Some big numbers greet Garth Brooks’ boxed set

THE mystique of Garth Brooks took on a new wrinkle as the biggest-selling artist of the Nielsen SoundScan era logged the nation’s biggest-selling album of the week with his new boxed set, “The Limited Series.” Or maybe not.

Once again, nothing’s easy with the enigmatic Brooks, who may or may not be retired. Wal-Mart, which is the exclusive retailer of the five-CD, one-DVD set, reported Wednesday that it sold more than 500,000 copies at $25 each as of the first day the set went on sale last Friday.

Because the album is being sold by only one retailer, it does not qualify for Billboard’s top 200 albums chart, and its SoundScan sales numbers are not being released by Wal-Mart.

That is the prerogative of SoundScan clients, said Geoff Mayfield, charts editor at Billboard, which bases its album chart on SoundScan sales figures.

“We have no way of knowing” what it sold, Mayfield said. But even without seeing actual sales figures, Mayfield doesn’t doubt that the set is a hot commodity.

“When you announce your new album on ‘The Tonight Show,’ ” as Brooks did when he appeared with Jay Leno on Nov. 10, “and then make multiple appearances on ‘Good Morning America,’ I would not be surprised if he made the kind of numbers they’re reporting.”

Those numbers also include nearly two weeks of presale orders placed with Wal-Mart’s website after the project was announced. Wal-Mart’s statement said it took only three days for the set to become “the top-selling music item in the company’s history.”

“Don’t get me wrong,” Mayfield said of Billboard’s policy against listing records sold by a single retailer on the chart. “When we first came up with the rule, there was no anticipation that someone with this kind of sales power would lock into an exclusive deal like that.”

Among those in the pop music world who play by the usual rules, System of a Down grabbed the No. 1 spot on the chart with “Hypnotize,” the companion album to the group’s “Mezmerize,” released earlier this year. The new album sold 320,000 copies its first week, a bit less than the 453,000 copies “Mezmerize” sold out of the gate in May, but still enough to give the band its second No. 1 debut of 2005. “Mezmerize” has now sold more than 1.5 million copies in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan.

System of a Down becomes the first band to post two No. 1 debuts in the same calendar year, but isn’t the only act to pull off that feat this year: Country singer Kenny Chesney logged his second top-spot debut last month with “The Road and the Radio,” which moved back into the No. 2 slot with strong sales of 303,000 following his national TV exposure on the Country Music Assn. Awards on Nov. 15 as well as his Nov. 23 ABC-TV special.

Other new entries in the Top 10 this week were ethereal Irish singer Enya’s “Amarantine” (No. 8 with sales of 178,000), Harlem hard-core rapper Juelz Santana’s “What the Game’s Been Missing” (No. 9, 141,000) and Houston rapper Chamillionaire’s “The Sound of Revenge” (No. 10, 130,000).

The solo debut by former Creed singer Scott Stapp, “The Great Divide,” sold 94,000 copies its first week to debut at No. 19.