Because of the terrible tragedies in New York, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania, overall music sales are expected to be way down when the figures are released Wednesday.
High-profile new albums like Jay-Z's Blueprint, Mariah Carey's Glitter, Babyface's Face2Face, Bob Dylan's Love and Theft and P.O.D.'s Satellite were released last Tuesday, the day of the attacks, and will probably move a fraction of what record companies' initially projected.
"It will have an obvious impact, if nothing else because of the mere fact that the majority of the disruption happened in our nation's most populous city," Geoff Mayfield, Billboard magazine charts director, tells the Los Angeles Times.
With most people glued to their television sets throughout the week, stores were empty and albums unsold.
Even last week's charts were touched by the calamity. SoundScan, which tracks album sales, had to revise the tallies because the company was not able to accurately register its data.
In an internal memo, the company blames the terrorist attacks for its failure to count more than 50,000 in sales of a limited-edition version of System of Down's Toxicity, according to the Associated Press. The added numbers pushed the rockers ahead of Alicia Keys' Songs in A Minor--which SoundScan initially reported to be number one--and into the top slot on the album charts for the week ended September 9. With the adjusted figures, System of a Down sold approximately 223,000 to Keys' 170,000.
Meanwhile, System of Down has pushed back the start of its 30-city "Pledge of Allegiance" coheadling tour with Slipknot to this Friday in Denver. The tour was supposed to begin last Thursday in Chicago, but was delayed by the attacks. The four affected dates have been moved to October. The tour, which also includes Mudvayne and Rammstein, will be dedicated to victims and their families.
Other artists are also coping with the attacks' aftermath. In addition to the dozens of acts who postponed performances last week, Britney Spears, who was stranded in Australia following the hijackings, pulled the plug on a promotional tour of Europe and South America hyping her upcoming Britney, which is due in November. Usher called off a trip to Japan and Australia to promote his recently released 8701. And Macy Gray, whose The Id comes out Tuesday, has nixed a couple of promo appearances, including an in-store autograph session in Los Angeles set for this Friday.