The first week UK sales figures for TJA were a very respectable 8,000 copies. This is just 1,000 copies fewer than Olympia's first week (which was of course released with much more hype than TJA). At just about any other time of the year 8,000 copies would yield a place in the top 20 (Olympia went in at number 19 in early Nov 2010).

It would seem that TJA generally isn't being stocked by supermarkets (which sadly account for about one third of UK CD sales these days), so in reality, given a level playing field, TJA was one of the top 30 sellers last week (it was number 29 in the Official Record Store charts and also peaked in the top 30 on the Amazon chart).

As I write TJA is still in the Amazon top 50, so I think there's a good chance of still being in the album charts next week (unless this is scuppered by lack of stock: it is currently sold out on Amazon and also at my local HMV store).

In conclusion it seems to be selling pretty well in the UK (certainly for a 1920s jazz album).

Sorry if that wasn't clear, the Top Ten Jazz iTunes Albums around various countries.

http://www.apple.com/euro/itunes/charts ... lbums.html

Ageing Hipsters,
We should celebrate our hero's position in the only chart that matters - "The Artistic Merit Barometer" - were he is clear No.1!
Personally, I'm delighted that he is not on sale in Tesco or Asda. The thought of him sandwiched between Cherly Cole and an offer on beans is too much to bare.
Furthermore, have you seen the way that people who shop at these stores dress?
Now - if he'd been on sale at Waitrose, that would have been quite different ....
Regards,
Windswept

i sense a tongue in cheek. surely not waitrose? perhaps BF is number one with Ocado shoppers? or perhaps that's still too downmarket? Fortnums seems the natural home...

aside: i recall spinal tap's manager saying that the band's appeal had "become more selective" when he was asked why sales had bombed. familiar?

for me, I would love Asda shoppers to get the chance to enjoy good music. I also reckon there's a joke about Cheryl and Bry, geordies and physical proximity on shelving...but I can't formulate it right now.

Sainsburys appear to be stocking it!

http://www.sainsburysentertainment.co.u ... y+jazz+age

Ageing Hipsters,
Quel bordel - is nothing in this world sacrosanct!
The great "Roxysiren" had it nailed. If our beloved TJA has to be sold by grocers then please let it be fortnum and mason.
That said, at least JS pay UK corporation tax so maybe we should cut them some slack.
Regards,
Windswept

Sainsbury's stocks shed loads of stuff online (and often cheaper than Amazon...) which never make it into the stores, so Windswept2 can relax.

As for the sentence which contained the words "sandwiched", "Cheryl Cole", "beans" & "bare", I fear it's going to create a Xmas porn fantasy running on a continuous loop in my head!

Yes, well said Windswept!

The point I was trying to make is that, given that an experimental 1920s jazz Ferry album is really aimed at people with fairly refined taste rather than the mass (super)market, it is shifting a good number of copies.

Oh please, the idea that TJA is so "experimental" that it can/should only be appreciated/listened to by people with refined taste is ludicrous. If you are a BF fan than you should hope that as many people as possible get a chance to enjoy TJA. The notion that somehow the great unwashed masses are not ready for, or will not be able to comprehend, what the BFO has produced is ridiculous. TJA is a POP MUSIC album (with a 20s twist) derived from POP SONGS. POP as in POPULAR.

Hmmm. Maybe BF should institute a program whereby prospective fans have to demonstrate their sophistication and cultural acuity before they are allowed to buy his music or attend his concerts. Lord knows we need to keep the riff-raff out, they are such dreadful bores. And first off, anyone whose father was ever in charge of pit ponies will automatically be banned from being a BF fan.

Steady on DCJ, I think you may be getting a bit carried away there! I was trying to make the point that TJA is not really aimed at the mass market in the way that, say, the Rod Stewart Xmas album is. Would you agree?

In my opinion TJA is really NOT a pop music album in the accepted definition of the term ("a genre which is modern, commercially recorded and desires to have a mass audience appeal"), but a jazz album. Listen to it again, say This Island Earth (my current favourite) - doesn't it sound like jazz to you?

Hopefully we can agree that it's rather good anyway, and it is nice to see it shifting some copies (whether the purchasers have refined taste or otherwise!).