Chinese Democracy (Album) - Charting

[suntorytime]

#1 (of foreign albums)  in japan 
this week and the last week

http://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/wa/w/

[ShacklerSlash]

More from Swiss singles chart
CD is number 27 on singles chart after peaking at 11 last week. That was the highest position for a GNR song since Knocking.. in 1992.
http://swisscharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Guns+N%27+Roses&titel=Chinese+Democracy&cat=s
And the album is GNR's first ever number one in Switzerland - two UYI were 2 and 3 (By my reckoning Dire Straits On Every Street kept it off number one) and Appetite was 7

[MrMojoRa]

Nearly 700,000 records sold worldwide.  That's absolutely phenominal!

[axlroses]

This might be a dumb question, but do the album sales count the itunes album sales?  On billboard they are the #1 digital album.  I know this doesn't account for that many sales overall.

[estebanf]

I'd be interested to see the figures for some other South American and European countries.

CD debuted at #1 in Brazil and Colombia, and #2 in Argentina

[suntorytime]

S0 have I got these figures about right:

US 260,000
UK 150,000
Germany 100,000
Canada 70,000
Brazil 50,000
Finland 30,000
Australia 20,000
NZ 15,000

+
Japan 100,000
(Estimated sales by oricon
~11/23          57,683
11/24~11/30 39,095)

[Mobenrad]

Nearly 700,000 records sold worldwide.  That's absolutely phenominal!

Congrats Axl!

[ppbebe]

isn't it at least 800,000 records so far?

[Bitch Slap Rappin]

Ahhh Yes!!! The slow ascent of G&R!!!!! Very soon it's going to go into warp-drive!!!!! 

[Mobenrad]

Ahhh Yes!!! The slow ascent of G&R!!!!! Very soon it's going to go into warp-drive!!!!! 

And we'll be the ones laughing to the nay-sayers

[The Dog]

http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/chart_watch/22500/week-ending-nov-30-2008-wests-numbers-head-south/

West's album edges out Guns N' Roses' Chinese Democracy, which opens at #3. It's somehow fitting that the two acts should debut in the same week. GN'R front-man Axl Rose was known in his heyday almost as much for his brash personality, flashes of ego and sometimes politically incorrect views as for his music. Gee, who does that sound like?

Chinese Democracy is GN'R's first studio album of new material in more than 17 years.  It debuts with sales of  261,000, which is less than one-fifth of the band's combined first-week sales bounty for its simultaneous September 1991 releases, Use Your Illusion II (which started with 770,000) and Use Your Illusion I (which bowed with 685,000). GN'R's only releases in this long gap are a 1993 album of covers, a 1999 double-disk live album and a 2004 greatest hits set.


3. Guns N' Roses, Chinese Democracy, 261,000. This new entry is the band's seventh album to reach the top five, its entire output except for a 1999 double-live album. Chinese Democracy, a Best Buy exclusive, sold just one-third as many copies in its first week as AC/DC's Black Ice, a Wal-Mart exclusive, did just five weeks ago. Is AC/DC more relevant to today's music fans than GN'R or is Wal-Mart just better at selling tonnage than Best Buy? "Better" enters Hot Digital Songs at #127.

[axlroses]

'Chinese Democracy' Fires GNR To Euro Albums Summit


December 04, 2008 - Global | Rock and Pop

By Paul Sexton, London

Guns N' Roses soars to the top of the new European Top 100 Albums survey with "Chinese Democracy" (Black Frog/Geffen/Universal), as Beyonc?'s "If I Were A Boy" (Columbia/Sony BMG) starts a second week at No. 1 on Eurochart Hot 100 Singles.

http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/content_display/industry/e3ie5e8a23067b19667b5cfd633d832b363

[axlroses]

'Chinese Democracy' Fires GNR To Euro Albums Summit
December 04, 2008 - Global | Rock and Pop

By Paul Sexton, London

Guns N' Roses soars to the top of the new European Top 100 Albums survey with "Chinese Democracy" (Black Frog/Geffen/Universal), as Beyonc?'s "If I Were A Boy" (Columbia/Sony BMG) starts a second week at No. 1 on Eurochart Hot 100 Singles.

"Democracy" races 36-1 after making a series of notable debuts in European markets. That includes only one No. 1 debut, in Switzerland, but the album secures a second week at the helm in Finland and debuts at No.2 in the United Kingdom (on 119,000 sales) and Germany, No. 3 in Italy, Austria and Ireland, No. 4 in Holland, Sweden and Hungary and No. 9 in Portugal. The comeback release also climbs 5-2 in Norway and 26-10 in France.




I forgot to post the whole part about gnr

[John Galt]

'Chinese Democracy' Fires GNR To Euro Albums Summit
December 04, 2008 - Global | Rock and Pop

By Paul Sexton, London

Guns N' Roses soars to the top of the new European Top 100 Albums survey with "Chinese Democracy" (Black Frog/Geffen/Universal), as Beyonc?'s "If I Were A Boy" (Columbia/Sony BMG) starts a second week at No. 1 on Eurochart Hot 100 Singles.

"Democracy" races 36-1 after making a series of notable debuts in European markets. That includes only one No. 1 debut, in Switzerland, but the album secures a second week at the helm in Finland and debuts at No.2 in the United Kingdom (on 119,000 sales) and Germany, No. 3 in Italy, Austria and Ireland, No. 4 in Holland, Sweden and Hungary and No. 9 in Portugal. The comeback release also climbs 5-2 in Norway and 26-10 in France.




I forgot to post the whole part about gnr

GnR home page should have put this information up and circulate - will gain further interest in Europe and may stoke the US market - after all Europe often leads the US in matters of culture and music  

[bolton]

european people made America.

great for guns

[Bruno Poeys]

I'm pretty sure it's #1 here in South America as well... it already sold over 60k over here in Brazil (it's platinum already, which means 60k+ copies sold)

[ppbebe]

what do you do to 'Chinese Democracy'? 
the game's just started.

[C0ma]

what do you do to 'Chinese Democracy'? 
the game's just started.

I've seen football games start very ugly (21-0 first quarter) they tend to end fast... and ugly...

This isn't an unknown band releasing Appetite for Destruction then watched it take off very slowly then build... This is one of the most well known bands in the world stumbling out of the gates which can affect the final outcome... if it stumbles early word of mouth spreads that it is a flop then the casual fan never picks it up. They should have planned on coming out of the gates 110% and build momentum that would have carried it for a while.

I just don't get how it was allowed to just linger with no real promotion.

[ppbebe]

yea but music is not football.

[C0ma]

yea but music is not football.

See the last 90 percent of my post... this isn't an unknown band in 1987 coming out of the gates slow. When a major band slips up they tend to never regain their momentum. This shitty first week showing (promotion and sales) could have an affect not only on the overall sales of CD, but of future albums.

Think about it... ask the average rock fan about St Anger... they will tell you how bad it sucked (granted it does) but based on their sales, most of those people haven't bought it and therefore probably only heard one song then went on word of mouth... That can happen here... based on bad numbers, which will lead to articles calling it a flop... that can then turn off a casual fan who would have bought it and maybe fallen in love with CD and shouted it's praises to everyone they saw.

Our little internet clique isn't big enough to carry this cd or this band.