No. 1, Sure, but How Many Albums Did They Sell?

When Skid Row’s “Slave to the Grind” album entered the national pop charts at No. 1 last June, everybody connected with the album celebrated. After all, you can’t get better than No. 1, right?

Wrong.

The real number to look at is no longer just 1 , but the actual number of copies sold during the week. In the case of Skid Row, “Slave to the Grind” sold about 100,000 copies the week that it went to No. 1--and that’s far from sizzling.

By contrast:

* Guns N’ Roses’ “Use Your Illusion II” sold an estimated 770,000 copies during the week it entered the album charts at No. 1 last month.

* Metallica’s “Metallica” sold some 600,000 copies the week that it went to No. 1.

* Garth Brooks’ “Ropin’ the Wind” and Van Halen’s “For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge” each sold about 300,000 copies for their No. 1 chart debuts.

To demonstrate just how lackluster the Skid Row reign at No. 1 was, six of the nation’s 10 best-selling albums in the Oct. 5 Billboard chart sold more than 100,000 copies during the week’s sales period.

Until now, a No. 1 album ranking in Billboard magazine wasn’t just important to an artist’s ego but also a vital marketing tool because radio stations, retail stores and concert firms rely on the sales rankings to determine which acts to promote.

But now that technology has made the previously murky numbers available, these programmers and retailers are going to see that all No. 1’s aren’t equal: Some mid-level acts may creep into the No. 1 spot by selling a mere 100,000 copies during a slow sales week, whereas the true superstars will explode onto the charts with high sales numbers.

So, where do the real numbers come from? The new SoundScan research system, which in May began supplying the data that Billboard magazine uses to determine its weekly sales charts, isn’t just ranking the nation’s hottest albums. It also sells to record companies--for about $1 million a year--data on approximately how many copies each album is selling.

The sales figures aren’t publicly announced by Billboard or SoundScan, but several record companies in recent weeks have been making the figures increasingly available to the media.

Some artists and managers would prefer that the weekly sales reports be kept private.

“The statistics tend to compromise the glory a bit (for some bands), don’t they?” said HK Management’s Denny Rosencrantz, who represents such artists as Poison and Whitesnake. “There are probably some managers who would prefer that the numbers not be published at all. It sort of kills the momentum.”

Metallica’s manager Cliff Burnstein applauded making the actual sales figures known to the public.

“Why should anybody be opposed to this information getting out?” Burnstein asked. “As far as I’m concerned, that’s just sour grapes. Accurate sales figures can only help the industry to define exactly which music is truly the most popular. In America, popularity is determined by sales and people vote with their wallets.”

ALBUM CHART II: While it might not seem like such a long way from No. 10 to No. 1 on Billboard’s pop chart, in terms of sales the difference can be huge.

For instance, the sales gap between Guns N’ Roses’ No. 1 and Color Me Badd’s No. 10 on the Oct. 5 chart amounted to a difference of more than 700,000 records.

Here’s a sales breakdown of Billboard’s Top 10 albums as listed in the magazine’s Oct. 5 issue:

1--Guns N’ Roses’ “Use Your Illusion II”: 770,000.

2--Guns N’ Roses’ “Use Your Illusion I”: 685,000.

3--Garth Brooks’ “Ropin’ the Wind”: 300,000.

4--Mariah Carey’s “Emotions”: 155,000.

5--Metallica’s “Metallica”: 135,000.

6--Natalie Cole’s “Unforgettable”: 103,000.

7--Ozzy Osbourne’s “No More Tears”: 80,000.

8--”The Commitments” soundtrack: 67,000.

9--Bonnie Raitt’s “Luck of the Draw”: 66,000.

10--Color Me Badd’s “C.M.B.”: 63,000.

Sales figures plunge even more dramatically as you move toward the bottom of the chart.

100--Jethro Tull’s “Catfish Rising”: 9,000.

ALBUM CHART III: Publishing weekly sales data may be new to the record business, but the practice has been a staple in the film industry for more than 50 years.

John Krier, president of Exhibitor Relations, the Los Angeles company that tabulates the nation’s film box-office totals, says he sees a parallel between what is happening now in the record business and what happened many years ago in Hollywood.

“The film companies used to be very secretive about revealing sales totals also,” Krier said. “But in this technological age, information is not so easily hidden. It’s not just the industry paying attention now. These days, consumers are much more sophisticated too. The public follows box-office competition just like basketball and football.”

Still, some industry officials caution that the current emphasis being placed on weekly record sales counts may be misguided.

“It’s ludicrous for the media to hype the importance of a record’s initial splash on the market,” said Glen Brunman, vice president of media and artist development at Epic Records. “It may be true that in the movie industry the first few weekends can make or break a film. But with records it’s what happens in the long run that counts.”

COVERING UP: While awaiting a ruling this month by the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta on whether 2 Live Crew’s sexually explicit album “As Nasty as They Wanna Be” is obscene, the Florida rap group’s leader Luther Campbell found himself in another free speech battle--this time with his record distributor.

The Miami rapper maintains that Atlantic Records refused to release the group’s new “Sports Weekend (As Nasty as They Wanna Be II)” album unless he covered the bare bottoms of four women featured on the cover.

“It’s unbelievable, isn’t it?” says Campbell, who complied with the company’s request. “Atlantic is always talking about the First Amendment, but now they don’t want us to expose the behinds of women already dressed in G-strings.”

Atlantic officials--who last year cited concern for free-speech principles as a primary reason for their much publicized distribution deal with the legally embattled 2 Live Crew--declined to comment on the matter.

Three weeks ago, Atlantic reportedly also threatened to remove its company name and logo from the album after the group refused to delete two tracks that Atlantic officials found offensive. Campbell says that dispute was resolved and the songs will appear with the Atlantic logo on the record when it is released on Tuesday.