Only 5,000 People Bought the Kurt Cobain ‘Montage of Heck’ Album in Its First Week

If Montage of Heck: The Home Recordings -- the soundtrack for Brett Morgen’s Kurt Cobain documentary comprised of the late Nirvana frontman’s previously unreleased demos and billed as a "solo album" -- was a necessary addition to a Nirvana completist’s collection, there are only roughly 5,000 of those diehard fans out there. The album officially landed on Nov. 13 but only sold 5,000 copies in its first week, according to Nielsen reports (via Billboard). The album did, however, manage to debut at No. 1 on the soundtracks chart, No. 6 on alternative albums and No. 121 on the Billboard 200.

Still, that’s a relatively disappointing performance in comparison to previous Nirvana compilations. The 1992 compilation, Incesticide, debuted at No. 51 on the Billboard 200 and moved 500,000 copies in its first two months despite the fact the album received little promotion ahead of its release. The 2002 compilation, Nirvana, sold 234,000 copies in its first week alone and debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200. Both albums were certified Platinum in the U.S.

The Home Recordings features a selection of the hundreds of hours of rare audio Montage of Heck director Brett Morgen unsurfaced while researching for his film. The album was released in standard 13-track and deluxe 31-track editions. It includes Cobain’s cover of the Beatles’ “And I Love Her” and early demos of Nirvana’s “Sappy” and “Been a Son.”

In an interview, Morgen said he hoped the album would serve as a fitting companion piece to his documentary but also as an intimate glimpse into Cobain’s creative life and process. “I curated the album to create a feeling that the listener was sitting in Kurt’s apartment in Olympia, Washington, in the late ‘80s,” Morgen said, “and bearing witness to his creation.”

The album will arrive on vinyl on Dec. 4 via UMe.