2005 top sellers printout

Store date: 31 December 2005

This is pretty self-explanatory.

But let me tell you something about the columns, and how we used them:

• The column labeled CG shows the two-letter category code for each item, telling us where in the store they could be found (the store was organized by musical genre). For instance, PO is Pop/Rock and included real Rock, R&B, indie bands, non-country Americana, et cetera. Also seen here are
  BG (bluegrass),
  BL (blues),
  CW (country),
  EL (easy listening),
  FO (folk),
  GP (gospel),
  JZ (jazz),
  LO (local music),
  NO (New Orleans),
  SK (soundtracks),
  and XM (Christmas).  Yes, we had a separate, but smallish, section for New Orleans and Louisiana musics (Cajun, Zydeco, Creole) and, despite some of their complaints against it, we kept most local musicians’ work segregated from the greater PO section (it was much easier for the customers to find them that way).
• The VDR is the vendor column, vendors being the companies from whom we purchased products. You’ll see a lot of the “big guys” represented here by
  EMD (EMI),
  SON (Sony),
  UNI (Universal)
  and WEA (Warner-Elektra-Atlantic).  Also, some of the smaller, independent distribution companies:
  ADA,
  REL (Relativity),
  REP (or Ryko),
  SC (Secretly Canadian)
  and WLK (Welk).  The use of the vendor code LAS meant, most of the time, that the item was something not available from a regular distributor, usually a local artist’s products that we were selling on consignment.
• The LBL column shows the abbreviation of the record label’s name.  “Music Geek” question: How many of them can you name without cheating?  IND (independently-distributed label) is almost always paired with the vendor code LAS, and rarely represents an established record label.
• CAT # is the catalog number.
• UPC NUM is the ten-digit barcode number.
• SALES is the quantity of the title that we sold during the calendar year.

The only album in the national Top 5 selling albums of 2005 that is in our list is our #35, Green Day’s American Idiot (it was #4 nationally).  The national #6 seller was Coldplay’s X&Y, which was our #2.  Otherwise, there is little here that you’d find there.

I took great pride in the fact that Josh Rouse’s Nashville was our top seller that year, and I still do (it’s one of my favorite albums, still).  We played the devil out of that CD and, even though some of the store staff might have felt differently, I never grew tired of it.  The proof is on the page, as they say.

“Why all the Natalie Cole sales…in 2005?” you might ask. Those titles represent venue sales: Natalie Cole was the headliner at the Alys Stephens Center Gala that year. Our venue sales always figured into our weekly and year-end sales totals.

Take a moment to pore over the list and you may find some surprises.  Or not (if you were a regular).

[As with most of the images on this website, click twice on the list above to see an enlarged view.]