Alicia Keys’ 1st week album sales continue to decline; sales predictions…

Written by Toya
Posted November 28, 2012 at 9:49 pm

Shockingly, Alicia Keys is set to encounter the lowest first week sales of her career with new album ‘Girl on Fire.’ Predictions are posted below…

‘Girl on Fire’ is on course to enter the Billboard 200 at #1 next week with sales of 150-175k copies. Such numbers showcase a huge decline from the 417k units that her last album ‘The Element of Freedom’ sold when it debuted at #2 on the chart in December 2009.

Even her debut album ‘Songs in A Minor’ (previously her lowest first week album seller) did better having amassed 236k copies during its first week on the Billboard 200 in June 2001. That album went on to sell over 6.3 million copies in the States overall. It’s been a very bad year for R&B acts this year. Damn.

Filed under: Alicia Keys, Billboard charts

Muziqjunkie

I’m honestly surprised she is expected to sale this many… That cd is just not cutting it for me. There are only a couple of good songs but none of them touch the masterpieces from her previous albums…
Johnta

I like this much better than her last album element of wackness, and a little more than her third album.
http://Toyazworld.com Umight

This CD plus her screeching vocals…i couldnt even give the album a fare listening
Miles

Why is the headline so negative. 100k plus is great sales. As a musician I would be happy to get 50k sales.
Cam

Shocked, but not really ‘Girl on Fire’ hasn’t become the hit single she thought it would be, maybe if she had saved it for the release of The Hunger Games sequel it could have done better. With the exception of EOF and GOF every album she has released had a smash hit first single, she had a moderate first single with EOF but was truly saved by her second single, and GOF’s first single did better than EOF’s but still hasn’t reached the heights of her first three albums first singles.

There was a time when Alicia’s album sales set the bar for females in music not just R&B but in general As I Am sold over 700,000 in its first week that was major but I think those days are gone for Alicia I’m even beginning to wonder if Beyonce could ever beat her highest first week sales of over 500,000. The demand for artist like AK, BK, and Usher seems to be going down my question is why?
CiCi

@Cam I think you answered that question already. No hit single or consistency. AK is known to consistently make good music. When people heard New Day and Girl On Fire, they probably thought that the rest of the album would sound like that and lost interest. Which is actually the case for me. The album is just not that good in comparison to her other projects. Usher is in the same boat plus he’s become too electro pop for many. BK… I don’t think the demand for her has declined. I think people were expecting a different type of album from her especially during that season of release. While 4 is a great piece, it didn’t fit in with that time Fran IMO. Plus last era was kinda sloppy tbh.
AalexisR

The album is far from terrible, screeching or anything of the sort. It is a great album, one of her best. Girl On Fire and New Day do not define the rest of the album. The tracks definitely flowed quite nicely. Her lyricism has also improved this time around. There are very few fillers if any on this record. Very solid AK.
sheldon taylor

The article is basing AK’s album on previous sales versus actual quality. AK’s previous giant first week sales were based on the consumer consumption of PHYSICAL product. In the 3 years since her last record the shift has been to digital downloads. In the early 2000s first week sales of 100k+ were great and ended up early indicator of an albums ability to go platnium or better. Its a sign of the times we are in not the the quality of the album. Lastly just like Michael,Janet, Mariah and Whitney later works it is on realistic for those gigantic sales to go on forever but it is unfair to assume this record is a flop because it sold less than projected sales from AK albums released 3-10 yrs ago.
Patrick

Her new music sucks! I think this whole CD will flop as it just isnt good music. I knew it wouldnt sell.
Tracy

HITS DAILY are the same ones that predicted 270K for The Element of Freedom, they are definitely way off on this one, she will easily sell 500,000 first week, they have a history of underestimating her sales, they were also off on As I Am, but I love that they are underestimating and getting the haters fired up so they can have egg on their face next week. Anyone who says that this CD is not one of her best DID NOT listen to the whole CD, it is her best CD Lyrically and Musically, it is timeless, this disc will be relevant 20 years from now, but I don’t expect a 20 something to get that, play it in 10 years and it will make sense then, it’s for grown folks, and grown folks go to the retailer to purchase the disc as they have been doing since yesterday and will continue to do throughout the week and weekend. I call 500K
Luke

I’m not surprised at all. It’s been 3 years since her last album and this year has been terrible for R&B artists.
Steph

Okay, her album came out on midnight, 11/27 & Daily Hits have a “prediction” of sales less than 24 hours later. I hope Daily Hits know that pre-orders & itune sales count also. Alicia is a talented artist, I don’t understand why people are rooting for her to fail & why some people would publish the “prediction” BEFORE the actual #s are in!
Mileka

I think those numbers are decent – it’s the same story across the board for many R’nB artists at the moment.
Yhe album was very boring to me. It’s consistent in that it’s a typical AK album, but a few upbeat songs here and there wouldn’t have hurt.
http://www.sugurrush.com Sugur Shane

No shade, Im not surprised, shocked it wasn’t a little lower. ehhh Alicia
TUDiva

SHE CAN’T COMPETE WITH RIHANNA!! VERY DISAPPOINTED
Panama

This is “prediction”, remember?

I am a huge AK fan, I still am, and I am impressed with her efforts in promoting the album. Even if many people are predicting that her first week sales for the GOF album would be that much, I won’t take that too seriously. And even if the album is sold that much, just like what the predictions have said, I still am proud of her.

Many people relate this number with her “scandal”, saying that AK had lost many fans since. I don’t deny this, some of my friends stop listening to her when they found out about it. But then again, fans come and go – when she lost some, she gained some. That’s what I believe.

Bad choice of first single? Perhaps. This happened with her EOF album. I really hoped that she chose Unthinkable instead of DMA as the lead single back then. But what’s done is done. And she also has her own reasons.

At least AK is still loyal and consistent in terms of genre. She didn’t choose the electropop path, a feat that was often done by many great artists and groups – BEP, Usher, etc. That’s what make me still stick to her.

I won’t lie, though, I hope that her album would sell more than what people have predicted.

Alicia Keys’ 1st week album sales continue to decline; sales predictions…

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