Entertainment

Kelly Clarkson’s album sales jump exaggerated

Taylor Bigler Entertainment Editor
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Kelly Clarkson’s album sales reportedly grew “Stronger” after her Twitter endorsement of Ron Paul, but her political views had little to do with the sales jump, The Hollywood Reporter writes.

The week before Christmas, a flurry of stories online said that Clarkson’s album sales jumped anywhere from 200 to 400 percent, depending on the report.

Ron Paul himself was proud about what the endorsement did for her sales.

At a campaign stop before the caucuses earlier this week, the presidential hopeful bragged to a group of Iowa high schoolers about his popularity among Clarkson fans.

“They went up and bumped up her sales on her records by 600 percent,” Paul said.

(RELATED: Ron Paul brags of helping Kelly Clarkson sell music)

No offense to Paul, but the bump had more to do with iTunes promotions rather than her libertarian views:

…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.

In fact, Clarkson’s album, “Stronger” sold 40 percent fewer copies than the week before the endorsement. Even though it moved from No. 39 to No. 17 on the Billboard 200 chart, this was due to Clarkson’s album selling better than the other titles on the list.

The “American Idol” alum’s total sales are 451,000 after 10 weeks.

(RELATED: Kelly Clarkson’s album sales surge 200 percent after endorsing Ron Paul)

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