Sings the Diva Classics and Neil Diamond

[jobeterob]

Yes, not Motown but readable..........

Aretha hit Billboard Top 200 at #13; and Neil Diamond came on at #3; and Streisand, the arch enemy is at #8 after a couple months; and Tony Bennett is high up there too!

[Lulu]

I haven't heard Neil Diamond's album. Aretha's is not so good IMHO. Streisand's is pure delight and Tony Bennett and Gaga seemed enjoyable from what I saw of their PBS special last weekend.

[jobeterob]

Well, only selling 20000 copies to get to #13 ~ not so great if those are the numbers; you need fewer and fewer to get high up the chart these days.

[midnightman]

^ Not unless you're like Taylor Swift or something.

[jobeterob]

I saw Taylor Swift was expected to sell 1.2 million, first week out ~ only CD to do so this year I guess.

[Bokiluis]

The true test will be its 2nd and 3rd week since it is not driven by Airplay. It is #13 on iTunes R&B album chart, but, nowhere to be found in the overall iTunes Top 150. Still, for her demo...physical CD sales are probably still more important than downloads. She has cause to celebrate her first R&B #1 Billboard album in 32 yrs since 1982's "Jump to It". [[Though decidedly mixed reviews doesn't bode well for the future).
It essentially sold the same amount as Diana's "I Love You" in 2007, but, sales have fallen so badly since then, Diana's 21,100 only ranked #32.
Streisand's similarly themed "Partners" sold 10xs [[196,000) the amount of Aretha a couple of weeks ago.
But hey, bragging rights for a week is better than none at all.

[marybrewster]

Arch enemy, LOL.

[midnightman]

The true test will be its 2nd and 3rd week since it is not driven by Airplay. It is #13 on iTunes R&B album chart, but, nowhere to be found in the overall iTunes Top 150. Still, for her demo...physical CD sales are probably still more important than downloads. She has cause to celebrate her first R&B #1 Billboard album in 32 yrs since 1982's "Jump to It". [[Though decidedly mixed reviews doesn't bode well for the future).
It essentially sold the same amount as Diana's "I Love You" in 2007, but, sales have fallen so badly since then, Diana's 21,100 only ranked #32.
Streisand's similarly themed "Partners" sold 10xs [[196,000) the amount of Aretha a couple of weeks ago.
But hey, bragging rights for a week is better than none at all.

I forgot about the R&B charts but yeah she should brag. Wow FIRST #1 album in 32 years!? That has to be a record!

[jobeterob]

The true test will be its 2nd and 3rd week since it is not driven by Airplay. It is #13 on iTunes R&B album chart, but, nowhere to be found in the overall iTunes Top 150. Still, for her demo...physical CD sales are probably still more important than downloads. She has cause to celebrate her first R&B #1 Billboard album in 32 yrs since 1982's "Jump to It". [[Though decidedly mixed reviews doesn't bode well for the future).
It essentially sold the same amount as Diana's "I Love You" in 2007, but, sales have fallen so badly since then, Diana's 21,100 only ranked #32.
Streisand's similarly themed "Partners" sold 10xs [[196,000) the amount of Aretha a couple of weeks ago.
But hey, bragging rights for a week is better than none at all.

Such a shame how the sales have collapsed; back in the day, 20,000 would put you around #150 on the Billboard 200.

I thought I saw recently there were again re-doing the criteria for the Top 100 singles?

[marv2]

Go Queen Aretha! A Top 15 Hit ......at age 72! Just last week, fellow Michigander Bob Seger Hit # 3 with his latest album at age 69! So much for that "theory" of aging out of the market! LOL! This should be a great holiday season with so much good music.

[jobeterob]

The only person selling is Taylor Swift and all the old folks! Course she is selling 10x the rest of them put together!

[marv2]

This latest collection may earn Aretha her 19th Grammy.

[marv2]

The only person selling is Taylor Swift and all the old folks! Course she is selling 10x the rest of them put together!

She'll never sell to me! She will also not have a 50 year plus career.

[Bokiluis]

Such a shame how the sales have collapsed; back in the day, 20,000 would put you around #150 on the Billboard 200.

I thought I saw recently there were again re-doing the criteria for the Top 100 singles?

iTunes has been down for the 6th quarter in a row, which last quarter being down a whopping 20% as streaming catches on. I guess people are finding less reasons to permanently own music when they have access to millions of songs for a monthly rental fee. What you are soon Gonna have are hard core collectors desiring to own. Billboard does factor streaming into the singles chart, how much of an impact, I'm not sure.
So far in 2014, not one single album has been certified platinum except for the forthcoming Taylor Swift album. So what is it about Taylor Swift that her fans want to own her releases? Labels would do well to try and figure out why that is so. Streaming royalties of 3 to 4 cents per song, does not give labels a lot of Marketing dollars to play with.
Think about how many times you can listen to a popular new song in a given month.
it is probably on a sliding scale. You love a new song and may listen to once or twice a day that first month. At its peak maybe four to five times a day, though that may seem a little obssessive to the casual music listener. As your interest wanes by the 3rd or 4th month it is out, it is down to 10 times a month as you grow tired of it. It then may prove more beneficial to stream the record. Because once your interest dies, the chances are that record just sits on the shelf.
Its a big shift in music listening/owning that didn't come about until the birth of digital music. Now with digital music taking root, music is slowly looking different.
[[Example: I still listen to Marvin's post "What's Going On" catalog a few times a month. But I know that I am not a traditional music listener. The average person would probably say wow I haven't heard the "Let's Get it On" album in years).

[marv2]

Aretha proves that when you are the best, you can come back anytime you want to!

[jobeterob]

Somebody told me to put the app for Sonzaa on my phone - I think it streams our kind of music!

[smark21]

Say what you will about Taylor Swift but at least her album isn't a duets project; a covers album; or a remakes project, or some combination of the three. A shame that the only way a vintage/classic recording star can get a lot of promotion these days is with such projects, and not an album of new material. Though there are exceptions.

[jobeterob]

Taylor is at the top of the heap, like it or not.

[jillfoster]

Think about this, in the top 40 albums this week, we have Aretha, Neil Diamond, Bob Seger, Tony Bennett, Barbra Streisand, and Billy Idol. That's pretty impressive for the over 50 crowd!

[marv2]

Think about this, in the top 40 albums this week, we have Aretha, Neil Diamond, Bob Seger, Tony Bennett, Barbra Streisand, and Billy Idol. That's pretty impressive for the over 50 crowd!

Anyone of these veteran artists hit recordings would crush Taylor Swift from the weight of all that gold!

[jobeterob]

Aretha's album fell to #41 in it's second week.

But now Barry Manilow entered the Billboard 200 at #4.

Neil Diamond is still at #13 and Streisand remains in the Top 10.