AzNxHIPhop's Realm...

Did Singles Ruin the Chances of CDs Going Platinum?

This question (the title of this article) has been bothering me for a while. I check the Billboard-online charts every week to see what's #1 and other things and have seen somethings happening lately.

TQ's single, "Westside," has gone gold, yet his album is nowhere in the top 100 list. It couldn't be that TQ's album has not been advertised well enough since I have seen the commercials for They Never Saw Me Coming, TQ's debut album which is in stores now. His first singe "Westside" has been doing well, and his next singe "Bye Bye Baby" is hot to death. So why are people not buying his album while they buy 500,000+ copies of his single? Probably since people think that getting "Westside" on it's own without the whole album will be better, but is it really? Most artists say that their album is hot (cept Method with his first one) but they sometimes ruin themselves with singles like TQ did.

With singles now going Double Platinum ("The Boy Is Mine," Brandy & Monica) and higher, it sometimes messes with the sales of the original album. Singles should only be released with remixes, or a while before the actual album it is on is released. In my opinion, this will probably increase the sales and therefore, insure that the artist(s) come out with another album.

Some people buy singles to preview the CD they consider buying. Here's a thought . . . Go to Blockbuster Music and preivew the whole CD. Then you won't even have to worry about spending money. If you don't have a Blockbuster Music store near where you live, then get RealPlayer and sample some music here. After all, the reason I put up music that weren't made into singles is so that you peoples can sample the songs, then buy the CDs.

Now I'll get back on point with the point of this article. Y'all people that buy singles because you think the album sucks, I can't hate on you peoples but y'all should just sample the CD. Y'all peoples that buy singles cause you love em an it came out a month before the full album is supposed to be out, y'all aight. Peoples that buy a load of singles from the same album, f--k y'all. Buy tha damn full CD an help tha damn artist go platinum.

So in closing, I don't think that singles actually ruined the sales of full albums, but people who buy multiple singles off the same album do. Getting a single for a remix of a song is usual for me, and getting a single about a month before the full album comes out is good. But buying alot of singles off the same album is a waste of money and insult to the artist, almost like you sayin: "You suck but I'll still buy these singles..."