In today’s music biz, having a hit on the charts can mean even greater success than before, especially considering nobody’s actually buying music these days.
As we’ve seen very clearly from the reaction all over the ‘Net, Van Halen’s fans are welcoming them back with open arms. Of course, it wouldn’t be too much of a leap to think the VH fan base would also actually buy the new album – A Different Kind of Truth – which apparently they’re doing in pretty good numbers.
With true metal and hard rock fans, even if you get a copy of an album from a friend, you’re still going go out and buy it to send some money back to the band, or at least that’s the way it was back in the day before everyone started taking music for free.
O ne of my favorite cases in point, the first Exodus album, Bonded By Blood, which was held up for a year over the cover art, and all the metal traders had it on tape, but when the album officially came out, they all bought it anyways.
So how did Van Halen’s long awaited new album with Roth do in today’s music business? According to Blabbermouth.net, A Different Kind of Truth hit #2 on the Billboard chart, and Adele’s 21, which ironically has been on the charts for twenty weeks now, kept the Mighty V away from the top spot. First week sales for Truth in the states are 187,000 copies.
As Blabbermouth also points out, Van Halen’s last album with Roth, 1984, spent five weeks at #2 on the charts, and it was their highest charting album with David Lee. 5150 was the band’s first number one album, and every subsequent album with Sammy also went to #1.
Other first week chart positions for the album include it going to #3 in Canada, #4 in Australia, #6 in the United Kingdom, #12 in the Netherlands, #14 in New Zealand, and #16 in Ireland.
