Info on US Sales from Billboard Online


Deseree Stukes ([email protected])
Thu, 5 Nov 1998 12:06:36 -0500


Morissette, U2 Sets Prompting Strong Sales

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Among a plethora of high-profile releases that hit stores Tuesday,
Alanis Morissette's "Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie"
(Maverick/Reprise) took off with a bang. According to various sales
executives, Best Buy, Musicland, Target, Blockbuster Music, Trans World
Entertainment, National Record Mart, Anderson Merchandisers, Camelot
Music, and Borders' Books & Music combined to move at least 85,000 units
on Tuesday, prompting one executive to estimate that Morissette's
first-week sales total will be 500,000 units. If that proves correct, it
will set a new first-week SoundScan sales record for a female solo
artist, beating Lauryn Hill's "The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill," which
sold 422,500 copies its first week.
Morissette does not seem to be the only artist benefiting from a big
sales week. Retailers suggest that other titles -- especially Island's
U2 collection "Best Of 1980-1990" -- are ringing up big numbers. "Alanis
was our No. 1 record, and U2 was No. 2," John Grandoni, VP of purchasing
for National Record Mart, tells Billboard Bulletin </bulletin/>. Rich
Zubrod, manager of the Virgin Megastore in New York's Times Square, says
that while everybody in line seemed to be buying Morissette, U2 was
"neck-and-neck." Zubrod, whose store has already reordered the
Morissette album, says the outlet has sold a quarter of its stock of
Capitol's John Lennon boxed set "Anthology," which also streeted
Tuesday. Paul Chesik, rock buyer for Tower Records in Greenwich Village,
cites Morissette, U2, and the Rolling Stones' "No Security" (Virgin) as
big sellers and adds that Beck's "Mutations" (DGC) is "doing really
well. It's a downtown New York record."

des



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