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Yeah, AM's streams must have quadrupled since 2018 (when Tranquility was released).
If we're just looking at the biggest flops "on release", Subtract is definitely up there, among the top 100 acts of all-time the only bigger flop I can think of is the Bee Gees' Living Eyes (1m vs. 15m for the previous one, now 19m with compilations).
Some people might say Shania Twain's comeback album (600k vs 13.5m) or that uncommercial, Fergie-less Black Eyed Peas album no one cared about, but I'd say their weak sales are more understandable and expected.
Right, at least 30 had a worldwide hit on radios with "Easy On Me" (which also has 1B+ on Spotify) and is a valuable catalogue hit for Adele in the future. The era created some value for its star despite not living up to expectations. Whereas Subtract is a total bomb, all singles flopped (only "Eyes Closed" is being propped up by radio in anglo countries but the streaming is horrible), no one will remember anything from the era in a few years. It has downgraded Ed Sheeran from being a bulletproof hitmaker to someone whose future projects are now in doubt. Another point of comparison: people like to say Dawn FM was a flop for The Weeknd after the huge After Hours era, but that album is well on its way to 5m+ units and still had a global Top 10 single with "Take My Breath". Subtract will be lucky to reach 2M in its lifetime.
I think it's really interesting how so many stars from late 2010s faded now. Post malone, sheeran, Cardi B, camila cabello, Bruno mars, Shawn mendes etc are really struggling now.
Even Billie eilish, drake, Grande, Adele declined massively, but they are still holding on.
The only act who's still going strong and became even bigger Is Taylor Swift. She definitely outlasted everyone.
Just because Taylor is crushing everybody doesn't mean the others aren't doing fine, western acts on Spotify (daily streams as lead) :
Taylor Swift 75m
The Weeknd 33m
Drake 29m
Lana Del Rey 19m
Morgan Wallen 18m
Ed Sheeran 17m
Eminem 17m
Harry Styles 17m
Kanye West 16m
Post Malone 16m
Sheeran and Post Malone haven't "faded" at all...
Well at least Witness had moderate hits like Chained to the Rhythm, Bon Appetit and Swish Swish, Subtract doesn't have any hit
I think we all saw it coming before substract even dropped that it would be a flop for his standards given the description he gave, I think even ed sheeran wasn't expecting a chart smash
It's understandable he would decline after a while, it's hard to retain public attention for so many years when you are not the hot/new big thing anymore. He won't mind much tho, dude has a massive fanbase filling up stadiums still
Autumn Variations is looking to be another massive decline from what already was a massive decline with Subtract. Confirms Subtract destroyed his status as a hot act and hitmaker o' the day. He is now fully a nostalgia act living off his previous albums. Like U2 or Bruce Springsteen who can fill stadiums but struggle to get nine digit streaming totals for their current projects.
This feels like a misreading of what he was looking to accomplish with those albums. Autumn Variations was put out on an indie label he created with no single, music video or promotion. He’s indicated in interviews before the release that he was tired of playing the pop star game, and just wanted to make music that could stand on its own without worry about the numbers. Rather than saying that Subtract destroyed his status as a hit maker (he could probably still get hits if he really wanted), it’s more accurate to say it marked his transition from pop to folk.
These albums are in the same genre as his earlier, highly successful Plus/Multiply albums though (folk pop/singer-songwriter). He used the same producer as Taylor's Folklore/Evermore but of course these albums were much more successful/critically acclaimed (Folklore will soon be the 3rd biggest album of 2020).
That said I wouldn't put him in the U2/Springsteen category just yet, he's still young and could definitely bounce back.
Ya it's way too early to start referring to him as a legacy act just because these two albums flopped. I mean, "=" was only released two years ago and had two massive worldwide hits. 2021 is still very recent in music industry standards. I imagine he will be able to still scrape together a couple hit songs in his future career.
I'm clarify to the people who said av and subtract was flopped. Next year 2024 Ed Sheeran gotta realse massive pop record competitive of Divide 2017. His working on that album almost 4 years. Not an J balvin project but It's standalone project it's different from J balvin EP. His being the new symbol series play, pause, rewind, fast forward, stop. Stop will be come out after his death. His confirm that their are only 10 main album on his career.
I love Ed but he will never have a Divide sized era again and that's okay.
Ed Sheeran is an example of how you can end a music career.Equals was the worst album. Then Subtract was the most bland album with every song sounding the same. He used to see the folklore moment but forgot that, he has no fans. No one is interested in his new songs anymore. It would have been better to have lost the court case and not have to make new songs. Then some of his fans will say that the stadium is sold out, but it is because he has halved the ticket prices.
