Leave it to brash punk-pop icon Green Day to inject some much-needed life into the U.S. pop charts. The band's latest concept-driven collection for Reprise/Warner Bros., "21st Century Breakdown," which was released off-cycle on a Friday rather than the typical Tuesday, sold 214,000 copies through Sunday, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
The figure is close to what the group's previous album, 2004's critically acclaimed "American Idiot," sold in a full week -- that Grammy Award-winning effort opened with 267,000 copies and has sold 5.9 million to date.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Friday, May 29, 2009 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 4 National Desk 1 inches; 24 words Type of Material: Correction
Music sales: A May 21 Business article about music industry sales said Eminem's "Encore" was released in 2005. The album came out in 2004.
Green Day's album marks the unofficial start of what will be a busy summer season for music retailers -- with new material from major artists such as the Black Eyed Peas, Dave Matthews Band, the Jonas Brothers and Lil Wayne on tap -- and it can't come fast enough, as far as beleaguered merchants are concerned.
Total sales for the first few months of 2009 stand at 136.4 million, down from 157.4 million a year ago and 177.1 million in 2007.
In perhaps even more distressing news, although digital album sales have grown, the pace has slowed.
Through the sales week that ended Sunday, SoundScan reports, consumers bought 28.9 million digital albums in 2009. That's up from 24 million for the same period a year earlier, but not quite as big a leap as there was from 2007 to 2008.
Additionally, in its recent earning report, Warner Music Group touted a 6% growth in revenue from digital sales, but that's off from a 48% increase reported for the same quarter last year.
With the latest from Interscope artist Eminem, "Relapse," hitting stores this week, and more new albums from best-selling artists on the horizon, retailers are hoping for some recession relief.
Green Day's debut comes one week after R&B singer Chrisette Michele led the chart with 83,000 copies of "Epiphany" sold, the lowest total for an album debuting at No. 1 since SoundScan began tracking data in 1991.
"When you're going into a situation like the one we're in, where unemployment is 10% and people are broke, you look at successes differently," said Karen Pearson, general manager at Amoeba Music. "It's not that there's a lack of faith or consumer loyalty. It's sheer economics. People don't walk in, because they're on a budget."
U2's Interscope effort "No Line on the Horizon" and the Disney soundtrack to "Hannah Montana: The Movie," both of which have topped 892,000 in sales, remain the biggest releases of 2009.
