WSLer
August 28, 2002, 2:14am
1
Do they base the top-selling albums in Billboard magazine on actual album sales or the number of albums shipped ?
I’ve never figured that one out.
thanks in advance.
Since they started working from the SoundScan system in 1991, Billboard charts have been based on actual units sold, rather than units shipped. Prior to that, they relied on retailers’ reports, which were . . . less than honest. See http://ask.yahoo.com/ask/20020215.html for details on the SoundScan system.
Which explains how the KISS solo albums SHIPPED platinum. Tons of them were shipped back and ended up in cutout bins the country over.
Straight from the source :
Compiled from a national sample of retail store sales reports collected, compiled, and provided by Nielsen SoundScan.sales gains this week.sales of 500,000 album units (Gold).shipment of 1 million units (Platinum).net shipment of 10 million units (Diamond).new shipment of 100,000 units (Oro).
Asterisk indicates LP is available.shipments by the number of discs and/or tapes. Greatest Gainer shows chart’s largest unit increase. Pacesetter indicates biggest percentage growth. Heatseeker Impact shows albums removed from Heatseekers this week.
Looks to me like it’s both sales (gold) and shipment (platinum, diamond etc).