Clarkson slipping into a sales slump
By Edna Gundersen, USA TODAY
Five years after winning the first American Idol title, Kelly Clarkson may be losing it at the cash register. At least temporarily.
Her current album My December, a dark departure signaling the singer's artistic independence and emotional turmoil, is falling short of its two peppy pop predecessors. In its sixth week on the Billboard chart, the disc dropped six slots to No. 21 after selling 26,500 copies, down 14% from last week's 31,000, for a total of 562,000, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
That pales against Breakaway's six-week benchmarks in early 2005, when it hit 1 million in sales and sat at No. 10 with a weekly take of 67,000 copies. Six weeks into its run, her 2003 debut Thankful was No. 13 with weekly sales of 81,000 and a total of 1.1 million.
Clarkson's first single is similarly slumping. Never Again peaked at No. 51 and 26.7 million audience impressions on the national radio airplay chart, then fell for six weeks before dropping off. Since U Been Gone topped out at No. 4 and 87.5 million impressions in 2005; A Moment Like This peaked at No. 8 and 69.2 million impressions in 2002.
Never Again is faring better as a digital track, with 788,000 downloads to date, but sales are waning: 15,000 this week, 17,500 last week and 21,000 the previous week.
My December, roiling with bitter plaints of sour romance, garnered mixed reviews and spotlighted Clarkson's clash with label chief Clive Davis, who unsuccessfully lobbied for the sugar-charged pop fans earlier embraced. Clarkson recently switched managers and canceled a tour owing to poor ticket sales. She later posted an apology to Davis on her website, acknowledging him as "a key advisor" and "an important force in my success."
"In the long run, she'll be fine," predicts Glenn Gamboa, Newsday's pop music writer. "She's too talented to have this album be the career killer. People say, 'I still like her, I don't like the album.' If she doesn't change direction, she may have some problems."
Clarkson has probably learned a valuable lesson, Gamboa says.
"You have to listen to people who know. She needed someone from the outside to say, 'You have too much of the same thing and not enough of what people like you for.'
"And if you put out an album that's darker and edgier, you have to take the consequences. You won't be as big a star and you won't sell out amphitheaters. That's the price of artistic integrity."
To salvage her career, Clarkson should "let Clive pick the songs for a pop-driven album with A-team producers," says music consultant Tom Vickers. "When artists shift directions radically, the audience may come along, but radio, retail support and TV often won't. The artist loses fans and doesn't pick up new listeners. It's hard to recover."
But Gamboa hopes the pendulum won't swing too far from December's gloom.
"I don't know if having Clive pick all pop songs is what Kelly needs," he says. "Breakaway was a great middle ground. She moved forward but made sure the songs were catchy and had hooks people wouldn't forget."
