The Numbers Are In! Katy Perry’s ‘Witness’ Sold…

Published: Saturday 17th Jun 2017 by Sam

After a whirlwind launch campaign, the first week numbers are finally in for Katy Perry‘s latest album ‘Witness.’

Naturally, given the enormity of her star, eyes would always have been peeled to see her tally.

Yet, with the roller-coaster that preceded its release (see: under-performing singles, controversies, and memes), heightened interest surrounds the amount of support she received at retail.

Well, wonder no more because the answer awaits below…

Per Hits Daily Double‘s final count, ‘Witness’ will top the Billboard 200. It sold the following to do so…

187,338 – Sales Plus Streaming 
(169,522 – Pure Sales) 

**************

There are a few ways of dissecting and digesting the digits.

On the one hand, they are not only impressive by today’s scarily low sales standards but they are commendable given the LP’s lack of preceding hit. Logic had many (us included) feeling that folk wouldn’t part with $10.99 for an album if they wouldn’t even spend $1.29 on her single. Or, worse still, even bother streaming it for free.

Yet, Perry has clearly defied the odds on that front.

Still, for an act of her caliber, she should – in theory – be doing numbers double, triple what she managed to deliver.

Indeed, in the four years since preceding album ‘Prism’ (which opened with 266k), she’s been armored with the momentum of huge hits such as ‘Roar’ and seismic exposure platforms like the Super Bowl. Put simply, she’s become bigger, yet her numbers are smaller.

Something isn’t adding up. Why?

Your thoughts?

Posted under:

Comments 46

Please Post Your Comments & Reviews

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  1. SdotB June 17, 2017

    A lot of artists are becoming bigger, while they’re numbers are getting smaller. Do you really need to ask that question? No one’s really buying music these days; it’s all about branding.

    • Julian June 17, 2017

      *mic drop*

    • BEYONCE & RIHANNA June 17, 2017

      True tea g

  2. S****** Blonde June 17, 2017

    Good numbers.

    • Fancy BISH June 17, 2017

      Issa flop tho lol #Flopness

  3. DanYiel Iman June 17, 2017

    All these year’s, I’ve never streamed any type of songs!! I continue to buy the album’s of the artist I still want to hear!!

  4. AJ June 17, 2017

    The music isn’t good that’s why. For the first time, she has released an album that sounds very on-trend and therefore not authentic. It’s very generic – she definitely released the best threebsongs on the album.

    • Carlitos June 17, 2017

      That’s not true. This album is really good. You haven’t taken the time to listen to the rest of it, obviously.

      • Truth June 19, 2017

        I did but can’t wait for katy to get a Swift Kick in the pants

  5. The Side Eye of RA June 17, 2017

    The real revelation will be the second week numbers. I expect a large drop-off.

    • PatienceHoney June 17, 2017

      Yes there will be major drop off.

      • Fancy BISH June 17, 2017

        Catastrophic lol #Flopness #FlopToTheRhythm #FlopAppetit #FlushFlush

  6. MUSICHEAD June 17, 2017

    Music has become so generic and disposable that there’s no point in even buying anymore. Streaming is the way to go. However, those who are still buying  music are mostly middle America white people, mostly female. Katy has clearly alienated that audience with this album, not to mention the fact that this new haircut is not flattering. This is exactly why country music continues to sell, because the audience that still buys music either wants safe pop/rock/country, or trendy rap music to escape from their suburban boredom.

    • Caleb June 17, 2017

      Does country music really sell like that though?

    • Scratchy August 27, 2017

      She’s getting older.She is 32 now.She is the same age as some of the mothers of the pop consumers of today.Pop is very much concentrated to an under 25 audience (especially pre-tweenies / tween ies / teenagers).They have to throw alot of $$$ behind Katy Perry for to have any sort of traction with this audience.
      It seems to me that alot of better selling pop singers tend to sing with a patois / pidgin vocal delivery.This fits in with contemporary r ‘n b / hip hop (rap) / EDM fusion that is popular with today’s young consumers (inc. downloaders / streamers / youtubeviews etc.).Katy Perry doesn’t really fit in with this style, alongside the age traction difficulty.She is no longer trendy with the young pop consumer’s.
      Katy Perry is very much still a ‘live’ draw – which were the money is in today’s music (apart from endorsement’s + merchandise perhaps).This is becoming more about Katy Perry as a nostalgia act, than a contemporary act, however.She still has to have just enough pop exposure / media exposure to keep this live draw going.

  7. THE REAL June 17, 2017

    Most interesting to me is the fact that ‘Joanne’, (a well promoted album but nothing compared to Katy’ s ‘Witness’ rollout) managed to get 170k pure/201k sps on the back of a flop lead single (Perfect Illusion.) Yet, Katy had not one but THREE, including a Tay Swift diss record and a trend chasing Migos collab. Just look how mighty the Hot 100 queens have fallen. No hate…just an observation based on the stan wars y’all like to promote here. ?? Btw, ‘Witness’ is not that bad either. You just have to edit/cut about half the songs.

    My personal track picks:
    Witness
    Hey Hey Hey
    Deja Vu
    Swish Swish
    Tsunami
    Miss You More
    Pendulum
    Bon Appetit (sadly,I can’t resist the Migos feature)

    • Carlitos June 17, 2017

      I somewhat agree with you. I believe she should have choose different singles, or else we wouldn’t be having this conversation.

      • Carlitos June 17, 2017

        Chose*

    • JOHNVIDAL June 17, 2017

      Gaga and this has just proven who is here to stay no matter what due to talent and who isn´t. Joanne sold slightly more depite being less promoted, being less appealing to pop listeners and coming from a previous “weak” commercial era, while Katy was coming from somthing supposedly strong commercially with Prism. So much for Katy ending Gaga like many superficial stans liked to say so much a couple of years ago 🙂

  8. gina June 17, 2017

    these are flop numbers because she gave it away with her tour tickets. She’s not even in the top 40 on itunes, watch how hard she drops next week.

    • Max June 17, 2017

      Exactly! But I doubt the drop will be that drastic because her team just released another batch of tickets for Her tour so they really making sure that this era isn’t a flop

    • Caleb June 17, 2017

      Damn it’s out the top 40 already?! That’s insanely bad.

  9. iSpeakTruthNoFallacy June 17, 2017

    Isn’t that exactly what Halsey just did? Katy you couldn’t spend an extra 15K to buy more your own albums just to make sure you slightly passed 200K like Gaga did….

    • JOHNVIDAL June 17, 2017

      Rihanna teas.

  10. Max June 17, 2017

    She couldn’t even do 200K with a tour bundle? Mess .. I wonder how much she sold without the tour bundle.
    Anyways Katy you had a good run

    • Max June 17, 2017

      And her streaming numbers are terrible for someone who’s last album was streamed over a billion times

  11. Music lover June 17, 2017

    Those streams are pathetic for someone of her status..So she did less than Gaga..hehehehe..
    Anyway I love I miss you or whatever its called..where are her teenage fans? I mean this doesn’t make sense.

  12. Liam June 17, 2017

    Well she’s a long term roll out plan kinda artist when it comes to her albums so she will do fine…the album has way better songs than those 3 she released

    • ethan January 25, 2018

      thats the problem. katy is a singles artist, and her singles flopped. witness is an amazing album but the singles are katys biggest gain and because she poorly chose the singles her album flopped along with them. katy has never stayed in the number 1 spot on the billboard 200 for more than 1 week, because she is mainly based on singles. sadly she messed up not choosing roulette, witness, or hey hey hey as lead singles. bon appetit is what caused this album to flop.

  13. dyd972 June 17, 2017

    I thought she would sell more considering the 4 day livestream on YouTube to support the launch of the album but it’s not the case.

  14. meowmeow June 17, 2017

    Only a few artists are selling huge numbers. It is no longer a benchmark used for success. Today it’s social media influence, views, shares , tags & likes.

    She is also corny , which doesn’t help. People didn’t like that she cut her hair ( looks horrible) and that affects sales too.

    • Caleb June 17, 2017

      I doubt her haircut had that much to do with sales.

  15. Casual-T June 17, 2017

    This era had a really shaky start, and in that regard, I think she posted good first week numbers. She’s been running strong since 2008. Also, the songs just weren’t that good this time.

  16. PatienceHoney June 17, 2017

    I wonder if this stunt queen will come out and say Album sales don’t matter. They are fake numbers. Its construct.

    • Fancy BISH June 17, 2017

      lol #Flopness

      • PatienceHoney June 17, 2017

        Yes it’s a Flopmess #FlushFlush

  17. Theman June 17, 2017

    Are you dumb? You just explained why the numbers are what they are. She didn’t have any hits.. You’ll say anything to make an artist that you don’t really care for look not so good. These are very good numbers..

  18. Kyle June 17, 2017

    I’m not going to lie, these numbers are SO MUCH BETTER than I thought. I seriously didn’t think the album would move 100k in pure sales based off the lack of interest in her singles and her odd persona as of lately. And honestly, I listened to the album and it’s not as bad as people are saying it is. I actually like it better than the generically bland “Prism.”

  19. Theman June 17, 2017

    No one cares about video views. A stranger can earn a lot of those. Sales are still a big deal for major pop artists/major artist. Social media views? Lol ????

  20. Rosie June 17, 2017

    Really want to know what her sales were without the ticket bundle.
    Dead to the bed at her streaming numbers being THAT much smaller than Halsey’s. With all that promo.

  21. Orangeyougladididntsaybanana June 17, 2017

    America was extremely polarized during the 2016 presidential election. She made the mistake of entering that realm and strongly supporting one of the most unpopular candidates in US history. Her quotes were scrutinized and ridiculed by countless news outlets. She released material that can still fit on her 2010 album. People got tired of a one trick pony that tries to preach politics when she is not knowledgeable in the subject.

    Also: the album is filled with cringeworthy lyrics such as “your words are like Chinese water torture”

    • Former fan September 13, 2017

      I totally agree.
      She has changed, and not to the better.

  22. Lea June 25, 2017

    Katy Perry has already had her time. She is trying to come back with a new album but I think Katy Perry should move out of the spotlight now. It’s time for the new stars to shine.

  23. who cares? August 22, 2017

    i think Katy is learning that a large part of her fan base leans right politically.

Recommended Posts
..**