US chart preview
US chart site Hits Daily Double estimates that Faith No More’s Sol Invictus will sell in the region of 21-24,000 copies in its first week of release with 22-25,000 for sales plus streaming. That would bring SI close to the first-week sales figures of 26,000 for Album of the Year. They estimate that Sol Invictus will only be the fifth best-selling of the new entries in the chart, therefore facing a battle for the top 10.
That said, Sol Invictus remains at number 3 on Amazon.com in CDs and MP3s and has hovered in an around the top 10 on iTunes all week.
Faith No More have only hit the US album chart top 10 once previously when Angel Dust debuted at number 10 in July 1992.
US tour posters on sale
Those wonderful posters from the Faith No More US tour shows are still on sale at Secret Serpents. They say: “Faith No More just wrapped up the first leg of their North American tour, and once again we curated the posters for the tour. The copies at the shows sold out VERY quickly, but we made sure we had some available to those who couldn’t make it. We have very few copies left of most of these, so don’t miss out!”
And Secret Serpents also say that there will be more posters from later US shows and the European tour on sale later in the year.
WIN Sol Invictus CD packs
Australian Guitar have teamed up with Mushroom Promotions, Reclamation Recordings and Ipecac Recording to offer three Faith No More packs to giveaway. Each pack contains a copy of Sol Invictus and an A2 album promo poster. CHECK IT OUT HERE.
New Evergig full concert
Evergig have another new multi-angle multi-cam knitted full concert video up on their site and below – Faith No More in Philadelphia on 15 May.
To echo what others have said, never underestimate the hit a band takes from downloading. In the late 90’s virtually all my rock/metal/whatever loving friends had a copy of AOTY lying around but very few ever listened to it (the fools). However, most still had to physically buy the album to get to that point. That really wouldn’t happen anymore; they’d download it and write it off before money even changed hands. Just the way of the world now. And many of those casual fans have dispersed by this stage anyway
With that in mind, and the fact that FNM had been written of as “irrelevent” by the mainstream press nearly 20 years ago, I think SI has sold really rather well. A number one was never, ever going to happen.
Unlike most bands, the U.S. charts are a bonus for FNM. Their albums all sold over a million in the 90’s, yet their last two records were considered flops because the US sales were low. Mumford sold 10times more than Sol! FfS! Quality over quantity IMO.
Considering the leak, illegal downloading and FNM’s US popularity I would have thought ~#10 is a success?
It does baffle me how in the US they’re considered a one hit wonder by many, when the rest of the globe adores FNM. I mean they’ve headlined practically every major rock/metal festival around the globe (except NA) in the last 6 years, reflecting their 90s popularity, which unlike US did not fade.
But like Pete said, I’m sure they’re not too bothered, especially considering the type of nature the band has.
Yeah Pete, as disappointing as the album sales are to me, I don’t think it reflects badly on the album.
Ok, that IS disappointing. Still, AOTY came out at a time when illegal downloading was not as widespread. Considering that, maybe it should be impressive that SI is matching AOTY sales? The few people that bought it must really like it to dish out money for something they know they could easily download for free. As always, we will never know the numbers on illegal downloads. Could be a major hit in that regard, and sputnikmusic.com is always a good way of finding out how well received it is with the general population. I find consolation in that.
@Gorazd, if you are saying it’s their 5th best selling album, it’s not a fair comparison. People aren’t buying albums like they used to. Plus bands are making their living off of shows and FNM has been getting good turnouts for the gigs. Especially headlining festivals in Europe. They’re probably not too bummed about not being the best selling artist in the US. I’m sure they still like their anonymity here.
Mind if I can be a bit critical here? I mean,come on,quickly sold out tickets for their concerts in only a few minutes like hot buns,much more media attention like ever before,the overall increasing respect throughout the years after their breakup and highly anticipated album like SI definitely is?
And that’s not enough to hit US top 10 with easiness at least this time?
That’s tad disappointing for me,and also sales forecast for the first week..looks like only fanatical fans bought the album.
Probably staying outside of 10 and being only the fifth best-selling album? Ah well….obviously only possible in USA
Thank God that America is not the whole world….