Evanescence, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, AC/DC, Journey, Metallica
Spotify Billions Club, New Indie Retail Chart, RIAA & BRIT Certifications
In This Issue:
Evanescence joins the Spotify Billions Club. Trans-Siberian Orchestra cleans up in December 2023. Journey collects several new RIAA plaques, including two for 18M units. New indie store retail chart launches, tracking physical LPs, CDs, and cassettes. AC/DC, Drowning Pool, Green Day, Iron Maiden, Linkin Park, and Metallica earn new silver and gold plaques in the UK.1
Agency Signings ✍🏻
quannic w/ WME
Label Signings ✍🏻
DVRK w/ Season Of Mist
New Indie Store Sales Chart
The Vinyl Record Manufacturing Association (VRMA) has gotten behind the newly launched Indie Sales Chart, which is a partnership between StreetPulse, Record Store Day, and HITS Magazine tracking sales from 200+ retailers.
The chart was created in response to recent changes by Luminate (formerly SoundScan) to their methods of reporting physical sales in the US and Canada, which went into effect as of December 30, 2023.
“Album sales at indie retailers hit 32 million in 2023, up 9.4% over the previous year,” HITS noted. “Yet as of Q4 2023, only 72 U.S. indie stores (out of more than 1,400) reported their sales to Billboard chart partner Luminate.
“This entity displayed its disdain for the indie community by ending its practice of weighting indie sales in its sales chart—to extrapolate for those stores that didn’t report—and only counting sales that were directly reported. We’re happy to say that more than 200 indie retailers report to our new chart.”
INDIE RETAIL CHART
Physical Media at 200+ Indie Retailers
Hard Rock, Metal, and Punk(ish)
Week Ending 01/18/2024
Green Day Dookie (Warner/Reprise) 1058 this week (No. 11 overall)
Pink Floyd The Dark Side of the Moon (Reprise) 1038 (No. 13)
Deftones Around the Fur (Maverick/Warner) 745 (No. 30)
Nirvana Nevermind (Geffen) 720 (No. 33)
The Strokes Is This It (RCA) 609 (No. 46)
The Smiths The Queen Is Dead (Rhino) 606 (No. 48)
The Ironsides Changing Light (Colemine) 604 (No. 49)
Trans-Siberian Orchestra Rules December Boxscore Report — Again
TSO grossed $51.5M and sold 657,000 tickets in December 2023, according to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore. With ensembles on both the East and West Coasts, TSO played at least two shows per day. - Billboard
Evanescence joins the Spotify Billions Club
“Bring Me to Life,” the band’s breakthrough 2003 hit (featuring Paul McCoy of the band 12 Stones), crossed the 1 Billion streams mark on Spotify this week.
The song appeared in the 2003 movie Daredevil, starring Ben Affleck, and on the group’s debut album, Fallen. “Bring Me to Life” was certified triple-platinum in the US in 2019. The credited songwriters are frontwoman Amy Lee, former guitarist/cofounder Ben Moody, and former studio collaborator David Hodges.
Fallen was certified Diamond (over 10M units) in 2022.
New music from Bad Omens & Poppy, Alpha Wolf & Ice-T, Disturbed & Ann Wilson, HARDY, Militarie Gun, and more in the Stream N’ Destroy playlist.
New Brit Certifications 🇬🇧
200k Units - Silver Single
400k Units - Gold Single
600k Units - Platinum Single
AC/DC
“TNT”
(Epic) 1975
GOLD SINGLE
DROWNING POOL
“Bodies”
(Wind-Up) 2001
GOLD SINGLE
GREEN DAY
“Minority”
(Reprise) 2000
SILVER SINGLE
IRON MAIDEN
“Fear of the Dark”
(Parlophone) 1992
SILVER SINGLE
LINKIN PARK
“Somewhere I Belong”
(Warner Records) 2003
GOLD SINGLE
METALLICA
“Fade to Black”
(Vertigo) 1984
SILVER SINGLE
New RIAA Certifications 🇺🇸
500k Units - Gold Album/Single
1M Units - Platinum Album/Single
JOURNEY
18x PLATINUM ALBUM
Greatest Hits (1988)
PLATINUM ALBUM
Greatest Hits Live (1998)
18x PLATINUM SINGLE
“Don’t Stop Believin’” (1981)
6x PLATINUM SINGLE
“Faithfully” (1983)
4x PLATINUM SINGLES
“Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)” (1983)
“Open Arms” (1982)
“Any Way You Want It” (1980)
2x PLATINUM SINGLES
“Who’s Crying Now” (1981)
“Lovin’, Touchin’, Squeezin’” (1979)
“Wheel in the Sky” (1978)
“Lights” (1978)
PLATINUM SINGLES
“When You Love a Woman” (1996)
“Stone in Love” (1981)
GOLD SINGLES
“Girl Can’t Help It” (1986)
“I’ll Be Alright Without You” (1986)
“Only The Young” (1985)
“Send Her My Love” (1983)
“Feeling That Way” (1978)
Sources: Billboard, BPI, HITS, ThePRP, RIAA, ROSTR, Spotify, Misc.