Rhianna Equals Elvis' UK Record

[jobeterob]

Rihanna scores 5th UK number one single to equal Elvis record
Rihanna scores her fifth UK number one single as What’s My Name featuring Drake climbs from last week’s number two to take pole position in the new Official Singles Chart.

Rihanna is now the first female solo artist in chart history to achieve five number one singles in consecutive years. The only other solo artist to equal this achievement was Elvis Presley in the 1950s.

Rihanna’s album Loud stays at number one in the Official Albums Chart this week giving the Barbadian born, US based artist the second UK chart double of her career.

[daddyacey]

Good for her !!!
Is that achievement reflective of talent and innovation or flash in the pan popularity and effective marketing? Will it be as impressive 50 years from now ,like when Elvis did it 50 years ago?

And please don't take this as a "sexist" intended remark on my part. I'm just posing a question.

[midnightman]

I don't get her music.

[iconicpuff]

She leaves me cold!
I think the only female vocalists who I really like out of these newishers or still charting in the UK recently are Christina Aguilera, Kelis, Angie Stone, Leona Lewis, Alicia Keys, Toni Braxton, Amy Winehouse, Mary J. Blige and Paloma Faith.

[chidrummer]

I just feel old. I probably couldn't recognize three out of the five of those hits.

I guess it's not just marketing. Marketing alone doesn't turn a pig into a peacock. A bunch of people must really enjoy what she does. I just don't hear it.

The interesting question to me is, what are the unit sales numbers for those hits and how do they match up with Elvis' totals? My quess is that today's hits sell far less units than they used to, but that's just a theory

[jobeterob]

Singles sales were major in the 60s, 70s, maybe the early 80s. There is little left of them.

Albums and CDs peaked in the 90's. There isn't a lot left of them either.

Would Rhianna's sales equal those of the 50's?? I bet they aren't more.

Someone recently posted the link for the article that talked generally about oversinging going through a lull. A lot of the female singers referred to on this thread fall into the category of those that don't oversing.

[smark21]

Singles sales were major in the 60s, 70s, maybe the early 80s. There is little left of them.

Albums and CDs peaked in the 90's. There isn't a lot left of them either.

Would Rhianna's sales equal those of the 50's?? I bet they aren't more.

Someone recently posted the link for the article that talked generally about oversinging going through a lull. A lot of the female singers referred to on this thread fall into the category of those that don't oversing.

That was me. It was an article from the NY Times and it seems oversinging melissima-abusing artists are not doing as well as they used to.

I like some of Rhianna's songs, she's got a good hit machine behind her churning out some catchy songs for her. She's not a great vocalist, but she does have a distinct stylish presence to her.

I don't know what sales totals are for singles in the UK, but last year, the top selling single in the US was California Gurls by Katy Perry. It sold 4.40 million downloads. Here's an excerpt from Billboard summing up the top ten selling singles of 2010:

While Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream" album finishes 2010 as the 14th biggest-selling overall album [[997,000), she does claim the top-selling digital song of the year, as her former Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 "California Gurls" moved 4.40 million downloads. Perry has three of the 40 top-selling songs of last year, as "Teenage Dream" is No. 12 [[3.01 million) and "Firework" is No. 28 [[2.33 million).

In total, five songs cleared the 4 million sales mark in 2010, up from four that did it in 2009. On the 2010 list, "Gurls" is followed by Train's "Hey, Soul Sister" [[4.31 million), Eminem's "Love the Way You Lie" [[featuring Rihanna, 4.25 million), Taio Cruz's "Dynamite" [[4.08 million) and B.o.B's "Airplanes" [[featuring Hayley Williams, 4.00 million).

The year-end sales totals for "Gurls" are off a bit from the champ of 2009, the Black Eyed Peas' "Boom Boom Pow," which sold 4.76 million that year.

A pair of acts double up in the top 10 digital songs tally, as both Eminem and Taio Cruz place titles in the region. Em owns the No. 3 slot with "Lie" in addition to the No. 7 placing with "Not Afraid" [[3.41 million). Cruz does it with "Dynamite" at No. 4 as well as "Break Your Heart" [[featuring Ludacris) at No. 9, with 3.25 million).

As for the rest of the year's top 10-selling songs, Usher's "OMG" [[featuring will.i.am) is No. 6 with 3.76 million, Bruno Mars' "Just the Way You Are" is No. 8 with 3.28 million and Lady Antebellum's "Need You Now" is No. 10 with 3.18 million.

Overall digital song sales grew 1% in 2010 as sales increased to 1.17 billion downloads last year, compared with 2009's 1.16 billion.

[daddyacey]

chidrummer said,
"I just feel old. I probably couldn't recognize three out of the five of those hits."

You ain't alone. As a matter of fact I am amazed at the sale numbers of acts like Rihanna ,Kanye West ,Usher ,lil Wayne and others. With all those records [[CD's Downloads ,ring tones etc) ,how come I don't have peeps that have them ,as well as the fact that I don't have them either? When Issac ,Marvin ,Stevie ,E.W.F. ,The O.P. ,Prince ,Michael and others sold millions ,everybody I knew had those albums or singles ,and even those that didn't sell millions ,but everybody I knew had them ,so how come they didn't add up to millions?
Today's artists are about style and sale ability. A pretty woman who can half ass sing can go far ,with the right team of promotion and recycled beats from so so producers ,[[Tehnicians actually), while a common looking woman that could sing a song and make you damn near piss yourself from the enjoyment ,has the hardest time getting recognition ,[[Irie ,Jill Scott ,Sharon Jones ,Ledsi ,Chrisette Michelle and others) ,and get pushed into a cultish "Nu Soul" catagory,[[just like what happened with the "Disco Queen" stigma that some great female singers got caught up in ,Grace ,Gloria ,Donna ,Joycelyn....)
Back in the day ,it didn't matter what Aretha ,Chaka ,Patti ,Gladys ,Dinah ,Billie ,Ella ,etc etc ,looked like or wore or showed tit or ass, the bottom line was you loved what they made you feel and how they gave it to you and the songs and music the served it up in ,and you loved it enough to piss yourself and enjoy it. [["They don't need those dresses ,they don't need those jewelries ,these women can sing yall." [[Sylvester). These new "stars" barely can sing and don't move you aurally any more than to the point of some things they do are mearly "catchy" at most.
I don't feel that it's because I'm old [[which my 23 yr old daughter calls me sometimes) ,I feel that cause I KNOW and have KNOWN BETTER.
Ponder this opinion of mine,
The "Pop" music genre ,and the perceived concept of it as it was know in the 60's and 70's was changed by the advent of the "Disco" craze. Disco wound up including tracks of James Brown at one extreme and The Stones at the other ,with a lot of assorted shi in between. Alone they was individually separate. The Stones ,"Miss You" aint Funk and J.B's "Get Up Off That Thing" aint Rock. They co existed equally under Disco ,but Disco died ,......but that did'nt stop anyone from still listening to the music combination that now ...had no name , so to me ,when the real Disco gimmick songs were dropped it left what was the New Pop Music. Pop made you free to listen to Rock And R&B and enjoy them for what they were and enjoy them in a non gimmick attached catagory. What came from that is what we have now in Rihanna ,Usher ,Gaa Gaa ,etc. It aint really Rock ,aint Funk ,Blues or R&B. It's a generic product made to sell to as many as possible covering all genres into one. 21'st century POP. Soylent Green.

[soulster]

I don't know what sales totals are for singles in the UK, but last year, the top selling single in the US was California Gurls by Katy Perry. It sold 4.40 million downloads. Here's an excerpt from Billboard summing up the top ten selling singles of 2010:

While Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream" album finishes 2010 as the 14th biggest-selling overall album [[997,000), she does claim the top-selling digital song of the year, as her former Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 "California Gurls" moved 4.40 million downloads. Perry has three of the 40 top-selling songs of last year, as "Teenage Dream" is No. 12 [[3.01 million) and "Firework" is No. 28 [[2.33 million).

Which is very interesting, considering this written on September 10, 2010: http://www.metrolic.com/katy-perrys-...oversy-125553/

The first single “ California Gurls” [[with Snoop Dogg), has gotten 3.6 million downloads on the Internet, while all the other digital tracks from it have sold a number of 5 million units, according to the same SoundScan. In other words, sales of the albums and the track-equivalent albums [[because 10 digital tracks are like an album) for the “Teenage Dream” totaled 689 000 units, says SoundScan.
Also, EMI Music Services executive vice president, Dominic Pandiscia, who looks over the North American part of the business says: “It’s a thrilling accomplishment from our perspective. The magnitude of the marketing plan is about driving overall revenue around the project, including track downloads, ring tones and video sales. Album scans is one component of it.”
Whoever, it didn’t rise to all expectations. It didn’t have the first-week sales the insiders have predicted. That cased some worries that this album might not be as good as it promised to be, as so, might show that retail orders will be affected for the other albums that are about to be released this year.
Some other labels say that they thought this album will sell a number of 300 000 to 700 000 units at the debut, more realistic, around 400 000 units.
Here’s what a senior executive from a big rival company says: “I’d like to meet one industry executive last week who thought her album would do under 200,000 units, because I don’t think that person exists.”

Another one also declared: “It was a wake-up call for some folks. Some think the sky is falling. Others said, ‘Wait a minute, she’s a singles artist.’ And still others said EMI should have put out the album six weeks ago and it would have sold more.”

Some inside sources say that EMI has shipped 1 million copies before the U.S. release, on August 24, which shows that big retail stores like, Walmart, Target or Best Buy were expecting the album to sell huge in the first week. Starbucks was also expecting this, as it showed the album’s title in the stores.
There is also an error on the shipping done before a release, but that’s usually twice as much as the album actually sell in the first week. With “Teenage Dream” it was seven times more than it actually sold.
But executives from the other companies say that this wasn’t EMI’s fault, but in fact “EMI did a tremendous job in setting up that record.”
Katy Perry first took the stardom walk in 2008 with her debut album “One of the Boys” and daring lyrics and videos.
The head of purchasing retail chain Newbury Comics, called Carl Mello, still says that he thinks the album will have good sales during the course of the year and it will be a star for the holidays. Still he also thinks that the sales from the first week “aren’t as big as you would think for somebody who has become so omnipresent.”

[soulster]

I don't get her music.

For me, her music is hit and miss. She's a decent singer, but one would never know that from half the mess she releases.

[soulster]

My quess is that today's hits sell far less units than they used to, but that's just a theory

That's probably a fact, though I don't have actual numbers to support our claim. One can blame that on illegal downloads, and the fact that younger audiences put their money into video games and cell phones today, or helping support the family on their minimum-wage job after school.


I have been on a steady diet of contemporary pop music over the last few months, and, for the most part, I have been enjoying it. Really. It's not about the vocalist, and how good he or she is, although it's always a plus when they are good, it's about the overall feel of the song. In that way, nothing's changed. Bad singers have always gotten hit songs. It just has to sound good, and that's where production comes in. Even if you get a good singer, they run their vocals through autotune because it's a popular effect, not because they are trying to mask a bad singer. I have a feeling that fad is going to go away soon, though.

Chi, you and I may be getting old, but age is all in the mind. I always attempt to keep up with what's happening' on the street.

It's hard to enjoy anything new if one keeps trying to compare it to what has come before it, and what we like from before. If one can open up their minds a bit and enjoy what's there for what it is, one may find something one likes from contemporary music. I have created a nice little collection of 45s...er...singles of late. I even bought a couple of full-length CDs from some of these artists. I don't know about you, but i'm enjoying Maroon5, Taio Cruz, Katy Perry, Ke$ha, Nelly, and Usher. I don't usually try to pick out their vocals or the lyrics, I just enjoy the songs as a whole, just like I did in the 60s and 70s. And, I still go back to the 60s and 70s, the music I grew up with. Oh yeah, they had some baaaaad music back then too. I still cringe when I hear "Angie" by The Rolling Stones", or turn off "Escape [[The Pina Colada Song)" by Rupert Holmes whenever it comes on.

[CliveR]

My most recent info [[from about 5 years ago) was that UK unit sales of 20,000 would ensure a chart position 'high in the top 10'......which would hardly have dented the top 50 in Elvis's day!

[skooldem1]

There have been some well thought out responses to this thread. Some are very detailed, but I hate to break it to you. The reason that many of you don't understand, or know anyone who may like or buy this music is because you are old. Bottom line. Also, it was asked if 50 years from now would the music of today still be exciting, would these artist stand the test of time. Well I am willing to bet that your parents, or grand parents said the same things about Elvis, The Beatles, etc. Nothing has changed but your age.

[soulster]

Well, i'm almost 50, and my parents...well, one of them, anyway, liked all the new stuff back in the 60s and 70s, when I was growing up. My mom enjoyed listening to the Rolling Stones, The Beatles, and Ohio Players just as much as Dinah Washington, Lou Rawls, and Miles Davis.

I know I seem a bit out of the ordinary because i'm in my late 40s and listen to, like, and collect this new stuff. The good thing is that I don't look my age at all. I can get away with it. I do feel a big weird telling someone younger how much I like "Teenage Dream", though. Kind of makes me feel like an old pervert. I could have a daughter the same age as Katy Perry! I guess i'm like my mother: I don't allow myself to think "old".

But, it's all about opening your mind to new things. I'm glad I did. Do I think this new stuff compares to the stuff I grew up with? No. But, so what? They aren't competing. It's like two totally different genres of music.

[topdiva1]

For me, her music is hit and miss. She's a decent singer, but one would never know that from half the mess she releases.

She herself seems a hot undecided mess - but, will she have longevity - your guess is as good as mines, although I say she's no Elvis.

[midnightman]

Don't get me wrong, I like some of her music. But I think she could have better material than what she's been having. And for the record I'm in the age bracket that enjoys her music [[18-34). I'm 26. LOL

[topdiva1]

With the material the company gives her - it appears as if she is being whored out by them - and just the poor man's slut version of Beyounce.

[jobeterob]

I've been exposed to Katy Perry through some fitness things I do. Teenage Dream is as catchy as You Can't Hurry Love was in it's day.

I've been told Katy Perry was a gospel singer and that career went nowhere so she switched. No idea if that is true.

Digital is the way things are going to be; that's all the young people have.

[marv2]

She could have stopped after "Umbrella" in 2007 and I would have never known the difference. Rhianna is a living symbol of how bad and mediocre music has become.

[nomis]

shes cleaning up the dancefloor with three smashes at the moment - Only Girl In The World,Whats My Name and Whos That Chick- when people stop dancing and spending money in the bar then I will stop playing her...

[soulster]

I've been exposed to Katy Perry through some fitness things I do. Teenage Dream is as catchy as You Can't Hurry Love was in it's day.

I've been told Katy Perry was a gospel singer and that career went nowhere so she switched. No idea if that is true.

Digital is the way things are going to be; that's all the young people have.

It's true. Her parents are ministers, and she recorded a gospel album when she was younger. But, notice she seems to have used the same producers as Ke$ha.