Welcome to the first No Depression retail sales chart. We asked the 150-odd stores who buy No Depression directly from us — many of whom do not report to SoundScan (upon which the Billboard charts are based) — to report their 10 best-selling ND records to us. Some did, a lot didn’t, and a goodly number said they’d be happy to but didn’t have time to tally up the numbers for this issue. As a result, the sample on this inaugural chart is probably too small to be as accurate a representation as we would wish. It’s a start.
So what qualifies as an “ND record”? Well, since we strive not to draw that line ourselves, we imposed no rules on the retailers; it’s their call, with the grand totals theoretically indicating some sort of consensus. The only criteria we’ve set for a record to make the chart was that it has to be mentioned by at least two stores. Well, over 100 different titles were reported for July-August 1997, which if nothing else is a sign of the genre’s diversity.
We’re open to suggestions, to additional reporting outlets, to whatever you gotta say.
Thanks. Thanks a lot.
1 Various Artists, The Songs of Jimmie Rodgers: A Tribute (Egyptian/Columbia)
2 Whiskeytown, Strangers Almanac (Outpost)
3 Buddy Miller, Poison Love (HighTone)
4 John Fogerty, Blue Swamp (Warner Bros.)
5 Bottle Rockets, 24 Hours A Day (Atlantic)
6 Blue Mountain, Homegrown (Roadrunner)
7 Wayne Hancock, That’s What Daddy Wants (Arc 21)
8 Scotty Moore & DJ Fontana, All The King’s Men (Sweetfish)
9 Son Volt, Straightaways (Warner Bros.)
10 Old 97’s, Too Far To Care (Elektra)
11 Wilco, Being There (Reprise)
12 Robert Earl Keen, Picnic (Arista-Austin)
13 James McMurtry, It Had To Happen (Sugar Hill)
14 Steve Earle & the Supersuckers, Steve Earle & The Supersuckers (Sub Pop)
15 Whiskeytown, Rural Free Delivery (Mood Food)
16 Alison Krauss & Union Station, So Long So Wrong (Rounder)
17 Delevantes, Postcards (Capitol)
18 Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys, Feeling Kinda Lucky (HighTone)
19 Mary Cutrufello, Who To Love (self-released)
20 Bad Livers, Hogs On The Highway (Sugar Hill)
21 Doc Watson & David Grisman, Doc & Dawg (Acoustic Disc)
22 Blue Rodeo, Tremolo (Sire)
23 Honeydogs, Seen A Ghost (Mercury)
24 Jayhawks, Sound of Lies (American)
25 V-Roys, Just Add Ice (E-Squared)
Reporting Stores: CD Central (Lexington, KY), CD World (Dallas, TX), Horizon Records (Greenville, SC), House Of Records (Eugene, OR), Laser’s Edge (Homewood, AL), Locals Only (Portland, OR), Main St. Music (Philadelphia, PA), Maximum Music (San Rafael, CA), Miles Of Music (Los Angeles, CA), New World Record (Buffalo, NY), Oarfolkjokepus (Minneapolis, MN), Periscope (Champagne, IL), Phil’s CDs (Ft. Thomas, KY), Premier CDs (Pittsburgh, PA), Roundhere (Alton, IL), Sal’s Music Emporium (Iowa City, IA), Salt Of The Earth (Columbia, MO), Uncle Buck’s Records (Oxford, MS), Underdog Records (Clemson, SC), Village Records (Shawnee, KS), Vintage Vinyl (Fords, NJ), Wuxtry (Decatur, GA).
