Soundscan Surprises, Week of 3/2
Back-catalog sales numbers of note from Nielsen SoundScan.
The definition of “back catalog” is: “at least 18 months old, have fallen below №100 on the Billboard 200 and do not have an active single on our radio.”
Last night I couldn’t sleep so I watched all four available episodes of “Big Little Lies.” I did not expect to like it as much as I did, but man do I like it. It gets several things about rich Northern California pretty dead on, Chloe is very good, and also Reese Witherspoon fucking rules. Also, I’ve now heard that one Leon Bridges song, “River,” many times. So I know without Googling why his Coming Home jumped to the top of the back catalog.
Just in case you don’t trust me, here is a link to a news article that says, “Columbia’s radio team notes that the song is up by 8000% in US digital sales this week.” The whole album is up 409% over last week.
The black stetson-wearing country star Aaron Watson is coming out with a new album, so his wildly successful (“first album by a male artist to debut at the top of the Country Album charts with a self-released and independently distributed and promoted LP”) debut The Underdog is back on the charts. Besides having a Spanish title (“cowboy”), the album features a song about Mexican immigrants. Watson claimed in a recent interview not to have a position on the wall, but says if he lived in Mexico and knew he could have a better life in Texas, he’d pack his bags. Hmmm.
The 30th anniversary of Roy Orbinson’s Black & White Night concert was celebrated with a newly updated and expanded version. Not sure what’s up with Godsmack? They appear to be getting excited for “the spring festivals,” which include things called Las Rageous. Good, very good.
The fact that Heathers was turned into a fucking musical is a detail worthy of, well, Heathers. Snaps to Bryson Tiller for naming his album with annoying spaces between every letter, in that Herrmanesque style colloquially known to internet people as “widetext” (funny that there’s no space) and to me as “on-purpose bad kerning.” And finally, Taylor Swift at the bottom of the list. Enjoy it while it lasts.
6. BRIDGES*LEON COMING HOME 3,723 copies
42. WATSON*AARON UNDERDOG 1,952 copies
50. ORBISON*ROY BLACK & WHITE NIGHT 1,828 copies
69. GODSMACK LIVE & INSPIRED 1,590 copies
101. VARIOUS ARTISTS HEATHERS THE MUSICAL 1,364 copies
112. TILLER*BRYSON T R A P S O U L 1,296 copies
200. SWIFT*TAYLOR TAYLOR SWIFT 992 copies
(Previously.)
