Blogger, we're goin' down.
This is it: The clash of the titans is official underway.
What am I talking about, you ask? Well, if you've been living under a rock, surprise! Today, Dec. 16, is the day that the following hotly anticipated albums hit stores:
Obviously, this is a pretty big head-to-head for the pop/rock scene; it's basically our version of the Kanye/50 Cent battle from last year. So who do you think will come out on top in next week's Billboard charts? Let's look at the stats.
THE TALE OF THE TAPE
PREVIOUS ALBUM
-Fall Out Boy's 2007 release, Infinity On High, debuted at No. 1 with 260,000 copies sold, and has since gone on to sell over 1.5 million copies in the U.S. alone in nearly two years.
-The Rejects' previous album, 2005's Move Along, debuted at No. 6 with 90,000 copies sold, and was certified double platinum six months ago (I definitely know this because conveniently, an RIAA-certified double platinum plaque for the record showed up at the AP offices today).
ADVANTAGE: This one is close, but I gotta give it to FOB for selling that many records in a culture completely engrossed with stealing music digitally (when Move Along came out, digital piracy was nowhere near as huge).
LONGEVITY
-FOB are now five albums deep (though I think we can all agree that Evening Out With Your Girlfriend is pretty terrible) but their biggest album to date is 2005's From Under The Cork Tree, which has sold nearly 3 million copies. Infinity has only moved half that.
-AAR are as methodical as they come with their albums. Their first, 2003's self-titled effort, sold 40,000 its first week and went onto sell over a million copies. Move Along, as mentioned before, sold 90,000 its first week and went onto sell over two million copies. See a trend developing?
ADVANTAGE: I'm going with the Rejects on this one. FOB's career is starting to look like a bell curve: It starts out small, peaks in the middle and then slowly declines at the same rate it grew.
STAR POWER
-Pete Wentz is as ubiquitous as it gets in terms of celebrity -- dude's even been on the cover of People magazine. Your parents might still not know a Fall Out Boy song by heart, but I'm willing to bet they'd recognize Wentz's grinning mug if it were put in front of them. (Of course, they might want to slap it out of instinct.)
-Tyson Ritter is definitely the face of AAR, and has done everything from modeling to TV acting (anyone see him on House last season) to starting his own clothing line -- all things Wentz has done, too. But strangely, the "sellout" backlash never really hit him as much as it has Wentz. Maybe it's the lack of girl jeans.
ADVANTAGE: A very tough call. Will Pete's celebrity status help record sales? His face isn't on the cover of Folie A Deux, so that won't help. And even though Tyson's very well known and easily recognizable, is his lack of media saturation going to have an Axl Rose effect (see that thing at the bottom of the charts? That's Chinese Democracy). I'm gonna give this one a tie.
NAME RECOGNITION
-A quick Google search for "fall out boy" turns up 17.2 million results. The phrase "fall out boy sucks" turns up 12,500.
-As for the Rejects, searching for their band name will get you 7.72 million hits. As for "all american rejects suck"? A mere 192.
ADVANTAGE: Bigger isn't always better. I'm going with AAR on this one.
Now that you've read my analysis, it's your time to pick a winner, and the best part is, there's a prize involved! Here's how you enter: Leave a comment below with your pick of what you think will end up higher on the Billboard Top 200 next week, either Fall Out Boy's Folie A Deux or the All-American Rejects' When The World Comes Down. You have until next Tuesday to guess, as Billboard will post their chart on next Wednesday. With your guess, you need to also put what chart position you think the record you're picking will achieve, as well as how many copies you think it will sell, rounded to the nearest thousand. So, for example, this what your comment should look like:
It's that simple! Submit your guess below (obviously, only one entry per person), and the person who is closest without going over on the copies sold will win a box full of swag from my office, including CDs, T-shirts, stickers and a whole bunch more stuff. The position number will be used as a tiebreaker in case two people guess the same sales total for the same band.
Got it? Good! Submit your guess now.
PS - If you want to rig the vote ever so slightly, you can always go out and buy either album. Amazon MP3 has both albums on sale incredibly cheap - $3.99 for Folie and $2.99 for World.
What am I talking about, you ask? Well, if you've been living under a rock, surprise! Today, Dec. 16, is the day that the following hotly anticipated albums hit stores:
Obviously, this is a pretty big head-to-head for the pop/rock scene; it's basically our version of the Kanye/50 Cent battle from last year. So who do you think will come out on top in next week's Billboard charts? Let's look at the stats.
THE TALE OF THE TAPE
PREVIOUS ALBUM
-Fall Out Boy's 2007 release, Infinity On High, debuted at No. 1 with 260,000 copies sold, and has since gone on to sell over 1.5 million copies in the U.S. alone in nearly two years.
-The Rejects' previous album, 2005's Move Along, debuted at No. 6 with 90,000 copies sold, and was certified double platinum six months ago (I definitely know this because conveniently, an RIAA-certified double platinum plaque for the record showed up at the AP offices today).
ADVANTAGE: This one is close, but I gotta give it to FOB for selling that many records in a culture completely engrossed with stealing music digitally (when Move Along came out, digital piracy was nowhere near as huge).
LONGEVITY
-FOB are now five albums deep (though I think we can all agree that Evening Out With Your Girlfriend is pretty terrible) but their biggest album to date is 2005's From Under The Cork Tree, which has sold nearly 3 million copies. Infinity has only moved half that.
-AAR are as methodical as they come with their albums. Their first, 2003's self-titled effort, sold 40,000 its first week and went onto sell over a million copies. Move Along, as mentioned before, sold 90,000 its first week and went onto sell over two million copies. See a trend developing?
ADVANTAGE: I'm going with the Rejects on this one. FOB's career is starting to look like a bell curve: It starts out small, peaks in the middle and then slowly declines at the same rate it grew.
STAR POWER
-Pete Wentz is as ubiquitous as it gets in terms of celebrity -- dude's even been on the cover of People magazine. Your parents might still not know a Fall Out Boy song by heart, but I'm willing to bet they'd recognize Wentz's grinning mug if it were put in front of them. (Of course, they might want to slap it out of instinct.)
-Tyson Ritter is definitely the face of AAR, and has done everything from modeling to TV acting (anyone see him on House last season) to starting his own clothing line -- all things Wentz has done, too. But strangely, the "sellout" backlash never really hit him as much as it has Wentz. Maybe it's the lack of girl jeans.
ADVANTAGE: A very tough call. Will Pete's celebrity status help record sales? His face isn't on the cover of Folie A Deux, so that won't help. And even though Tyson's very well known and easily recognizable, is his lack of media saturation going to have an Axl Rose effect (see that thing at the bottom of the charts? That's Chinese Democracy). I'm gonna give this one a tie.
NAME RECOGNITION
-A quick Google search for "fall out boy" turns up 17.2 million results. The phrase "fall out boy sucks" turns up 12,500.
-As for the Rejects, searching for their band name will get you 7.72 million hits. As for "all american rejects suck"? A mere 192.
ADVANTAGE: Bigger isn't always better. I'm going with AAR on this one.
Now that you've read my analysis, it's your time to pick a winner, and the best part is, there's a prize involved! Here's how you enter: Leave a comment below with your pick of what you think will end up higher on the Billboard Top 200 next week, either Fall Out Boy's Folie A Deux or the All-American Rejects' When The World Comes Down. You have until next Tuesday to guess, as Billboard will post their chart on next Wednesday. With your guess, you need to also put what chart position you think the record you're picking will achieve, as well as how many copies you think it will sell, rounded to the nearest thousand. So, for example, this what your comment should look like:
I Think Folie A Deux will debut at No. 4 with 137,000 copies sold.
It's that simple! Submit your guess below (obviously, only one entry per person), and the person who is closest without going over on the copies sold will win a box full of swag from my office, including CDs, T-shirts, stickers and a whole bunch more stuff. The position number will be used as a tiebreaker in case two people guess the same sales total for the same band.
Got it? Good! Submit your guess now.
PS - If you want to rig the vote ever so slightly, you can always go out and buy either album. Amazon MP3 has both albums on sale incredibly cheap - $3.99 for Folie and $2.99 for World.
posted by Scott Heisel at
2:50 PM
20 Comments:
I'm thinking Folie A Deux will debut in the Top Ten with sales near 97,000.
Folie A Deux at #5 with 110,000.
Folie A Deux at #4 with 120,000
Folie a Deux at #1 with 106,000
Folie A Deux around #3 with 160,000.
More importantly, is no one going to point out certain mild resemblances?
Folie A Deux debuting at #1 with 200,000.
folie at 187000 no 1
I'm guessing Folie A Deux at #1 with 195,000
Folie a Deux at #1 with 210,000 sold.
Folie a Deux Number 1 with 210,000
And yes the album cover does look like Pedo Bear
Folie A Deux - #1 - 148,000
Folie a Deux at #1 with 199,000
Really? No one thinks AAR will come out on top? I'm kind of surprised.
I think Fall Out Boy is fresh in everyones memory and I hear I Dont Care on the radio more Pete Wentz had a baby.... Its been a while since AAR made headlines for any reason.
I say FOB Folie A Deux NO.1 WITH 234,023
Folie A Deux at #1 with 266,000 Sold
Folie a Deux at #1 with 283,000.
I like AAR better, and will probably BUY the AAR disc, and find the FOB another way. But let's put it this way, FOB have a DIEHARD fanbase who will buy ANYTHING Pete puts out. Everyone who's going to buy the FOB album is going to buy it within the first few weeks. AAR will sell a bunch, get some radio airplay and will slowly sell more, and win over a more "adult" audience, so they will get the record after the second or third single hits the airwaves.
Also did anyone else watch the FOB live thing on Fuse? If so did anyone else notice that it looked like the guys weren't into it anymore and just running through the motions? It did to me, and it looked like AAR was having the time of their life at the VGA's, a time when bands would shluff off a performance.
yeah, i saw it on fuse. not their best, but also not terrible. they should've recorded the show in l.a. it was insane!
My dad and I have a bet going, If fall out boy sell less than 200,000 albums in the first week, i have to go to school wearing a "falloutboy sucks" T-shirt. If they sell more, I get 10$. They better sell more cuz I really love them. Say what you want about pete but when it comes to quality, fall out boy is much better.
I think that Folie A Deux will sell about 140,000 and be number 2. Sadly I think Soulja Boy is gonna take 1st. And AAR is gonna be somewhere in the 5-7 spot. with 110,000.
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