News: Albums Woe
Pitchfork's top 50 LPs of 2011 post pitiful sales figures in the US
Words Helen Lawson
Sobering news to start the year, as recent figures reveal that most of Pitchfork’s top 50 albums of 2011 are yet to enjoy American sales to match their critical acclaim.
While Bon Iver topped the annual list and sold more than 300k copies in the US, Oneohtrix Point Never’s Replica, ranked as the year’s sixth best record, managed only 3,800 sales by December.
EMA’s Past-Life Martyred Saints — placed at 13 in the end of year list — sold 6,100 copies, while Juliana Barwick and AraabMuzik sold only 1,000 albums respectively despite positive reviews.
The numbers, listed below and compiled by PhD student and former Pitchfork writer Eric Harvey, show that only Beyoncé and Drake shifted more than the requisite 500k copies to be certified gold in the States, while Jay-Z and Kanye West’s modest joint offering Watch The Throne had sold more than 1.1m copies since its August release.
Albums selling fewer than 3,000 copies in a week automatically drop out of the US Top 200 chart, so some of the nicely rounded sales figures in the list are estimates for such releases. The list shows American album sales up to December 16, while the Pitchfork top 50 list was published on December 15.
1. Bon Iver Bon Iver - 317,355
2. Destroyer Kaputt - 30,000
3. M83 Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming - 59,573
4. PJ Harvey Let England Shake - 62,000
5. Girls Father, Son, Holy Ghost - 30,000
6. Oneohtrix Point Never Replica - 3,800
7. Tune-Yards w h o k i l l - 40,386
8. Drake Take Care - 967,560
9. Real Estate Days - 20,700
10. The Weeknd House of Balloons N/A
11. St. Vincent Cruel Mercy - 44,334
12. James Blake James Blake - 47,372
13. EMA Past-Life Martyred Saints - 6,100
14. Shabazz Palaces Black Up - 14,767
15. Fleet Foxes Helplessness Blues - 277,541
16. Kurt Vile Smoke Ring for My Halo - 28,013
17. Clams Casino Instrumentals N/A
18. Atlas Sound Parallax - 12,411
19. Danny Brown XXX N/A
20. Nicolas Jaar Space is Only Noise N/A
21. Jay-Z/Kanye West Watch the Throne - 1,143,674
22. The Caretaker An Empty Bliss Beyond This World N/A
23. Bill Callahan Apocalypse - 9,900
24. Juliana Barwick The Magic Place - 1,000
25. Gang Gang Dance Eye Contact - 8,600
26. The Field Looping State of Mind - 4,900
27. Beyonce 4 - 971,264
28. Cut Copy Zonoscope 51,000
29. DJ Quik Book of David - 29,000
30. Tim Hecker Ravedeath, 1972 - 4,800
31. Ty Segall Goodbye Bread - 2,800
32. Panda Bear Tomboy - 46,000
33. Fucked Up David Comes to Life - 19,000
34. Katy B On A Mission - 1,400
35. Frank Ocean Nostalgia, Ultra N/A
36. Kate Bush 50 Words for Snow - 27,199
37. Iceage New Brigade - 2,000
38. Sandro Perri Impossible Spaces N/A
39. War on Drugs Slave Ambient - 14,283
40. AraabMuzik Electronic Dream - 1,000
41. Liturgy Aesthetica N/A
42. SBTRKT SBTRKT - 12,346
43. Lykke Li Wounded Rhymes - 27,000
44. Colin Stetson New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges N/A
45. Kendrick Lamar Section.80 - 27,460
46. Cults Cults - 25,000
47. Sepalcure Sepalcure N/A
48. Toro Y Moi Underneath the Pine - 19,381
49. Wild Flag Wild Flag - 27,349
50. Youth Lagoon Year of Hibernation - 13,282
