Metal By Numbers is a weekly column in which we look at the top metal sellers and debuts of the week.
It looks like Interscope made out by luring Escape the Fate away from Epitaph, as they have the top metal debut of the week. The 18,500 they sold isn’t bad, but when you consider that Taylor Swift literally sold 20% of all the albums bought last week, it seems a little distant, even if ETF look slightly prettier than Ms. Swift. That said, it was a pretty weak week for metal debuts.
Notable Debuts:
Escape The Fate, Escape The Fate (Interscope) #24, 18,500 sold
They might have escaped the fate of not having the biggest metal debut of the week. However, they certainly didn’t escape the fate of looking like d-bags on their album cover.
Various Artists, Punk Goes Pop, Vol. 3 (Fearless) #26, 18,000 sold
Ever wonder what it would sound like if second rate emo bands performed pop songs by the likes of Katy Perry and Jason Derulo? We’re thinking lots and lots of autotune.
Memphis May Fire, Between the Lies (Bullet Tooth) 750 sold
This band sells about 750 copies of their EP. Not bad for these guys.
Notable Sales:
Linkin Park, A Thousand Suns (Warner Bros.) #30, 16,100 sold
This doesn’t really count as metal anymore, and with under 500,000 sold in two months, that’s as close to this band has come to a flop.
Disturbed, Asylum (Reprise) #57, 8,300 sold
These guys are pretty much recession-proof. They sold about the same as last week and have sold more than 350,000 in 10 weeks.
Avenged Sevenfold, Nightmare (Warner Bros.) #68, 6,200 sold
Also holding steady at about the same as last week.
All That Remains For We Are Many (Prosthetic/Razor & Tie) #73, 5,900 sold
A pretty modest 15% decline in their fourth week.
Five Finger Death Punch, War is the Answer (Prospect Park) #79, 5,200 sold
This album’s been on the charts for 59 weeks straight and went up in sales this week,
Godsmack, Oracle (Universal) #96, 4,350 sold
Seriously, there’s almost 400,000 of you that bought this album so far, but who really likes Godsmack?
Stone Sour, Audio Secrecy (Roadrunner) #125, 3,400 sold
This will cross 100,000 next week.
AC/DC, AC/DC: Iron Man 2 (Columbia) #128, 3,400 sold
This would be like Black Sabbath doing the soundtrack to Sin City.
Motley Crue, Greatest Hits (Motley Records) #167, 2,430 sold
Speaking of movies, what ever happened to the movie version of The Dirt that was rumored to come out?
Ozzy Osbourne, Scream (Epic) #168, 2,430 sold
This album’s almost halfway to gold, but the tour he’s about to do should push up sales somewhat.
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, The Social Network Movie Soundtrack (The Null Corporation) #174, 2,350 sold
I’m holding out until they re-team to do the Farmville soundtrack.
Bring Me the Horizon, There is a Hell, Believe Me I’ve Seen It. There is a Heaven, Let’s Keep It a Secret (Epitaph) #175, 2,330 sold
If you remember history, their last album sold about 1,000 a week for a year or so. They’re at 35k in five weeks, but sold 13% less than last week.
Soundgarden, Telephantasm (A&M/UMe) #176, 2,320 sold
Wonder if their Conan performance will translate into more sales?
Kylesa, Spiral Shadow (Season Of Mist) 980 sold
This album drops a somewhat modest 35% in its second week, but it’s seriously one of the best records of the year, so BUY IT!
Halford, Halford IV: Made of Metal (Metal God) 670 sold
Hmm, with the way the album’s selling, the metal he’s made of might be more of an aluminum alloy.
Forbidden, Omega Wave (Nuclear Blast) 480 sold
49% less people are riding the Omega Wave than they did in the thrash band’s first week.
We Came As Romans, To Plant A Seed (Equal Vision) 430 sold
They’re back!!! A 30% increase over last week has the band at over 42,000 sold.
Intronaut, Valley of Smoke (Century Media) 410 sold
Selling roughly the same as they did last week, the band’s sold about 3,500 of their latest release.
Terror, Keepers of the Faith (Century Media) 390 sold
A 50% increase from last week puts the hardcore band at over 5,000 sold.
Arson Anthem, Insecurity Notoriety (Housecore) 360 sold
With only 1,500 sold so far, no one’s going to mistake this for Down or Pantera, but we have a feeling Phil is fine with that.
Blind Guardian, At the Edge of Time (Nuclear Blast) 350 sold
I would actually like my guardians to have sight. I’d think a guardian you can walk right past is pretty useless.
