Thursday 20 August 2009

Obsessed

Hi Gary. Now that Mariah Carey has released a physical single of "Obsessed" exclusively at Wal-Mart, I was wondering how much impact a physical single can have on the Billboard Hot 100, as opposed to a digital single. And, how much effect does streaming have, as opposed to radio spins?

Thanks, I enjoy reading your column! Christian Medrano, Willmar, Minnesota

Thanks Christian. "Obsessed" debuts at No. 1 this week on Billboard's Hot Singles Sales chart, which tracks sales of physical singles. The numbers on the chart certainly pale in comparison, however, to the top sales figures on Digital Songs. "Obsessed" starts on the former chart with just north of 1,000 copies sold, according to Nielsen SoundScan. That total would not even rank among the top 750 most paid downloads in the same tracking period. The Black Eyed Peas' "I Gotta Feeling" is No. 1 on Digital Songs with 197,000 downloads moved. (That's a lot of Peas in (i)Pods.)

"Obsessed" is Carey's 10th No. 1 on Hot Singles Sales, and when she last led the list, it was before download sales had amassed enough influence to contribute to the Billboard Hot 100's formula (they did as of the chart dated February 12, 2005). In February 2003, "Through the Rain" bowed on Hot Singles Sales at No. 1 with 13,000 physical singles sold. If we go back just four years earlier, we can see that no matter the product form - cassette singles, CD singles, downloads - there are constants among sales of singles. In October 1999, Carey notched her best weekly total on Hot Singles Sales when "Heartbreaker" rocketed 72-1 with a hefty 271,000 singles sold.

As you might suspect, physical sales no longer have a large impact on the Hot 100, which combines songs' digital sales, physical sales, all-format radio airplay (according to Nielsen BDS) and streaming data. This week, the total point percentages for all songs on the Hot 100 break down as follows:

52% digital sales

45% airplay

3% streaming

0.06% physical singles

(Ask Billboard)



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