Question about Amazon sales

[anitram]

For those in the know,

How credible are Amazon numbers? I mean, if you look at their best sellers chart, how closely does it run to Soundscan's list of top 10 CDs on a weekly basis?

What I cannot comprehend for the life of me is how a preorder of a Clay Aiken CD (for God's sake!!!) is #1 even though it's priced at $19 (outrageous in any case, but especially for garbage).

So is the world coming to an end, or are Amazon's sales usually not in line with what happens in retail stores in the end?

 

[STING2]

Soundscan has an internet sales chart that is usually way out of line with the BIG top 200 chart. The internet sales are included with the Top 200 chart, but by themselves, the internet chart is often different from the retail + internet chart.

I'm not sure why, but I guess its simply a reflection of the music taste of people who have both internet access and like to order music over the net rather than going to the store to get it. When it comes to music, retail shoppers are still a much larger crowd than internet shoppers.

 

[anitram]

OK, thanks STING2!

 

[womanfish]

Yeah, this is all about demographics. Amazon rankings are usually far from the Billboard charts. There are usually more adult contemporary choices at the top of the Amazon charts (Annie Lennox, Norah Jones, etc...). Just shows who uses Amazon to buy and who is more likely to go to stores. Rap and Hip Hop/R&B are almost non-existent on Amazon charts compared to Billboard which is sometimes dominated by these acts.

And sometimes you will find more rare albums up high in the Amazon charts because brick and mortar stores are starting to stock fewer and fewer rare and old selections. For example, one of my favorite groups, Fountains of Wayne, hit the top 10 on Amazon.com, but barely made the top 100 on Billboard.