Quantcast
HITS Daily Double
"When something is real, the word spreads and nothing's going to stop it. That's what's happening with these three bands. They're real, and all signs indicate they're going to be real big."
——Mike Fuller, Hastings

ROCK ON A ROLL

Hoobastank, Strokes and Default are Loudly Serving Notice
Sure, Alan Jackson and Creed will be in the Top Five this week, but the REAL story on this week's album chart is ROCK. And three bands are banging the drum VERY loudly.

Wow, that "caps lock" key is really sticky.

Check out this week's sales for IDJ's Hoobastank, RCA's The Strokes and TVT's Default. All three are getting serious love from PoMo programmers. All three are getting serious love from MTV and MTV2. And all three are experiencing solid sales jumps this week—a trend that shows no sign of slowing.

For those complaining about a dim first quarter, meet the first glaringly bright new sales story of 2002.

"It's organic. While the kids are responding to radio and video airplay, there is also that intangible word-of-mouth factor," said Mike Fuller of Hastings, whose mouth is always a factor. "When something is real, the word spreads and nothing's going to stop it. That's what's happening with these three bands. They're real, and all signs indicate they're going to be real big."

Once again kiddies, a quick gander at this week's Top 50 will unveil the usual winners. But look deeper and the real story will emerge.

Did we mention that Hoobastank, The Strokes and Default are taking off? Buckle up.