Take That make quick Progress with sales record
Band’s new LP is ‘fastest-selling album of the century’, according to the Official Charts Company
Two weeks after smashing the record for ticket sales with their comeback tour, Take That’s new LP, Progress, has become the “fastest-selling album of the century”, according to the Official Charts Company. While this is just a hyperbolic phrasing of a more modest truth – it’s the fastest-selling album since 1997 – the LP sold a staggering 235,000 copies on the day of release.
Despite Take That’s mammoth Monday success, they have still to beat Oasis, whose third album, Be Here Now, sold a bewildering 424,000 copies on 21 August 1997. Over the next two days, Oasis saw first-week sales grow to 696,000. Take That may yet unseat Oasis for the overall first-week record, but only through canny scheduling, releasing Progress so early in the week.
Based on Monday’s returns, Progress is set to dwarf Take That’s previous album sales, including 2008’s Robbie-less blockbuster, The Circus. The same is true for Williams’s solo albums – 2005’s Intensive Care sold 373,832 copies in its first week, and 2000’s Sing When You’re Winning a mere 313,585.
Take That’s chart success is the result of 15 years of anticipation for Williams’s return to the fold, and the predictable media blitz. Performing on Sunday night’s X Factor, Take That attracted the series’ second-highest ratings ever, and a band documentary, aired the night before, attracted more than 5 million viewers.
Universal Records helped ensure high sales of Progress by preventing it from appearing on free digital streaming services such as Spotify and We7, according to Billboard. The same tactic was used earlier this year for Eminem’s Recovery. Both albums are available on Spotify’s premium, paid service. (source: Guardian.co.uk)