Reply #35: It's number #1 in sales

[Patsy Stone]

But those aren't all sales to the public. For something to debut as #1, it's about the pre-orders for the Amazons, Best Buys, Barnes & Noble, and other retailers of the world. That what it means when it "ships" platinum or gold or whatever. The sales figures of 526K copies were for the week ending 5/24. Albums hit the streets on Tuesdays, and this one came out on 5/23. Therefore, this figure includes shipments to retailers and wholesalers, not only pre-sales to the public. Today's report should be more indicative of public sales.

Also, Paul Simon's Graceland had NO airplay, it became popular by word of mouth, and then they started playing one track on the radio. Same with the O Brother, Where art Thou? soundtrack. Forget radio. It's irrelevant.