Earlier this year The Blot was questioning whether Jack Johnson was a big enough star to be headlining two of the three biggest music festivals of the year, Bonnaroo and Coachella. I now take it all back after seeing the staggering numbers Johnson’s newest
Album Sleep Through The Static has been achieving these past two weeks. The album was released on February 5th and sold a staggering 375,000 copies in its first week out. Just so you can compare, Sheryl Crow came in second that week with her new album
Detours, which was also released that same week, and it sold only 92,000 albums. The other big new release that week was by Lenny Kravitz, and his latest album,
It Is Time For A Love Revolution,
only sold 73,000 units.
That first week sales number was big enough, but
Sleep Through The Static wasn’t done. While most albums have dramatic sales drops in their second week, Johnson sold another 180,000 albums the week of February 12th. Yes, the album dropped by more than 50% of its sales, but let me tell you 180,000 is a monster week in this day and age of digital singles and illegal internet downloading of music. Most artists would kill to move 180,000 units in a week, and this was a down second week of sales for Johnson. I love Jack Johnson’s music, but I had no idea he had become such a big star. For an artist who gets relatively low air play and definitely fits a niche market, this volume of sales is almost Kanye size numbers.
What’s most impressive to me is that I don’t even necessarily love the album. It still has that classic Johnson sound, but I still prefer Johnson’s debut
Brushfire Fairytales and his 2005 release
In Between Dreams to
Sleep Through The Static. I think I also prefer his 2006 release, the original soundtrack
Curious George over his latest release. That isn’t to say it’s not a great album, it’s just a little darker and a little less pop-y than I would prefer. Check it out for yourself and let me know. Hopefully Jack Johnson will be announcing a U.S. tour shortly to coincide with his music festival dates so more people across the country can appreciate live his environmentally conscious music.
Earlier this year The Blot was questioning whether Jack Johnson was a big enough star to be headlining two of the three biggest music festivals of the year, Bonnaroo and Coachella. I now take it all back after seeing the staggering numbers Johnson’s newest Album Sleep Through The Static has been achieving these past two weeks. The album was released on February 5th and sold a staggering 375,000 copies in its first week out. Just so you can compare, Sheryl Crow came in second that week with her new album Detours, which was also released that same week, and it sold only 92,000 albums. The other big new release that week was by Lenny Kravitz, and his latest album, It Is Time For A Love Revolution, only sold 73,000 units.
That first week sales number was big enough, but Sleep Through The Static wasn’t done. While most albums have dramatic sales drops in their second week, Johnson sold another 180,000 albums the week of February 12th. Yes, the album dropped by more than 50% of its sales, but let me tell you 180,000 is a monster week in this day and age of digital singles and illegal internet downloading of music. Most artists would kill to move 180,000 units in a week, and this was a down second week of sales for Johnson. I love Jack Johnson’s music, but I had no idea he had become such a big star. For an artist who gets relatively low air play and definitely fits a niche market, this volume of sales is almost Kanye size numbers.
What’s most impressive to me is that I don’t even necessarily love the album. It still has that classic Johnson sound, but I still prefer Johnson’s debut Brushfire Fairytales and his 2005 release In Between Dreams to Sleep Through The Static. I think I also prefer his 2006 release, the original soundtrack Curious George over his latest release. That isn’t to say it’s not a great album, it’s just a little darker and a little less pop-y than I would prefer. Check it out for yourself and let me know. Hopefully Jack Johnson will be announcing a U.S. tour shortly to coincide with his music festival dates so more people across the country can appreciate live his environmentally conscious music.
