Spear's 2001 Effort, 'Britney' US sales have FINALLY been re-certified but at an underwhelming 4.7 million copies (Excluding Club Sales). Why didn't the album perform as well in the US?

[Blackout2006]

Despite the era having garnered massive international success, selling 1.5 million copies in its first week, and earning 15 platinum certifications globally, why wasn't its success replicated in the US? 

Not that I am suggesting that the album was a flop for her in the US, but I was genuinely expecting the album to have sold over 5 million copies in the country alone but this...Is kind of underwhelming.

Would love to hear all of your stances on this. Lemme know!

Edited April 1 by Blackout2006

[easy]

this was probably due to her radio ban/blacklist. 

[SpearsSpearsBrit]

im slave was too strong for america's parents, so they stopped supporting Britney. In addition, piracy in 2001 was in bloom

[Midnights]

There were contractual issues with her and her tour promoter, Clear Channel that either owned or had major influence on a lot of radio stations.

Due these issues, Clear Channel made her get banned from radio with everything 'Britney' era related.

It's why none of the songs went #1 as radio was one of the biggest indicators to get #1 hits.

It's actually pretty amazing how amazing the album and singles did amidst the boycot.

[Neydelinska Spearsi]

[DiamondCircus]

Could’ve been a multitude of reasons it was her 3rd album in 3 years and the jump from her first two releases to I’m a slave 4 you!

[HearMeOnYourRadio]

Was kind of the beginning of Napster and limewire 

[very_urban]

2 hours ago, Midnights said:

Due these issues, Clear Channel made her get banned from radio with everything 'Britney' era related.

It's why none of the songs went #1 as radio was one of the biggest indicators to get #1 hits.

 

Yeah, with physical sales not being relevant anymore and the radio ban INAGNYAW didn't even make it to top 100. Under normal circumstances it would've definitely made into top 100 at least.

[ROL]

Not Chillin With You randomly having 75K, where did that come from?

Edited April 8 by ROL

[britvcr]

what are club sales?

[IRunAway]

It was a different time then and it was a big image jump so I think a lot of parents didn’t want to be buying it for their kids vs the last two albums.  Also as much as people love Slave now, it was not a POP BOP like BOMT, Crazy, Oops, Stronger, Lucky.  I believe Slave was the right choice for Britney’s personal and professional life, but at the same time I believe that if Overprotected got the lead single treatment, the album may have sold more the first few months.  Add that to the fact that 9/11 had just happened and music was not peoples priority for a few months.  I believe Michael also released one of his lowest selling albums the week prior.  And Glitter by Mariah was out around then.  Just a weird time, in addition to all the other members’ posts above.

[Crabo Lavender Turmeric]

Because it was not Baby One More Time 3.

 

The shift in image was too drastic. 

 

[very_urban]

The Club sales were like 700-800k, right?

[CrazyButItFeelsAllright]

Pirating. I remember a classmate making copies for everyone 

[Frankie8]

Why was Chillin with You randomly thrown in here? Who are those 75,000 people that bought it?

[IsraeliMatt]

1 hour ago, britvcr said:

what are club sales?

There were clubs that allowed people in the US to order CD's by mail. These were not calculated for the official sales total. 

[Emil87]

5 hours ago, very_urban said:

Yeah, with physical sales not being relevant anymore and the radio ban INAGNYAW didn't even make it to top 100. Under normal circumstances it would've definitely made into top 100 at least.

“INAGNYAW” is a TERRIBLE song that deserved it’s Bubbling Under BB 100 spot. That said, it’s still probably more iconic and memorable than most of the other songs that charted at the time.

The other singles off the album deserved SO much better. Without the radio ban, I think they definitely would’ve released another single (Lonely). F U, ClearChannel. 

[Emil87]

3 hours ago, Frankie8 said:

Why was Chillin with You randomly thrown in here? Who are those 75,000 people that bought it?

Jumbo Chin, obv. 

[Emil87]

3 hours ago, CrazyButItFeelsAllright said:

Pirating. I remember a classmate making copies for everyone 

Damn, your classmate must have hated all of you. 

[CrazyButItFeelsAllright]

1 hour ago, Emil87 said:

Damn, your classmate must have hated all of you. 

I had my own copy  but we would all be jamming to it every time we had free time