Executives at other major labels say they expected Perry's sophomore album to debut with sales of anywhere from 300,000 to 700,000 units, with most figuring the album would scan about 400,000.
"I'd like to meet one industry executive last week who thought her album would do under 200,000 units, because I don't think that person exists," a senior executive at a rival major says.
"It was a wake-up call for some folks," the head of sales at another competing major says. "Some think the sky is falling. Others said, 'Wait a minute, she's a singles artist.' And still others said EMI should have put out the album six weeks ago and it would have sold more."
According to sources, EMI shipped 1 million units of the album prior to its U.S. street date of Aug. 24, which indicates that big-box retail chains like Walmart, Target and Best Buy were expecting the album to post robust first-week sales, as was Starbucks, which featured the title in its stores.
It would also be roughly in line with typical industry practice of shipping about twice as much product as anticipated first-week sales for a major album release. But prerelease shipments of "Teenage Dream" turned out to be about seven times debut-week sales.
The fact that 6 years later Katy still can't pull the types of numbers people thought she would pull in 2010
KatyCats are the cockiest fanbase on ATRL, I swear, way cockier than they say the monsters were I can't wait for the day Katy flops with a non-Olympics single and/or album. The lashings that they'll get, and unlike the monsters they can't use Grammys, talent, or pop icon status to fall back on
Halo in the background is the best part
I can't wait for the day Katy flops with a non-Olympics single and/or album. The lashings that they'll get, and unlike the monsters they can't use Grammys, talent, or pop icon status to fall back on 