L.A. Times: “The top of the charts is no longer a clear-cut popularity contest.”
Meanwhile, the most popular artist in the U.S., if one is to go by BigChampagne’s “Ultimate Chart,”which combines sales, airplay and social-networking data, is Katy Perry. Her “Teenage Dream” is selling well but far from gangbusters. In three weeks, the album has sold 339,000 copies. The artist isn’t going anyway anytime soon: Singles from the album, for instance, have sold well over 5 million copies.
Bareilles is farther down on BigChampagne’s tally, resting at No. 62. That’s not a slight, as her supporters will no doubt champion her as an album artist and one who certainly isn’t the YouTube darling that Perry is. That should be good news, perhaps, for the surviving independent stores and fans of artists who haven’t been showcased on, say, the recent MTV Video Music Awards.
Currently, acts such as Mumford & Sons and the Arcade Fire are both in the top 20, artists overshadowed at stores such as Best Buy by Linkin Parks, Trey Songz and others. Yet as CDs are falling out of favor with our largest retailers, the top of the charts is no longer a clear-cut popularity contest.
