Making history for an
important cause The "Hope For Haiti Now" charity album debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart with 171,000 sold according to Nielsen SoundScan, becoming the first digital-exclusive set to top the tally in its nearly 54-year history.
The MTV Networks compilation, featuring performances culled from last Friday's (Jan. 22) massive "Hope For Haiti Now" telethon, only reached digital distributors over the weekend, making its sales number all the more impressive. SoundScan's sales tracking week ends at the close of business each Sunday, so "Hope for Haiti's" brisk sales came from no more than two full days.
And get this:
With "Hope for Haiti's" debut of 171,000 following 100,000-plus starts at No. 1 from Ke$ha's "Animal" (152,000) and Vampire Weekend's "Contra" (124,000), it's the first time since 2005 that the first three tracking weeks of the year had an album that sold at least 100,000 copies. Also, as "Hope for Haiti" is sold through indie digital distributor INgrooves, it gives the Billboard 200 back-to-back independently distributed No. 1 albums, following Vampire Weekend's "Contra" last week.
That "people will still buy albums" narrative still can continue.
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