Kelly Clarkson's 'Ron Paul Sales Bump' Debunked: Her Sales Actually Dropped Last Week
Kelly Clarkson's endorsement of Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul on Dec. 28 may have helped draw attention to the original "American Idol" champion, but despite multiple reports from other news sites, it did little to help the sales of her "Stronger" album. According to both Nielsen SoundScan data and sources in the know at Clarkson's label, RCA, little evidence exists to support the theory that Clarkson's praise for Paul helped her sales.
In fact, her album sales actually dropped when compared with the previous week.
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In the week that ended on Sunday, Jan. 1, 2012, "Stronger" sold 40% fewer copies than it did the previous week (25,000, as opposed to 41,000 in the week before Christmas). And while it moved from No. 39 to No. 17 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, its upward momentum this week was caused by it having a less-steep decline in sales as compared to the rest of the titles on the chart (the overall album market was down 49% in the week after Christmas). Its total sales stand at 451,000 after 10 weeks.
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In other words, it wasn't Clarkson's political preferences that pushed digital sales of "Stronger" -- its $7.99 sale price (which was matched by AmazonMP3) and iTunes' advertising were the real reasons behind the gain. Those spikes were usually cited as evidence of the sales gain in the "Ron Paul Sales Bump" articles.
http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/industry/retail/kelly-clarkson-s-ron-paul-sales-bump-debunked-1005804152.story
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