Going by the list of albums that have sold platinum in 2009, it has been a slow year for music sales in Australia.
Regardless of the platinum awards granted to artists by labels (they are given for units shipped to stores, not units sold to customers), only King of Leon ‘Only By The Night’ is today worthy of truly calling itself a triple platinum seller.Kings Of Leon ‘Only By The Night’ is the year’s biggest selling album to date. It has sold 224,768 units. 3x platinum is 210,000.
It won’t be alone for long though. I expect Pink ‘Funhouse’ to cross the 210,000 sales benchmark at some stage this week. It is currently short of that figure by less than 9,000 units, so it will easily add another platinum gong over the next few days.
Next in line is Coldplay ‘Viva La Vida’. It is currently at 192,769 units. Giving the tour announcement and the just released deluxe edition of the album this week, it should slide past 3x platinum before the end of the year.
All that is left after that is AC/DC ‘Black Ice’. It will most likely get there this year. ‘Black Ice’ is only 33,000 units away from the actual sales of 210,000, so it should get over the line to earn 3x platinum for Christmas.
After that, we fall well short of a real triple platinum album earner. Metallica ‘Death Magnetic’ is yet to sell 2x platinum, let alone three. It won't make it this year. Maybe next year with a tour, sales will reignite.
The Mamma Mia soundtrack is the 6th biggest seller of the year so far, but with sales currently at 119,986 units, it needs to think about wanting double platinum, let alone triple.
If we are starting to think about the year-end Top 10, The Presets ‘Apocalypso’ and Jason Mraz ‘We Sing We Dance We Steal Things’ may make the cut.
Next week, we will see debuts from Guns n’ Roses, The Killers and Kanye West make the chart. Guns n’ Roses might end up at Top 10 album for the year, considering the expectation. However, first day sales of only 3454 units across Australia on Friday are indicating that the album will not have the impact of AC/DC, Pink, Metallica or Coldplay. Those first days figures are indicating first week sales of around 40,000, well short of the first week both Pink and AC/DC brought in.
There is a remote chance the Gunners may make the grade by the end of the year. With most major releases now out for the year, all the players are on the field.
