Bittersweet.
Indeed, that’s what R&B crooner Trey Songz will be feeling about the performance of his latest effort ‘Chapter V’.
For, according to early estimates, the ‘Heart Attack’ led set is on course to top the Billboard 200 with less than stellar sales.
See what we mean after the jump…
According to Hits Daily Double, ‘V’ is set to sell within the ballpark of 125k-130k, almost certainly earning the self-tagged Trigga his first number one album on the US tally.
Yet, in doing so, the 27 year old’s Platinum ambitions remain just that…ambitions. At the peak of his buzz, 2010’s ‘Passion, Pain, & Pleasure’ opened with almost double that figure (240k) and despite being boosted by endorsement deals, a slew of tours, and hit singles, has sold little over 800k two years later. Not “bad”, yet afact which renders the initial sales of ‘V’ somewhat worrying given that all that defined Songz’s “buzz” has calmed considerably.
********
Still, credit where it’s due; the current climate is a messy one for most artists – especially those of the Urban persuasion. Hence Trey’s charting arguably could be hailed as a “victory” of sorts for R&B. Although, for us, he has other albums far more deserving of the #1 treatment – namely his first three. The rest he can keep, especially this one. Five tracks too long and monotonous subject matter. No bueno.
im not a fan of him but his contemporaries (usher and chris brown) both sold around that figure, but trey never needed to go pop to sell that much.
Very true
Speak on it!
Exactly everyone is opening with these numbers. This is really good considering he has no hits on the hot 100. Pure urban fan base. Shows going pop doesn’t guarantee good sales.
Exactly People seem to forget that there are other genres out there too other than just dance/pop
thats what I thought too.
r&b artists arent selling this year.
And curiously, artists like Usher and Chris who both do pop/dance hasnt sold more
weird situation, without doubt.
maybe general buyers are getting a bit tired of the same sound/artists… who know?
next big r&b release is Brandy. Lets hope she has a bit more luck this time
Brandy’s a BLACK FEMALE who the WHITE MEDIA is supporting. I think B Rocka will do fine.
Funny how they “never get tired of the same” OLD WHITE ARTIST though just the BLACK MALE R&B acts! But as you say who knows….
Brandy want sell more then 70-80k. I can guarantee anybody tht! Sales are worser for females! If your name aint Beyonce or Rhianna ure not gonna pull in big #’s unless u r super famous. Monica sold 78k 1st week sales for her new album tht was released this summer. Samething with Kelly Rowland she sold 78k as well last yr with Here I Am; her album was also leaked a day b4 album was released witch hurt her sales.
Trey can only play his lane. I’m tired of you know nothing people spewing b*******! Chris Brown HAS ALWAYS PRESENTED A VARIETY OF MUSIC. Check his catelogue. Usher has stepped out of his lane to try something new but so what? Whats wrong with adding something new to his collection? Funny, that BLACK ARTISTS are the only ones who are not allowed to experiment but you fools love “experimenters” like ADELE, AMY WINEHOUSE etc.! ….WHATEVER
Damn s*** stinks.
Well, congratulations to him. It’s his first #1 album, so even though I’m not planning to buy it or listen to it anytime soon, I can still give him credit for this achievement. Hardly any high profile promo, no Hot 100 hits and still selling 130k, which is in the same range or superior compared to what other r’n’b male artists have sold this year.
Trey Songz is a gimmick. He is no Usher …
Bitter ass Sam!!!!
What is it this time? He may outsell Chris Brown & Usher with this album?
And you commended Elle Varner’s debut with the “this is a feat especially with how R&B” lol
I can’t with this biased stupid ass blog! Yes I come here but the people that run it are PATHETIC
I agree with all that you said!
Congrats Trey for your #1 debut! Especially with no major hit single!
Better than Chris Brown. But does this n**** ever not go wood? He stays selling s** for a FLOP… WHY?
What are you talking about? Trey has Heart Attach #9, Dive In #5 Hail Mary #2 all on R&B Chart.
These numbers are excellent for a 2012. Usher and Chris Brown opened in this range with more extensive promotion and hits on the Hot 100. Based on the title to this article, I was expecting to read that Trey Songz was projected to sell 40k or something.
Trey had a whole lot of promotions with the urban media. The urban radio stations were all promoting his album and trying to get the fans out to buy his album. When CB album came out I don’t remember the urban station running a promotion on CB album all day of his release. Plus BET helped promote Trey. CB was on two awards shows the beginning of the year and his album came out in July. Cb didn’t promote his album at radio stations and up to the release date. He did 3 appearances one in Feb,May and the other in June. Trey been on talk shows this past month,traveling at radio stations this past weekend and month. So don’t see he didn’t promote like CB. Cb label put posters up around the country, that was his promotions.
Urban? BET? Who watches or listens for that s***? Get real….shm
Nobody even knew Trey had an album out, shut up
All day long the radio stations here in New York were promoting Trey’s album bitg time. So @Zania you are right on that on.
LOL What?
Usher Raymond has had an EXTENSIVE PRE & POST CD release CAMPAIGN. He has been on the COVER of EVERY MAJOR media magazine (see Billboard, Ebony, Vibe, Mens Mag etc). He has performed on AWARD SHOW & FESTIVAL the world over from Hackney in the UK to Billboard Music Awards/BET Awards etc. in the USA. He has also been on several daytime, afternoon and late night programs (see Jimmy Kembel to Jimmy Fallon to David Letterman).
Chris Brown has had NO PROMOTIONAL CAMPAIGN WHATSOEVER! He performed on 2 Award Shows & 1 TV morning program prior to the release of his CD. Other than that he has not promoted Fortune at all! Again, it lets me know that THERE IS SMETHING STRANGE GOING ON IN THE MUSIC INDUSTRY WHEN IT COMES TO R&B! Regardless of the PROMOTIONAL CAMPAIGN the BLACK MALE R&B ARTISTS will only register1st week numbers between 128-135k. The one that doesn’t against will be the POWER THAT BE’s” new PET / MEDIA PUPPET!
Trey Songz has done extensive promotion in urban venues, but Usher and CB were promoted to much wider markets and had Hot 100 hits on their projects. For Trey Songz to be doing similar numbers w/ his songs mostly restricted for now to r&b radio is pretty outstanding.
I’m thinking Simply Amazing might work at pop radio, but the single hasn’t yet had enough impact there to help album sales.
Sam is a bitter lady
PREACH!
Congrats trey…a no.1 album 100% RnB,thats commendable.hope it goes gold coz platinum will be too ambitious considering this album is average at best
Is it really that shock? Sales in general are low. Ppl will buy a select few songs instead of the full album so artist, especially rnb artist, NEED to create an album full of great songs in order to sell albums in an iTunes world and not just singles/select songs. Trey was not likable this past week or so, overly arrogant, cocky and was feeling himself too much and not creating any classic rnb soulful songs, just decent party songs n s*** songs but no good G.levert baby making type music.
AmbeRussell on YouTube
The Diva first #1 album.
This might sound crazy, but why did Usher, CB, Frank Ocean and now Trey Songz, selling around the same amount. It seems like the industry is trying to save R & B and don’t want one artist to kill the careers of all the others. Now if Neyo come in September or whenever his album come out and sell between 120-130, It will really look strange.
Are you trying to say CB would be killing the others? Cause…………………………….
Did she say anything about CB specifically? If you think so you’re a fool…………Cause………
THANK YOU!!
I JUST WROTE THE SAME THING BELOW! THERE IS SOMETHING REALLY FISHY GOING ON IN THE MUSIC INDUSTRY!
When I telll fools this, they call me a “conspiracy theorist”! SOMETHING STRANGE, CONTROLLED AND WICKED IS GOING ON! I’m afraid to know what the “POWERS THAT BE” that control it all are planning!! 🙁
Trey has has no musical growth as an artist. He’s been in the game 7 yrs and every song is about s**. A bunch of f*** tracks. This is why he will never be on par with ppl like Chris Brown and Usher. Its ok to have love making songs, their fine, but not every song u have hittin radio has to be about f******. That is why I havent been a Trey fan since “Cant help but wait”, which is a great song by the way.
Am I losing my mind or isn’t this amount about 3 or 4 TIMES MORE THAN USHER OR CHRIS BROWN’ S DEBUT THIS YEAR?
actually it’s about the same and Chris sold more ironically.
At least he will sell more than Alexandra Burke
Isn’t this 3 or 4 times MORE THAN USHER AND CHRIS BROWN’S FIRST WEEK THIS YEAR?
Not a Trey Songz fan but the hate that gets spewed against this man on this site is absolutely ridiculous.
Do better Sam.
Anyway, congratulations to Trey on his #1 album. & I hope that his fans are enjoying his new album.
TGJ whats with the shade yo? Congrats to Trey for his first #1 album .. that shoulda been the f***** headline not that shade .. cuz to be honest he’s bout to open up at par with his contemporaries , if not better….
But when Nicki when number 1 with disappointing sales, yall was p**** licking and came up with plenty solutions
Trey got tons of promotion for this album. He did a very healthy radio campaign that many artist seem to by pass these days. He did a few prominent TV shows and concerts. He put out video after video, song after song. He had that dive in commerical coming on before every song is played and ad promotions on different websites and blogs. and considering his last album’s sales, he will sell way less. He will struggle to stay consistent because he put out too many singles. He is known as a first weeks artist. His last album sold 240, his highest debut and he still didn’t get platinum.
I don’t think first weeks are that crucial like the second week is. Just have to see. Trey is a hard worker but his attitude is diva.
Sales just suck now this is normal., I’m over Trey tho
Trey did pretty well considering the sales of his peers….Oh, and not too many pop acts are selling much either…FloRida has hit singles and couldn’t hit Trey’s opening numbers…Owl Ctiy has a huge hit with the Call Me Maybe Girl and he ain’t selling (opening the same week with Trey at like 30k)…The music industry should almost give up on the album concept…only a select few artists are really pushing units….if it wasn’t for Adele, the industry would be dead….seriously….
Thats actually more than i would have thought. But we know how front-loaded sales are now. His second week will probably be 40k then 20k the following.
If they made slightly better quality music, they’d all sell more. Urban fans what to hear something new, and that doesn’t mean do dance pop music. Write your own music, and be more creative than booty popping and sexual innuendo or dancing at the club. Look at Elle Varner & Frank Ocean as examples. Not too much promo, but so much talent and an awesome sound that they achieved great sales. Now, imagine if more popular artists tried that!
CB is not living up to his potential, nor is Trey Songz. Usher is a legend, he needs to act like one.
well stated auntie JACKIE….
Absolutely! It’s all about content. I ONLY buy quality albums & innovation is the key to producing quality albums. The fact that people, erroneously, thought that doing “dance pop music” was innovative or “revolutionary” is quite sad.
Elle Varner’s & Franck Ocean’s albums are great b/c they remembered that the center of all good music is the song writer. Jessie Ware’s album “Devotion” has slaughtered anything in the pop genre this year because the writing is so good.
& you are so right about Chris. I’m a late Chris fan (“Deuces,” “No B*******,” “Beautiful People” ). Can you imagine what album we can actually get from Chris if simply tapped into his raw talent without worrying about what’s current. He would be brilliant.
Sorry for rambling, your comment just spoke to me.
Actually the only reason Frank sold was because of his so called “coming out the closet letter” had he went the usual route his album would have sold less than the sympathy 200,000. Now Elle is a different story someone who actually sold her records the old fashion way… Let your music speak for itself.
@Yep, I fundamentally understand what you are saying about Frank Ocean in terms of his sales being directly linked to his “coming out letter.”
However, since when in American history has being an African American male who admits to having emotional love for another man beneficial??? It is here that I take issue with your idea about “sympathy”
The fact of the matter is “channel/ Orange,” artistically, set a bar that very few are able to surpass. No one bought Frank’s album b/c they “felt sorry for him.” They bought his album b/c they knew it was going to dope.
@ BitchICan’tEvenSpellWelfare
Your comment was awesome, I’ve never heard of Jessie Ware (thanks for that!).
@ Yep
Well, Frank did get pub from “coming out”, but he had pretty strong buzz before that. Either way, he’s different and that albums is AH-MAZING! I would have bought it anyway 🙂
Artistic or not the point is.. had the young man not written the letter and the media frenzy. His album would have sold less guarantee. There was some buzz. I agree the album is good but he is on the same level as Miguel. People love to shiny new things and its okay. You are hype about him. Hopefully, he will not need such controversy to sell his sophomore album.
@Yep, I will not attempt to discount your observations about how the music industry works. There is certainly an element of trickery, fabrication, and “flashing lights” associated with the music industry. No question.
However, I’m just not sure how the revealation of same s** desire by an African American male in R & B fits into a “success” pattern. Pointedly, this is NOT how an R & B artist attempts to gain favor, chart ascension, or general success. What Frank Ocean did was the antithesis of this.
Frank Ocean is not a “shiny new thing,” he is a brilliant artist, which is why I’m into his work. If you think he’s simply a charlatan who has capitalized off of a letter, well, we’ll forever disagree.
@AUNTIE_JACKIE, Jessie Ware’s “Devotion” is the dream of what modern pop could be. It’s a great album.
@ Ican’t …. I won’t attempt use the first part of your pseudo name cuz of how derogatory it is towards women but the “same s**’ was use. Whether you want to believe or not… The media wants to “so called” liberate and justified same s** … especially in the black community since it is know to be taboo… Adam Lambert and Elton are celebrated in the caucasian music realm but you do notice that no African American artist has come out… a few have been speculated but never on the R&B music. I could go on and on how and why Frank is being used but I won’t. Nice convo and great that people can have a intellectual convo with out name calling. Much appreciated.
Wow, really LOL! Fortune is a great CD that is being treated like yet another one of CBs great CDs Graffiti! Oh well, when you are not a media darlin’ they will crush and destory you and have fakes ones fallin’ away from you like common like dead flies! 🙂
Everyone seems to be forgetting that this range means his first week will be 3 or 4 times more than Usher and Chris Brown. I remember both having about 30K with their last debut. I didn
Everyone seems to be forgetting that this range means his first week will be 3 or 4 times more than Usher and Chris Brown. I remember both having about 30K with their last debut. I would not have expected Trey to garner so much more support than Usher or C.B. He deserves props for that alone.
What are you talking about? Both Chris and Usher did approx 130k with their latests, not 30k. You’re really off with your figures.
I don’t understand the hate that Trey gets. He’s one of the few popular R&B males who refuses to go pop (Usher CB Neyo etc). Everyone’s sales has gone down. Plus I thought TGJ always preaches a #1 album is a #1 album no matter how much it sells. Keep in mind that R&B is dead commercially so I see Trey getting a #1 with that genre of music without coming out (yes, Frank Ocean shade) is an undisputed win.
#quithatingonTreySam!
@Anne … Keep Hope Alive Girl … If anything it will actually be lower… if not a little higher give or take he will probably sell 137,000 to 138,000. But that is a nice dream about the 3 times more.
Sam is a hater.
I’m not gonna pretend that 130k is good, but this could have been worse, considering. By that headline, I was expecting to read that Trey sold under 100k or something. Instead he actually held his own against his more mainstream-recognized contemporaries like Usher and Chris. And unlike Trey, both of them have gone out of their way to be pop-friendly, and still didn’t do better than this.
I’m not a fan of Trey Songz, but there have always been romantic/sensuous/sexual singers in the genre of R&B; from R. Kelly to Joe to Brian McKnight to Jodeci to Ginuwine to Luther Vandross to Prince to Marvin Gaye. And there will ALWAYS be a place for the type of crooner who makes ‘baby making songs’ in this genre. Passion comes with Soul, and soul is the basis of R&B music. Maybe Trey’s s** theme is repetitive, but so what? That’s just who he is. Get over it.
Meanwhile, TGJ’s continual venomous tone where Trey is concerned is conspicuous as hell. Methinks Sam is just being cynical/bitter because he can’t related to the flagrantly heterosexual/urban-male theme of Trey’s music.
I’m so glad other people are seeing that TGJ is hating on Trey for no reason.
STOP IT Usher Raymond is MAINSTREAM! He receives nothing but POSITVE FAVORABLE MEDIA/PRESS! Chris Brown is not at all MAINSTREAM! Chris Brown has not “GONE POP” His music has been consisted across his CDs. Usher Raymond has switched his style to compete with his mentee Justin Babble!
Also, I don’t see an effort to prevent Trey Songz from acheieve. Where is the MASSIVE NEGATIVE WHITE MEDIA CAMPAIGN against him? Trey and Usher should have performed better!
when will sam learn that albums dont really sell anymore? this site is really starting to get TIRED UNLESS THEY START AKNOWLEDGING THAT ALBUMS DONT SELL AND ANY MORE AND GIVING CREDIT TO DECENT SELLS FOR THE STATE OF THE MUSIC INDUSTRY RIGHT NOW! AND STOP COMPARING ALBUMS SELL 2 1999 AND CALLING PEOPLE FLOPS HOW IN THE HELL DID KATY PERRY AND RIHANNA FLOP THEY MADE OVER 50 MILLION LAST YEAR NO ONE CARES ABOUT SELLS ITS ABOUT MARKETING AND MERCHANDISING TOURING AND DIGITAL SELLS RIGHT NOW!
Sam, if this was your fave, you would be praising them. I remember Usher and CB had really similar numbers, but you didn’t go out of your way to say it was “disappointing”. It like what you did with Rihanna she had the lowest #1 album in the UK after 9 months of release and you posted about it; if it had been Beyonce or Kelly you won’t have made such a big deal about it. shm….get it together
Sam, you made fun of him SO MUCH for not having a #1 album and now that he has you still try to fault him. He has no major hits and still managed to score a #1 album. You are clearly mad/pressed/bitter/jealous. Have a seat. Congrats Trey!
Dissapointed sales because his new album is garbage!! Absolutely no growth as an artist the lyrics on every song are trash.. come on when u have a song called ” panty wetter” ? Like are u serious? F*** outta here with that b*******… the album sucks!!!
You are dissing Trey, but where the hell are RitA ora’s sales worlwide and America?
My bad. Guess I’ve been working too hard lately. Completely got Usher and CB numbers misrepresented in my mind. Still never thought of Trey as on their level but looks like he is.
Why these lousy muthafuckas keep speaking on me
Drowsy m*********’s keep sleeping on me
They say I’m fallin’ off I guess we just gon see…
It’s Trey ho
#LetMeHoldThatBeat
#HeadlineTriggamix
I’m noticing a STRANGE PATTEREN IN R&B AMONG BLACK MALE ARTISTS!
Why have all of there numbers been relegated to 128-135k in the 1st week? Something is going on in the music industry. There is a real effort against R&B. They have been slowly but surely eradicating the R&B genre from EVERRY AWARD SHOW. In a a minute ADELE and/or their next PUPPET the prop up will be the only ACCEPTABLE SOUL SINGERS in the music industry! 🙁
CONGRATS 2 TREY!! YES, I AM A HUGE Trey Songz fan & I LOVE his music, personality, style, & jz ERYTHING bout him!! He is MY #1 & I’ve been down w/him since day 1! So I see & know a LOT bout Trey & YES, he HAS grown a LOT as an artist!! YES, true, he DOES make a LOT of “s**” songs, but that is WHO Trey is & a LOT of what he IS KNOWN 4in the industry! It’s kind of like a “trademark” 4him along w/his “YUUUP!” I LOVE Trey 4MANY different reasons & being HIMSELF is 1of them!! He DON’T try 2be like all of the other artists out here just 2try 2sell records! BTW, people just don’t go out & buy albums like they did before…the MAJORITY of them are bought & downloaded digitally song by song!! So what he has sold is BEYOND AMAZING!!! I LOVE U, TREMAINE!!!
hes seling that much with those flop singles? good for him
Those aren’t bad numbers, considering the fact that he stuck to his genre. Usher sold the same with his last album, despite the fact that it was less RnB.
I swear I don´t care about Trey at all and he is totally average. But how the hell are these numbers dissapointing when such a huge act like Usher did those numbers two months ago and so did Chris Brown? This boy has no hits and keep making pure R&B (or whatever he does), not the trendy euro dance pop like the other two
In fact I´m surprised by the numbers. This is being the worst year ever in sales, I can only remember Mdonna right now doing something like 300,000 first week (and pretty bad after that). I don´t even see the Xmas season saving the year, this is a disaster
TAYLOR SWIFT SETS NEW FEMALE DIGITAL SALES RECORD WITH OVER 623,000 U.S. DOWNLOADS OF NEW SONG IN A SINGLE WEEK, DOMINATES ITUNES CHARTS AROUND THE GLOBE,
Taylor Swift Reaches #1 on Billboard Hot 100 Chart in First Full Week of Single Release
Queen Taylor <3
Nobody cares about that dirt-eating hillbilly. Shut up and go away.
Dirty? Shes the most classy pop star out there.. No need to show her body to sell music!
You seem bitter hahahhahahaha.
Shut Up, You Know The Only Reasons She Doesn’t Show Her Body Is Because She Can’t Dance And No One Wants To See Those Mosquito Bite Titties.
Congrats on him getting a number one album. Maybe that can be used to keep the album selling. I like Trey but I found this album to be a step backwards given the direction he seemed to be going after The Inevitable EP.
Trey Songz is so incredibly arrogant that this sort of seems like poetic justice.
This site is officially the dumbest ever. Even most blogs and tabloids are more consistent than this rag. Chris brown’s first week sales were applauded and called exceptional while trey songz who is supposedly less popular than brown is projected to sale the same amount and you fools call it a disappointment Bahahaha. This blog is truly trash for writing this headline.
I hope the record labels collapse it would mean going back to basics with i.e. live entertainment showcasing real talent. This would weed out all the talentless Biebers, and Cher Lloyds of this world. I live in hope.
Trey Songs is garbage and his music can be likened to dookie.