Artists and Albums

Alright! After eight years and seven albums, Barbadian pop queen Rihanna has finally scored her first no.1 album with "Unapologetic". While it is certainly not her best album, it's a worthy album to claim the top of the Billboard 200. So what took so long?

You see, Rihanna is the most liked person on Facebook with 62 million likes. So she beats out Eminem, Lady Gaga, Madonna, even Michael Jackson. She has had 12 number one singles and at least 20 top 10 hits. So, why did it take eight years for her to finally get a number one album?

The Billboard 200 is a chart that ranks albums from 1-200 based on copies sold each week. This past week "Unapologetic" sold 238,000 copies, being Rihanna's best sales week ever. That's it. Her 2010 blockbuster "Loud" peaked at number 3 with 207,000 copies, and her 2011 album "Talk That Talk" also peaked at number 3 with 190,000. Why the low sales? Believe it or not, selling 238,000 copies to get a number one album isn't a lot. Earlier this year, Madonna's "MDNA" got to number one with first week sales of 359,000, and then Justin Bieber's "Believe" debuted at number one with 374,000. Nicki Minaj's sophomore album "Roman Reloaded" started at number one with 253,000. So, it looks like Rihanna can turn out multiple smash singles and sell over 60 million singles worldwide, but when it comes to her albums, she has sold a mere 25 million. Over 7 albums, that's not that much folks. That's what I wanted to discuss today, is how a person can sell millions off of one song, but their LPs fail to replicate that success. First off, Rihanna can take solace in the fact that she's not the only one who sells millions of singles and not that many albums. Let's take a look at other artists who face the same problem:

Katy Perry
Yep. The girl who sings about bikini tops, peacocks, fireworks, and kissing girls has sold millions of singles off of each song she puts out there, but has only sold a measly 5 million albums worldwide. Her debut album "One of the Boys" peaked at number 9 in 2008, and while her much-talked about sophomore album "Teenage Dream" peaked at number one, it did so on the strength of only 192,000 copies. "One of the Boys" has sold 2 million albums worldwide, "Teenage Dream" has sold 3 million worldwide. She's had 7 number one singles, 10 top 10 hits, and all of her songs go on to sell at least 2 million copies in the US alone. So even with domination of the airwaves, why are people so reluctant to buy her albums?

Flo Rida
Same exact issue as Katy. Every single he releases hits the top 5, with most of them hitting number one. His debut single "Low" spent 10 weeks at number 1 in 2008 and was named the song of the year. He has since released "Right Round", "Good Feeling", "Wild Ones", and "Whistle". He has no problem getting his songs to sell, but not only has he not had a number one album, he has only had two top 10 albums. In fact, he has only sold 2 million albums worldwide.

Carly Rae Jepsen
You know, the mastermind behind 2012's best pop song "Call Me Maybe"? It has sold 10 million copies worldwide, and is still going. She exploded onto the music scene this year and even I thought that her sophomore album "Kiss" would sell a hefty amount. I was flat out wrong. Come September 18, the album was put into stores, and after the conclusion of its first sales week, "Kiss" debuted and has so far peaked at number 6 with a disappointing 46,000 first week sales figure. That's it? She's very appealing in person and has appeared in many events to put her name out there. So why the big flop?

Kesha
Ok, I know this kind of speaks for itself. Kesha's image definitely comes before her music, and I know everyone sees that as off-putting. But even so, her debut single "Tik Tok" has sold 13 million copies around the globe, and all of her other singles have reached the top 10 and have sold millions around the world as well. How many albums has she sold? About as much as Flo Rida, maybe a little more.

So it looks even the most popular figures in music experience downfalls. So back to question, if all of the above singers can completely own the American radio stations, why don't their albums sell as well as their singles? The answer may surprise you.

You see, singles are meant to be biopsies of the album itself, so whatever the singles are, they not only have an affect on the perception of the singer, but they can directly affect album sales. Think of Katy Perry. She releases songs like "California Gurls", the song is very catchy and addictive by itself, but getting a 12-track clone of that song (or at least that's the image that gets into your head) is quite a daunting task. Also, that song makes Katy seem like a tart instead of a substantial woman who deserves the attention she craves. Same thing with Kesha, yes "Tik Tok" is an addictive dance tune, as are her other singles, but after a while they get to be ingratiating after being played on the radio so many times. Getting an entire album of this material will just whither away the interest, so it's better to just get the song and enjoy the singles as they come. It's also cheaper to buy singles instead of entire albums priced at $9.99 or more.

Image is vital to singers, and whatever material they release directly affects that image. So after many songs of partying, we have a more lukewarm reception to Katy Perry and Kesha, who seem more desperate than enjoyable. And with Flo Rida's content of degrading women and the fact that he is so unoriginal (there's only a couple songs that don't use a sample from another hit song) also lead his perception to be more of a copycat. Carly Rae Jepsen may just be seen as too sweet, and it's just too much to consume all at once, so it's better to just get her best material instead of adding an entire album to your MP3 players. But Rihanna, that's a riddle. She's probably one of the most personable singers on the market right now, Facebook proves that she's very well liked, and she causes enough stir to stay relevant all the time. Her songs also don't lead to a negative connotation of her as a person. Knowing her immense popularity, she should be selling more. Then again, maybe the fact that she releases songs and albums at and alarmingly fast rate is what off-puts her fans. Before they can settle into one album, she already has several more in stores. Maybe she should give us time to miss her, and then in turn she will start to sell more.

But whatever the case, let's congratulate Rihanna for her accomplishment. She has already broken many musical records, this just adds one more to the tally. And many one day the above artists and many more will find a way to find the balance between image and music.