Can't believe we're now entering a world where I need to fact-check the tweets of the President-elect, but welcome to 2017. This is real life now. As we inch closer to the Night of Not Enough Stars, which is what I've been calling the inauguration, and as he struggles to pull in big names to perform at the ceremony, Donald Trump has claimed that the career of the one person he does have definitely locked down has benefited massively from that publicity. But I don't know if I necessarily believe that, so let's double-check it. What are Jackie Evancho's real record sales following the announcement that the former reality contestant would be singing the National Anthem at the Jan. 20 inauguration?
Trump didn't drop any actual numbers, which was canny of him, but he did have an impressive adjective to throw around. He claimed that the undeniably talented 16-year-old's album sales "skyrocketed" post-announcement.
Like most of our next President's tweets, the meaning of this one is difficult if not impossible to nail down. But if I'm going to decide there's any truth to it, I'd want to see a substantial increase in the America's Got Talent alum's sales that could not feasibly be attributed to any other factor. (Is this a good time to tell you how terrified it makes me that I'm able to speak more clearly and coherently than our next President? Cool.)
Well, according to Fox News,
The AP reported the 16-year-old sold 7,206 albums the week ending Dec. 15. The announcement that Evancho would sing the National Anthem at the inauguration was made on Dec. 14. The next week she sold 13,788 albums, and the following week she sold 11,096 albums, ending on Dec. 29.
Looking coldly at the numbers, that's a definite, undeniable increase. 13,788 is a higher number than 7,206. That said, her sales didn't even double; both sets of numbers are very small, and the fact that Evancho's album sales managed to jump only from the mid-to-high four figures to the very low five figures is hardly what I'd call a "skyrocket." Especially when the rocket falls back down to Earth immediately after that first week. An actual skyrocket would only gain momentum, not lose it. This is probably more of a land rocket trying to fly.
Plus, as Billboard points out, this was the week before Christmas, a time when Christmas albums tend to flourish. And the title of the album in question? Someday at Christmas. So while I'm not able to summarily say that Trump's selection of Evancho as an inauguration performer had no effect on her career or album sales at all, I can say that his use of the word "skyrocket" is... let's say hilariously optimistic and intentionally misleading.
Just remind me never go on board any skyrockets that Trump is in charge of, lest they go plummeting back to Earth after their first meager boost.
