The yearly post-Christmas digital song sales surge is in full effect this week, with a number of tunes aiming for monster sales figures.
Consumers redeeming download gift cards received for Christmas are spurring huge increases for a variety of songs. Based on sales data from industry sources, Billboard forecasts that perhaps six songs could sell more than 300,000 downloads in the tracking week that ends on Sunday, Dec. 30.
Taylor Swift's "I Knew You Were Trouble" is shaping up to be the biggest beneficiary of gift card downloads, as it could sell somewhere in the range of 525,000 to 575,000. Sources have suggested that around 200,000 of that figure was registered on Christmas Day alone. Last week (ending Dec. 23), "Trouble" sold 221,000 according to Nielsen SoundScan and ranked at No. 2 on Billboard's Digital Songs chart.
"Trouble" should easily jump back to No. 1 on the Digital Songs chart next week with the largest sales frame for a song since August. That month, Swift's own "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" bowed with 623,000 sold.
"Trouble's" forecasted figure -- like all others projected in this story -- could change drastically by the end of the week. As many songs saw huge bursts of gains on Christmas Day, we'll have to wait and see if many of them sustain their popularity through the week.
That said, another title in the hunt for a 300,000-plus week is Bruno Mars' current Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 single "Locked Out of Heaven." The cut could sell maybe 425,000 to 450,000. (Up from 226,000 last week.) At the present, "Locked" seems like it will hold at No. 1 on the Hot 100 next week, even if Swift's "Trouble" sells as well as we're hearing. "Locked's" Hot 100 airplay lead over "Trouble" is still quite wide and "Trouble" has yet to become available to streaming services. (The Hot 100 blends sales, airplay and streaming data to determine its rankings.)
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