The spring of 2014 is a little stranger than I thought.

First, the showdown of "One Day King vs Farrell Williams" emerged and attracted countless sights. The once deserted spring market suddenly became lively.

Secondly, the King's second volume "Nine" soared into the sky, and broke through the million threshold in the first week of release, and once again showed a shiny and shiny dark horse posture, which not only disrupted a pond of lakes in the spring of 2014, but also surpassed Justin Timberlake and Bruno Mars made history first.

Then, Farrell's album "Girl" made a brilliant debut under the gaze of attention, but it was shocking to usher in a disappointment and regret. In an instant, the middle and negative reviews of the previous week's "Nine" sounded like water. This is the thunderous storm, and another unexpected upset.

The outbreak of "Nine" is an upset, and the downturn of "girl" is also an upset.

And then-

112,000 pictures.

This is the first week of "girl" sales rather than the first day sales. The accumulated sales in a whole week are less than a fraction of the first week of "nine", and even less than the first day of "nine". Such numbers have caused a shocking surprise, and I don't even know how to evaluate it so that it won't hurt people.

Shocking and unpopular!

There was no strong outbreak, and even the sales volume predicted by professionals did not reach 300,000, only 110,000. Such performance was really too surprising. Even if the media comprehensive review and public evaluation were both below 70,000, judging from the popularity of Farrell's topic, the sales volume of the album should not be so miserable.

But after calming down and thinking about it seriously, I found that... the unpopularity is not that cold.

reason?

As I said, the North American music market is relatively mature, singles are sold for popularity, and albums are sold for loyalty.

Simply put, if a single is successful, it requires the likes of passers-by. Every single champion on the Billboard is a work that has been recognized in the entire market. It is impossible to rely solely on the concentrated rankings of enthusiastic fans.

It is precisely because of this that there are often some "demon singles" on the singles chart. The three major monster singles in 2012 and the two classics in 2013 are all like this. When the singer's own influence is relatively weak, the single triggers an explosive reaction and then creates a miracle - Daft Punk is an exception.

The album is different. It relies on the support of fanatical fans, especially on the scene where digital sound sources are becoming more and more popular. Vinyl and CD need special machines to play. If you don’t like it, most people don’t need to buy physical albums at all, so sales mainly come from loyal fans, and there are also a small number of pure physical album lovers or collectors.

Similarly, dark horses are rarely seen on the Billboard album chart. Singers who build the foundation of fans can occupy the high positions on the list. The success of "21" is undoubtedly the best proof.

Singles and albums are actually two systems.

Farrell, three singles have been hit one after another, and the popularity is very good, and the discussion is directly broken. However, the loyal fans who really like Farrell and are willing to buy albums are far less than as many as they imagined.

Judging from the sales figures, it is even much lower.

The truth seems to be understandable.

But despite this, the number of 112,000 still makes your chin dislocate. It is difficult to imagine that Farrell, who has high hopes, has only such a mere energy.

Off topic, the sales volume of the album "Girl" in overseas markets far exceeds that of the North American market, the UK, Japan, Australia and other major markets in the first week reached 190,000, which also pushed the sales volume of the second album to exceed the threshold of 300,000 in the first week, and the performance was not too bad.

However...below expectations means lower than expectations. There is a rumor that the internal rumor of EDA Records is full of grief, and no one expected such a tragic result.

So, is there still a need for competition in "One Day King vs Farrell Williams 3.0"? The starting point is no longer the same magnitude. Even if the "girl" performs in the future, it is almost impossible to counterattack "Nine", not to mention that the stamina of "Nine" should not be underestimated.

What's worse is that before people could compare the albums "Girl" and "Nine", Farrell had already encountered another dark horse's counterattack-

Another dark horse? And again?

To be precise, it is not a dark horse that is, rick-ross.

Why is it not a dark horse?

Since he became active in the mid-1990s and was appreciated by Jay-z in 2006, he signed a contract to release his first album, Rick Ross has always been a backbone member of the East Coast rap lineup. He has released five albums so far, each of which has successfully topped the Billboard Album Chart.

In the past three years, Rick Ross has successfully nominated Grammys twice; and has worked with superstars such as Nicki Mina, Drake, Arthur, and Lear Wayne many times. He is a famous brand in the entire rap world, and is definitely not an unknown person from the cracks of the stone.

Why is it a dark horse?

"Mastermind" is Rick Rose's sixth studio album, but before it was released, there was no overwhelming publicity, no precursor or interview promotion, it was more like a surprise album. After a brief message was issued, it was directly airborne and released.

At that time, all the attention of the entire market was focused on the three horses. One day, the showdown between King and Farrell was an absolute hot topic. Naturally, the "decision makers" who lacked publicity and had no voice were forgotten, just like... a dark horse popping out of thin air from the cracks of the stone.

Then……

Seventy thousand pictures!

Silently, the "decision maker" burst out with such amazing energy because he was unprepared, so that the media was a little confused.

What...what?

In fact, the media review of "Decision Maker" is also mediocre, with a score of 68 points basically the same level as "Girl", but Rick Ross has released his sixth studio album, and all of the previous five albums have topped the Billboard album list, which shows that the fans are loyal to him, which is an advantage over Farrell.

As a result, the "decision makers" also made outstanding achievements.

When the media's eyes were all swarming towards the Billboard album chart, they found that Rick Ross became the disruptor, breaking the expected strong showdown of "One Day King vs Farrell Williams 3.0", so that when the list came out, it was a little funny and heartless.

Ah, miscalculated.

Champion, "Nine", one day king.

Runner-up, "Decision Maker", Rick Rose.

Third place, "Girl", Farrell Williams.

Palace Army, "Frozen" ost.

With great attention and expectations, "Nine" won the Billboard Album List for the second consecutive week without any suspense. Although the ranking data slightly deviated from the track, if you carefully browse the detailed data of the list, you will naturally overflow with sighs:
Chapter completed!