The first indication of trouble came out of Ireland where Madonna's new album, MDNA, fell from number 1 to number 11 in its second week out. Then came the early projections from the U.S. site Hits Daily Double, showing an immense dip in sales in the second week in America.
MDNA opened huge in most of the world, at the top of the charts in the U.S., Canada, Britain, Australia, Belgium, Finland, Italy, the Netherlands and Sweden; number 2 in Norway and Switzerland and number 3 in New Zealand.
The first official chart to be released with MDNA in its second week is out of Ireland where the album takes a precipitous ten place fall from 1 to 11. At the same time, two veteran artists whose albums have been out much longer are in the top ten, Bruce Springsteen's Wrecking Ball at number 3 after five weeks of release and Leonard Cohen's Old Ideas at number 10 after ten weeks out.
The most telling story, though, comes from the U.S. where Hits Daily Double is predicting second week sales for MDNA at 40,000 to 45,000, down almost 90% from week one's 369,000 copies. At the same time, Lionel Richie's Tuskegee is looking at projected sales of 100,000 to 110,000, down a more normal 45 to 50% from its opening of 199,000.
It remains to be seen if the numbers will hold through the weekend in the U.S. or if the drop off will happen in all the other countries. After all, Madonna has been written off many times and she has always found a way to come back bigger than ever.
Read more: http://www.vintagevinylnews.com/#ixzz1rGF1ZtTt
