It’s a sad state of affairs when a man can be caught on camera using a racial slur one week and achieve the No. 1 album in the country the very next. And yet that’s the case for Morgan Wallen, who has claimed the top spot on the Billboard 200 Albums Chart for the fourth consecutive week running.
In fact, according to Billboard, sales of Wallen’s Dangerous: The Double Album have actually increased by 14% in the week since TMZ posted video of the country singer using the n-word. In total, he moved 149,000 equivalent album units over the last seven days. As a result, Dangerous is now the first country album to spend its first four weeks at No. 1 since January 2003.
As we reported earlier this week, Wallen has also seen a massive surge in individual song sales — an increase of 339%, to be exact.
All that’s despite the fact that Wallen’s music has been widely pulled from radio airwaves and delisted from popular streaming playlists. Additionally, Wallen has had his record contract suspended, been dropped by his talent agency, and been barred from this year’s Academy of Country Music Awards.
Even so, it seems a large portion of our country is not only OK with a person using a racial slur, they’re willing to support him financially. Whether or not Wallen will be able to maintain the momentum without a promotional vehicle behind him remains to be seen, but at least for one week, America has rewarded racism with the prize of a No. 1 album.
Then again, 75 million people voted for Donald Trump, so how much of a surprise is it really?
