It’s official: Miley Cyrus’ new album, ‘Younger Now,’ has delivered one of the worst first week sales figures of any established female pop act this decade.
Unlike Fergie’s abysmal numbers (which can to great degree be attributed to lengthy inactivity and the 10 year time lapse between her two solo projects), Cyrus has been fairly active over her storied career and even managed to see her last studio album, 2013’s ‘Bangerz,’ blast to the top of the Billboard 200 with approximately 270,000 units moved its inaugural week.
For ‘Younger,’ her fifth official era, the pop darling opted to abandon her temporary love affair with Urban pop to embrace her country roots. And, while the shift appeared promising at its onset as the lead single, ‘Malibu,’ made a splash in the Hot 100’s top 10, that run was short-lived.
Despite an aggressive promo run that saw her hit the talk show circuit and more, the new album found itself lost in the fray of a host of big name releases – namely her fellow pop star Demi Lovato and the return of Country Pop Queen Shania Twain. The result? Miley, as forecasted, wound up miles behind the two powerhouses:
First Week Sales: 45,000 SPS (33,000 pure sales)
Chart placement: #5
First week sales: 74,000 SPS (48,000 – Pure Sales)
Chart placement: #3
First week sales: 137,000 SPS (134,000 – pure sales)
Chart placement: #1
*****
No way to spin it boo, this spells badly for Miss Cyrus. As our friends at Idolator pointed out, while it should be noted the industry as a whole has suffered from lower sales, no other established female pop artist has experienced a sales drop of this magnitude. This is especially the case from acts still managing to impact the Billboard Hot 100’s top 40. To put it into context (source):
Recent pop female first-week debuts (streaming included):
- Adele’s 25 (3.38 million)
- Beyonce’s Lemonade (653,000)
- Lady Gaga’s Joanne (201,000)
- Katy Perry’s Witness (180,000)
- Ariana Grande’s Dangerous Woman (175,000)
- Rihanna Anti (166,000)
- Shania Twain’s Now (137,000)
- Madonna’s Rebel Heart (121,000)
- Selena Gomez’s Revival (117,000)
- Kesha’s Rainbow (117,000)
- Janet Jackson’s Unbreakable (116,000)
- Britney Spears’ Glory (111,000)
- Lorde’s Melodrama (109,000)
- Lana Del Rey’s Lust For Life (107,000)
- Halsey’s hopeless fountain kingdom (106,000)
- Sia’s This Is Acting (81,000)
- Demi Lovato’s Tell Me You Love Me (75,000)
- Solange’s A Seat At The Table (72,000)
- Fifth Harmony’s self-titled (46,0000)
- Miley Cyrus’ Younger Now (45,000)
- Fergie’s Double Dutchess (20,000)
Time period: 2015-2017
Ouch! Just a week after mentioning “she hates the f*cking charts” (click here to read more about that), it appears the feeling is mutual. Seems ironic that when Cyrus stopped selling Urban music was when she started selling like Urban acts. Hmm…
Your thoughts?