Is this the moment where charts finally don't matter

[Nikki]

i don't really care about the charts, but I do want people to hear her amazing music and not think she's still in the GMAYL, GGW phase.. this new record seems to be getting awesome. and it would be lovely to hear the singles on the radio and have people fall in love with her (again). It's sweet to read good things about the album, to see people suddenly buying her discography and learning about her.. that happens quicker when the songs chart high and are played a lot. idc about how many top 10 or 1 hits she has tbh, I just love to know millions of other people know her new music is fucking good

[Nikki]

it also works for touring..

[Mightycomfort]

I'm not so much bothered about charts as I don't follow them, my son (11) has to tell me who people are on the radio these days.

What I'd like to see here in the UK is Madonna on the radio, represented positively by the press/media and performing on tv (Brit awards) and doing interviews. To this day I swear MDNA only sold 150,000 ish copies here because people didn't know it was out. They've held the lead single back until 20 February here - I think that means the label and M's team want a top ten or number 1. I'm not sure how that will work out.

My hope is for the album! I'd love to see her platinum at least album wise here - 300,000 copies plus. That doesn't necessarily mean she has to top the album chart but it would be nice. What I'd like to see would be her stay in the charts for a while and sell steadily! Singles on radio, videos and promotion of a good few of the albums great songs. I mean Gosttown on radio 2 would slay!

I don't know how the U.S. chart works but in the UK if radio 2 get behind her and commercial stations like capital pick up on the GREAT Living For Love - she should be ok! Don't see radio 1 playing her but she can survive that.

Not comparing her to veteran artists but Dolly Parton, Neil Diamond, Streisand and Bette Midler- but the UK public are lapping up their recent releases. Diamond and Midler have been on radio/tv a lot and have had itv specials (an audience with type shows). Dolly Parton has done amazingly well following Glastonbury and selling her new album as a 2 cd set with a greatest hits. She will have sold somewhere between 350-400,000 by year end! Amazing figures in this day and age and mostly CD's not downloads. Streisand will be at a similar figure to Dolly with Diamond around 125-150,000 and Midler possibly just over 150,000.

I'm no music snob but please M do some TV here! If shows like 'an audience with Madonna', Graham Norton, Jonathan Ross, Brit awards, Ant n Dec Saturday takeaway , Britain's Got Talent and The Voice are what she needs to sell her new album I hope she appears on them! She's still the biggest global icon in the World but she maybe needs to reconnect with the general public who don't worship her as much as we do!

What is positive here is that of the 6 songs I've heard 3 are AMAZING including the first single and non are rubbish (although BItch I'm madonna took some getting used to).

Sorry for the long post! I don't normally log on but hey it's a new album by my all time favourite!

[jacket]

No one even remembers Mariah's no.1s. Madonna's bevy of no.2s made more impact.

[rocknrolla]

I want the album to at least go gold. Realistically, I would like to see LFL to hit top twenty/top ten.

[Shane]

I want the album to at least go gold. Realistically, I would like to see LFL to hit top twenty/top ten.

I think both of those hopes are fairly certain to come true.

[rocknrolla]

I fairly certain, but a little worried.

A lot of people say MDNA wasn't promoted, but the Superbowl was probably the greastest promo event she has ever done. And MDNA barely went gold. I'm just really hoping LFL gets picked up at radio.

[Django]

I fairly certain, but a little worried.

A lot of people say MDNA wasn't promoted, but the Superbowl was probably the greastest promo event she has ever done. And MDNA barely went gold. I'm just really hoping LFL gets picked up at radio.

The Superbowl end up working as promotion for Celebration.

Maybe the ones from the US should request LFL on the radio. Has it been sent to the radios yet?

[Moka]

A lot of people say MDNA wasn't promoted, but the Superbowl was probably the greastest promo event she has ever done. And MDNA barely went gold. I'm just really hoping LFL gets picked up at radio.

At the Superbowl, there was only 1 new song in the middle of 5 oldies, and experts say that the Superbowl promotes touring, not songs. Plus, the album was released a month later, while the tour was announced the day after the Superbowl... MDNA was not promoted, the tour was

[rocknrolla]

I was thinking that, too, it was more of a promo for the tour. But didn't MDNA get a large number of pre-orders right afterwards?

[Kurt420]

I was thinking that, too, it was more of a promo for the tour. But didn't MDNA get a large number of pre-orders right afterwards?

Yes, like RH it went to #1 in over 40 countries on pre-orders. GMAYL soared to #2 on iTunes and then it disappeared out of nowhere when it was about to hit #1.

[OddlyEven]

You know charts don't matter when a fucking nobody singing that Call me Maybe shit had the biggest hit in 2012 and she remains a fucking nobody.

This really gave me a good laugh! Love it and it's so on point too!

[Butter9]

I fairly certain, but a little worried.

A lot of people say MDNA wasn't promoted, but the Superbowl was probably the greastest promo event she has ever done. And MDNA barely went gold. I'm just really hoping LFL gets picked up at radio.

I think the superbowl was more of a promo for the tour rather than the album .

I am not as obsessed about the chart with RH as I was when MDNA was released as I think all the 6 songs I have heard so far are so strong and I just want to enjoy them ( and the rest of the album ) without having to worry about airplay/chart position. Also she's in the news practically everyday since the leak and is getting rave reviews for LFL/RH .

The tour should be amazing .

[Guest]

If rather see her album remain in the top 200 albums chart for 52 weeks. I dont really care about charts, but I onow a lot of people do. We know that the one chart she is the reigning queen of if the Dance Chart, and we can surely expect another couple of pings on that tally with RH singles.

The chart/AirPlay system in the US has been for a long time, and since I live in a city that pretty much refuses to play Madonna on any radio station besides AC 80's/90's mix startions, I've nothing to tune in for anyhow.

I really do think this album will be a success, these first 6 songs are catchy as hell, and I've heard that the rest of the album will be too!

[Michael.]

Realistically her fans are older and not really the kind of people to sit around requesting her music on radio. Seriously who the fuck has time for that? Outside the US though where charts are based on sales I think she has a pretty good chance at still getting a few hits. And I think album sales will continue to be steady for her. I don't think this is a bad thing really. Of course big hits would still be amazing but like many have said she really has nothing left to prove.

In regards to Australia though, I think there is definitely a backlash here since she's snubbed us for so many tours. Radio really don't give a shit about her anymore and I hear less and less about her unless they are making fun of her. Maybe some other Aussie members will disagree with me. Honestly unless she announces a tour here before Rebel Heart is released, I think she'll have a massive failure with this album. Just look at the itunes charts, none of the songs are even in the TOP 100 here and the album is at like 44. Radio really have no incentive to play her anymore because she continues to ignore us. This is sad because I think she is or at least was the most successful solo female artist in Australia and she has always done so well here.

[Django]

It's sad what's going on in Australia... but it's mostly her fault. In the US case it's because radios are so fucking ageist it should be consider a crime. Imagine radios no playing some artists because they are black or women.

[Soma]

Great discussion going on here!

I'll admit - I'm a chart freak. I do care about charts and I do hope Madonna would once again reign. It gives me a great feel of satisfaction to know she's ruling the charts; to know that people are loving her art. Her legacy is already immortal and she herself is a living legend, but I want more, more, more - because she deserves it.

[5iVe Elements]

Charts is not the measure of success for this short-attention span and instant-gratification generation. Longevity and sales is what matters. Being in the charts is just an added bonus for her.

[karbatal]

chart's didn't matter since the moment that

a) some acts have several songs up there and can't even fill a venue in a tour

b) some new acts have more number ones than legends, and all that in like 5 years

For me, they stopped meaning anything since 2007 more or less. I don't even look at the UK charts anynmore.

[OddlyEven]

Can I ask all of you in this thread if you listen to the radio like you used to? I personally do not. I find the mainstream stations to be full of crappy music and then there are the 80s/90s stations and they're okay but they have a group of songs they play over and over and it makes me want to scream that there was more to those decades than those few songs they rotate nonstop.

It makes me wonder if the reason why she doesn't chart all that much anymore is because her fans have evolved past the radio. Like the response above, M fans are going to sit around and listen to the radio and request songs. Who has that kind of time?

Edited December 25, 2014 by OddlyEven

[Django]

The main problem is Billboard which counts airplay way too high. It's very unfair since it leads to age discrimination and it's easier for labels to manipulate charts through payola, which still exists as much as it was before.

The bitch needs to do something about Australia. If she fails them once more that'll be it. I think she even has it hard now if she does something about it.

[Carta]

In Australia, RH went to #1 on pre-sales (something that MDNA couldn't manage) and LFL reached the Top 10 (with everything else Top 20). The fact that, once you've purchased the album, you can't purchase any of the tracks individually, means that they're destined to fall without any extra promo. I would gladly have bought the six tracks individually, but iTunes doesn't allow that once you've purchased the album (gone are the days when slightly obsessive fans could buy a dozen copies of a single in an effort to drive it further up the charts).

In Italy, Madonna is massive (GAYL peaked at #2 and GGW reached #3), and the six individual tracks were at 1-6 on iTunes (with the album at #1), but once the initial excitement dissipated and everyone who lived on iTunes or the net had already bought the tracks, they started falling (since there's been no real radio push yet). Once the proper promotion kicks in, things will change, I'm sure.

Unfortunately for Madonna, her plans for LFL have gone by the wayside, and as a result, it probably won't be anywhere near as big as it could/would have been if it had been launched in February. RH should really be released before the album (with a proper promotional campaign in February), but I can't see Madonna changing the long term plans for a song that she obviously loves and believes in. The fact that it's being kept off iTunes in the UK until February is pretty much proof of this.

As for the charts themselves, I'm a massive follower of charts worldwide and have been since I was 10. This is never going to change for me (I have literally dozens of chart anthologies, subscribe to the weekly official Australian charts and still follow various charts regularly). I don't think I should have to apologise for this, though - it's something that's important to me

[Nikki]

In Australia, RH went to #1 on pre-sales (something that MDNA couldn't manage) and LFL reached the Top 10 (with everything else Top 20). The fact that, once you've purchased the album, you can't purchase any of the tracks individually, means that they're destined to fall without any extra promo. I would gladly have bought the six tracks individually, but iTunes doesn't allow that once you've purchased the album (gone are the days when slightly obsessive fans could buy a dozen copies of a single in an effort to drive it further up the charts).

thank god. for a second i did think the highest RH reached on pre orders was 10 in australia. I was starting to worry that they may have given up on her, not because of the music, but just not touring a in 2012 really hit them hard. doesn't seem as bad as I initially thought if she reached #1

[Shane]

I haven't listened to the radio in years! Who cares what radio deems hot? And as seen in some genres like country, even when fans call and request songs in droves, radio will still ignore and play only what it wants to.

[DreamTheater]

Charts in general don't matter as much as they used to, they just don't have the same cultural impact. But still Rebel Heart is doing very well and it looks like it will surpass MDNA's performance. I think that in some markets it will surpass it by a lot and that's no small feat. MDNA was a worldwide top 15 best seller for 2012 and Rebel Heart will probably repeat this for 2015. This means that Madonna is one of the most consistent artists for this decade.

[dollhouse]

young buyers think she's too old and old buyers think she's trying to sound too young

[Jazzy Jan]

young buyers think she's too old and old buyers think she's trying to sound too young

Such an over-generalization. People keep bringing age up but the only thing that her age is effecting is radio airplay.

[MerGirl]

You know I hate when people say that she is "trying to sound current", because guess what? EVERYONE is trying to sound current, I don't think there's any artist out there trying to sound stale. Who doesn't want to release music that sounds fresh?

[Django]

Such an over-generalization. People keep bringing age up but the only thing that her age is effecting is radio airplay.

And how is not that considered discrimination and penalized really says a lot about this society, specially the American. And the recently the UK that tries to be like the US in every wrong aspect.

[Shane]

Things like "trying to sound current," "desperate to stay relevant," and "never the strongest vocalist" are just the same lazy lines journalists have written for decades because they have nothing else in life.