Remember when record sales really mattered? There was a time (about five years ago) and a place (215 Lexington Ave. in New York City) where the staff at VIBE literally spent hours on end arguing about how many records such-and-such would (or wouldn’t) sell. Eventually, those arguments turned into bets, which turned into office pools, which turned into one lucky staffer walking out of a production meeting with a grip of lunch money (don’t tell the IRS). The arguments were usually less about the payout, though, and more about proving that you (and only you!) definitively had your finger on the pulse of the music industry.
Then everything changed. Digital downloads had to be factored into the mix, illegal downloading took over the game, and outside of a select group of usual suspects (Kanye West, T.I., Lil Wayne, Jay-Z), pretty much everyone stopped doing any type of significant numbers. The weekly “contests” got lame, people got tired of trying to guess the record sales of artists using all sorts of formats to sell music (helloooo, Soulja Boy), and all the arguing fizzled out. Until now.
Recently, record sales have been the talk of the town again. Two weeks ago, Bow Wow claimed he was retiring from rap after a first week of less-than-stellar SoundScan sales. Last week, Jadakiss shocked even the most diehard LOX fans when it was reported that he pushed well over 100,000 albums in his first week. And suddenly? The VIBE staff is arguing about record sales again. Go figure. So we’re gonna give this another shot—a BUCK SHOT, if you will. Every week, a group of VIBE editors will place a dollar and a dream on the first-week sales of the biggest album or albums of the week. The staff member who comes closest to the total first-week sales for an artist without going over wins the pot—and bragging rights for a week. Best of all, you’ll get to watch it all go down.
We picked a good week to get this going again, too. This week’s feature releases are the biggest Bawse Rick Ross’ Deeper Than Rap (Maybach/Poe Boy/Def Jam) and hip hop’s (other) favorite white boy Asher Roth’s Asleep in the Bread Aisle (SRC/Universal Motown). Check back next Tuesday to see who comes out on top. Read the guesses on our office white board and below the image.
The VIBE Fam puts up numbers
Editor-in-Chief DANYEL SMITH (DSW)
Deeper Than Rap: 261,000
Asleep in The Bread Aisle: 111,000
Senior Editor BENJAMIN MEADOWS-INGRAM (BMI)
DTR: 238,164
AITBA: 193,000
Music Editor SEAN FENNESSEY (SF)
DTR: 297,000
AITBA: 161,000
Associate Senior Editor KEITH MURPHY (KM)
DTR: 300,000
AITBA: 200,000
Lifestyle Editor CHRIS YUSCAVAGE (CY)
DTR: 283,170
AITBA: 173,291
Assistant Music Editor BRAD WETE (BW)
DTR: 250,000
AITBA: 100,000
Editor-At-Large ROB KENNER (RK)
DTR: 200,000
AITBA: 88,000
Art Director MARK SHAW (MS)
DTR: 312,000
AITBA: 60,000
Articles Editor JOZEN CUMMINGS (JC)
DTR: 235,000
AITBA: 90,000
Research Chief KATIE PATTERSON (KP)
DTR: 264,962
AITBA: 80,000
Executive Assistant to the Editor-in-Chief/VIBE TV Reporter SHIREA L. CARROLL SC
DTR: 217,500
AITBA: 102,800
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