This from Hard News:
Hits Daily Double has issued the following report in regards to first day sales of VELVET REVOLVER's Contraband album: After one day on sale, it looks like RCA's Velvet Revolver is not only on target, it's blowing the upper end of first-week projections clean off. Guess they feel lucky, punks. Indeed, according to early reports from national accounts, the Guns N' Roses/Stone Temple Pilots-bred supergroup's Contraband is on track to sell well over 200k and possibly into the 250k range for the week. Luckily, retailers were locked and loaded with plenty of stock on hand, knowing thatÊhordes of consumers would wantÊto pull the trigger after having theÊalbum in their sights for some time. Reorders have been mounting steadily to keep up with demand, but it's too early to tell if retailers are playing Russian roulette with a fickle record-buying public. Some expect Contraband to trend up through the weekend, but again, we'll have to wait and see. What we can tell you is that Velvet Revolver will have a #1 debut on next week's album chart, dislodging Usher, who continues to be a familiar face at or near the top of the chart after nine weeks. Don't expect VR's reign at #1 to assume Usherian proportions, however. Next week brings us the Beastie Boys, whose To the 5 Boroughs (Capitol) should have a comfortable #1 chart debut the week after next. Early first-week predictions are topping out at 500k, based on the 1.5 millionÊthe label's shipping.
This is probably due to the fact that Velvet Revolver is one of the best "supergroups" to come out for a long time. VR, albeit a different style, is as good or even better than Audioslave. And Contraband gets better with every listen. Who needs the new GnR, when you got this?
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I hope everyone realizes that by buying this they're legitimizing copy-protection on CDs. The huge sales of this album only tell the labels that we don't care anymore. Well, I do. My protest is to not buy it, I just wish others would do the same, too. More on the copy-protection issue here.