Analysts were surprised when the Empire soundtrack trumped Madonna's Rebel Heart on the Billboard 200, although it managed to take the no. 1 position on the actual albums chart. Even more surprising is how poorly the album has done going forward in its second week. Rebel debuted by selling around 117,000 copies during its first week but immediately dropped to 22,800 copies during its second week, dropping more than 80 percent and 14 places on the Albums chart. More dramatically, the record fell from no. 2 to no. 21 on the Billboard 200.
The pop star's last album, 2012's MDNA, moved 359,000 copies during its first week.
So what's the story? According to Consequence of Sound, some are suggesting that the leak of several tracks that occurred during December may have killed Madonna's momentum early, both in that it deterred fans from buying the actual album and that the preview suggested that the rest of the album wouldn't be worth it. Guy Oseary, Madge's manager, suggested that the leaked files weren't up to album quality (a true statement) but some may have taken the low quality the wrong way. This theory seems unlikely when explaining the overall weakness of sales however.
A more likely explanation for her struggles on the Billboard 200 comes from the new metrics used to determine placement on that chart. That measurement also takes singles sales and streams into consideration and converts them to "equivalent albums." Billboard only lists the Top 25 Digital songs on its site, and needless to say, none of Madonna's singles are on it. The lack of streams could honestly suggest that Madonna's core fan-base is older than she would like to think.
If that's the case, Madonna fans have nothing to fear: Older fan-bases also buy more tickets for arena-based acts, so Madge will always have a home on the road even if album sales are down.
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