Metal By Numbers 12/16/09: TSO Still Making Cash Registers Jingle

Posted by on December 16, 2009

night castleMetal By Numbers is a weekly column in which we look at the top metal sellers and debuts of the week as well as what’s getting played at metal radio courtesy of radio trade magazine FMQB, whose metal panel consists of about 80 college and commercial stations that have metal shows, as well as SiriusXM, Music Choice, and more.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year. Unless you’re a metal band. With all the pop and holiday music that nervous parents are buying their kids as stocking stuffers, there’s not a ton of metal in the top 100. In fact, only three hard rock/metal bands are represented. Some of the old standbys populate the rest of the chart, and Susan Boyle has sold over 500,000 copies of her album for the third week in a row. Jeez. Trans-Siberian Orchestra are still selling records, though.

Notable Debuts:

30 Seconds To Mars, This Is War (Virgin) Debut #18, 67,000 sold
Jordan Catelano’s rock band is one of the few records to debut this week.

Notable Sales:

Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Night Castle (Atlantic) #31, 40,000 sold
At about 280,000 sold in less than two months. Not Lady Gaga or Susan Boyle numbers, but still pretty amazing.

Them Crooked Vultures, Them Crooked Vultures (DGC/Interscope) #73, 15,000 sold
The perfect holiday gift for the person that has everything… else by QOTSA, Zep and Foo Fighters.

Alice In Chains, Black Gives Way To Blue (Virgin) #97, 12,000 sold
This album’s a monster that’s on its way to 300,000. Doesn’t hurt that the album’s way better than anyone expected.

KISS, Sonic Boom (KISS Records) #147 7,600 sold
A nice 16% increase that was likely feuled by everyone coming to buy other stuff at Wal Mart and seeing a KISS Korner. Sorta makes up for the fact that they were robbed of a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction once again.

Chickenfoot, Chickenfoot (Redline Entertainment) #148 7,500
This sold about the same as it did last week. Nothing says consistency like Sammy Hagar.

AC/DC, Backtracks (Sony Legacy) #166 6,000 sold
A 24% increase from last week, which is a nice increase.

Hollywood Undead, Desperate Measures (Octone) #171  5,500 sold
This remix/live/cover EP has sold almost 50,000 copies so far. Good for them (?)

Five Finger Death Punch, War Is The Answer (Prospect Park) #173 5,400 sold
These dudes has an 18% pickup in sales as well. Up to about 130,000 sold so far, which should put them at about gold for both albums.

Slayer, World Painted Blood (Sony) #175  5,300 sold
Slay bells ring, are you listening?

Hollywood Undead, Swan Songs (A&M/Octone) #176  5,200 sold
Slipknot plus Insane Clown Posse minus originality = these dudes.

Halford, Halford III: Winter Songs (Metal God) 1,250 sold
This could become a holiday tradition like TSO. But not this year. Still up to a respectable 7,000 or so sold.

Baroness, Blue Record (Relapse) 900 sold
My pick for album of the year? At least one of my top three.

Nile, Those Whom the Gods Detest (Nuclear Blast) 700 sold
If ancient Egyptians bought records, this would have done even better this week.

Bring Me The Horizon, Suicide Season (Epitaph) 660 sold
Seriously? It’s been over a year, and they’ll cross over 80,000 sold next week. Can I stop writing about these dudes?

Austrian Death Machine, Double Brutal (Metal Blade) 600 sold
I wonder how many more Schwarzenegger quotes Austrian Death Machine can mine before they’re using obscure ones from movies like End of Days or Twins.

Iwrestledabearonce, It’s All Happening (Century Media) 500 sold
I wonder what it’s going to sound like when these guys write a “mature” album.

Skindred, Shark Bites and Dog Fights (Bieler Brothers) 500 sold
We’d like a Dub War reunion, please.

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Categorised in: Metal By Numbers, Metal on Metal