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2008/5/9

While Madonna scored yet another No. 1 album, it may not have been the blockbuster opening that some were expecting. 首賣並沒有如預期的驚天動地





She sold 280,000 copies of "Hard Candy," according to Nielsen SoundScan, in its first week in stores. First things first: With the days of the CD as the music format of choice seemingly numbered, any album that sells in the six-figure range is a bonus for the music biz these days.

And those who rolled their eyes at yet another blog alluding to the death of the CD, ask Madonna herself, who last year signed a $120-million deal with a touring company in Live Nation. And this summer, fans will get to see that deal start to pay off. Madonna will be generously coming to a whopping 16 North American markets, according to Billboard.

Great Diva Sales Race of 2008 天后銷售競爭

Yet it's also hard not to note that Madonna's "Hard Candy" sold about 180,000 fewer copies than Mariah Carey moved two weeks ago. She's still significantly ahead, though, of the 181,000 copies sold by Janet Jackson's "Discipline" when it debuted in March.

But back to Carey. Her "E=MC2" scored the highest debut of the year when it opened at No. 1 after selling 463,000 copies. In just three weeks on the chart, "E=MC2" has sold more than 740,000 copies.

Album sales may be down across the board, but Madonna would certainly be expected to be closer to Mariah than, say, Leona Lewis on the diva totem pole. Newcomer Lewis entered at No. 1 a few weeks ago, her debut, "Spirit," selling 205,000 copies.

To compare "Hard Candy's" stats to Madonna's last record: In 2005 her Euro-influenced "Confessions on a Dance Floor" opened with 350,000 copies, according to Billboard. It's rare these days for an artist to actually top the first-week sales of a prior album, but if anyone could do it, it would certainly be Madonna. And Mariah just did it.

So it's easy to view Madonna's sales tally as a disappointment, a sign that she's losing her grip on the pop marketplace. But don't.

CD sales just an added bonus

Billboard downplays Madonna's sales dip, noting that "Confessions" opened during the holiday season. The trade also fairly points out that Mariah may have benefited from appearances on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" and "American Idol."

On one hand, Madonna is a bigger international brand than Mariah will ever be, and she was just inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

But on the other, the marketing campaign for "Hard Candy" was one based less on promotion than on partnerships. The album may not have been endorsed by Oprah, but the marketing campaign leading up the release of "Hard Candy" has been far from what anyone would call subtle. There are the Sunsilk commercials, the branding promotions with Verizon, the odd YouTube video and the video gift to gossip blogger Perez Hilton.

Additionally, Madonna's lead single, "4 Minutes," has been inescapable. It's still a top-10 hit, and her second single, "Give It 2 Me," has just debuted in the top 100. But even more important, "4 Minutes" has given Madonna something she didn't have at all with "Confessions on a Dance Floor," and that's a hit on U.S. radio.

But if there's a problem -- if this is a problem -- with "4 Minutes," it's that it is as much a Justin Timberlake or Timbaland single as it is one from Madonna. It's also a song that will spur download sales, but not necessarily album sales.

For instance, as fun and silly as it may be, "4 Minutes" also could have appeared on Timbaland's 2007 album "Shock Value," or Timberlake's "FutureSex/LoveSounds." It's a song fit for an iTunes playlist as much as it is a new Madonna album.

Indeed, by lining up today's top producers and superstars -- Timberlake, Timbaland, Pharrell Williams, Kanye West, etc. -- Madonna has created an album that may sound swell stacked up with everyone else on the radio, but it also risks the danger of failing to set itself apart.

But "Hard Candy" doesn't really need to stand alone in order to be a success. The end result is an album seemingly built to sell millions of single-track downloads, ring tones, videos and bits of whatever digital accessories exist. And for pop music as business plan, that may prove to be one of Madonna's smartest moves yet, whether intentional or not.

Source: Todd Martens, Los Angeles Times

OFFICIAL Billboard Figures for HARD CANDY'S # 1 DEBUT!
2008/5/7
Here's an amazing analysis from BILLBOARD of M's incredible debut in the U.S. !

Madonna's "Hard Candy" album makes a sweet entrance at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart with 280,000, giving the diva her seventh chart-topper and the third biggest sales week of the year. A whopping 26% of the album's first week sales were downloads sold through digital retailers ... Other high debuts this week come from Lyfe Jennings, the Roots, Def Leppard, Portishead, Mudcrutch and Tim McGraw ... In Progress Reports, we've got news on Coldplay, James Otto and Weezer.


FLASH POINTS

• Madonna's "Hard Candy" takes its expected bow atop the
Billboard 200 albums chart, giving the queen of pop her seventh No. 1 -- the
second-most among all female artists. Only Barbra Streisand, with eight, has
more. "Candy" earns the third biggest sales week of the year as well, with
280,000 sold in its first week. That's a bigger number than the 225,000-250,000
range that Billboard projected last week based on the set's first-day sales
figures. (Digital downloads accounted for a whopping 26% -- 73,000 -- of the
album's overall first-week, easily making it No. 1 the Top Digital Albums
chart.)

• Madonna's last studio effort, 2005's "Confessions on a Dance
Floor" started with 350,000 when it bowed at No. 1. However, that discofied
album was released on Nov. 15, just as the Christmas shopping season was kicking
into high gear, which partially explains its bigger opening. Each of the top
seven albums that week on the Billboard 200 sold more than 100,000. Even the No.
2 album, the debuting "Some Hearts" by Carrie Underwood, started with more than
300,000.

• So far in 2008, there has yet to be a week that busy. The
last time the chart housed seven or more albums that each sold at least 100,000
was -- no surprise -- the sales week ending Dec. 23, 2007, when the top 23 all
did more than 100,000. Ho, ho, ho!

• For those chart watchers (and diva
enthusiasts) who are trying to draw comparisons between "Hard Candy's" 280,000
bow and Mariah Carey's 463,000 start with her new "E=MC2," hold your horses.
During "E=MC2's" release week, Carey pulled out all the stops and performed on
"American Idol," "The Oprah Winfrey Show" and "Good Morning America." During
"Hard Candy's" release week, Madonna did not perform on TV. In fact, she has yet
to perform on American TV to promote this album. Last week, the only chat show
she visited was BET's "106 and Park" (May 2).

• Madonna did, however,
stage a well-publicized club show at the Roseland Ballroom in New York on April
30, which was streamed online via MSN. But a club show -- no matter how hot --
can't compare with the impact "American Idol" and Oprah Winfrey has. And, keep
in mind that Carey was returning with her first album since her comeback set,
"The Emancipation of Mimi," which also happens to be the biggest selling album
of 2005.

• Besides, with an album loaded with singles that seem ripe for
American radio, "Hard Candy" may have a healthy shelf life. The set was led by
the unqualified hit single "4 Minutes" (featuring Justin Timberlake). It's her
biggest radio hit since 2001's "Don't Tell Me" and it spent multiple weeks at
No. 1 on the Hot Digital Songs chart. Madonna's had a tough time getting her new
music heard on U.S. radio in the past six or so years, so securing American
airplay with "4 Minutes" was key in the promotion of "Hard Candy." The diva is
in Europe now, focusing on the promotion of the album there. Last night (May 6)
she staged her second club show supporting the album, this time at the Olympia
Hall in Paris.

Madonna, 50, performed in Paris last night and did something very untoward. With a champagne bottle in one hand, she grabbed one of her backup dancers with her other hand and kissed her. Possibly with tongue. So if you get off on watching grannies forcibly make-out with a girl half their age, then today’s your lucky day. Sicko.

May 8th, 2008

After landing atop this week’s Billboard Hot 200, Madonna has announced plans to embark on a fifty-sixty city tour around the Globe, kicking off in Britain this summer. Here are the official dates for The Material Girl’s Sticky & Sweet Tour 2008.

Madonna Sticky & Sweet Tour Dates: 沒有亞洲行程!?

23-Aug - Cardiff Millennium Stadium - Fri. May 16

26-Aug - Nice Stade Charles Ehrmann - Fri. May 16

28-Aug - Berlin Olympic Stadium - Wed. May 21

02-Sept - Amsterdam Arena - Sat. May 17

04-Sept - Dusseldorf LTU Arena - Wed. May 21

06-Sept - Rome Olympic Stadium - Fri. May 23

09-Sept - Frankfurt Commerzbank Arena - Wed. May 21

11-Sept - London Wembley Stadium - Fri. May 16

20-Sept - Paris Stade de France - Fri. May 16

03-Oct - E. Rutherford Izod Center - Mon. May 19

06-Oct - New York City Madison Square Garden - Mon. May 19

07-Oct - New York City Madison Square Garden - Mon. May 19

15-Oct - Boston TD BankNorth Garden - Sat. May 17

18-Oct - Toronto Air Canada Centre - Sat. May 24

22-Oct - Montreal Bell Centre - Sat. May 24

26-Oct - Chicago United Center - Sat. May 17

30-Oct - Vancouver BC Place Stadium - Sat. May 24

01-Nov - Oakland Oracle Arena - Sun. June 1

04-Nov - San Diego Petco Park - Sun. June 1

06-Nov - Los Angeles Dodger Stadium - Sun. June 1

08-Nov - Las Vegas MGM Grand Garden Arena - Sat. May 31

11-Nov - Denver Pepsi Center - Sat. May 31

16-Nov - Houston Minute Maid Park - Sat. May 31

19-Nov - Philadelphia Wachovia Center - Mon. June 2

22-Nov - Atlantic City Boardwalk Hall - Mon. June 2

24-Nov - Atlanta Philips Arena - Sat. May 31

26-Nov - Miami Dolphin Stadium - Sat. May 31

Additional dates and venues to be announced.