Weekly Register: Sales In Need Of RED

As winter approaches, both the temperature and sales begin to decline.

Last week, Country album sales were down 2.1 percent YTD (overall down 6.3 percent), yet this week Country album sales are down 6.6 percent YTD (overall down 6.8 percent). The 4.5 percent sales drop can be explained by Taylor Swift‘s RED, which debuted around this time last year. No release this week has even begun to match the success of Swift’s album, which sold 1.2 million units in its debut week.

Brandy Clark’s 12 Stories debuts at No. 28 this week (No. 197 overall), selling 2.1k units. The singer-songwriter, who is featured in MusicRow’s 2013 Publisher Issue, threw an album release party in Nashville last night (Oct. 29). Luke Bryan’s Crash My Party celebrates its return to No. 1 ( No. 10 overall), selling 25k units (1.094 million RTD). The top overall album this week is Katy Perry’s Prism, selling 285k units in its debut week.

Eric Church’s “The Outsiders” is the top Country track (No. 12 overall), selling 81k units this week. Lorde’s “Royals” retakes its throne, returning to the No. 1 spot this week with 222k units sold (2.93 million RTD). YTD, overall tracks are down 4 percent, while Country tracks are up 2.2 percent.

Plenty of debuts will be released next week, including Toby Keith’s Drinks After Work, Thomas Rhett’s It Goes Like This, Trace Adkins‘ The King’s Gift, Robertson Family’s Duck The Halls: A Robertson Family Christmas and more.