I'm mostly surprised at the lack of promotion.  I thought there may be another song or two (like The General/Something Always) on the album but for the most part it is about what I expected.  James made some good points.  Using common sense you already had the writing on the wall.  However (and I think I'm in the minority) I do think the sales may surprise some people.  I still see it at better than 3 million by next year's end.  It's better than Contraband and even without promotion it will catch on I believe.  I'd just LOVE to see a couple videos and a couple singles to boost it.  Odd the silence.

The only thing this album needs is time AND just a little support.  If Better gets played at the stations fairly well and (better yet) gets a video this will REALLY help.  A couple more singles with videos would do the trick.  The silence isn't helping matters but if the singles and (hopefully) videos get out there I think the music will take care of the rest.  I FULLY think this album will top Contraband in sales even with the silence.

I have said from the beginning (before release date) that I wasn't convinced the exclusive was a good idea.  Yeah, Best Buy sells everything (entertainment wise) but it is NOT large enough to compete with exclusives like those that Wal Mart does, bottom line.  Therefore many people did not get the album.  I know for a FACT that people have asked for the cd at retail stores only to be told "we don't have it".  It's a fact this hurt sales.  The good news is once the "exclusitivity" runs out (anyone know how long that is?) I think it will help sales stay moderate instead of nose dive.  This will be what keeps relatively decent sales going and propel it to the 3x platinum (my guess) by next year's end.

That really sucks, more evidence of this thing not being "ready".  What a mess.