You're probably looking at the streams/plays from Apple Music
I see. But to put that in perspective, the No. 20 song on the Billboard Digital Song Sales chart last week sold 6,000 digital downloads. That's across all platforms where you buy a digital download, and that's over seven days. Apple Music is one platform, and this chart is daily, not weekly. Pearl Jam ranking at No. 14 earlier in the week means that it maybe sold a thousand downloads on Apple that day. Maybe. And now it's No. 55, which probably means it sold a few hundred today.
You're probably looking at the streams/plays from Apple Music
I see. But to put that in perspective, the No. 20 song on the Billboard Digital Song Sales chart last week sold 6,000 digital downloads. That's across all platforms where you buy a digital download, and that's over seven days. Apple Music is one platform, and this chart is daily, not weekly. Pearl Jam ranking at No. 14 earlier in the week means that it maybe sold a thousand downloads on Apple that day. Maybe. And now it's No. 55, which probably means it sold a few hundred today.
Yea I doubt it'll make the digital download chart. Maybe the Rock chart.
The image here on YT a bit blurry but the album art on Apple Music is stunning. In the running for my favorite album cover.
It would be hard for them to top the Vs. cover. It's a striking image that makes a great visual metaphor for the lyrical and musical content of the album. Riot Act would be second for me.
After 7 days on Spotify DOTC had about 2.5 million plays. So far after 5 days DM has over 1.5 million. Dance had the audio (1.2 million views in 10 days) and Mach 1 (1.3 million)video out at the a same day. DM has 683k views after 5 days
After 7 days on Spotify DOTC had about 2.5 million plays. So far after 5 days DM has over 1.5 million. Dance had the audio (1.2 million views in 7 days) and Mach 1 (1.3 million)video out at the a same day. DM has 683k views after 5 days
Something we may tend to lose sight of in light of how big Pearl Jam was from 1993 to 1995 is that they're just not all that popular anymore. And, unfortunately, a lot of their remaining popularity is nostalgia-based from listeners who tuned out after the '90s and have almost no interest in hearing anything new that the band puts out. The band has a solid core following that will buy tickets to see them live, and a smaller core that still wants to hear their new music, but neither group is so big that they can play stadiums or even arenas in most smaller markets.
Remember, this decline in popularity was already in effect by the year 2000. Look at the first-week sales of each album chronologically:
This is despite the fact that Yield and Binaural were coming out at the zenith of the CD era. There were albums that sold more than two million copies in their first week in that time frame. Pearl Jam was selling a tenth of that.
From there they have been a relatively consistent modest seller, with one notable slight uptick:
Riot Act: 166,000 (2002) Pearl Jam: 280,000 (2006) (boosted by the popularity of "World Wide Suicide," which was number one at rock radio for five weeks when rock radio was still emphasizing new music instead of "oldies") Backspacer: 189,000 (2009) Lightning Bolt: 166,000 (2013) Gigaton: 57,000 (2020)
Granted, first-week sales do not tell the whole story of a band's commercial success, but they're a pretty good proxy for it, especially since none of these albums had a significant post-release surge due to a hit single or movie/TV synch.
Couldn’t disagree more. Can’t play arenas in smaller markets? Like where, for example? I would love to hear it. The fact is 33 1/2 years later they are still filling arenas, and yes, stadiums worldwide. Every band out there has dwindling sales as their career goes on and on, its just the way it is. And a large part of that is that after 10-15 years, you lose “the youth””, who i believe are the largest demographic for purchasing the “latest thing” and driving sales. I know its hard for some people on here to accept, but the venues are BY FAR filled with people not in the fan club, just huge fans of the band. It’s easy to see at a show. When they play The Fixer or Sirens or Evenflow the crowd is singing their lungs out, while a very small group in the pit are standing there pouting with their arms crossed, and and an even smaller group are going to piss. We all know its true, lolol.
I would venture to say that for a band as anti commercial as they've always been, they are doing pretty, pretty, pretty good. Wouldn’t you agree?
PS Who the hell was selling 2 million a week? Never ever heard anything like that before…..
After 7 days on Spotify DOTC had about 2.5 million plays. So far after 5 days DM has over 1.5 million. Dance had the audio (1.2 million views in 7 days) and Mach 1 (1.3 million)video out at the a same day. DM has 683k views after 5 days
Something we may tend to lose sight of in light of how big Pearl Jam was from 1993 to 1995 is that they're just not all that popular anymore. And, unfortunately, a lot of their remaining popularity is nostalgia-based from listeners who tuned out after the '90s and have almost no interest in hearing anything new that the band puts out. The band has a solid core following that will buy tickets to see them live, and a smaller core that still wants to hear their new music, but neither group is so big that they can play stadiums or even arenas in most smaller markets.
Remember, this decline in popularity was already in effect by the year 2000. Look at the first-week sales of each album chronologically:
This is despite the fact that Yield and Binaural were coming out at the zenith of the CD era. There were albums that sold more than two million copies in their first week in that time frame. Pearl Jam was selling a tenth of that.
From there they have been a relatively consistent modest seller, with one notable slight uptick:
Riot Act: 166,000 (2002) Pearl Jam: 280,000 (2006) (boosted by the popularity of "World Wide Suicide," which was number one at rock radio for five weeks when rock radio was still emphasizing new music instead of "oldies") Backspacer: 189,000 (2009) Lightning Bolt: 166,000 (2013) Gigaton: 57,000 (2020)
Granted, first-week sales do not tell the whole story of a band's commercial success, but they're a pretty good proxy for it, especially since none of these albums had a significant post-release surge due to a hit single or movie/TV synch.
Couldn’t disagree more. Can’t play arenas in smaller markets? Like where, for example? I would love to hear it. The fact is 33 1/2 years later they are still filling arenas, and yes, stadiums worldwide. Every band out there has dwindling sales as their career goes on and on, its just the way it is. And a large part of that is that after 10-15 years, you lose “the youth””, who i believe are the largest demographic for purchasing the “latest thing” and driving sales. I know its hard for some people on here to accept, but the venues are BY FAR filled with people not in the fan club, just huge fans of the band. It’s easy to see at a show. When they play The Fixer or Sirens or Evenflow the crowd is singing their lungs out, while a very small group in the pit are standing there pouting with their arms crossed, and and an even smaller group are going to piss. We all know its true, lolol.
I would venture to say that for a band as anti commercial as they've always been, they are doing pretty, pretty, pretty good. Wouldn’t you agree?
PS Who the hell was selling 2 million a week? Never ever heard anything like that before…..
*NSYNC set the record for first-week sales with 2.4 million copies of No Strings Attached sold in March 2000. (By the way, the record is 3.4 million, set by Adele's 25.) It's almost as if I said there were albums selling 2 million copies in a week in 2000 because I knew what I was talking about. (If only there were some way you could have easily fact-checked that before blindly suggesting that I must have been making it up because you hadn't heard it before.)
Pearl Jam's declining record sales speak for themselves. With respect to arenas, Pearl Jam has only played in a handful of U.S. cities in the last ten years. They haven't played more than 36 shows in any calendar year since 2006. Look at the variety of cities they played in 2000 or 2006, and then look at the last ten years. If Pearl Jam could sell out stadiums in the U.S., then why don't they play more stadiums? Other than Fenway and Wrigley, which are a special case, what other U.S. stadiums have they played in the last decade? Seattle? Missoula? Again, special cases. Do you think that Pearl Jam would play two nights at the Forum to fewer than 40,000 people if they could sell out SoFi Stadium right across the street and play to 70,000 in one night? The Chili Peppers sold out two nights at SoFi last year. Pearl Jam can't do that in 2024. Same goes for MSG instead of Yankee Stadium, Citi Field or MetLife Stadium.
It is true that very few artists maintain their sales base across their careers. But very few bands achieve the level of sales success that Pearl Jam did from 1993 to 1995. They were arguably the biggest band in the world at that time. They are not anywhere near that level anymore, which was my point. Some of this is a natural progression, as you suggest. Most people have a very narrow window of time when they are passionate about music, especially new music. After the age of 25, most people have stopped seeking out new music, and they spend a lot less time with music in general. This has been compounded by the time eaten up by things that didn't exist in 1993, like the robust World Wide Web, social media and streaming television. Some of the decline was the result of a deliberate strategy by the band to try to scale back a level of fame that was suffocating them. (Choosing "Who You Are" as the lead single from No Code was intended to alienate people. They said so at the time.) Some of it is falling out of the broader audience's consciousness by playing infrequent live shows (see above re: number of shows played annually since 2006) and also going four years, then seven years, then another four years, between albums. (By comparison, Taylor Swift has stayed on top of the market in part because she will have released nine albums in less than five years as of April 19. Pearl Jam will have released two in that span.) Some of it is because their politics have alienated a portion of their audience.
I agree with you that the majority of people at the shows are not in the fan club. But the majority of people at the shows are like the majority of people at the shows of every veteran act. They are people who haven't bought a record by the band in a quarter-century. They don't know what "The Fixer" or "Sirens" is. They hear that Pearl Jam is playing and they go, "Oh, Pearl Jam's still around. I loved them in the '90s. Those were the good old days. Let's go see them." And then they stand with their arms folded when they play songs from their last seven albums.
After 7 days on Spotify DOTC had about 2.5 million plays. So far after 5 days DM has over 1.5 million. Dance had the audio (1.2 million views in 7 days) and Mach 1 (1.3 million)video out at the a same day. DM has 683k views after 5 days
Something we may tend to lose sight of in light of how big Pearl Jam was from 1993 to 1995 is that they're just not all that popular anymore. And, unfortunately, a lot of their remaining popularity is nostalgia-based from listeners who tuned out after the '90s and have almost no interest in hearing anything new that the band puts out. The band has a solid core following that will buy tickets to see them live, and a smaller core that still wants to hear their new music, but neither group is so big that they can play stadiums or even arenas in most smaller markets.
Remember, this decline in popularity was already in effect by the year 2000. Look at the first-week sales of each album chronologically:
This is despite the fact that Yield and Binaural were coming out at the zenith of the CD era. There were albums that sold more than two million copies in their first week in that time frame. Pearl Jam was selling a tenth of that.
From there they have been a relatively consistent modest seller, with one notable slight uptick:
Riot Act: 166,000 (2002) Pearl Jam: 280,000 (2006) (boosted by the popularity of "World Wide Suicide," which was number one at rock radio for five weeks when rock radio was still emphasizing new music instead of "oldies") Backspacer: 189,000 (2009) Lightning Bolt: 166,000 (2013) Gigaton: 57,000 (2020)
Granted, first-week sales do not tell the whole story of a band's commercial success, but they're a pretty good proxy for it, especially since none of these albums had a significant post-release surge due to a hit single or movie/TV synch.
I'd argue that by the lack of the big, angsty anthemic Ten sound and songs, Pearl Jam were stressing their stay even by VS.
How were sales week per week for VS and Vitalogy? Vitalogy is 5x platinum, did it keep selling or did it go down and then shoot back up when e.g. Betterman crept our and got airplay?
I Am Mine should have been a chart killer in 2002 though. I am surprised it didn't become huge (huge) and made Riot Act a big seller. Riot Act selling like it did is really surpassing to me. And I bet it was for the label and band also. With that payola-thing with the free show in Miami, it seems things were not going as expected on the radio.
"Mostly I think that people react sensitively because they know you’ve got a point"
After 7 days on Spotify DOTC had about 2.5 million plays. So far after 5 days DM has over 1.5 million. Dance had the audio (1.2 million views in 7 days) and Mach 1 (1.3 million)video out at the a same day. DM has 683k views after 5 days
Something we may tend to lose sight of in light of how big Pearl Jam was from 1993 to 1995 is that they're just not all that popular anymore. And, unfortunately, a lot of their remaining popularity is nostalgia-based from listeners who tuned out after the '90s and have almost no interest in hearing anything new that the band puts out. The band has a solid core following that will buy tickets to see them live, and a smaller core that still wants to hear their new music, but neither group is so big that they can play stadiums or even arenas in most smaller markets.
Remember, this decline in popularity was already in effect by the year 2000. Look at the first-week sales of each album chronologically:
This is despite the fact that Yield and Binaural were coming out at the zenith of the CD era. There were albums that sold more than two million copies in their first week in that time frame. Pearl Jam was selling a tenth of that.
From there they have been a relatively consistent modest seller, with one notable slight uptick:
Riot Act: 166,000 (2002) Pearl Jam: 280,000 (2006) (boosted by the popularity of "World Wide Suicide," which was number one at rock radio for five weeks when rock radio was still emphasizing new music instead of "oldies") Backspacer: 189,000 (2009) Lightning Bolt: 166,000 (2013) Gigaton: 57,000 (2020)
Granted, first-week sales do not tell the whole story of a band's commercial success, but they're a pretty good proxy for it, especially since none of these albums had a significant post-release surge due to a hit single or movie/TV synch.
I'd argue that by the lack of the big, angsty anthemic Ten sound and songs, Pearl Jam were stressing their stay even by VS.
How were sales week per week for VS and Vitalogy? Vitalogy is 5x platinum, did it keep selling or did it go down and then shoot back up when e.g. Betterman crept our and got airplay?
I Am Mine should have been a chart killer in 2002 though. I am surprised it didn't become huge (huge) and made Riot Act a big seller. Riot Act selling like it did is really surpassing to me. And I bet it was for the label and band also. With that payola-thing with the free show in Miami, it seems things were not going as expected on the radio.
Radio stations were playing what they wanted from the album. It's not like Better Man came out a year after or anything like that. Vs. and Vitalogy were still riding off the Ten wave. But if those albums had music videos and they did more press and didn't have the fight with ticketmaster. If Better Man and Corduroy were proper singles. Those albums would have sold more and given more respect by the casual fan. Also if the first singles off of No Code, Binaural, and Riot Act were different it might have had a different outcome in first week sales and perception. Hail, Hail for No Code,(even though it didn't do that well when it was released as a single after)., insignificance or Grievance would have been good first singles. And Save You would have been a good first single as well. And even though MTV wasn't playing as much music by then. The Riot Act music videos from Chop Suey weren't shown on MTV. At least not here in the U.S. They were shown on MuchMusic which was then changed to Fuse but didn't have the reach as an MTV
It will have to beat the 49,000 Green Day sold its first week. And Green Day promotes. And are probably more popular. At least we're hearing more about Dark Matter than we did with Dance
It will have to beat the 49,000 Green Day sold its first week. And Green Day promotes. And are probably more popular. At least we're hearing more about Dark Matter than we did with Dance
Agreed on that.
I know it's hard for me to gauge because I am seeking out all of the current announcements and all, but Dark Matter and the tour announcement are getting a big response from what I can see on my socials....more casual fans sharing info, older die hards taking notice etc.
Also, still shocked by the low week 1 Gigaton sales. Sure, COVID, but that can't be blamed for it all.
It will have to beat the 49,000 Green Day sold its first week. And Green Day promotes. And are probably more popular. At least we're hearing more about Dark Matter than we did with Dance
Oh it would be so sweet if Pearl Jam went live on SiriusXM Pearl Jam Radio day's before the album release for a wicked jam. That would get some promotion hits.
Comments
Cd https://amzn.to/49ioTOL
Vinyl https://amzn.to/4bFLial
https://www.popvortex.com/music/charts/top-100-songs.php
You're probably looking at the streams/plays from Apple Music
Dance had the audio (1.2 million views in 10 days) and Mach 1 (1.3 million)video out at the a same day. DM has 683k views after 5 days
Remember, this decline in popularity was already in effect by the year 2000. Look at the first-week sales of each album chronologically:
Vs.: 950,000 (1993)
Vitalogy: 877,000 (1994)
No Code: 366,500 (1996)
Yield: 358,000 (1998)
Binaural: 226,000 (2000)
This is despite the fact that Yield and Binaural were coming out at the zenith of the CD era. There were albums that sold more than two million copies in their first week in that time frame. Pearl Jam was selling a tenth of that.
From there they have been a relatively consistent modest seller, with one notable slight uptick:
Riot Act: 166,000 (2002)
Pearl Jam: 280,000 (2006) (boosted by the popularity of "World Wide Suicide," which was number one at rock radio for five weeks when rock radio was still emphasizing new music instead of "oldies")
Backspacer: 189,000 (2009)
Lightning Bolt: 166,000 (2013)
Gigaton: 57,000 (2020)
Granted, first-week sales do not tell the whole story of a band's commercial success, but they're a pretty good proxy for it, especially since none of these albums had a significant post-release surge due to a hit single or movie/TV synch.
Pearl Jam's declining record sales speak for themselves. With respect to arenas, Pearl Jam has only played in a handful of U.S. cities in the last ten years. They haven't played more than 36 shows in any calendar year since 2006. Look at the variety of cities they played in 2000 or 2006, and then look at the last ten years. If Pearl Jam could sell out stadiums in the U.S., then why don't they play more stadiums? Other than Fenway and Wrigley, which are a special case, what other U.S. stadiums have they played in the last decade? Seattle? Missoula? Again, special cases. Do you think that Pearl Jam would play two nights at the Forum to fewer than 40,000 people if they could sell out SoFi Stadium right across the street and play to 70,000 in one night? The Chili Peppers sold out two nights at SoFi last year. Pearl Jam can't do that in 2024. Same goes for MSG instead of Yankee Stadium, Citi Field or MetLife Stadium.
It is true that very few artists maintain their sales base across their careers. But very few bands achieve the level of sales success that Pearl Jam did from 1993 to 1995. They were arguably the biggest band in the world at that time. They are not anywhere near that level anymore, which was my point. Some of this is a natural progression, as you suggest. Most people have a very narrow window of time when they are passionate about music, especially new music. After the age of 25, most people have stopped seeking out new music, and they spend a lot less time with music in general. This has been compounded by the time eaten up by things that didn't exist in 1993, like the robust World Wide Web, social media and streaming television. Some of the decline was the result of a deliberate strategy by the band to try to scale back a level of fame that was suffocating them. (Choosing "Who You Are" as the lead single from No Code was intended to alienate people. They said so at the time.) Some of it is falling out of the broader audience's consciousness by playing infrequent live shows (see above re: number of shows played annually since 2006) and also going four years, then seven years, then another four years, between albums. (By comparison, Taylor Swift has stayed on top of the market in part because she will have released nine albums in less than five years as of April 19. Pearl Jam will have released two in that span.) Some of it is because their politics have alienated a portion of their audience.
I agree with you that the majority of people at the shows are not in the fan club. But the majority of people at the shows are like the majority of people at the shows of every veteran act. They are people who haven't bought a record by the band in a quarter-century. They don't know what "The Fixer" or "Sirens" is. They hear that Pearl Jam is playing and they go, "Oh, Pearl Jam's still around. I loved them in the '90s. Those were the good old days. Let's go see them." And then they stand with their arms folded when they play songs from their last seven albums.
I'd argue that by the lack of the big, angsty anthemic Ten sound and songs, Pearl Jam were stressing their stay even by VS.
How were sales week per week for VS and Vitalogy? Vitalogy is 5x platinum, did it keep selling or did it go down and then shoot back up when e.g. Betterman crept our and got airplay?
I Am Mine should have been a chart killer in 2002 though. I am surprised it didn't become huge (huge) and made Riot Act a big seller. Riot Act selling like it did is really surpassing to me. And I bet it was for the label and band also. With that payola-thing with the free show in Miami, it seems things were not going as expected on the radio.
Radio stations were playing what they wanted from the album. It's not like Better Man came out a year after or anything like that. Vs. and Vitalogy were still riding off the Ten wave. But if those albums had music videos and they did more press and didn't have the fight with ticketmaster. If Better Man and Corduroy were proper singles.
Those albums would have sold more and given more respect by the casual fan. Also if the first singles off of No Code, Binaural, and Riot Act were different it might have had a different outcome in first week sales and perception. Hail, Hail for No Code,(even though it didn't do that well when it was released as a single after)., insignificance or Grievance would have been good first singles. And Save You would have been a good first single as well. And even though MTV wasn't playing as much music by then. The Riot Act music videos from Chop Suey weren't shown on MTV. At least not here in the U.S. They were shown on MuchMusic which was then changed to Fuse but didn't have the reach as an MTV
I know it's hard for me to gauge because I am seeking out all of the current announcements and all, but Dark Matter and the tour announcement are getting a big response from what I can see on my socials....more casual fans sharing info, older die hards taking notice etc.
Also, still shocked by the low week 1 Gigaton sales. Sure, COVID, but that can't be blamed for it all.
Oh it would be so sweet if Pearl Jam went live on SiriusXM Pearl Jam Radio day's before the album release for a wicked jam. That would get some promotion hits.