The 20 biggest flops of 2008 | Metromix Denver

The 20 biggest flops of 2008

Albums that made record execs cry, from GNR, R.E.M. and other underachievers

By Andy Hermann, Metromix

(page 8 of 20)

The 20 biggest flops of 2008
(Credit: WireImage.com)

You think you’re feeling the pinch of these troubled economic times? Try working for a record label. U.S. album sales for 2008 were down roughly 15 percent from a year ago, and 2009 looks even bleaker.

Which albums have been leading the charge for this ignominious race to the bottom? Here, based on Metromix’s quasi-scientific number crunching, are the 20 albums that were the best (worst?) representation of the music industry’s dismal year.

The Cure, '4:13 Dream'

The Cure, '4:13 Dream'

Critic's Rating:
2 1/2

At this point in their three-decade career, Robert Smith’s merry band of goths are what the music industry politely likes to call a “legacy act”—that is, most of their fans love the hits but skip the new stuff. Even so, sales of the band’s 13th album were shockingly low—only about 43,000 copies of “4:13 Dream” limped off the shelves before Nov. 23, after which it dropped off the album charts altogether. Now Smith really has something to be depressed about.

 

RELATED LINKS