum album a decade ago.


I think SBM or Swallowed Whole have wider crossover/new audience appeal (which is what you want with a single) than Lightning Bolt, although I prefer L-bolt as a song.

[McParadigm]

McP, how did bad as me sell? it was his first real record since he started becoming a bit more of a household name. (for a certain value of household name).

180-190k. After sales drop past a certain point it's hard to keep track.

[VinylGuy]

Sleeping By Myself should be the next single.

[Tuolumne]

Without knowing exactly how it'll pan out, with all things relative and adjusted to how the industry has declined and how their peers are doing, Lightning Bolt is shaping up to be another moderate success. Riot Act was an abysmal flop ( barely gold back when gold was pretty easy) and so was Binaural. LB, Backspacer, and Yield all appear to be comparable in commercial standing as McP stated. The biggest surprise to me is that it's doing better than Arcade Fire, I certainly wasn't expecting that at all. In fact, for a rock album, it's one of the biggest successes of this year. Also, shockingly, it's really not that far behind some of the pop "too big to fail" monoliths of the day - Miley Cyrus, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry - who are ubiquitous with scorched earth marketing efforts. I do wish some more rock releases like NIN, AIC, KOL etc did better than they did, although they're not that bad considering where the industry is now.

[VinylGuy]

Im surprised with KOL. Seems they are not as big as in 2009.
As for AIC, it was strong. BGWTB was better, but the new album is more difficult to get into.

LB is doing great.

[mastaflatch]

next single should be either:

- Sleeping By Myself. this would be a sensible choice given the length and attributes of the song. it's also quite the kind of heartwarming song that would do well around chrissmasstime. the risk of making this a single (besides pissing off Jeff) right after Sirens which is their PJ goes Bon Jovi song, is a massive loss of "grunge cred" - this means nothing to me but it does to a fair amount of music fans.

- Getaway. i like this song but i acknowledge that it's nothing special. it triggers the right buttons, it has all the ingredients but it doesn't really stun non-fans.

- Infallible. it would be an interresting song to put out as a single but i doubt it would do anything else than tickle most people's ears.

all other songs shouldn't be singles - good Pearl Jam songs aren't good singles. LB has hooks and crannies but it's too long and "complicated" (i'm listening to Thick As A Brick at the moment so) to enter the mind of idiots who base their taste on top 40 radio. Swallowed Whole wouldn't work as a single either because of the phantom drum harmless discovered.

[Lament]

Sleeping By Myself (The Calvin Harris "Alone & Touching Myself" Remix featuring Rhianna & Drake) will easily push this thing to Gold status. Probably Platinum.

[LetMeSleep]

Sleeping By Myself should be the next single.

I concur.

It should actually have just been a single a year or two ago and not appeared on the album.

[BladeRunner]

Waiting for EPL to start so here's killing time.
Getaway - unless it was the one of the first two singles released I can't see any reason why they would release it now.
My Fathers Son - if the band wanted to get a bit adventurous then this would be a good single but they would only get away with it in the mid 90's. Not now .
Infallible - more I think about it the more it be- fits a PJ type single cuz it's quite mainstream without been too obvious but I would not have thought so.
Lightning Bolt - big chance IMO.
Pendulum - very good song but would be a bad choice.
Swallowed Whole - personally my choice, has all the traits for mainstream rock radio airplay.
Sleeping By Myself - another one that would get shitload of airplay but the purists would be irate !
Yellow Moon- good song but no.
Future Days - God no!

[numbers]

I'll be shocked if it isnt Lightning Bolt, but it should be Infallible.

[BurtReynolds]

there are plenty of radio targeted pieces of shit on this album they could release as the next single! yay!

[McParadigm]

Gold in Italy, now.

[mastaflatch]

disco d'oro in una cornice