Wow, this is a headscratcher. Jon Batiste released a new album last week, his first one since he won the Grammy in 2021 for his album, “We Are.”
The new album, called “World Music Radio,” sold just 15,118 streaming equivalent copies. In paid downloads and CDs, that number was just 8,283. The album is not on the iTunes Top 200 Albums.
This would seem strange since “We Are” did win that Grammy for Album of the Year and four other statues that night.
But “We Are” sold in total just 4,275 CDs and downloads. Total sales including streaming came eventually to 152,569. The album got no sales bounce from the Grammys. Usually an album of the year would take off like a rocket. In this case, it did not.
And so we have the follow up effort, already a non event.
What happened? In the case of “We Are” — an ebullient celebration of R&B and world music — Batiste had something big going for him. He was the bandleader every night on CBS’s “Late Night with Stephen Colbert.” He was omnipresent. Everyone was in love with him, especially CBS, which also broadcasts the Grammy Awards.
Batiste left Colbert soon after winning, which wasn’t a shock. I’m sure if Colbert were on right now, Batiste would be invited back. But the strikes have left the talk shows dark, meaning Batiste hasn’t had a lot of outlets to plug the new music. Second, the album was only announced a short time ago and had no real advance marketing from Verve Records.
PS “We Are” beat albums by Billie Eilish, Justin Bieber, Olivia Rodrigo and even Tony Bennett’s second collaboration with Lady Gaga.
