Sludge Scan For March 2000

Occasionally I get some mail asking me a question.  For example, here is a question.

“I remember reading somewhere that platinum used to signify 2 million units sold and gold signified 1 million. Then supposedly the music industry became much more competitive, so they cut the numbers in half.  Am I full of shit?  Maybe I was stoned and just dreamed up the article.  Actually, I probably read it in Metal Edge during the Gerri Miller years.”

Thanks for the question!  You are fairly accurate, so I doubt your info came from Gerri Miller.  Please follow me through a brief history of Gold and Platinum Album certifications courtesy of the Recording Industry Association Of America, Inc.  The Gold record award was introduced in 1958 (not Nikki Sixx’s band, which is now simply called 58 by the way).  A Gold album was awarded for sales in excess of $1 million (based on the manufacturer’s wholesale price) and a Gold single for one million copies.  In 1975, the Gold album standard was raised so that an artist had to sell 500,000 copies as well as meet or surpass $1 million in sales.  In 1976, the Platinum award was introduced.  The criteria for an album was set at 1 million copies sold and $2 million in sales.  The single criteria was set at 2 million copies sold.  The multi-platinum award was introduced in 1984 to honor albums with sales of 2 million or more copies.

Currently, Gold is awarded for 500,000 copies, Platinum for 1,000,000, and Mult-Platinum for 2,000,000+.  These criteria are used for both singles and albums.

If you have a reasonable question or have a SludgeScan request, send it to SludgeScan@metal-sludge.com

Now onto the scans!

As Of March 2, 2000

Arcade	103,666
Arcade “A/2″	20,322
Sebastian Bach “Bring ‘Em Bach Alive”	7,681
Beastie Boys  “Sounds Of Science”	775,228
Methods of Mayhem	273,379
Motley Crue  “Live: Entertainment Or Death”	100,156
Poison  “Greatest Hits”	689,618
Ratt  “Detonator”	121,727 *
Ratt  “Collage”	32,348
Savatage  “Wake of Magellan”	32,259
Sister Whisky  “Liquor & Poker”	6,952
Slik Toxik  “Doin’ The Nasty”	18,156
The Tuesdays	15,920
Transformers Soundtrack	54,075
Tyketto  “Don’t Come Easy”	66,867 *
Union  “The Blue Room”	2,103
Vanilla Ice  “Mind Blowin”	42,287
Vanilla Ice “Hard To Swallow”	92,088

Notes Of Interest:

Union’s first week sales were 2,103, which is about 3 times the amount Sebitchian Bach sold his first week last November.

Speaking of Sebitchian, his CD sold 466 copies last week.

Motley Crue moved 3,013 copies of “Entertainment or Death” last week.

And Methods Of Mayhem is down to 9,314 units a week.

Poison’s “Greatest Hits” was recently certified Platinum, but it has only sold 689,618.

As of March 10, 2000

Sebastian Bach  “Bring ‘Em Bach Alive”	8,006
Bloodhound Gang  “Hooray For Boobies”	80,370
Slaughter  “Back To Reality”	18,467
Union  “The Blue Room”	3,257
Warrant  “Latest And Greatest”	6,331

Notes:

The Bloodhound Gang sold 80,370 it’s first week and debuted at #19 on the Billboard Charts.  That’s twice the amount that Methods Of Mayhem did during it’s first week, and MOM had way more advertising than The Blooodhound Gang. 

Union sold 1,069 in it’s 2nd week, for a total of 3,257.  It took Sebitchian 6 weeks to get to that figure.

Warrant moved 160 units last week.

Slaughter sold a whopping 101 units, which is still amazing cause who are these people?

Sebitchian moved 324 units last week.

As Of March 28, 2000

Anthrax “Volume 8, The Threat Is Real”	75,628
Sebastian Bach  “Bring ‘Em Bach Alive”	8,537
The Bloodhound Gang “Hooray For Boobies”	221,731
Fates Warning “Parallels” …re-issue – 8/9/94 …re-issue – 7/14/98	62,251* 3,817 1,113
Fates Warning “Inside Out” …re-issue – 3/24/98	26,895 1,258
Gathering “Mandylion”	5,466
Great White “Can’t Get There From Here”	60,490
Jethro Tull “Catfish Rising” …re-issue 9/14/99	102,808 * 2,171
Jethro Tull “Roots To Branches”	96,382
King’s X “Ear Candy”	48,563
Mayadome “Paranormal Activity”	1,071
Methods Of Mayhem	304,498
Motley Crue  “Live: Entertainment Or Death”	107,474
Poison “Crack A Smile & More”	12,087
Tiamat “Wildhoney”	8,082
Ratt	45,674
Shadow Gallery “Tyranny”	4,965
Shadow Gallery “Carved In Stone”	5,442
Derek Sherinian “Planet X”	2,365
Stuck Mojo “Snappin’ Necks”	27,617
Stuck Mojo “Pigwalk”	36,085
Stuck Mojo “Rirising”	39,676
Thin Lizzy “Jailbreak”	159,497 *
Thin Lizzy  “Live & Dangerous”	40,382 *
Type O Negative “Bloody Kisses”	777,875
Type O Negative “October Rust”	349,865
Type O Negative “World Coming Down”	158,815
Union “The Blue Room”	4,548
Yes “The Ladder”	74,748

Notes:

Poison sold 12,087 their first week and debuts at #131 on The Billboard Top 200.

Great White has sold about 15,000 more records than Ratt.

The Bloodhound Gang’s scans went up from 65,394 to 75,391, up from #22 to #16 on The Billboard Top 200.  Their album has been out a month and will surpass Methods Of Mayhem’s sales in another week or two.

Union’s scans went from 673 to 618.

Sebitchian’s scans drop from 294 to 236.  His album has been out since early November and he still hasn’t broken 10,000. 

Here are 2 letters I received.

Hey:

Do SoundScan statistics denote actual copies sold, or # of discs sold. The reason I ask is I believe Gold/Platinum albums are currently awarded when 500,000 / 1,000,000 DISCS are sold, not when the required number of copies is sold.  To put it another way, Motley Crue will receive a gold album when/if  “Live: Entertainment Or Death” sells 250,000 copies because there are 2 discs in the package.  Does the SludgeScan number of 100,156 indicate that they’ve sold 100,156 copies or 50,078 copies?

Thanks,

TTwisted

Dearest TTwisted,

It sure is a good thing you included a second paragraph, because you were losing me on the first one.  Turns out, you have very good questions.  Just remember that Gold and Platinum awards are given for shipments to retail and not for actual scans (I won’t go into detail as we’ve beaten this topic to death). 

Anyway, here are your answers:

1.  Yes, Motley would receive a Gold album for selling 250,000 copies of a double album (250,000 X 2 =

500,000).

2.  The scan number reflects actual copies sold of the entire package, not the package times the number of discs contained in the package.  The scan number of 100,156 means they have sold 100,156 copies.  So, for certification purposes, they are at 200,312 units.

XOXO,

Lita

Hi Lita.

This isn’t a request but a question I’d like you to answer during a future update.

If someone purchases a cut-out album (I’m sure you know about these) from a bargain or cheap bin in a record store and it is still-sealed, does that count as a Sound Scan over-the-counter sale?

Will

Will,

Thanks for the question.  Another good one!  Cut-outs do not count as Soundscan Sales.  If you look at a cut-out, the hole is usually drilled right through the UPC code.

Also, just in case anybody was wondering, used CDs do not count as Soundscan Sales either.

XOXO,

Lita

More updates coming this week.  I have everybody’s requests and will be getting to them soon.

As Of March 29, 2000

Disturbed “The Sickness”	9,193
Eastcide “Everybody’s Walking Away” …Reissue	667 4
Tracii Guns “Killing Machine”	1,058
L.A. Guns “A Nite On The Strip Live”	1,170
Manowar “Louder Than Hell”	35,513
Manowar “Triumph Of Steel”	88,848
Manowar “Hell On Stage”	11,969
Manowar “Hell On Wheels”	2,875
Poison “Crack A Smile & More”	18,230
Pretty Boy Floyd “Leather Boyz With Electric Toys”	22,281 *
Quiet Riot “Metal Health”	441,778 *
Quiet Riot “Critical Condition”	14,339 *
Quiet Riot “QRIII”	7,043 *
Richie Sambora  “Stranger In This Town”	285,542 *
Richie Sambora “Undiscovered Soul”	38,715
Slaughter “Fear No Evil”	42,988
Slaughter “Revolution”	18,790
Union “The Blue Room”	5,093

Notes:

Poison is down from 12,086 to 6,038.

Union’s scans went down from 618 to 544.

L.A. Guns’ scans are down from 274 to 212.

As Of March 30, 2000

AC/DC “Flick Of The Switch” …re-issue 9/6/94 –	82,738 57,984
AC/DC “Blow Up Your Video”	154,404 *
AC/DC “Ballbreaker”	1,039,793
Annihilator “Criteria For A Black Widow”	2,591
Jon Bon Jovi “Young Guns”	661,230 *
Jon Bon Jovi “Destination Anywhere”	194,605
David Bryan “On A Full Moon”	1,181
Def Leppard “Eurphoria”	513,271
Descendents “Everything Sucks”	148,556
I, Mother Earth “Dig”	65,824
I, Mother Earth “Scenery And Fish”	24,933
Loudmouth “s/t”	25,128
Lynch Mob “Smoke This”	9,986
Monster Magnet “Powertrip”	448,059
Nine Inch Nails “The Fragile”	701,813
Poundhound “Massive Grooves”	7,461
Henry Rollins “Think Tank”	25,015
Sugar Ray “Lemonade & Brownies”	84,204
Sugar Ray “Floored”	1,815,921
Sugar Ray “14:59″	2,182,949
Twisted Sister “Club Daze”	3,079
White Trash “s/t”	122,323 *
White Trash “Si O Si Q”	6,578
Working Man – A Tribute To Rush	44,603