Album marks biggest second-week drop in history, Billboard says

Apr 12, 2012 08:53 GMT  ·  By
Madonna's “M.D.N.A.” album sets new record for biggest second-week sales drop since 1991
   Madonna's “M.D.N.A.” album sets new record for biggest second-week sales drop since 1991

Madonna launched her twelfth studio album, “M.D.N.A.,” last week and, despite mixed reviews, sales were initially very strong. In its second week, they bowed by almost 90%, thus making Madonna the first artist to record such huge second-week drop since 1991.

Because of the numbers cited by Billboard, the diva's latest material is deemed a flop though, as the music publication also notes, drops of this kind are not that uncommon, being mostly explained by unusual marketing practices before release.

However, that doesn't change the fact that interest in “M.D.N.A.” has reached a critical point in its second week out.

“This week, Madonna's 'MDNA' earns the distinction of the largest second-week percentage sales drop for a No. 1-debuting album since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking sales in 1991,” Billboard reports.

“The album slides from No. 1 to No. 8 on the Billboard 200 with a 86.7% sales decline (falling from 359,000 to 48,000 according to SoundScan),” adds the same publication.

The previous record holder was Lady Gaga with her latest album, “Born This Way,” which made a killing in sales in its first week (1.11 million) and then barely sold 174,000 items in the second.

As noted above, drops like this are not unusual, with many hyped artists seeing their album sales go down by 60-80%.

The explanation is to be found in the marketing practices employed before the release, which translate into a boost of first-week sales, Billboard says.

In other words, it's not the second-week sales that are the problem, but what happens in the first week, when sales are more or less artificially encouraged / enhanced.

“'MDNA's' large fall was expected, as its debut was bolstered by sales gained from a concert ticket/album promotion as well as preorders from iTunes. Further, without a current hit single on our major airplay charts nor any substantial recent promotion on Madonna's part, the drop was bound to be significant,” Billboard says.

Certain that the album would be a hit and, at the same time, too busy to rehearse for the upcoming tour, Madonna also did very little promotion for the album – and this too may have damaged sales, the same media outlet believes.