pwbbounce (moderator) said on February 22, 2011 13:55:

Makes you wonder: Is Sweden getting a bit fed up of Per??

Great chart comeback in Germany though. Well done Germany for welcoming Roxette back!

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abysmo said on February 22, 2011 14:26:

Charm School #1 also in Czech Republic.

http://www.ifpicr.cz/hitparada/index.php?hitp=P

Btw Room Service peaked only #4 back in 2001.
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ROXroom

PolicarpoAroca said on February 22, 2011 14:37:

I´m happy for this big success for Roxette in the north of Europe. It is very sad, on the other side, that Charm School has fallen to 77 position in Itunes Spain, and it has not even appeared in the weekly chart of the best albums sold. Spain is the leading country in downloading music illegaly from Internet...but also we should blame EMI for not doing any kind of promotion...and even Roxette themselves, for forgetting about a country that it used to love them and now it barely remembers them. It´s so sad that Roxette don´t make the effort to play a concert here, even in a small arena like La Riviera (Madrid), which they used back in 2001. Just sad.

daniel_alv said on February 22, 2011 15:22:

@ pwbbounce - Yes, I think Sweden is a little tired of Gessle.

Sascha said on February 22, 2011 16:10:

Woah, where does that lovely new promo pic come from!? Are there more online?

The success in Germany is almost unreal!! I think it’s a bit premature to judge the Swedish album success since it started with a shortened week and can still climb. The single flop is a mystery though! Why no TV performances in Sweden?

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ket-ket said on February 22, 2011 16:29:

Lovely picture..and great news..I’m happy they’re back...

CoyRoy said on February 22, 2011 17:56:

WOW!!! I LOVE this picture... how HOT is Marie!!!
I hope there are more new pics to come!!! Great about Roxette’s BIG comeback!!

joyrider said on February 22, 2011 19:06:

Love the photo! Marie really got her look back — the “longer” her hair is, the younger/softer she looks in my opinion.

Hopefully they publish more pictures (in high quality) of this shooting. By the way: this photo, with that fresh color, would also look good on their iTunes-homepage!

roxtexanet said on February 22, 2011 20:00:

I think the problem with the single in Sweden is the long gap between the digital release (Jan. 7) and the physical release (Jan. 28). This was totally unnecessary, and I think it must be the case that the song wasn’t eligible for the official singles chart until the physical release came out because it *DID* enter DigiListan at #14, which is about right for recent Rox singles and reflects the strong initial sales on iTunes. It’s hard to imagine that a song can come in at #14 on that chart, but not make an appearance anywhere on the top 60 given that for most of the songs on that chart, there is *ONLY* a digital release! If the first week of chart eligibility was Jan. 28th and beyond, it makes perfect sense that the single wouldn’t be selling well that long after its digital availability.

I’m absolutely positive there’s something weird about the reporting dates that ruined “Charm School”’s chances of a number 1 debut... how is that “Charm School” could be #1 all weekend long on iTunes, but then end up eclipsed by the album that was at #60 that same time?! It doesn’t make sense. It has to be the Friday release date that’s messing everything up (like, maybe only day 1 of sales counted in the chart tally, which would be the case if the report period was, say, Saturday to Friday the week before the charts are published. I’m sure we’ll see “Charm School” at #2 this week (rotten luck that the unfathomably popular September released her new album a few days after Roxette), which might even be a #1 if those weekend sales are higher than September’s.

Anyway, number 1 in Sweden or not, the album is no less amazing :-D

daniel_alv said on February 22, 2011 21:24:

Some thoughts about Sweden.

First the single: It’s a mystery that it didn’t get into the official list, but it’s not that strange that it made it to the digilist but not the official. The physical single is dead in Sweden, I have not seen a store outside the internet that has more than about 10 different singles in stock (and if they have any singles it’s just old singles that no one wants or the 5 most popular singles for the moment.) That the single “flopped” but the album didn’t is because singles is bought by young people (under 20) and albums by older people, Roxettes fan base should be over 20 I think, atleast here in Sweden, I’m 26 and sometimes I think I’m the youngest Roxette fan here. I don’t think that SGNO got to much airplay, there was accually one of the reviews that said “SGNO WILL probably be the first single”. I donät think most swedes has even heard SGNO.

About the album: It’s not just the position of Roxettes album that are important, important is also what album that took the first place. Elisas won a popular TVshow here that was aired every saturday for 10 weeks during tha autumn, it was also their first week in the charts. Free promotion should make an album sell more. That CS made a lot better at itunes than Elisa can be explained with that iTunes is only used by people that are in the internet age. In my mind I think that Elisas fans are 40-60 and not using internet to buy music. Elisas is selling more than CS on many internet stores. I don’t think the shortened week for CS has made a hugh impact since it has been aviable for prebooking on the internet for a long time, and that has probably also Elisas been. I think there are a good chance that CS will be number one next week, and also sell more than Elisas in the long run. I definitly don’t think that we should concider CS a flop. I have not seen any commercials here in Sweden for CS.

Roxette-atic said on February 22, 2011 22:16:

Actually- I saw a tv-add for CS on swedish TV yesterday. So there is promotion. But like everyone else say: its a total mistery why SGNOBTR havent reached the swedish top 60. Theres is something strange going on here i think.... by the way great that the album is #1 in such a big market as Germany. I also saw that CS is #49 in Australia. Not a superpeak but at least it charted..unlike so many Roxette albums since 1995....

daniel_alv said on February 22, 2011 22:29:

@Roxette-atic Do you remember what channel and at what time you saw that commercial?

Roxette-atic said on February 23, 2011 01:06:

Daniel: it must have been tv6 or perhaps tv3. They played bits of SGNOBTR and showed the album cover.

edufs said on February 23, 2011 02:46:

I hate this kind of preconception. Have you ever heard anything by September? Do you think her is only about “Mikrofonkat”? C’mon! September is awesome and my second favorite in music, just behind “Roxette”, the best pop band in the world - that have already done “dance stuff”. Take a listen to “Resuscitate Me” or “Rest in Peace”.

However, I’m praying to Charm School become number one in Sweden sometime. Maybe in the third week of sales...

I also think that this site could praise the number one more than the swedish number two... It’s absolutely amazing and unbelievable. Roxette in 2011 is ON TOP in the biggest european market. This is a great surprise!

Let’s live this dream! =)

DEFAULT_GREEN said on February 23, 2011 06:58:

I don’t know why most is so surprised by the lack of chart success by this album... Per himself said... He is not writing to because he must have a single he is just writing songs because he can... what else did you guys expect... GaGa is writing to have chart success and singles and that is why she is getting it (although I am not a fan of born this way)

it’s plain and simple... you get what you produce

Ingo said on February 23, 2011 08:32:

Well does somebody know if the reasons are the same in Norway, Finland and Denmark with that problematic release date and only a half first charts week? Charm School charted even much worse in these markets (Finland #34, Norway #26, Denmark failed to chart),?

daniel_alv said on February 23, 2011 09:18:

September, another exampel of free promotion from TV (She performed in “Så mycket bättre” a show where artists lived together and sang eachothers songs, Mikrofonkåt is accually a cover of the rap artist Petter.) I didn’t realise that she was the competition next week, then Roxette may have to wait another week for the #1 spot.

mareo said on February 23, 2011 11:28:

I also think that what we are seeing IS chart success - they have number 1’s, it’s not only (in this case not even) Sweden, as one might expect! I’m very happy about the results (and would like to see some more), after all these years and after Room Service which I don’t think got much attention.

coyboyusa said on February 23, 2011 12:15:

they are ding minimal promotion...for rs u had the promo tour and lots of media exposure...because things have gone digital alot of peopel have no clue whats coming out unless its on tv or radio....i personally don’t care about how they chart...sweden is burned out they got what 2 per solo albums and a tour after rs? and the excessive hits packages soured average fans away from them too

so say we all

andi11 said on February 23, 2011 12:18:

By the way, their 20-years-Greatest-Hits-CD from 2006 re-entered the Swiss album charts on #77 this week... Probably based on downloads only, as I haven’t seen the CD in any shop this week, but it’s been in the top 30 of the itunes-charts for almost 2 weeks now.

Ingo said on February 23, 2011 12:55:

Roxette Hits also re-entered the german Top 100 this week and was certified Gold yesterday. Per and Marie received the Gold award behind the stage at the show.

eBay said on February 23, 2011 13:21:

@Ingo
what position did the Greatest Hits enter the German charts this week? I think this is really exciting. :)

SilverBloo said on February 23, 2011 15:42:

I have just done a search of this blog post and all of its comments for two simple letters: UK.

Not one bloody hit did I find. Oh, the FURY. Worst case of Fist Itch I’ve ever had.

EMI UK’s response to some emails us bunch on that island to the west included the following line: “...[when the single is released] there may be some promotion involved.”

I s**t you not. MAY be. SOME promotion.

THIS IS ROXETTE’S 25TH ANNIVERSARY YEAR FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!!

Back in 2002 we didn’t think Marie would even be alive by this point, never mind performing to the calibre she is now!

EMI UK is horrendously guilty of wilful neglect. Their deliberate mismanagement of two genuine talents is thoroughly reprehensible in a music industry growing ever more plastic by the day. My contempt for EMI UK burns more fiercely than the heart of the sun.

Moonshadow29 said on February 23, 2011 18:24:

Hi! Charm School is at #2 in Austria and SGNO moved up to #9 (from #29).
Looks like a successful start - great also for the upcoming shows!

DEFAULT_GREEN said on February 24, 2011 08:51:

Could Anyone in South Africa find a copy of Charm School in the Shops over here?

eBay said on February 25, 2011 06:06:

@SilverBloo
Dude, calm down. Let’s not forget that the UK has always been one of the lesser successful Roxette markets. With no number one single or album in the UK ever, only a handful of UK top 10 hits etc. and the strange music market that the UK is (teenage shit music) it is not surprising that money is not being wasted on Roxette.

ukroxer81 said on February 26, 2011 14:44:

I have to ask and maybe kick up a fuss here why is the United Kingdom getting skipped off on the up and coming tour schedule for the ROXETTE WORLD TOUR. It is beginning to feel like we do not exist!

So we have an album release at the end of March, an album which is already doing well in Europe which no doubt most UK fans like me have bought already! Who on earth is going to want to procure the same copy of the album here unless you are a collector or it is slightly different in some silly way?

I can understand the powers that be wanting to wait and see how the album does here, but literarily you are asking for a FLOP because it will get no promotion from the likes of EMI. A flop = no tour, a prospect that is very unfair to the likes of your fans. Talk about being kept in the dark. Two major online UK stores Amazon & HMV still have the album listed as released on the 4th April, should EMI not have informed them by now of the correct date? We have no information about a single, we were under the impression that She’s Got Nothing On was being released here but what a farce that turned out to be. This tour starts on Monday! It is relatively UNJUST that some countries are getting the enjoyment of Roxette two, three or even four times over whilst others countries get sod all, remember it is not just the UK you are missing out, it is also Spain, Australia, USA and other countries. The annoying part is that no one is bothering to keep us informed either way!