Susan Boyle: Away From The Numbers

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What I do want to mention is that, according to Nielsen SoundScan, Boyle's album I Dreamed a Dream sold 701,000 copies in the U.S.! In one week! That gives it the best first-week album sales this year, beating out superstars such as U2 and Eminem. And, most surprisingly, this puts Boyle's numbers on par with Snoop Dogg's 1993 album, Doggystyle, for the best sales of a debut artist ever. For fun, we're now able to write sentences like: I dreamed a dream doggystyle. (Music's contribution to language is awesome and unceasing.)

Far below current industry trends, only 6 percent of Boyle's sales were digital. As the New York Times pointed out: "For many in the music industry, Ms. Boyle's sales are a reminder of a large and often forgotten audience: older listeners who, whether they are less tech-savvy than younger consumers or they simply prefer to hold purchases in their hands, favor CDs over downloads."