Album Trends in 2010

Eminem and Rihanna in the "Love the Way You Lie" music video

The American consumer gets the privilege of having a plethora of unique music and bands to choose from. In 2010 alone we've seen some amazing bands come around to introduce us to a unique collection of sounds.  A few artists that come to mind:

1. Vampire Weekend
2. B.O.B.
3. Arcade Fire
4. Gorillaz
5. Eminem
6. Motion City Soundtrack
7. The Morning Of
8. The Dead Weather
9. OK GO
10. Ra Ra Riot

Clearly I have no problem crossing genres but then again, that's emphasized rather clearly on the main title of this page.  The real question I have for consumers is how does their decisions affect album sales?  It's amazing to see the 2010 album sales figures for some of the artists mentioned above.  Back in January, Vampire Weekend had their first #1 album with the release of their sophomore album Contra.  Being able to sell 124,000 copies in the dead of winter after a holiday rush of sales, shows the band had some great marketing ideas.  Whether the first single Cousins being run across music television channels that previous fall as well college campuses across the country helped or maybe it was the large fan base they gained with their first album.  Regardless, for a band to go from selling 28,000 copies on the first week for their debut album to selling 124,000 copies during their first week for their 2nd CD, it clearly states this band is maturing.

Arcade Fire

Another band mentioned above was Arcade Fire.  The band was recently able to have their first #1 album debut with their 3rd album The Suburbs.  Not only that, but the band was also able to finally break Eminem's reign on the Billboard Charts after a 4 week run at #1 with his album Recovery.  How did Arcade Fire achieve pinning Eminem down?  Well marketing can really take an effect on an albums sales if done right.  Eminem's marketing strategy of being rather quiet about his album and simply releasing a single and an underground freestyle to promote Recovery seems to have worked (currently he's back at the #1 spot).  But with Arcade Fire, they can't simply release a single and expect people to care about their band.  They want to attract people like me, who have heard about their band but have never truly given them a chance.  Look no further than Amazon's MP3 Store to help aid the band!  Thanks to putting their album on a $3.99 daily deal that turned into a weekly deal, people snatched up their album just to see what all the fuss was about. That includes me.  And it certainly helps that their album is great, which there in turn allows me to spread the deal to my friends via word of mouth, Twitter, Facebook, and just now, blogs.  Arcade Fire was able to get 156,000 copies sold the first week, very similar to Vampire Weekend's Contra first week album sales.

Vampire Weekend

The Amazon MP3 Store is actually the best kept secret on the internet if only because of their incredible deals they have each and every day.  Of the artists mentioned above, the following had their album on sale the day it came out on Amazon MP3:  OK GO, Arcade Fire, Ra Ra Riot, and Vampire Weekend.  So what happens when you're a band that doesn't want to offer your album for dirt cheap but still want to break out into the scene?  Simple.  First step is to make an excellent album.  Then of course you must go all old school and do the touring thing.  That's exactly what The Morning Of has done.  Their album The Way I Fell In is officially my favorite album of the year thus far and I bet you only a select few know of the band.  That's fine though, because the band is touring constantly with bands that are also breaking out onto the scene (The Dangerous Summer comes to mind).  That helped with strong word of mouth reviews and being featured on multiple news associations have helped people find out about bands like The Morning Of or even rappers like B.O.B., who had a list of hits already come out this year.

The Morning Of

B.O.B. aka Bobby Ray

So how has the album trends been this year thus far?  I would say the albums that have sold well this year have done so thanks in large part to marketing of the albums and the consumers willingness to find the music they want to hear.  Sure there are plenty of popular albums atop the charts, mostly club bangers, but 2010 has been filled with something a little more tailored toward the alternative choices club.  5 years ago I doubt anyone would have guessed Eminem would release another CD but have the CD mostly be filled with unique non-rap beats and Arcade Fire have a #1 album on a label that is out of Chapel Hill, NC instead of the usual New York City or LA scene.

Important Links:
Amazon MP3 Store
The Billboard 200