From No. 1 to No. 157: What Happened to Miley Cyrus’s Album and How the Charts Work

A record nobody wanted

Miley Cyrus's new album Bass Persuades debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with about 61,000 equivalent album units. It is her first No. 1 since Bangerz (2013) and her first full-length release on Atlantic.

A week later the album was at No. 157. According to Stereogum, that is the steepest drop in chart history for an album that debuted at the top.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

16 vinyl variants

To understand the fall, look at the start. According to music press reports, the album came out in 16 vinyl variants, nine CD versions, six digital versions and on cassette. The digital album was also discounted.

This tactic has become common for big releases: devoted fans buy several versions, and every purchase counts in week one. That gives a powerful start, but by week two the variant sales are over, and only what people listen to every day keeps an album on the chart.

How a Billboard 200 position is calculated

An album's position is made up of equivalent album units:

• sales: physical and digital copies of the album;
• streaming: plays of the album's songs converted into units;
• track sales: also converted.

Sales decide week one. After that, streaming decides everything, and hits drive streaming.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Why you still need a hit

Bass Persuades is an experimental record, including a collaboration with the band Model/Actriz. The title track peaked at only No. 35 on the Hot 100, and no tour has been announced. Without a big single or a tour, there is nothing to hold attention after week one.

This is where radio still matters. A song that plays on air for weeks brings listeners to the album, and they keep streaming it. That is exactly what Bass Persuades lacked.

Where tomorrow's hits are heard first

If you want to know which songs are becoming hits in different countries, tune in to pop stations:

• .977 Hitz – American chart hits.
• Radio 105 Network – one of Italy's biggest hits stations.
• LOS 40 España – Spain's leading hit parade on air.
• Hit FM Ukraine – popular hits from Kyiv.

The Bass Persuades story is a good reminder: you can buy a No. 1 with variants, but a place on air and in listeners' playlists only comes with songs.

Sources: Stereogum, IBTimes UK, Billboard.