14 DAY TRIAL // Adam Lambert, Lady Gaga, and Rihanna are nothing if put up against Susan Boyle, the most unlikely superstar ever to emerge in the history of music – at least in terms of sales, as Billboard magazine reports. Miss Boyle’s debut album “I Dreamed a Dream” arrived in music stores at the beginning of this week, moving 134,000 copies in just one day, which sets it as potentially the biggest seller of this year, estimates show.
Come to think of it, even before the debut album became available physically, pre-orders showed that it stood great chances of turning into one of this year’s biggest winners. However, not even the people with Boyle’s record label, Syco, Simon Cowell’s arm of Sony BMG, could have actually estimated the impressive reaction the material generated in fans, Billboard says. In light of how “I Dreamed a Dream” did on its first day, analysts now believe it might very well move over 400,000 copies in its first week alone.
Granted this comes to happen, Susan Boyle will increase her chances of becoming the best selling artist of this year, newcomer to the scene or not. She will still have to shatter the record held by Eminem who, back in May, moved 608,000 units of “Relapse” in the first week of release, which, in times like these when the music industry is changing and digital sales are taking over sales of physical albums, is quite an astonishing figure. Music insiders, though, are confident the Scottish singer is on path to greatness, which should be confirmed later this week.
“While distribution projections for Boyle's album start at the 550,000 mark, some executives are reluctant to guess how high it will go. If Sony can keep product rolling and if big boxes ‘have stock on Black Friday, who knows how well the album can do,’ says one veteran prognosticator, who thinks the Boyle album will sell at least 700,000 copies this week,” Billboard writes of other, more optimistic predictions.
There is, however, one factor that will weigh heavily in the balance when drawing the line with “I Dreamed a Dream” sales: the holiday weekend. “How well Boyle’s album performs will in part have to do with replenishment, as accounts reported that many stores are on the verge of being out of stock and re-orders have been placed. Based on past performances of hot-selling titles, Sony Music Entertainment likely will keep pace with demand. But it’s scrambling to do so, allocating product daily and making multiple shipments this week to each account. Sony Music’s ability to deliver product will be hampered by the holiday weekend, which begins Wednesday afternoon/evening,” the same music-oriented publication informs.