Despite rigorous promotional efforts and a price cut to 99 cents, Rihanna’s ‘Rated R’ has debuted with less than impressive numbers. As confirmed by HitsDailyDouble, the album only managed to ship 180, 198 units, placing it at #5 behind Susan Boyle, Andrea Bocelli, Adam Lambert, and Lady GaGa. Although the figure represents a personal best for the fashionista, it certainly is a far cry from the 669,843 copies that Boyle managed to sell with notably less promotion. Not only has the album failed to capture public attention in the US but the record also underwhelmed audiences in the UK where it debuted at #16, selling 32, 000 units.
Regardless of my personal opinions about Rihanna’s material, this outcome was definitely not foreseen. As one of music’s ‘it’ acts, many were expecting ‘Rated R’ to be one of the most successful releases of the year, especially given the additional attention she received from ‘the incident’ involving ex-boyfriend Chris Brown. The upset is only compounded by the fact that 3 singles were released to support the album.
It is quite interesting that the Island Def Jam’s biggest selling acts of 2008 – Mariah Carey and Rihanna – both had very disappointing releases this year. The real question here is: what went wrong? Is it that there is some form of underlying issue involving her label? Or is there some other reason for her low debut on the charts?
Too much focus on publicity stunting (calling paparazzi + sidewalk fashion show + chris brown victim act) .
Not enough focus on the music. Single choice sucked too. Hard should have been the first single. Her performances have also sucked (not surprisingly).
4 mediocre singles + 2 mediocre videos = mediocre results.
I blame Def Jam mostly. I don’t think Rihanna has the intelligence to come up with her own marketing plans let alone her own original thoughts.
Maybe next time RiRi 🙂
The label is messing up with single choices. Mariah’s album would have sold better, if they had released it closer to Obsessed and actually pushed it as a first single, cos IMO, it’s a great lead off single for her. Then, if they followed it up with a song like Standing O or Up Out My Face, Mariah’s album would have entered the charts with maximum impact. Instead, they went with i Want To Know What Love Is, which killed any radio impact the album was having. Mariah herself has stated that she did not want that as a single, so it was LA Reid’s choice. For me, the problem lies there, LA has lost it and is running the label into the ground. He has chosen bad singles and not put any money into Mariah’s promo. I have not seen one poster or advert on TV for Mariah. The only promo she has had, is from herself. With RiRi, i think its simply down to the fact that she has released rubbish singles from the album. Plus the album is crap lol.
Mariah’s E=MC2 debuted big in 2008, but certainly didn’t sell big. Rihanna has always been a singles artist. She should be more concerned w/ the lack of Hot 100 success, than w/ her tepid album debut. She’s used to the latter.
Lol not impressed! Plz visit fabnfamous.wordpress.com
FLOP FLOP FLOP
NO EXPLANATION NEEDED
NO EXCUSES
IF BEYONCE HAD THOSE NUMBERS ,THE RIHANNA STANS WOULD BE LOOKING TO BASH,BUT SINCE SHE DOESNT HAVE THAT PROBLEM
I’LL JUST GO BACK TO LOOKING AT MY IAM…..YOURS DVD
BTW BEYONCE HAS 3 #1 ALBUMS
THE MOST #1 HITS BY A FEMALE ARTIST THIS DECADE
#1 MOVIES
SOLD OUT WORLDWORLD TOUR
PERFORMING FOR THE PRESIDENT
I GUESS BEYONCE’S RUNWAY NEVER BEEN SO CLEAR *NO PUN INTENDED* HA!
I seriously don’t know what the disconnect is, especially for RiRi. Yall know people ride the ‘sympathy’ wave HARD (via Susan Boyle) so I was expecting A LOT MORE from her than that. She did even worse in the UK… WOW. I’m hoping people are gonna post opinions and facts that we can filter and find out the real problem…
i think it’s lady gaga that keeps her album from selling good… today i have rihannas album a listen and i think it’s a very good album, better then good girl gone bad… hard, russian roulett, rockstar 101, rude boy, photographs, cold case love and stupid in love are very good songs… stupied in love, photographs or rude boy should be the next single choices…
its still a top 5 album, thats a good standing in todays market.
I’m surprised Gaga was beaten by Adam Lambert… hopefully Fame Monster goes platinum soon!
Well i don’t think rihanna has ever been a big first week seller and this is actually better first week sales than GGGB. Only, I doubt this album will even go platinum. she usually sells better outside the U.S. but it seems like she’s doing worse internationally. oh well, her stans can hopefully shut up now.
Lol not impressed fabnfamous.wordpress.com
The blame lies with L.A. Reid. I understand it’s a music label and a business, but it seems that his main focus is money, money, money, not quality.
P!nk and Adrianne Bilone done told ya’ll about him.
Mariah went the wrong way with IWTKWLI. HU (followed by the remix) should have been the second single.
Rihanna… no one is feeling this “bad gyal” thing she’s doing. =\
180K is goood for Rihanna the girl is a SINGLES artists, so she was never gonna have massive first week sales. Her last album didn’t sell this much during the first week….but look how that album turned out. She’ll be fine lol
@martin Beyonce is tied for the most #1 hits this decade by an artist with Rihanna. So don’t forget to add that in.
MAriah – poor sales = image problem, immature lyrics i.e Obsessed , too many push backs, Eminem feud hurt her in retrospect, IWKWLI- wrng single, album too laid back/slow, overexposure
Mariah had tons of promo opportunities on tv so I don’t think that was the primary problem,. Now, IWKWLI video took too long too come out, looks cheesy. HATEU video is taking too long. The remix should have already been sent to urban radio- r&b radio will not support the album version of hateu imo, hence the song is dying. MOIA is dead as a door nail- it will be hard for it to sell gold- maybe by next May.
Rihanna
20/20 interview backfired- urban community not feeling her, felt she dumped on Chris for album sales, R R I think is a decent video, song is ok but people were not feeling it, too controversial. ‘wait is over’ is rubbish asis the video. ‘Hard’ should have been the 2nd single. Too many singles out there and the public/radio is confused.
With all the promo, exposure she has had, RR should have openned with north 300k sales-
L.A.Reid as label head have to take some responsibility here- he should have had Mariah shelve the album after 2 push backs and wait for her to come out 2011. He should not be playing games with the circumstance that happened to Rihanna using it to sell records,#fail!
I hope the shareholders at IDJ are taking an account.
180k certainly isn’t a good look for her. Coming off of 5 mill sold and the biggest marketing campaign for an artist in years this is an EPIC fail for LA Reid and DJ. The huge ABC video premiere the hyped AMA “The Return of Rihanna” peformance. She should have sold 300k + off the hype alone. Definately NOT a good look
As for Mariah, again LA dropped the ball. Where was her promo? It looked like the entire budget was used on Rihanna. Every DJ release this year was under promoted from Mariah, to Amerie to The Roots. Rihanna blew the budget and flopped. I wouldn’t be suprised if LA was fired in the next year.
I feel that Rihanna’s image change has caused regular people to disconnect with her. I like the way she carried herself during the GGGB era. I feel like her style has gone too extreme, she doesn’t smile in pictures too much, and her “h** style” has alienated people from her. Plus the fact that she waited until releasing her album to “help other young girls” is bs. I also think that she should have dealt with the drama months ago and start this album off fresh without the drama. IMO
I think it’s just too early to say that this album is a flop. I guess you could have said the same when you saw the first week sales of GGGB and it debuting at 162k its first week out or you could have said the same thing for Gaga’s The Fame album as it only sold 24k in it’s first week. But as we saw GGGB went double platinum and and The Fame went platinum. So it’s not about how you start but how you finish so realistically speaking it’s too early to tell whether this album with flop cause it’s about how it does in the long run and that goes for any artist Rihanna or not. So while I know people are dying to label Rated R as a flop I tend to wait to see what sales are looking like a month or two from now before calling it a flop album.
Okay!!! I’m not going to hate on this woman and her fame ok!!! Let’s be honest, sometimes you can ride a wave of pandemonium so long until that wave hits the shore!! then thats it!!! People really want to hear quality now!!! The general public that has real appreciation for musical talent, and they want originality again! I speak for myself, I’m tried of all this digital production that has became the sound of R&B! It has really destroyed that organic makings of what R&B really is!! People want this girl to do well, they want her to succeed, but let’s face it, she can’t sing, that is truly a reality that has to be faced and dealt with!! Yesterday people give me hell for standing up to Chris Brown hitting her, and not bowing down to his feet, or accepting the fact that he is talented! People hate the truth and they hate to hear what is real! The more these two go back an forth with he/she hit me, it only projects a image that black artist are ignorant and will do anything for a dollar!!!! I’m sick of the music I grow up to being defiled by people how abuse it for a buck!!! I’m just in disbelief how people don’t see the exploitation of these kids, cuz yes I’m a few years older than them so I will call them kids!! So I guess this is the only way I can convey my message of not liking something without profanity! I’m going to watch the interview cuz I want to hear what he has to say, but I still won’t buy or listen to any of his music or hers for lack of creative vocal ability!!!! She needs to take time and really find herself instead of releasing an album!!!
I will continue to stand for real music expression, and real music period!!
If anyone one has a mind of their own and really want to see things as they reall are check out this site!!!!!
You will see the truth behind this industry!!
http://www.theindustryexposed.com
RiRi never had good first week sales. When she did that interview with 20/20 she never said anything about Rated R. Sam love to talk about rihanna because she gets the most post, LMAO
Okay!!! I’m not going to hate on this woman and her fame ok!!! Let’s be honest, sometimes you can ride a wave of pandemonium so long until that wave hits the shore!! then that’s it!!! People really want to hear quality now!!! The general public that has real appreciation for musical talent, and they want originality again! I speak for myself, I’m tried of all this digital production that has became the sound of R&B! It has really destroyed that organic makings of what R&B really is!! People want this girl to do well, they want her to succeed, but let’s face it, she can’t sing, that is truly a reality that has to be faced and dealt with!! Yesterday people give me hell for standing up to Chris Brown hitting her, and not bowing down to his feet, or accepting the fact that he is talented! People hate the truth and they hate to hear what is real! The more these two go back an forth with he/she hit me, it only projects a image that black artist are ignorant and will do anything for a dollar!!!! I’m sick of the music I grow up to being defiled by people how abuse it for a buck!!! I’m just in disbelief how people don’t see the exploitation of these kids, cuz yes I’m a few years older than them so I will call them kids!! So I guess this is the only way I can convey my message of not liking something without profanity! I’m going to watch the interview cuz I want to hear what he has to say, but I still won’t buy or listen to any of his music or hers for lack of creative vocal ability!!!! She needs to take time and really find herself instead of releasing an album!!!
I will continue to stand for real music expression, and real music period!!
If anyone one has a mind of their own and really want to see things as they really are check out this site!!!!!
You will see the truth behind this industry!!
http://www.theindustryexposed.com
Are Trent and Sam dating? I know they have a lot of meeting. 🙂
You can’t compare Rihanna now to where she was when GGGB dropped. GGGB made her an international star. She became one of the most recongnizable and photographed faces in pop music. I think she’s bruised her public image too. Constantly being photographed walking around and clubbing don’t help. Most people’s perception of her is that she does nothing, probably isn’t true, but perception means more than reality. Just an all around fail.
they lurrrrrv to hate on rihanna,..
what is this.. the hundredth one this week?
gimmie a damn break
the girl beat her previous first week numbers.. and that album turned out to be HUGE
so whats the beef
its may be a repeat of her previous success..
ya’ll so stupid and childish.. hating on sumthing that hasnt even bloomed yet.
dumbasses
@ SXSW i agree 100% to what you said. this time around her people was relying to much on publicity stunts and “am a victim act”, to sell the album. if you are a victim to abuse, why are you singing about guns and violence? yes rihanna is 21 yrs old, but most of her fans are under 18, what kind of example are you setting walking around half naked all the time. she said she wanted to be a role model for kids.
the only reason gggb did good because she re released it like 6 million times.
am not hating on rihanna am just statin facts.
Def Jam is a Mess!… i cant believe that after all that hype..she sold less than Susan Boyle…OMG. Chick is too concerned wit fashion…u aint Tyra!
I don’t understand why everyone is tripping on them stating her album is a flop.
Bottom line. It flopped the first week, when it was expected to do EXTREMELY WELL AND BLOW EVERYONE OUT THE WATER. The excuse that she’s not a first week sales artist is LAME, especially after the success of GGGB. There’s a HIGH EXPECTATION for her to match or top the album sales of her previous album when it comes to sales the first week. No one basis whether an album is a FLOP or SUCCESS after it’s been out a year. Everyone goes by first week sales. Hopefully, she’s able to come back from it.
This is from someone who has supported all of her previous albums because I enjoyed the music that she put out. I did not buy this album because there was nothing song-wise that stood out. The only song that held my attention for a little bit was The Wait Is Ova, because she has a catchy hook.
And I am one of those who people who DOES NOT think she can SING. However, I chose to support because she seemed to be a positive role model and she has diminished that image that I’ve had of her within the past two months.
Rihanna sells 162K with GGGB after a monstrous first single — that had been #1 for nearly 10 weeks — and then sells 180K with Rated R without a monstrous first single — and is a flop?
In what universe do you live in Sam?
Not only have you proven your not a music analyst, you’ve proven you have the credibility of a 15-year old teenager.
Rihanna had the world in her hands after GGGB. We loved her style, both clothing and hair. But then we started to realize that all she ever seemed to do anymore was have her daily sessions with the papparazzi. THEN she went and jumped off the deep end. After the ‘incident’ people expected to see a change in her but the only change was that she started going around with her n****** exposed….a lot. Not to mention the blond mop on her head. And then on top of that in most of the interviews she does now she’s busy talking about s** and being naked all of the time. People can not connect to that. She’s so raunchy and over the top without the talent to back it up. Is she supposed to be the victim or the super horny s** vixen? She can’t make up her mind, and the public doesn’t care anymore. The singles released were not that good. After two years away from the studio she should have come with FIRE. She let everyone down that had once defended her.
last time i checked she’s in the # 4 spot & she’s sold 200,000 coppies of her cd in a week.. how is that a flop..
no she didnt have a block buster week but its far from a flop ..
& its a kick ass cd, so what everrrr!!!!
ps. i love that half the post on this site are for rih.. thankx for the promotion..
xoxo
ps has rihanna ever debute an album @ #1… no not yet so stfu.. her last album sold how many records “at the end of the day” ….. millions
Lmao! I think a lot of riri stans are missing the point. For an artists like rihanna with all the promo..good reviews and publicity she has gotten her sales should be THROUGH THE ROOF! Bump that “She’s a singles artist” crap. GGGB didnt get as nearly as promo and publictiy as Rated R did. Not to mention she had one of the biggest storys in 2009. The whole worlds eyes were on her after Feb.8th. And she still couldn’t even get over 300,000 copies atleast? C’mon
Bottom line: The numbers are a flop because the expectation and the hype didnt pay off. I was even surprised my self. I would have expected her to atleast sell over 300,000 units. But thats not the case! THATS WHY ITS A FLOP! She barley cracked the top 5 “thats embarrassing” as riri would say. lol!……………………… Seriously its a FLOP people.
what promos? rihanna only started to promote her album about a week or two before it dropped. People on the blogs were saying where is the single, because we heard she was coming out on the 23rd. She only did one major interview, and a nokia concert, and that was just a few days before her release. You all need to stop exaggerating that she had some huge promotion. she had nothing so extrodinary that it is so over the top. a top 5 album is nothing to be embarrased about. Some of you all haters just say the strangest thing. Since when is a top 5 album selling 180-200k in a week a flop? Be realistic now.
@suzy G she didn’t let me down. I am wise enough to know that a person can’t live the way I want them to. They have their own life to live. Why hate someone because of the color of their hair, the way they dress, or what they choose to do in their own life. She is not me, and she is living for herself. The music speaks for itself, and i am loving Rated R. Rihanna I wish you the best.
How are you guys comparing Rihanna 3 years ago to Rihanna now. Rihanna should be selling, she well known now. She’s a star. Your telling she’s suppose to sell the same amount as when she was little known?
People are tired of Rihanna. They hyped her up too much. I know a lot of USE TO BE fans. People are annoyed of how she changed. Its just going to get worst if she continues. Artists like her (ok singing, can’t dance, barely writes) they usualy only last for so long then they dissapear. I’ll give her a year or two and shes gone. Maybe if there was something strong about her other than FASHION….she has nothing but looks……oh well…..
She went on tv acting like the little victim, and chose to do it right before Chris Brown was to release his cd. But the tables turned on the little vixen and now she isnt’ doing so well.
You could see right thru her little act on the show, of how Chris beat her. But he didn’t just jump out and start hitting. She did something.
I don’t know what the hell people’s deal is on this site. rihanna did fine for the album she was working with. And everyone lost to Boyle, you act like it was the end of the world. Boyle beat everyone all year with her debut, even Eminem, Beyonce, or Britney had as good album sales as her. Rihanna will do fine.
@STX.
Rihanna has been everywhere from tv to radio. Hype has been all around rihannas album. Promo for her album was everywhere. Deff jam hyped this up to be the album of the year. and yall stans swore that her sales would blow everybody out of the water. C’mon Rated r certainly got more promo then GGGB But yet it still flopped. Rihanna is a known “international artist” as you fans say. Why isnt her sales better then this? Sorry it was a huge disappointment because it did not live up to the hype.
yah her singles are lackluster…her best choice should have been the unreleased bubble pop with a hot video and dance crazy…like s*** u think these females would realize that to keep up with the like of beyonce who is her biggest competition u have to top what she does she did re-invent herself with the umbrella video….but her videos and singles suck…
BUT ANYWAY!
EVERYBODY GO OUT AND BUY THAT GRAFFITI ALBUM FROM CHRIS BROWN! 12.15.09!!
THIS WILL BE INTERESTING IF HE SELLS BETTA THAN HER IMMA DIE LMAO
All I have to say is if Beyonce was doing numbers like this we would be calling her a flop.
RIRI is not going to be immune to this just because he stans making excuses.
Beyonce has 3 #1 albums rihanna has no excuse to be under performing like this.
I have to LOL all her stans were quick to defend her ass 1 year ago with her milli sells now its a different story.
Coming off of the publicity of the beat down and the amazing performance of GGGB, which catapulted her into the music stratosphere, I expected this album to sell alot more based off of hype alone. Im surprised i didn’t. She’s at the peak of her career and in this day and age her s*** should sell based off of name alone. I think if a slow jam is what they wanted first it should have been cold case love. I far from a Rih fan but that is a very nice song. Far better than RR. (Timberlake needs to quite trying to be timberland 2.0 the smug little f***-tard). Like everyone else mentioned Hard should have released first if they wanted up tempo.
I am very surprised she didn’t do as well overseas!. I think she has a bigger and more loyal following overseas than in the U.S considering the fact she’s never toured over here on her own. She done quite a few solo tours overseas.
She was bested by Adam Lambert. He wasn’t even the winner of his season of American Idol but the runner up! She’s a huge international popstar and she gets bested by and AI runner up! BIG PROBLEM DEF JAM.
Her image this time didn’t help plus the parental advisory sticker on her album. I’ve seen her tities more than I’ve seen my own! Urban radio has never been that friendly toward her. Rihanna isn’t the kind of artists that has that artistic weight on her side to up and change her musical style. She should have stayed with the status quo. She ain’t Jill Scott.
As far as Mariah is concerned. I am too through with LA Reid. There were poor singles choices made. That’ ok MiMi! Just bask in success of Precious for right now then come hard with the music in 2010! Hopefully she will be able to say she was a part of an oscar winning movie (the academy awards bet-not screw this movie over!!)
LA may be on his way out. It’s time for old man river to retire
Music in 2010 looks to start out with a big bang with the release of Sade’s album in Feb!!!
If her first week sales is bigger than her last albums first week sales I hardley call it a flop. And to all saying she is a bigger star after GGGB she was a huge star before that albums release, with umbrella, so again with such a smash why wasnt that album a flop? Because of sales over 6 million, thats why.
Bottom line all she needs to do is release another good single after Hard (which is blowin up R&B/ Hip Hop charts ) and she should be fine, Christmas is coming up and her sales will still be coming in You cannot judge the success of the album by its first week that is ridiculous.
And the competition was crazy last week people had been waiting for Susan and Adam’s albums for forever so Im not surprised that neither Rihanna’s nor GaGa’s album didnt get number 1 lets see what they do in their second week.
RiRi got enough promo video debut on 20/20 Diane Sawyer interview GMA concert radio interviews blog on her every move support from one of rap”s biggest force JZ, support for IDJ/Universal world wide. With a huge following the expectations were truly high and the numbers were not good. Susan Boyle has way less promo and still sold almost 700k which tells me people wanted RiRi story not the music.
When Sade cd comes out, I will make sure to have me a nice ass bag of weed, cuz the s*** is going to be off glass! I know the music is going be in 2010!! Hurry up and get her!!!!!!!!!
you all need to realize that Susan Boyle and Andrea Bochelli, are representing for the older folks. When last was any CD released that catered to that age group. You see people undestimated the buying power of people 40+, they are tired of Hip hop, and all those types of sounds, and they are longing for something they can relate to, so of course Susan Boyle was a welcome change for them, and I ain’t mad at it. Adam Lambert, although he didn’t win, was the favorite on American Idol. People wanted him to win, so they were anticipating his album, Plus American Idol has a huge following. Rihanna had competition straight out the box on the 23rd, but the long run will tell who is the true winner overall. Her CD is really good, so i don’t see it not producing at least 1 hit.
@this girl keeping it real. WHen did def jam say it was going to be the album of the year and hyped it up. I am a fan, and I didn’t even know when her album was coming out until about 2 weeks before, when a blog reported she was coming out on the 23rd. So how was she hyped up? some of you all know she wasn’t hyped up because on the blogs people kept saying what is she doing, when is she going to put out some new music, then bam one day we heard she was coming out on a certain date, and the first single wasn’t even released. Rihanna had stiff competition on the 23rd, so of course #1 didn’t come easy. I doubt if Bey came out on the 23rd she would have beat Susan Boyle. Did Bey ever open up with 669,000 units? so there you go.
you cant say its a flop yet cuz if its lik GGGB then shell re release it and put out a lot of singles so tht she sells 2x platnium again
n almost 200k in the first week isnt tht bad anyways
its not tht good either tho
Plan b revamp image go back to long brown hair less dark make up and release stupid in love or firebomb instant success
DANIBEE
you need to shut the f*** up and go RIDE beyonce’s c*** on some other site
i swear these dumb ass beyonce stans askin’ for it
this is a topic about rihanna, not whack, desperate ass beyonce
Yall brag about Beyonce but she had ONE number one hit off that album I am Sucha a fake
HOW IN THE HELL the BADDEST bytch in the game that is snatching wigs off all of the competition only have ONE number 1 hit and she released EVERY song off the damn album
Yall can talk about Rihanna all yall want RR is the bomb
GO RIRI brush them hater OFF
I think it has alot to do with her portraying herself to be someone she isn’t. This “BadA** IMAGE she threw at us..we wasn’t buying it. Had she came out like “Im strong” instead of “Im Hard” people would have brought it. Hate to compare..but that ME, MYSELF, AND I song on Beyonce’s album, Dangerously in love, would have been a great look for Rihanna…but all this bloody, Russian Roulette, Eff You, Eff Love…is not her..that’s PINK..and pink has been consistant with her image…Rihanna keeps changing. I hope she becomes true to herself, and works with songwriters who don’t want to make a quick buck…she really needs to take time out of the spotlight and work on her stage presence.
If she wouldn’t have did that 20/20 interview she would have sold me albums..b/c then people were like..”yeah okay heffer, I see what you tryna do” lol..lol.
Wonder how many albums Chris Breezy is gonna sell, Im def. buying his..b/c he is talented and can sing..im not rihanna..he aint do nothing to me.lol
@STX, it’s not that she didn’t come in 1st ahead of Susan Boyle’s incredible numbers.
It’s that she didn’t come in 2nd, 3rd, or 4th. smh.
lets not be dillusional shall we, 180 000 nowhere in the world is a flop, so sam stop talking trash and trying to make like she failed when she didnt, people r not stupid ok, we all no she gon go platinum. its about how u start but about how u finish.
Ok….let’s put the mechanics out here for everyone that cannot understand why this album is being considered a flop. Yes she sold more records that GGGB, BUT the amount of money put into the promotion was significantly lower. SHE HAD A PROMOTION LOGO SENT AROUND BEFORE THE DAMN SINGLE WAS EVEN RELEASED. Now if you don’t think that cost money you must be delusional.
Secondly, her single choice WAS AWFUL!!! Hard or Rude boy should have been her first singles. She’s trying TOO hard to be different and instead of it working in her favor, it’s working against her.
Third, it’s a known fact that teenagers are the ones that actually go out and buy cds. A single that consists of a game that requires you to put a gun to your head and pull the trigger AIN’T GONNA FLY. I don’t care how deep it’s supposed to be. And even if it was supposed to be deep, I’m supposed to believe this from someone who was talking bout standing under her umbrella. NEGATIVE.
You have to think about your market, and her album is COSTING MORE than what it is bringing in=FLOP.
So at this point it is a FLOP.
It such a shame that once again this website seems to focus on the negative personal opinion of some one who really should take his self back to whatever journalism course he graduated and re-enrol, there is no denying a lot of hard work goes into this sight but how stupid to you think your audience is that we can’t tell the difference from quality thought leading journalism to opinion based biased trash talk. I’m not the biggest rihanna fan in the world but Rated R has to be one the best albums I have bought this year each track (every last damn one of them) shows a personal progression from her as an artist Photographs is one of the best songs I’ve ever heard this year.
Sam |Trent whoever as two “respected” journalists’ I would hope that when writing your posts that you would take a more generic stance on the artist you talk about. Theses negative opinion based post often show an extreme lack of understanding of the music industry yes Rated R didn’t do first week Beyonce numbers but Rihanna has never been that type of artist GGGB only did 168,000 in her first week so when your calling the album a flop in what respect are you comparing it to since most business including record labels measure success in beating the sales prediction of their last product for which they done by 20,000 records.
As someone who works in the media I respect the level of information this site gets but it is seriously let down by obvious personalisation of your writing, it is why this site will never really take off from being more than a blog that people go because your names quite catchy (That Grape Juice I give you props for that one)
This album has about 8 singles on it which are strong enough to carry it though the year and give her the type of album that continues to sell which is usually the case with Ri Ri albums, her biggest (and only) let down of this project was probably Russian Roulette as a first single which I believe would have been better as the third or 2nd single and def jam could a more radio friendly song such as Photographs or Rude Boys the first single
I’m not a Rihanna Stan just a Stan of good Journalism
Stop saying she is a singles artist this is her fourth effort and after the success of GGGB she should’ve been #1 for that alone. The bottom line here is lack of talent, Rihanna her self said she did the choosing on those singles, they just forgot that people are tired of her sorry no talented self. She lied to promote the CD, she walked around instead of taking some kind of singing lessons cause all of her performances were terrible and I really believe that was the problem her performing! Rihanna got exactly what she deserved a wake up call, its time to come with talent instead of showing your but and that’s all..
Singles artist is not working this time she has released 3 and all 3 have flopped according to the industry standards. The HARD video is going to really put a damper on her career cause it’s not going to help, it’s time for TALENT! she dont have. KARMA when it hits it hits HARD!
Rihanna beat Gaga for the number #4 spot and scored her best sales numbers yet. You hating b****** could not even wait for the final numbers. Rihanna is the top pop diva!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
^^^^ Just about, only because everyone was getting it for a bargain of $0.99 nothing to be proud of, at least Gaga was priced at the proper price, andnumber 4 is not exactly number 1, the position everyone aims for and wants to get, that’s not even top 3, try again
This was a flop!!! according to her promo, her interview on national TV, for them selling it like a pimp for .99 cents and her walking around being a walking billboard for months. So stop saying people are hatin and except she flopped. Imagine next week when she is already out of the top 10 or maybe 20… Gaga won because she sold it for normal price and RiRi is still selling it like it has been out for months already.. The problem again! is her doing live shows, STOP! let her continue to walk and take it from there but this live stuff is killing her. She had two terrible showings before the release and the one on the X-Factor was nothing to write home about. Dropped 3 singles and let people taste a fourth and still that’s it, come on now if this would’ve been Beyonce and be real y’all would’ve been doing the same thing! But, Rihanna! this is still good and she’s just a singles artist, bull! she’s a artist that had a large fan base until she started singing again live. That song RR would’ve been like Whitney’s IWALY if she had the talent! It’s really a nice song but she used it for the wrong reason and had no talent what so ever performing it! It took me 3 days to remember who Susan Boyle was and she came out with over 700 in the states and over 400 in Riri’s land, stop!!
She is now #3 on the billboard chart and it was reported this was her best sales week thus far. This album did not flop in the states.
Like I said before, this blog is going down. False reporting is terrible. This site might need to change its name to “THAT-HATER-AIDE”
@lee lee, go check your numbers again hun, because rihanna is now in the fourth position. Not bad for ri ri.
@my ears, thats always the case with rihanna isn’t it. When she does what you all say she couldn’t do, which is outsell gaga, you all come in here and say it was because of this that and the other. At first you all say all her gimmicks wasn’t working, now you say it was because of her gimmicks that’s why she won. It doesn’t matter that her m** download sold for whatever price, if you wasn’t going to get it you wasn’t. SOme of you all claimed you wouldn’t have even gotten it if it was a penny, so you know she did that plain and simple, and her fans kept her afloat like they always do. Fan mail from 27 million. Didn’t she tell you all. LMAO.
1) GGGB pushed only 160k after UMBRELLA was #1 around the world for several weeks, and went on to sell 2.6 millions copies in the US, 7 mil worldwide.
2) This is Rihanna’s biggest sales week ever – even after switching up her style and sound completely.
3) She took a huge risk, to huge critical acclaim, and has to work hard to promote this album as a labor of love.
So why is this article so evil? What’s wrong with this blog? It makes me so angry.. People turn out run-of-the-mill generic crap (see Whitney, Amerie, Kelly Rowland) and get the diamond treatment.. Whatevs.
Selling a CD at 99 cents is pathetic! This is unfair compared to the other artists. Otherwise,the sales could be less than 50.000. That’s why this CD is a flop.
I am a Rihanna fan but I tell the truth.
Mariah has been everywhere!
Letterman,Ellen,Larry King,Oprah,The View,Today Show,
If she doesnt’ sell good, don’t blame promotion. We have to wonder if the products were good. mariah did wrong by choosing obsessed as a first single. This is not the kind of music that Mariah is known for.
To George, I agree with you. 99 cents CD means flop
@George that makes it more embarrassing, plus I read some fans brought more than 1 copy and that’s all she got? It’s a flop and the poor girl is going on cable again for a free concert for only 600 people and you can listen on her myspace account tomorrow. I believe the label are Rihanna is trying to do away with her career! They should’ve stopped at GGGB reloaded cause they read them concert reviews.
Lmao@Dawn..Lady Gaga sold 325k in her first week..and her shiit was priced right..not at discount prices..Rihanna has no form of talent..Just another pretty face faking talent..You Rihanna stans kill me..180k is bullshiit numbers in the music industry..She should have sold more than that..But guess why she didnt..cuz she was too busy living it up..having daily sidewalk fashion shows..like she got all the skills in the world..and it comes to her naturally..instead of really workin on her album and stage presence..GGGb sold what 6 million copies..because it was re-released 50 million times..there’s artists that sell albums like that without re-releasing shiit..Real Talent Like Alicia Keys..So now i Say, whats Really good..Im not a hater this is my opinion..If Rihanna get herself together and stop trying so hard to be different..Maybe people would like her..Til then She got No Form of Talent..But dressing in designer clothes and finding Paparazzi to take pictures.
I’m curious to WHY everytime Rihanna’s name comes up people automatically compares her to Beyonce….am not a stans of Rihanna or Beyonce. to be honest Rihanna got nothing on Beyonce..yall need to stop comparing them. we all know beyonce can sing and dance. beyonce is over rated, but she brings something to the table.
Rihanna is only famous for her looks, and fashion sence. if you look at her live perfomances, she SUCKS. its embarrassing because she’s being in the game for a while. Its not hating on rihanna when we say she SUCKS, thats the thruth. the reason people say Rated R is a flop is because its Rihanna were talking about. she should be number 1 not number 5. you mean to tell me all those promotions, playing the victim card, showing your ass in public, and your album flopped..
@ DUMMIES…all the Rihanna stans are focused on the wrong thing, they keep bringing up GGGB. what the hell does Rated R has to do with her last album? nothing….yes GGGB sold alot only because she re released it like 3 times. if you guys insist in bringing up GGGB , she got lucky with that album, it was just LUCK after the 3 time.
with Rated R we expected her to improve in her vocals and live perfomances. yes she did improve in her vocals, thats it.. her live perfomances did not improve at all.
And wo ever keePs sayin Rated R is not a flop, MEN LIE, WOMEN LIE, NUMBERS DONT…..
@dee dee, GGGB only re- released once. GGGB reloaded. And for those saying 180,000 is not good first week. Give me that number anyday, because since when is going Gold in your first week dismal numbers.? Rihanna’s Cd was sold in all retail outlets for the full price. The sale was for black friday only, and only a select group of people got it for that price. She is #1 in Brazil, Germany, and other european countries, so did they buy for 99cents as well. You all are grasping at straws, because the reality is you all were hoping for her to do worse, and she ended up going gold first week, and topping her last album, which is what a person is supposed to do. You are supposed to do even better than your last, and rihanna has done that. Now she just has to wait for her album to release the hits and go on to platinum status. Good Job rihanna.
@why still in the bus. Haven’t you ever bought more than one copy of a CD? What is so bad about that. I have bought CD’s for myself and picked one up for my sister, everyone does it sometime, but because its rihanna its criminal? You all come out of the wood works with the strangest twist for everything rihanna does. I guess mc donalds is only doing good because I bought 2 french fries, and 2 cokes right? Thats how dumb that theory sounds.
Lol Grape Juice usaually gives good reviews and Rihanna has the worst review I have seen recently. Lol they leaked Breezy’s album and Grape Juice gave it a 4/5. But you would think she would have sold more in the first week with everyone feeling sorry for her. Its not bad but I expected more. And I personally didn’t like the album because it was a little to dark and scary. I liked the old fun Rihanna now she is weird and I agree she isn’t setting the best example for young women. I am a young women and after her 20/20 interview when she said she was trying to be a good role model I actually saw pictures of her on the internet half naked and she tried to go into church with this short black inappriote dress on one time they even have a picture of it. And as a young women I don’t think it was a good example she should have stepped it up just a little more.
@STX. Um… I don’t think thats what she meant we all know picking up other copies for people is understandable but I think she meant picking up more then one just so it will do good and she was also basically saying for all the people that brought more then one copy and for all the people feeling sorry for her she should have sold a little more. So shut up because you didn’t get it at all.
@noodles, rihanna never said she wanted to be a role model for young girls, for every aspect of her life. She was talking about the one issue where she would stay with a person who hit her, she didn’t want young girls to think that was okay. What rihanna wears should not concern you, as long as your’re not wearing it. She is dressing for her, its her life to live, and she can’t do everything in life worrying about what the public would think. That would mean she is living for others and not herself. Rated R is not dark and Scary, did you even listen to it? There are lots of beautiful songs on that album, nothing scary at all.
@noodles, why should I get it, because she said so. You don’t know if people were truly doing that, you are just going by hearsay, so I suggest you shut up you gullable small minded, follower. So just because she said so means its true. Of course your gonna fall for it, because that’s what you want to hear. How many artist have people out there buying albums so they do good? It may or may not happen, and if it does, why should rihanna be the only one singled out for it, if others may be doing the same thing too.
its doesnt matter if GGGB was released 2 times or 3 times..the reason it did good was because it was released more than once thats my point STX.. like some people said on here this is NOT a rihanna fansite. if you dont like our opinions than go on her fansite.
@ SRAP.. huh when rihanna said she wanted to be a role model , she wasnt only talking about her beat down, read the glamour magazine interview….
the reason we criticize her about what she wears is because if you gonna declare your self a role model for young girls, u shouldnt be walkin aroung a** out all the time.
you shouldnt be talking about how u u prefer a big d***..
my point is if rihanna hadnt gone on record and say she wants to be a role model, I wouldnt give a f*** what she wears.
y do u think her album FLOPPING hard..because parents who have young children dont want her as a role model.
how many artist do u know as big as rihanna has ever sold a cd for 99 cents..none
and every body knows some record companys buys their peoples album to make it seem they sold more than it really is.
yes Rated R are is a dark album, for god sake shes singing about guns, and s******.
@ STX so far shes not doing better than her last album..the only way shes gonna
do better if she rerelease 5 more times.
stop making excuses for rihanna” album flopping..if Susan Boyle can sell over 600,000 copies in less than a week than rihanna can do it tooo.
its sad because she had 4 times more promotions than Susan Boyle
Yeah for the people trying to throw the 99 cent promotion in her sales, they weren’t even calculated into her totals so… TRY AGAIN. Noodles… come on you’re really going to give the grape juice some credibility when it comes to reviews? First of all, it’s very clear that they can’t stand Rihanna. Hell it’s even clear in this post. They’re bashing her for coming in 4th behind Susan Boyle, but they aren’t talking about everyone else are they? I don’t care if she’s Rihanna, Lady GaGa has also established herself. You can’t even compare the audiences. Susan Boyle is older and mentally challenged and that’s a fact not hateration. Andrea Bocelli is older and blind. Adam Lambert is gay…. All three of them have dedicated audiences who actually still BUY cds. Chris Brown got 4/5 stars from Grape Juice. Rihanna got 4/5 stars from Rollingstone and a very positive review from Soundscan. LMAO. Now compare the two. Congratulations to everyone because ALL of their numbers are outstanding considering that the market has taken a downfall due to illegal downloading.
180,000 albums isn’t gold btw. Also Gaga DID sell more but her album sells were calculated for those who but JUST The Fame Monster and also for those that bought the deluxe version which included the original Fame + The Fame Monster it’s on Billboard. Rihanna flopped because she’s supposed to be one of the biggest artists around today. Hopefully it will humble her and get her on her s***.
for people who are sayin “‘that grape juice is biased when it comes to rihanna, thats bull.
yes sam gave rihanna’s album a big FAIL.. but sam is not the only one who thinks rihanna’s flopping.. go on Necole bitchie, sandra rose, ybf, they all say the same thing..rihanna’s flopping hard.
its not just rihanna thats floppin, mariah carey is flopping too…so how is sam hating on rihanna? by stating facts?
the rolling stone magazine, doesnt have good credibility when it comes to artist..they did call rihanna “A POWERFULL VOCAL”…lolololol
@deedee, Rihanna’s GGGB was a hot seller, that was why they released the reloaded version, to capitalize on the success, and add 2 or three more tracks. Still to this day people are still buying the album, and no material has been added to it for over a year. About people saying she’s flopping you realize that the sources your quoting as rihanna flopping are all blogs. Go to any reputable music source, and they haven’t said anything about rihanna flopping, only the blogs are using that word for shock factor. Haven’t you noticed that they all put the same headline in, and people swarm to post. If you haven’t figured it out by now, only when hateful stuff is posted about rihanna do these blogs get a high number of hits. IF rihanna or beyonce is not a topic, the blogs are usally dry and underperforming. Look at all the posts, look at how many comments are under people like Leona Lewis, mariah, even Alicia Keys, people hardly ever say anything about them, but you all claim to like talent. Why don’t you all support these other peoples post. Yeah I realize this is not a fansite, and I hope its not a hate site either, that’s why I am posting my opininion, just like you’re doing.
@deedee did beyonce ever sell 600,000 on her opening week? You guys claim she’s better than rihanna, so if she hasn’t hit those numbers yet, why do you expect rihanna to. Hell even Mariah, the biggest star of the last few decades haven’t hit that number, so why are you trying to hold rihanna to some astronomical number. Well glad to know some of you guys have faith in her. Susan Sold pure and Simple, because people wanted music for the grown folk. They have been ignored for quite sometime, and Susan Was a welcome breath of fresh air.
Rated R is now numbrer 1 in France, Brazil, and Sweden. So I guess Rihanna has a number one album in other countries. Not bad ri ri not bad at all.
I agree with u deedee..Susan Boyle..barely did any promotion on her album..she lived a peaceful life and stuff..Rihanna is world known and people supposedly love her and everything..she should have sold over 300k easy just by her name but she didnt..Susan Boyle got the number 1 album..with over 700k..NUMBER 1 !!! what is Rihanna’s excuse yo..theres nothing you can say about her performance in the music industry..she should have been improved all around..not saying she gotta dance or anything..but her stage presence isnt even there..she had like 2 years to get it together..and past experiences to learn from..and she didnt rely on her sources..she need to just go into fashion..and try to become a icon there..cuz music is not her thing..if only she put as much effort in her music as she do playing dress-up..
@dummies Susan Boyle was all over the tv on oprah, various news magazine shows, Also on the news about her near breakdown after coming in first on the show instead of winning, doing makeovers, and not to mention the X factor has some of the highest ratings. So yes she was heavily promoted as well. Not because you probably never heard of her don’t mean others didn’t.
i heard of Susan Boyle..but i highly doubt that she had the same funding as Rihanna to promote her album..basically Def Jam was All about promoting her stuff, and placing their other more talented artist on the back burner..Please people were fascinated by Boyle..
OK no one expected Rihanna to go over 5 or 600,000 but anything below 200,000 for an established well-promoted artist coming off of a top selling previous album signifies a FLOP! This ‘singles-artist’ argument is weak. What makes you think Rated R has enough hit singles to get her to GGGB type sales? She’s already released 3 songs from the album. Anyway, she shouldn’t have to have such a slow build again. Where’s the momentum the last album should have created for her? Face it…people are not feeling the direction of her music and image and she should not have tried to use the CB situation to promote her album.
It will be hilarious if breezy outsells her
This is kind of sad news because I adore her new album. I like so many more songs on it. Her last album only had about five good songs on it and it sold so many more copies. My guess is that people just aren’t even giving it a listen. And then there’s the whole piracy issue. Albums leak months in advance and by the time the album is legally released, people are tired of it and never end up buying it.
Rihanna went gold selling almost 700,000 copies. Thats hard to do now-a-days
rihanna is just getting old. she tries to hard to impress and frankly im not the only one who agrees since hardly anyone wanted to go out and buy her album. her image is so differrent and she is just pushing it too far. she doesnt have to be lil ms. hardcore to win over fans, if anything she is loosing them.