New HIM album enters Billboard 200 at #12

Finland’s love-metal act HIM appear still to be on an upward career path in the U.S. market: the band’s new album Venus Doom entered the Billboard 200 Albums Chart at No.12, when the latest chart was released (issue date 6.10.2007).
      This is the best performance so far by the band, since the previous album Dark Light only went as high as No. 18. No other Finnish artists have previously climbed as high as this on the Billboard rankings.
      HIM’s manager Seppo Vesterinen was nevertheless cautious in interpreting the chart placing.
      "We had no advance expectations", he said. "We have to be pleased that we outdid the showing for the last album, and the trend is upwards."
     
Vesterinen is also pleased that HIM were the biggest-selling rock group during the previous week.
      Ahead of the band and blocking the way into the Top 10 are names like the hiphop superstars Kanye West and 50 Cent, the soundtrack for High School Musical 2, and a Barry Manilow greatest hits compilation.
     
The relatively high entry ranking for Venus Doom had been predicted to some extent by advance orders made by U.S. retailers, which were four times as great as for the previous HIM album. Around a quarter of a million copies of Venus Doom were pre-ordered onto store shelves before the CD was released.
      "As for actual sales, I can’t say anything. The figures are not likely to be that fantastic - maybe 30 or 40 thousand, a maximum of 50,000 copies”, estimated Vesterinen for the first week's sales.
      Dark Light went gold in the United States and sold more than 500,000 copies.
      A band like HIM leans very heavily on dedicated fan sales, so the first week is always likely to be quite strong. The key will be whether the album and the singles taken from it - The Kiss of Dawn is the first - generate buzz and airplay on American radio stations.
     
In recent years, HIM have worked hard to break into the North American market, and have gigged extensively in the United States and Canada.
      This summer they toured alongside U.S. act Linkin Park. The band will be heading west again next month for a 31-date headlining tour, and immediately after that there will be half a dozen dates in the UK.
     
HIM also had good news from Germany, where Venus Doom was at #3 on the album charts. Germany has been a traditionally strong market for the band, but Vesterinen was particularly pleased and a little surprised with this result, as they have somewhat neglected the fans there in recent years, in part as a result of the push towards the States.
      Other international chart placings reported so far include Switzerland (5th), Sweden (14th), Italy (20th), Britain (31st), Australia (32nd), Ireland (36th), Holland (36th), and New Zealand (38th).
      The Venus Doom album entered the Finnish Top 40 at No.2 and is currently No.3. The Kiss of Dawn peaked at No.2 in the Finnish singles charts.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  HIM single fails to make it into British Top 40 on release (19.9.2007)
  HIM serve up their heaviest album yet (18.9.2007)
  HIM-fever in the United States (18.10.2005)

Links:
  HIM Official site
  HIM: Venus Doom (Wikipedia)
  The Billboard 200 (2007-10-6)