There’s no way to sugarcoat it: Robin Thicke is having a bad, bad week. From the negative reviews of Paula to the hashtag hijack, gallons of haterade and uncomfortable questions about his split from wife Paula Patton, the “Blurred Lines” singer’s roll-out of his seventh album has been rough.
And then the sales figures came in from the UK. 530. Not 530,000. 530. That’s how many copies the album sold across the pond. By any measure that’s a disastrous debut and a 98 percent drop from the nearly 26,000 copies Blurred Lines sold during its first week of UK sales last year, according to The Guardian. (A spokesperson for the British Recorded Music Industry association could not be reached at press time for confirmation on the final UK sales totals.)
Things Are Hard At Home, Too
Limping onto the British charts at #200 was tough, but Thicke had an equally rocky landing on the Billboard 200 album chart Stateside. Paula sold just under 24,000 copies in the U.S., according to figures provided by Nielsen SoundScan, helping it just barely squeak into the top 10 at #9. The album-long plea for a reunion with his estranged wife of nine years (and high school sweetheart) has drawn quite a bit of harsh criticism, which may have contributed to the soft open.
A year ago, Lines gave the singer his first #1 debut thanks to a career-best 177,000 units shifted. That number, of course, was goosed by the breakout, Grammy-nominated title track hit of the summer (and Thicke’s decade-long career), which has sold nearly 15 million copies to date. But Paula’s path has been tougher. In fact, it’s his lowest first week of sales since 2007′s The Evolution of Robin Thicke opened with 20,000 (eventually going on to sell more than 1.7 million copies. Just sayin’.)
“Get Her Back,” Paula’s first single, has failed to catch fire and so far peaked at #82 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Paula also failed to crack the top 10 on the iTunes album chart.
Trigga Happy
Thicke stumbled, but Trey Songz easily hit #1 with his sixth album, Trigga, moving 105,000 copies thanks to hits including “Na Na” and “Smartphones.” Oh, and maybe 50 Cent’s shopping spree helped too. It’s Trey’s second #1 debut in a row, easily bumping down last week’s top debut from Ed Sheeran’s X, which was down 75 percent to 53,000.
Other debuts in the top 10: Seether’s Isolate & Medicate (#4, 37,000), Magic!’s Don’t Kill The Magic (#6, 36,000) and Colt Ford’s Thanks For Listening (#10, 23,000).
Sam He Is
On the Billboard Digital Songs chart, Smith held on to the #1 spot with “Stay With Me” (185,000), Magic!’s “Rude” was steady at #2 (180,000) and Iggy Azalea’s “Fancy” stayed at #3 (171,000).
5 Seconds of Summer debuted at #4 (162,000) with “Amnesia,” giving the band their best sales week to date, while Ariana Grande’s “Break Free” made its first appearance just behind on sales of 161,000.
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