Susan Boyle: Top Selling Artist of 2010?

It's official, Susan Boyle sold the most albums in 2009. Susan Boyle became an overnight sensation after appearing onthe reality show Britain's Got Talent on April 11, 2009, singing "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Misérables. Her first album was released in November 2009 and debuted as the number one best-selling CD on charts around the globe. Orders for I Dreamed a Dream were pouring in from around the world before the album was even available.

According to the trade body for the music industry, the IFPI, Susan Boyle had the top selling album of 2009, with I Dreamed a Dream. According to a press release issued by the association, album sales fell 7 percent last year, but Susan Boyle still managed to sell an astounding 8.3 million albums:

"Susan Boyle, who shot to fame on Simon Cowell's "Britain's Got Talent" show, had the best selling album of the year with "I Dreamed a Dream," which sold 8.3 million units. Other top selling artists included the Black Eyed Peas, Michael Jackson, Taylor Swift and Lady Gaga. Five of the top 10 best sellers were signed to Vivendi's Universal, with the others on Sony and Warner Music Group"

It has barely been a year since Susan Boyle was discovered. Not only did she have the top-selling album of 2009, but her second album is being released later this year, and is already receiving enormous amounts of attention. Boyle's second album, scheduled to be released around Christmas 2010, is expected to be the top album of the season. Based on her previous record, it will probably be the best album of 2010. Boyle has shown us that anything is possible.

Susan Boyle Cultural references

Susan Boyle's impact on the music world and society in general has been tremendous. A summary of how she has been depicted in the media is listed on Wikipedia. Here is a look at some of the ways she has been portrayed:

The American cartoon show South Park made a reference to Susan Boyle in the episode "Fatbeard", which aired on 22 April 2009.

The Late Night with Jimmy Fallon show aired a comedy sketch showing the "feel good" effect that Susan Boyle's performance has had on people.

The Simpsons aired a new commercial for its 20th-anniversary show "Springfield's Got Talent", in which Homer Simpson talks about his dreams "to be a great singer like Boyle"

A European trailer for the video game The Sims 3 includes a character mocked up as Susan Boyle.

In June 2009, BBC Radio 4 broadcast a short story called "I Dreamed a Dream" that was based on a combination of Susan Boyle's appearances on Britain's Got Talent and the political difficulties of Gordon Brown.

The 5 November 2009 episode of the show 30 Rock showed recurring character Kathy Geiss (Marceline Hugot) - who has a dowdy appearance - singing in the style of Susan Boyle as Liz Lemon and Jack Donaghy teared up.

In a Season 35 sketch on Saturday Night Live, an accountant (Andy Samberg) said that Susan Boyle's income for 2008 was $1, $62,000 for 2009, and $1 for 2010. Bobby Moynihan played Boyle in the sketch.

Susan Boyle's Second Album

According to a reporter for the UK Mirror, Susan Boyle's number one spot is already guaranteed for her new album, and there have already been two million requests for it on Amazon. They reported that "Amazon has been besieged with more than two million requests in two weeks for the sequel to I Dreamed A Dream. SuBo's second album is set to become the biggest CD pre-order in the online retailer's history. An industry source said: "We haven't seen this before. It's seven months ahead of the release and already people are putting in requests for pre-sales. It's an incredible achievement already." The 49-year-old singing sensation will begin recording the album in two weeks. Susan said: "I'm hoping to make it better and a bit extra special." Frenzied interest has forced Amazon to set up a special page to enable fans to request copies in advance."

There are more than a few amazing things in that statement. Two million requests and the album hasn't even been recorded yet? And, no one else is even close to competing with Boyle. There is no runner up or close second for album of the year. In fact, when Susan Boyle is the topic of conversation, other artists are rarely mentioned at all. While the IFPI mentioned the other top performers of last year, I haven't been able to find the statistics to see just how close they came to Boyle's level of success. And that nickname? SuBo? That's just not cool.

For now, we will have to wait and see what happens. Reps from Amazon.com have mentioned that they are trying to set up a way for Boyle's fans to start ordering the newest album, although that has not been done yet. The Susan Boyle Store on Amazon is located here.

Sources:

Global music sales fell 7 percent in 2009, Boyle tops chart http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE63R1K220100428

The Daily Mirror, 4 September 2009.

Susan Boyle's debut album at number one - three months before it's released

Cultural References: Susan Boyle on Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Boyle

Susan Boyle's new album already set for Christmas number 1

http://www.mirror.co.uk/celebs/news/2010/04/27/susan-boyle-s-new-album-already-set-for-christmas-number-1-115875-22214936/