Making It Count
Source: Ask Billboard
Dear Keith,
I don't know if you can answer this or not, but if you pre-order an album (say the new Backstreet Boys set "Black and Blue") will it count toward the total sales on the first day or not?
Sincerely,
Jenny
[email protected]
Hi Jenny,
SoundScan only counts a sale when the product has either been shipped to, or sold directly to, the consumer. Pre-orders from online retailers count towards the album's first week of sales. If there have been 5,000 Backstreet Boys albums sold already via the Internet, that total will be added to its first week of sales.
The same holds true for traditional brick-and-mortar stores. Only when a title has been scanned at the register and paid for, does it count towards its SoundScan tally.
So, if you pre-ordered "Black & Blue," which is officially due out Nov. 21, never fear, it will count towards the Jive set's opening-week tally.
The group's last album, "Millennium," moved 1,134,000 units its first week out. The set debuted at No. 1 on The Billboard 200 and spent 10 weeks at the top of the chart. The opus has sold 11,455,000 units in the U.S. according to SoundScan.
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