Celtic Woman: Homecoming debuted on the charts today!
It debuted at number 2 in the Billboard World Albums chart. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think this is their first non-Christmas album to not debut at #1.
I was kind of expecting that, but I'm still a bit surprised.
Don't get me wrong, #2 is still a very strong opening and I'm pretty sure it will get to #1 soon.
I have a few theories why it didn't debut at #1 this time:
1. Some of the fan base is getting a bit frustrated with re-treads and are longing for something new. With Emerald, Decade, Voices of Angels, The Best of Christmas, and Homecoming, they've released quite a few albums now that were compilations, or focused on re-arrangements (or re-recordings of the same arrangements) with minor tweaks. I think The Best of Christmas peaking at #2 might be an other indication of this.
2. Because the show was part of the Voices of Angels tour, people might have just gotten Voices of Angels instead of waiting for the Homecoming CD to release. There's some evidence to support this, as Voices of Angels surged around the time of the DVD recording and again around the time the PBS special began and just last week, Voices of Angels got all the way back to #3. I think a lot of casual fans might have not even have known the difference, or realized that a Homecoming CD was on the way. Whatever the reasons, I suspect Voices of Angels and Homecoming cannibalized some of each other's sales.
3. There was quite a bit of overlap in song choices and in the arrangement of those songs when compared to Voices of Angels. Some people that already had Voices of Angels might have decided to pass on this one and just get the DVD.
4. There were other strong performers on the charts. "Love Yourself: Her" has been pretty steady near the top of the chart for around 20 weeks. People who aren't dedicated fans of Celtic Woman already might have just gotten another. Then again, Destiny had to content with a chart heavyweight in Celtic Thunder, which Homecoming hasn't had to content with yet.
5. The Best of Christmas and/or CaraNua's album with Jason Tonioli drew away some of the sales for people that could only afford one album. Personally, I don't think this had a large impact, but maybe played a tiny part.
6. Some of the long-term fan base was disillusioned with all the changes in personnel and musical director. A lot of those fans lingered during the release of the previous few albums (Voices of Angels and/or Destiny), but those albums didn't sustain their interest over to the Homecoming album.
7. Maybe some of the previous albums were closer to debuting at #2 than we realize. Gradual attrition / erosion of the fan base over time finally cause this one to dip below #1, whereas the previous 1-3 Celtic Woman albums still barely got into the #1 spot, with increasingly narrow margins.
8. Some people got scared off by the thought of a live album.
Can you think of any other reasons why Homecoming debuted at #2?Let's be clear though, for a group that has undergone so many changes over the years, I think a debut at #2 is an excellent showing and I'm not too concerned. We'll have to watch closely over the next few months and see how the album performs in the chart. That may give an indication of what's to come.
