Lizzo’s new album, ‘Bitch,’ which dropped on June 5, has struggled commercially and is being called one of the year’s biggest letdowns. It sold just 2,649 copies in its first week and failed to chart on the Billboard 200.
Lizzo’s new album sales and Billboard 200 performance show a major commercial disappointment
According to Luminate sales data reported by Entertainment Weekly, in its second week, sales reportedly dropped to around 650 additional copies. This marks a massive drop from her successful 2022 album ‘Special,’ which debuted at Number 2 on the Billboard 200 with around 69,000 equivalent units sold.
Many were left puzzled, with one asking on X, “Lizzo not having a fanbase is so weird to me when this woman was literally selling out arenas not even two years ago. Like, where did those people go?”
Lizzo, whose real name is Melissa Viviane Jefferson and who has been one of the biggest names in music, quickly replied, “I actually can answer this: the industry changed so much in the last 3 yrs. streaming replaced radio & I was a radio darling. That’s how my fans discovered my music. Not to mention the very obvious & public attack on my career changed things.”
However, music executive and pundit Ray Daniels, host of The Raydar Report, said, as per Independent, that if an artist knows the industry is changing, they should warn their fans ahead of time, asking why they are not encouraging fans to request their songs on the radio.
While a netizen pointed out, “She got cancelled for allegedly mistreating her staff; that whole scandal ruined her fan base.” In 2023, three former backup dancers filed a lawsuit against Lizzo, accusing her of sexual misconduct and body-shaming in an allegedly “hostile” workplace. Their claims were supported by Lizzo’s former creative director and filmmaker, Sophia Nahli Allison.
She said that in 2019, she traveled with Lizzo to work as the director of her documentary but left after about two weeks, claiming she was treated with disrespect. She continued, saying she witnessed how “arrogant, self-centered, and unkind” Lizzo was, adding that she was not protected and was “thrown into a sh-tty situation,” reports Billboard,
The four-time Grammy winner called the allegations “false” and “outrageous.” Speaking about the ongoing lawsuit on Today this month, she said, “I could have settled, but I’m a woman who is not afraid of the truth coming out, so I’m continuing to fight.”
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