July & August are always terrible months for album sales, but since album sales fell sharper than ever this year in general, they look especially awful at this time of year as well. I'm guessing not as many people think about buying new music because they're on vacations.
5SOS should liven up the chart with a 250-300K or more debut. I'm not sure sure how frontloaded their pre-orders will be.
YOUR NEW RELEASES: The race has narrowed to two. Jason Mraz and “Weird Al” Yankovic are locked in a head-to-head battle for the top spot on next week's album chart—one armed with an axe and the other with an accordion. Neither artist has previously had a #1 album, but only one has worn a fat suit in a video. Here are this week's key debuts:
On a personal note, those of us in the editorial sector owe “Weird Al” a debt for his grammatically ardent spoof of “Blurred Lines,” seen above. “Word Crimes” is already casting a spell online, having earned more than (not “over”) 2.4 million views. #nerds (7/16a)
Al's highest peaking album is only #9 so far; it's less embarrassing in showing the suck sales climate if an artist's last 3 albums peaked #3, then #2, then #1