Discovery

It’s been a while since the former lead singer for Take That has had much in the way of a hit, or even a career. But now over one million copies of his 2006 album Rudebox are being shipped to China. That’s the good news. The bad news is, the CDs are going to be ground up and used to surface roads. Rudebox barely sold 500,000 copies in the UK, and presumably less than that over the rest of the planet. That’s a huge step down from the two million copies of Escapology he sold in 2002, and even disappointing compared to the 1.6 million tickets people bought for Robbie’s 2006 tour before they actually heard his new material.

One anonymous source said: “It’s the ultimate kick in the teeth for him. He loved this album, but going by all the unsold CDs he was obviously the only one.” Robbie’s in the studio working on a new album, so there’s always the possibility of a comeback. Right now, however, the crushed and shattered remnants of his career are being ground to dust, to be trampled beneath the feet of millions of people who have never heard the name Robbie Williams. Hopefully his skills at lyrical imagery won’t make all that too painfully obvious to him.