Good – The Ting Tings appear to be getting that long-promised breakthrough, as “That’s Not My Name” breaks into the pop radio Top 40 (#39 at the moment). “Shut Up and Let Me Go” also made the Top 40, although just barely. Let’s hope “Name” has a little more momentum to make it happen. If all goes well, I will be seeing them live at the beginning of April here in Denver.
Bad – The slow start of The Script breaking in the U.S. How this group has so far been ignored is beyond me. You would think that this was custom-made for American consumption. The physical release of the CD is this Tuesday, but it was released months ago on iTunes. I blame the industry for this (along with anything else that goes wrong).
Good – Neko Case’s “Middle Cyclone” debuts at #3 on the Billboard Top Albums chart. Srsly?
Bad – The Neko Case CD only sold 44,000 units to land at #3. Srsly?
Good – Kelly Clarkson’s CD “All I Ever Wanted” appears ready to debut at #1, with sales around 200,000 units.
Bad – “My December”, which was considered a failure, sold 291,000 units when it debuted.
Good – I’m looking forward to upcoming new releases from the Pet Shop Boys (just pre-ordered the double disc at CD-Wow), Depeche Mode (released on the same day in the U.S. as PSB), and Lady Sovereign.
–Bad – Sadly, there is also new music on the horizon from Kid Rock and John Rich. (More on John Rich tomorrow)
Stumble It!
Pop Music Notes 
I think it’s an increasingly different landscape for albums now than even a couple of a years ago and the big numbers for debuts aren’t a coming any more. Always good to pepper out the bad news with some good though methinks.
Nice to see someone other than Taylor Swift top the albums chart. Only 200k for Kelly? Wow. I thought even in the current climate she’d do better, since “Suck” is such a big hit.
Kid Rock? Srsly??
I’ve had enough of the Kid, what with seeing his awful “Warrior” video everytime I go to the movies as a “preview” to sponser the National Guard or something. Ditto to WW’s comment on Taylor…but…I hardly think this album is her best, and personally think “My December” was better. God, this economy and the sales of albums completely suck. Grrr.
Yes! It is shocking that Kelly’s album sold so little, but the plus to the good and bad is that there are plenty of singles on this album to make up for it. I’m sure it’ll sell over time. I for one, would definitely go support her on tour with this new material.