It was revealed yesterday (January 30th) that Ed Sheeran‘s ‘+‘ album had needed the lowest total sales, just over 20,000, to reach the top spot of the UK charts since 1995 when the Levellers‘ ‘Zeitgeist‘ required only 13,885 units to climb to the summit.
Bruno Mars‘ ‘Doo Wops & Hooligans‘ has also needed sales of not much more than 20,000 to be the UK’s number one this month yet, despite the continuing trend, a HMV spokesman has said there is no need for serious concern at the moment.
“January is often the quietest month as people tend to be cautious with their spending to pay off Christmas,” the spokesman remarked to NME. “So although chart sales weren’t particularly high, these sorts of numbers shouldn’t come as that much of a surprise, especially when you consider there were hardly any new albums out last week – which you always need if you’re going to galvanize public and media interest.”
It is hoped the next few weeks will see a boost in sales, with Lana Del Rey‘s much discussed ‘Born To Die‘ LP out this week.
The only reason artists struggle to achieve the desired album sales very much down to hmv and it’s inability to stock chart albums due to its current buying restrictions/lack of support from suppliers, I’m sorry to say, not enough pennies in the piggy bank!!!