The U.S. market is quite different from the rest of the world. Eminem vs. Bon Jovi may not be a fair comparison. They belong to different genres, Bon Jovi has been around way longer than Eminem. CD sales in general have dropped. Nowadays the only acts selling massive numbers are not Rock acts anymore, rather rappers, pop-country acts, controversial / novelty acts and those targeted at tweens. Bon Jovi does not fit any of these categories.
Also Bon Jovi has never done massive weekly numbers in the U.S. since the release of New Jersey. Their biggest sales week since then has been the opening week of Lost Highway (292,000). So success in U.S. has to be measured in relative terms. Also, gone are the days in the U.S. when these Hits packages flew off the shelves from the get-go. They sell modestly but consistently, resulting in being evergreen titles for the labels. Not considering other rock acts, Britney Spears' Greatest Hits was released last year the same week TC was released. It debuted below # 80 and then disappeared. Her last studio album was a multi-million seller in America.
The thing that is obvious is that tweens and teens are not interested in Bon Jovi in the American market. And probably we, the fans have unrealistic expectations regarding our favourite band's current chart performances.
|