Brooks' big Tuesday
Thursday, November 19, 1998. Reuters
Story by Story by Adam Sandler

HOLLYWOOD - The clear winner on the music industry's so-called ``Super Tuesday'' was Garth Brooks, whose ``Double Live'' disc topped 500,000 units in first-day sales -- the industry's best one-day tally.

The 25-track, two-CD set on Capitol Nashville is expected to top 1 million units for its first week, which would be another record. Results of the week, for the period ending Nov. 22, will be announced Wednesday.

Though the Tuesday tally fell short of Wal-Mart executives' publicly stated hopes to move 1 million units the first day, the numbers are impressive. At the very least, Brooks is shooting to best the 897,000-copy tally logged a year ago by his ``Sevens'' disc, and ``Double Live'' is on track to top Pearl Jam's ``Vs,'' which owns the industry's best-selling first-week tally at 953,000 copies.

``We had an incredible first day, and we are off to a great start,'' EMI Recorded Music president Roy Lott told Daily Variety. ``And all signs point to a record-breaking first week.''

However, Brooks is being challenged by Method Man. According to many retailers surveyed, the rapper ranked first in sales in music specialty stores, with a first-day tally topping 100,000 copies, while Brooks often led the mass merchants, such as Wal-Mart, Best Buy and Kmart.

Brooks' tally should have been helped by his closed-circuit concert to 2,300 Wal-Marts Tuesday night, so fans would flock in and buy the ``Double Live'' set, a selection of Brooks' best-knowns as performed on tour between 1991 and the present.

But the stores were far from crowded, with many reporting merely a handful of fans stopping by. Sales are expected to remain brisk, and industry insiders note that shoppers who haven't already nabbed the disc will likely head to the mall or local record store this weekend. Brooks also played a trio of live shows telecast on NBC Wednesday night (one for each Eastern, Central and Pacific time zones).

Many retailers, such as Tower Records' Sacramento store sold out of its Brooks inventory early in the day, a scenario that was repeated across the Midwest and other country music strongholds.

``Super Tuesday'' earned the moniker because albums from Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Jewel, Seal and the three soundtracks to the upcoming DreamWorks picture ``Prince of Egypt,'' among others, were released.

Carey's ``#1's,'' according to retailers surveyed, was the third-bestselling debut and will likely nab a Top 10 bow on next week's chart. But the diva's first-day numbers for the Columbia Records disc paled in comparison to Brooks' tally, and unofficially checked in at less than 65,000 units.

Carey easily topped Houston -- the pair duet on ``When You Believe,'' which is on both singers' discs and is the first single off the ``Prince of Egypt'' soundtrack -- by almost 2-to-1 in some retailers.

But insiders note that the lion's share of the adult audience, which both discs are targeting, has yet to snap up the album. Those consumers typically take several weeks to embrace an new album, so the discs are likely to have legs as holiday season gifts. The film opens Dec. 18.

playing is something that I can't make the investment in that I've made in music. So it would have to be for serious charity for children."