But that was her debut.

The Fame opened with 24,000 copies.

I dont hate her I actually bought her album on itunes...
I'm just saying that her label had high expectations for her.I saw somewhere that they wanted 500k
so 200k is very low and they will be pissed

I agree.

A prime example are the black eyed peas. They were long awaited. They had big digital sales with Boom Boom Pow staying months on itunes and HOT100 . I gotta feeling was getting started at the time the album was launched. One must keep in mind that the sound was new so there was a possibility of it flopping hard- this is not in the case of Katy Perry

Everyone was hoping for a 400K or above. They ended up selling just above 300,000 copies. Thankk god they were consistant. So should be Katy with hit after hit.

Their prediction increased so hopefully katy perry's should increase aswell. I think it can sell 225-250K first week which should be good.

That doesn't mean anything though. It was her debut and she was just getting her 1st hit, which was a huge digital seller.

We could expect more now because of her previous success, promot and well, she just had The song of the Summer.

Still no HITS prediction?

They always do this ****, when there's something intresting they post their predictions later .

IKR?

Exactly. lol

But for some reason I want to see their prediction more than any other site.

HITS is sure taking their time today...

It'd be pretty hilarious of Fantasia snatched Katy's wig. I expected her to do more, but after thinking about it, that was just me letting the people here influence my predictions. Look at Ke$ha---a MASSIVE single, and her iTunes domination was even bigger than Katy's (if I recall correctly, Tik Tok and BBB were #1 and #2). And still, she only opened with 152k. Of course Ke$ha is a new artist and her album was released in January, so Katy's numbers won't be that low, but just for the sake of comparison.

No way was she going to do 700k like some people here were predicting. She doesn't have that kind of loyal fanbase. Those numbers are reserved for the Eminems and Lil Waynes (when he releases the next Carter).

Don't dance on Katy's grave just yet, she might get even better final numbers, it wouldn't be the first time.

But expecting 400k+ was just being insane...Beside, we all know that single sales are what matters the most these days anyways.

Album sales are just as important...if you can sell high even though album sales are in a decline, that means a whole lot more than single sales

i'm sure lady gaga , eminem , taylor swift would agree

Pop artists don't usually debut with a lot of units... at least not anymore.

I remember people were saying Rihanna was going to do 400k+ because of all the stuff she had in her favor, and all she did was what.. 181k? lol

No, albums still make labels the most money. Sade has sold over 1.2 million copies of SoL this year. No hit single, but I'm sure her label doesn't care.

Of course no one's dancing on her grave, she just scored a massive Hot 100 #1 and is on her way to another.

But album sales DO matter. You make way more money selling albums than singles. The fact that fewer people are buying them doesn't mean that they don't matter, especially since there are artists who are still scoring great album sales.

I think Katy will have longevity with this album, even if she didn't burst out of the gate with the alacrity some were predicting.

britney spears debuted with 500k copies

madonna hard candy ( a terrible album) debuted with 280k copies

am i wrong?

Pop fans are fickle. Brit and Madonna are part of a select group of pop stars that have sales insurance because they have huge loyal fanbases. Rihanna doesn't have that. Most pop stars don't. That's why people like Jason Derulo have only sold 200k to date.

Britney, Madonna, Beyonce, and Lady Gaga are the only popstars I can think of that have concrete stan bases so as not to flop even with a horrible album

Yep. Add Michael Jackson (even before he died, Thriller 25, a REISSUE, not even a new album, opened with 166k) to that list, and you have the royal court of pop's guaranteed sellers.

You're naming a couple of artists. My point still stands... pop artists don't usually have strong first week sales, at least not anymore.