Since it's been out for over a week, it's high time we started this thread.
I'll try and keep an alphabetical order in this post and highlight the markets where they improved as compared to DROE.
1. AUSTRALIA - debut at #24. This is actually the very first time they charted down under, so congratulations are due. They did tour there more during the last few years and it paid off.
2. BELGIUM (Flanders) - #29. DROE debuted at #86 to reach its peak at #54 the following week.
3. BELGIUM (Waloonia) - #42. DROE debuted at #40 to reach #29 next week.
4. CANADA - #24. Unfortunately, a significant drop after #12 for DROE. Just in the US...
5. FINLAND - #18. After the spectacular #4 for the last album, this doesn't impress. Let's hope the manage to advance a bit.
6. GERMANY - #11. They fell out of top 10 here as well. Too bad.
7. HUNGARY - #31. This is the most spectacular fail, after topping the charts 4 years ago. Perhaps last time the album release coincided with a tour and this time not. Still waiting for any news about DROE being certified gold in the land of the Magyars.
8. ITALY - #28 (?). It was #13 the last time, but I don't know whether it was the general chart for everybody or some "indie" one. This time it is the overall one. They never sold much there, so it is rather good news.
9. JAPAN - #42. DROE was at #57. They evened what TFOD did. I saw a list where it said BOTS sold over 1.6 k copies in its first week in Japan earlier today, but can't find it now. Will have to dig it up later.
10. THE NEDERLANDS - #72 looks pretty poor after #32 last time, especially that this has always been an important market for the band.
11. SCOTLAND - #26. I think it's their first time ever on this one.
12. SOUTH KOREA - it apparently made #18 on the international chart (http://gaonchart.co.kr/main/section/chart/album.gaon?nationGbn=E), but the week was counted from Oct 23rd to Oct 29th, so we'll have to wait and see how it did the next week to compare it with DROE's #10 on the international chart and #91 on the general one.
13. SWEDEN - #43 is yet another big disappointment when you have in mind the wonderful #8 for DROE.
14. UK - #43. This is their best since Souls of Black. DROE was at #57.
15. US - ??? I honestly don't know what's going on with all the new charts Billboard is publishing these days. The album has reached #9 at Top Album Sales (DROE was #12 - but is it the same as Billboard top 200 - does this mean the actually broke into the top 10!? I've yet to find out...Ok, found it: This week's top-selling albums across all genres, ranked by sales data as compiled by Nielsen Music), #71 at Artists 100, #2 at Top Rock Albums after Avenged Sevenfold (DROE was #1 and managed 3 weeks on this chart), #2 at Hard Rock Albums (DROE was #1 and managed 8 long weeks), #1 at Independent Albums (just as DROE), #3 at Tastemaker Albums (DROE was #2; it's a list of top-selling albums based on an influential panel of stores comprised of independent retailer coalitions and smaller regional chains, ranked by sales data as compiled by Nielsen Music), #3 at Vinyl Albums (I don't think this chart was up for DROE). We'll have to wait a bit more 'til Billboard updates its page, but I've seen the number 15k and something as far as sales go, which would indicate a 25% drop when compared to DROE. I still have to confirm this.
Well, for now it seems that it surely won't outperform DROE, chart-wise. Still, I hope that we'll be getting more numbers soon and the lack of chart positions for e.g. Denmark, Switzerland, Norway, Austria, Spain, France, Ireland and Poland doesn't mean the album didn't chart there at all. I know for a fact that a lot of charts haven't been published yet so let's wait a little bit more.
I get the impression that this time NB didn't do as much to promote the release as last time. Actually, it seems like the band members themselves could have done better in this department too. Not that Chuck's interviews about the painful process of recording hurt much and discouraged fans, but the process itself (Eric doing pretty much everything single-handedly) could make for the other guys (save for Chuck) not identifying themselves with the record so much. I don't know. Maybe they just picked a tougher week for release this time or had bad luck.
Obviously, it's the music that matters, but I'd love to see them get the worldwide recognition they deserve.
I'll try and keep an alphabetical order in this post and highlight the markets where they improved as compared to DROE.
1. AUSTRALIA - debut at #24. This is actually the very first time they charted down under, so congratulations are due. They did tour there more during the last few years and it paid off.
2. BELGIUM (Flanders) - #29. DROE debuted at #86 to reach its peak at #54 the following week.
3. BELGIUM (Waloonia) - #42. DROE debuted at #40 to reach #29 next week.
4. CANADA - #24. Unfortunately, a significant drop after #12 for DROE. Just in the US...
5. FINLAND - #18. After the spectacular #4 for the last album, this doesn't impress. Let's hope the manage to advance a bit.
6. GERMANY - #11. They fell out of top 10 here as well. Too bad.
7. HUNGARY - #31. This is the most spectacular fail, after topping the charts 4 years ago. Perhaps last time the album release coincided with a tour and this time not. Still waiting for any news about DROE being certified gold in the land of the Magyars.
8. ITALY - #28 (?). It was #13 the last time, but I don't know whether it was the general chart for everybody or some "indie" one. This time it is the overall one. They never sold much there, so it is rather good news.
9. JAPAN - #42. DROE was at #57. They evened what TFOD did. I saw a list where it said BOTS sold over 1.6 k copies in its first week in Japan earlier today, but can't find it now. Will have to dig it up later.
10. THE NEDERLANDS - #72 looks pretty poor after #32 last time, especially that this has always been an important market for the band.
11. SCOTLAND - #26. I think it's their first time ever on this one.
12. SOUTH KOREA - it apparently made #18 on the international chart (http://gaonchart.co.kr/main/section/chart/album.gaon?nationGbn=E), but the week was counted from Oct 23rd to Oct 29th, so we'll have to wait and see how it did the next week to compare it with DROE's #10 on the international chart and #91 on the general one.
13. SWEDEN - #43 is yet another big disappointment when you have in mind the wonderful #8 for DROE.
14. UK - #43. This is their best since Souls of Black. DROE was at #57.
15. US - ??? I honestly don't know what's going on with all the new charts Billboard is publishing these days. The album has reached #9 at Top Album Sales (DROE was #12 - but is it the same as Billboard top 200 - does this mean the actually broke into the top 10!? I've yet to find out...Ok, found it: This week's top-selling albums across all genres, ranked by sales data as compiled by Nielsen Music), #71 at Artists 100, #2 at Top Rock Albums after Avenged Sevenfold (DROE was #1 and managed 3 weeks on this chart), #2 at Hard Rock Albums (DROE was #1 and managed 8 long weeks), #1 at Independent Albums (just as DROE), #3 at Tastemaker Albums (DROE was #2; it's a list of top-selling albums based on an influential panel of stores comprised of independent retailer coalitions and smaller regional chains, ranked by sales data as compiled by Nielsen Music), #3 at Vinyl Albums (I don't think this chart was up for DROE). We'll have to wait a bit more 'til Billboard updates its page, but I've seen the number 15k and something as far as sales go, which would indicate a 25% drop when compared to DROE. I still have to confirm this.
Well, for now it seems that it surely won't outperform DROE, chart-wise. Still, I hope that we'll be getting more numbers soon and the lack of chart positions for e.g. Denmark, Switzerland, Norway, Austria, Spain, France, Ireland and Poland doesn't mean the album didn't chart there at all. I know for a fact that a lot of charts haven't been published yet so let's wait a little bit more.
I get the impression that this time NB didn't do as much to promote the release as last time. Actually, it seems like the band members themselves could have done better in this department too. Not that Chuck's interviews about the painful process of recording hurt much and discouraged fans, but the process itself (Eric doing pretty much everything single-handedly) could make for the other guys (save for Chuck) not identifying themselves with the record so much. I don't know. Maybe they just picked a tougher week for release this time or had bad luck.
Obviously, it's the music that matters, but I'd love to see them get the worldwide recognition they deserve.
