Derek Allen, Warner Music's SVP, commercial, has spoken to Music Week about the major's ambitions for Liam Gallagher's new album.
Why Me? Why Not was released on Friday (September 20) by Warner Records. It follows a strong performance by 2017 debut As You Were, which has sales of 398,010, according to the Official Charts Company.
"Our aspirations are to do as well as we did last time out, which is not always a given with a second album," said Allen. "But the way it's coming together, it makes me and the label feel confident that we can we can deliver a similar success.
"We're feeling very good about it and everything's coming together in the way that we hoped. I think the ambition is to deliver another No.1 album and keep it in play through peak season, which will be key for us all really."
The ambition is to deliver another No.1 album
Derek Allen
Lead single Shockwave peaked at No.22 and has sales of 64,648.
Two years ago, Gallagher's first week sales for As You Were were 102,660.
Allen acknowledged that "vinyl was a big part of the first album". But Gallagher was also a solid performer on streaming. It was a rare achievement for a rock act, although breakthrough singer-songwriter Sam Fender is now achieving similar results. Just under 20% of Gallagher's total sales for As You Were are from streams.
"It was an amazing result," said Allen. "It feels like we're going to be in a similar place this time. I think it was one of the best campaigns throughout that year. It was a tough year in terms of missing out on the awards that were being handed out - it felt to me that Liam should definitely have been in the frame."
Subscribers can read the Music Week interviews with Gallagher's team here.
FOLLOW 
