U2 catalog sales

ELEVATION: Since the U2-iTunes offensive began last Tuesday, the band’s catalog—sale priced at $5.99 for standard releases and $7.99 for hits collections—has been selling briskly, with total sales up to today believed to be north of 30k. That may not be “massive,” as Rolling Stone put it recently, but it ain’t chopped liver—especially considering that U2 catalog titles during the previous week sold in the double digits, with only three in the low triple digits. The biggest post-Tuesday sellers are 2006’s 18-song U218 Singles and 1987’s beloved The Joshua Tree, which are running neck and neck, with the 1991 landmark Achtung Baby a solid #3. All of the above remain in the iTunes Top 50 as of Monday afternoon, as does 1983’s War and, more surprisingly, the $11.99 deluxe version of U218 Singles, which contains 10 additional tracks, nine of them live. (9/15p)