As reported yesterday, Rihanna‘s latest LP ‘Talk That Talk’ staged a remarkable rebound to #1 on the Official UK Album Chart – 38 weeks after first topping the tally.
However, in the absence of promotion or activity surrounding any of the set’s singles, many scratched their heads as to how the album achieved the feat.
With a bit of investigative work, we’ve uncovered the answer. Read on for the Lipton…
A peruse of the biggest UK retailers revealed that the ‘We Found Love’ led set has been discounted by almost 70% in the last week. Peep how much the album has been selling for at supermarket giants Tesco and Sainsbury’s over the last 10 days:
The promotion, which saw the set sell through a paltry 10,000 copies, earns the album the honour of being the the lowest-selling #1 LP in UK history. “Majah”.
Being the fair and unbias site we are, it’s important to give kudos where they’re due . For, whatever the price point or # of copies sold, ‘Talk That Talk’ is the week’s top-selling album – factually speaking.
Yet, it’s equally imperative to underline the fact that such a “rebound” is little more than clever PR. Indeed, as Ms. Fenty’s seven year career has shown, she’s far from the “album seller” her “status” calls for. Hence, this cost-cutting exercise is likely little more than an effective means of shifting unsold copies of the album that were shipped out (on mass) in hopes she’d finally sell like a Beyonce.
The public aren’t stupid; the recession might be rife, yet if given reason enough to buy one’s album – full price – they will. Hence, until team RiRi realize that back-to-back albums and creative emptiness don’t yield sales (or respect), they’ll be forced to employ tactics such as this to continue “manufacturing” her megastar status.