THIS WEEK IN SOUNDSCAN: ASSJACK AND A BUNCH OF FAILURES

Last week was somewhat of a slow one for metal record sales. There weren’t a whole lot of new releases, but a few records that have been out for a while hung onto their spots in the Top 200 and Hank III’s Assjack project had a solid debut. Click through for chart positions and sales numbers.

74 KILLSWITCH ENGAGE – KILLSWITCH ENGAGE
This Week: 5,862
Cume: 112,935

I’m not certain, but I’d think this is somewhat behind pace for where the label expected it to be by this time. I could be wrong.

92 ASSJACK – ASSJACK
This Week: 4,749 (debut)

This debut sales figure probably doesn’t even recoup the amount they spent on advertising with MetalSucks. Ouch.

159 DREAM THEATER  – BLACK CLOUDS & SILVER LININGS
This Week: 2,827
Cume: 70,722

Probably about on pace for what was expected of this record, right? It’s Dream Theater; fans will always buy their records, but beyond that it’s a tough sell.

169 DEVIL WEARS PRADA – WITH ROOTS ABOVE & BRANCHES BELOW
This Week: 2,668
Cume: 80,429

They still suck.

185 DEVILDRIVER – PRAY FOR VILLAINS
This Week: 2,491
Cume: 25,618

People just aren’t that into this band.

188 MARILYN MANSON – HIGH END OF LOW
This Week: 2,472
Cume: 104,700

As far as Manson goes, this is a colossal failure. Dude has fallen upon hard times.

190 SUICIDE SILENCE – NO TIME TO BLEED
This Week: 2,404
Cume: 32,026

I really have no idea what Century Media expected this record to sell. 32,000 units (and counting) has got to be amongst their top selling releases of the year (the only others I can think of that approach or surpass that number are God Forbid and Lacuna Coil), so I’m thinking Century is probably pretty pleased with this. Whereas for a label with a big overhead like Roadrunner this is a terrible number, for Century it works quite nicely.

194 JOB FOR A COWBOY – RUINATION
This Week: 2,359
Cume: 25,640

Another one that I think fell short of expectations, but for another smaller label (Metal Blade) that’s still a decent number.

-VN