Jody Rosen notes “Yet she is an indie-rock star: ‘The Milk-Eyed Mender’ and ‘Ys’ (pronounced ‘ees’), from 2007, sold 200,000 and 250,000 copies respectively, huge numbers for independent-label releases, especially in the anemic 21st-century record marketplace. But sales figures don’t tell the whole story; her popularity is a phenomenon of depth, not breadth.”
This had got me thinking that Joanna Newsome very well could have a platinum album for her newest album, Have One on Me. It’s a triple-album, so RIAA will count it as three units sold when issuing gold and platinum certification (Billboard doesn’t when measuring album sales charts). If her last album, Ys, sold 250,000, Have One on Me, should sell more because it’s getting overwhelmingly positive reviews from reputable sources. Only 333,334 copies would have to be shipped for it to achieve platinum status, if my understanding is correct. That seems reasonable, maybe even likely, for a triple CD priced around the same as an LP (it was $15.99 at Easy Street Records in Seattle when I saw it last weekend).