Mumford & Sons Find The Secret To Monster Sales In "Babel"
posted in: Pop • Rock
Step aside No Doubt. And scoot over Green Day. Lupe, not this time. There’s a new kid on the block taking the top spot on the charts. And by kid, I mean sons.
In a week of heavy sales competition from the likes of a comeback record from 90s icons, the first in a planned album trilogy from pop-punk stalwarts, and a rapper whose latest release consciously recalls his halcyon days, it looks like Mumford & Sons is hurtling past them all to the top of the Billboard album chart. The band’s second record, Babel, is projected to sell up to 600,000 units by Sunday, September 30th, according to Billboard.
If those numbers pan out, Babel would have the best sales week of the year and would become the highest charting rock record since 2008. For some context, Justin Bieber’s Believe had 2012’s best first week sales back in June on the strength of 374,000 albums sold.
While Mumford & Sons might have the best debut of 2012 so far, it remains to be seen if they will be dethroned by years’ end. Taylor Swift’s Red comes out on October 22nd; while it would be difficult for Swift to match or eclipse the 1 million+first week sales of 2011’s Speak Now, “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” is likely just the first in a string of huge hits to come from the singer-songwriter. Also, christmas albums have been consistently big movers around the holidays, so expect a Josh Groban or Michael Bublé type to shake things up around the holidays.
It remains unclear how this newfound success will affect the Mumfords. Will they start playing gold-plated banjos? Perhaps splurge on a real tour bus instead of traversing the country in their covered wagons as they have in the past. One hopes that they will finally ditch the scruffy vests and invest in some nice slacks.
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