Radiohead, 'Juno' blast onto U.S. pop chart

Give some music away for free, and true fans will still buy it.

Radiohead's “In Rainbows” album topped the U.S. sales chart this week, selling 122,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

It arrived in stores in CD format on New Year's Day, nearly three months after the artsy British rock group unleashed the album to the Web at a cost to be determined by the user -- whatever price fans chose to pay, including nothing at all.

It's actually the album's second week on the chart after some retailers sold it ahead of its Jan. 1 street date. The album bowed on last week's tally at No. 156, with sales of 9,000 copies, giving “In Rainbows” a two-week total of 131,000 in physical sales. It was the only album last week to sell more than 100,000 copies. Last week's top seller, Mary J. Blige's “Growing Pains,” dropped to No. 2 on sales of 89,000 copies.

Although a six-figure debut is nothing to cry about in this era of declining CD sales, it's worth noting that “In Rainbows” gave Radiohead its lowest first-week sales tally since 1997, when “OK Computer” opened at No. 21, according to Billboard. The band's more recent effort, 2003's “Hail to the Thief,” entered at No. 3 with 300,000 copies.

The band has declined to announce download figures, and in an interview with The Times last week, Radiohead representatives acknowledged that the Web experiment would have some effect on CD sales.
It was stressed, however, that the “In Rainbows” sales campaign is only beginning.

To that end, Radiohead announced Wednesday that it will stage a 22-city North American tour this spring and summer. Dates were not given, but Los Angeles is on the list of cities the band intends to visit.

Also new on the chart this week is the indie-rock-focused soundtrack to “Juno.” The album, featuring music from Sonic Youth, Kimya Dawson, Belle & Sebastian and Cat Power, among others, enters at No. 8 after selling 38,000 copies.

Like “In Rainbows,” the album had been legally available on the Web for weeks before its physical release. But unlike Radiohead, “Juno” was sold through digital outlets that report to SoundScan. Leading up to its CD release, the soundtrack had logged 37,000 digital downloads over the past three weeks, giving it a total of 75,000 in sales.

Yet despite the availability of the "Juno" soundtrack in stores, buyers are still flocking to the Web version. Of the album's 38,000 sales this past week, only about 400 were CDs.

(Photo: Los Angeles Times)

Comments

[Fan]

Radiohead show us as giving music for free to get anyone familiar with new work helps CD sales.

[cc]

"Radiohead show us as giving music for free to get anyone familiar with new work helps CD sales."

I don't think so. RH fanbase is so strong right now that if they'll release a crappy cd, they'll be n°1 anyway.

But I can't deny the power of self-promoting by giving their music for free or even with digital releases or leaked material. The record industry should understand now that all the buzz generated on the net with new and leaked albums is the best free publicity they could have. Ask Spoon.

[EJ]

I wish there were more artists as big as RH that would stick it to the miserable, short-sighted, blood-sucking record companies. Artists absolutely should be compensated for their work, but no-talent, pissant suits should not be sucking the lifeblood from the industry.

[howard hughes]

radio who?-I live in juno florida yes it`s a town name.Flave flave over in two weeks.