Two things have happened. One is that the UK fanbase has shrunk, and most experts agree by around 60% over a two-year period with the seemingly endless For Britain/racism coverage. The new album should still have sold at least 10,000 but, for the first time ever, the singles were boycotted/ blacklisted/ignored by UK radio stations (wrongly or rightly). A catchy song on the radio is the single most effective form of advertising for an album, way more so than good reviews. This explains why Low in High School (25,000) sold many more than World Peace (18,000). World Peace had much better reviews but High School had the huge airplay success of Spent the Day in Bed. The drop to below 10,000 is pretty catastrophic and just shows how many people/organisations/radio stations etc. have turned their back on Morrissey in the last 2 years, incensed by his decision to effectively campaign for a far-right political party - politics that are totally and utterly at odds with over half of his fanbase (probably nearer three quarters - a few people still buy his stuff despite feeling massively uncomfortable at the For Britain endorsement).
His fan-base has also withered elsewhere in the world but not by as much (perhaps by a third) as his actions/statements never made the mainstream newspapers and websites there as they did in the UK. Away from the UK, he's still mainly known as an eccentric, anti-royal, vegetarian, indie pop star rather than a far-right, racist weirdo (sadly, his image among the general public in the UK these days).
'I'm not far right' reads the t-shirt slogan he's worn at all the recent concerts. It's good that he's acknowledging this misperception (and personally I know that he is indeed not far right in his views - he's just far muddled). Unfortunately though, go to his official website and you will still see his post wholeheartedly urging everyone to vote for a far-right political party, arguably the single most destructive and idiotic thing he's done in his whole life. If only a close friend/colleague/relative could urge him to remove the post, explaining that he was drawn to the leader of the party (a feminist, vegan, lesbian) rather than what they stood for.
