Rihanna, dont get me wrong, can sell decent amounts of albums in the US, but after selling 306,000 in the UK this week, it made me wonder, why its so hard for Rihanna to even have an OPENING week that big in the US.

Loud is doing the best of any of her albums so far, she will probably have 3 weeks that she was over 100k in the US, but still selling 300k+ in the UK means she could do it in the US.

She has done promo before, but she had to do a re-release with GGGB and more singles, and more promotion to even get to double platinum in the US, while in the UK, she easily sold 5x Platinum.

Rated R almost missed the 1,000,000 mark, even with lots of promotion, and a huge single, but easily sold 2x Platinum in the UK.

Her singles in the US do good, but her peak was during the GGGB era.

She could sell out Madison Square Garden and the Staples Center, but it was hard for her to sell out other places in the US on tour, while she easily sold out most of Europe on the LGOE tour, and her Loud tour is almost all sold out in Europe with more than one date in my arenas.

I am just very confused. I wonder if after GGGB they did an era like Loud, and didnt do the whole dark image/tough girl Rated R era and stayed around the GGGB image, would she have sold a lot more?

I just want thoughts. I know I am a stan, but Im not delusional. I just have no idea, why she has to push so hard for album success in the US.

It's not like she sold 300k in the UK out of the blue though. If she hadn't have done the X Factor final then she'd be selling a third of that.

Was this really needed? She's selling amazing right now in the US. In the UK she promoted heavily, she performed on the biggest show over there, not once, not twice, but 3 times if you count her duet performance.
She hasnt even promoted over here in the US! what GMA, AMA, and David Lettermen? That's nice, but she knows what she's doing. We shouldn't doubt her selling power just yet, Once she begins promoting and then if album sales arent that great, then we can draw the conclusion that hey she isnt and albums aritst in the US, but right now she's having her fastest selling album in the US, without any promo that really counts. So she's selling quite well

But the X Factor increased sales last week, and she sold 192k.

Then this week they increased even more, with no appearance anywhere!

It must be because of her ethnicity.

What promo actually helps in the US?
TV appearances on talk shows, and TV channels dont really help sales.

Its appearances on award shows, and huge reality shows.

But there arent that many of them, so she cant really do THAT much promoting that would help.

I agree wholeheartedly with Biblio. Some people ten to forget how much promo she has done in the UK when compared proportionally to the US. In the UK she performed TWICE on a show where one third of the population whatched. On the US, all she had to that scale was the AMAs, which had their lowest ratings ever and do not consume that big of a portion of the population.

She is doing Great, I Don't see any problem with her sales, She will Outsell Rated R and will get close to 2x Platinum Without a Re-release IMO

She's selling fine everywhere, she just happens to be biggest in the UK.

It's still down the the X Factor though. A lot of people fell in love with her after seeing her on the show and got Loud for Christmas.

Preach.

Quit your bitchin and whining, shes selling amazing by her standards

Can't believe I'm about to defend her but her numbers really are fine. Only a few acts are really moving LOTS of units like that. One would probably have to look at sales trends in the two different countries, competition and musical tastes of the buying public to answer why she doesn't sell as much here comparatively.

NO there's plenty of promos out there. ELLEN, Oprah, that works!

Also, Grammys are coming up as well.

A commerical would help too! maybe during the Super Bowl?

American Idol, X-FACTOR, Dancing with the STARS..etc..

Just seeing her on TV would even help

This thread. I don't get some of you guys.

I ask this question too! Why is she bigger in UK??...US is like 50x bigger country than UK lol......But at least she is soooo successful with singles in US! 9 number ones WOOHOO :-DD My Queen Riri...:-D

I'm sorry but this thread is pointless.

My wifey is smashing everywhere and why are you complaining? This album is her fastest selling album in the US and will go double platinum without a re-release.

Some Rihanna fans can never be satisfied. The biggest selling album in the US this year was only 3xplatinum.