Singles Artists vs Album Artists: A BWU Investigation (Part 1)

WHAT IS A SINGLES ARTIST? ALBUMS ARTIST?

In the music industry, for the most part, there are two types of artists; the singles artist and the albums artist.

A singles artist is an artist who has more success releasing singles than full albums. That doesn't mean they aren't good singers/bands, but it means that their fans (and the public) prefer their single releases to their album releases. Singles artists tend to have multiple Top 10 singles on charts around the world, even though their album sales may not reflect that.

Example: Rihanna

Rihanna is easily the best example of a singles artist in this era. She is easily one of the biggest singers on the planet, with a bevy of Top Ten singles to her name. Here is the full list (US Chart only):

• Pon De Replay - 2005 (#2)
• SOS - 2006 (#1)
• Unfaithful - 2006 (#6)
• Break It Off - 2006 (#9)
• Umbrella - 2007 (#1)
• Don't Stop The Music - 2007 (#3)
• Hate That I Love You - 2007 (#7)
• Take A Bow - 2008 (#1)
• Disturbia - 2008 (#1)
  

With 9 Top 10 singles in only 3 years time, Rihanna is one of the biggest pop artists on the scene. Holding such a title would lead to the assumption that she would be a big album seller as well. That is not the case. In the United States, she has sold 4.2 million copies between her three albums Music of the Sun, A Girl Like Me, and the smash Good Girl Gone Bad. Her highest sales come from the latter, which has sold 1.4 million copies after a year. Her singles have fared much better in sales. When combined, Rihanna's singles have sold 10 million in the United States alone.

An albums artist, however, is very successful when it comes to racking up album sales. It may not necessarily be as easy to score successful singles, but the sales of the record tend to make up for it.

Example: Amy Winehouse

You would think that, considering that Amy is one of the most talked-about singers in recent memory, she would have success on both the albums and singles chart. Not true. Her critically-lauded 2007 album Back To Black, has sold 10 million copies worldwide, including 2 million here in the States and 5 million in Europe. However, her singles aren't as successful. In the US, she only has 1 Top 10 single, "Rehab" at #9. In the UK, where her album still resides in the top 50, she's had two: Rehab at #7 and Valerie at #2.

With the two primary artist types identified, the question can be raised, which one is better for the music industry? In an era where the CD single is dead, digital sales are the standard, and only three albums in the first 6 months in the US have gone platinum, which type of artist is more important to maintain an industry in desperate need of repair and change?

In Part 2, how did the industry handle single and album sales in 2000, the year with the largest record sales in history. To be discussed: Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys, N Sync, Eminem, and more.