Anniemal - Release and Commercial Performance

Release and Commercial Performance

679 Recordings first released Anniemal in Norway on 28 September 2004. The album debuted at its peak of number six on the Norwegian Albums Chart. It won in the pop category at the 2005 Alarm Prizes, and Annie won for newcomer of the year. She again won for Newcomer of the Year at Spellemannprisen 2005, where she was invited to present an award.

Following the album's Norwegian release, the songs were leaked onto the Internet, and some appeared on year-end best-of lists in other countries. Annie stated that she had not expected North American publications to show interest in the album because she thought "the record sounds really European." Through the Internet, the album reached an underground audience, a phenomenon which was at the time far more common for indie rock than European dance-pop. 679 released the album in the rest of Europe during early 2005 but was unsure how to categorise and market Anniemal. It asked Annie about artists like Goldfrapp whose audiences 679 thought it should target. Uncertain that the album's Internet hype would significantly bolster the album's sales, the label did not heavily promote it. In support of the album, Annie opened for English alternative dance band Saint Etienne at several June 2005 gigs in the United Kingdom. Annie had never performed her songs live before the release of Anniemal, so replicating the sound of more electronic songs like "Chewing Gum" became a long process. By September of that year, the album had sold 20,000 copies.

For its 7 June 2005 American release, Anniemal was distributed by Big Beat Records. To promote the album, Annie performed a set of DJing gigs in the United States for the Anniemix Tour during late June and early July 2005. She and Kaukolampi spun vinyl, and Annie performed her songs during the tour. Before the tour began, Anniemal was selling over one thousand copies per week in the US, and Nielsen SoundScan tracked 20,000 albums sold. Although it did not chart on the US Billboard 200, Anniemal reached number thirteen on the Top Electronic Albums chart. When released in Australia the following year, the album failed to chart on the ARIA Albums Chart but peaked at number twenty-five on the Dance Albums Chart. Anniemal sold a total of over 100,000 copies worldwide.