I have always wondered if there is a discrepancy in 'the number of blog posts an indie artist can generate' and 'the number of albums that they can actually sell.' It seems like some random bro with a blogspot somehow did 'investigative research and uncovered the number of units sold by various indie ass + relevant buzzbands.' No idea if these sales are 'accurate', but 'whatever', seems reasonable.

Feel like u can really use this list 2 generate tons of theories abt the state of indie music and use this information 2 learn which artists 2 blog abt due to popularity+interest+appealing to consumers who 'actually have money' instead of just altbros who download tons of leaked lofi albums.

I went ahead and sorted it/filtered out the relevant buzzbands that u actually care about, then grouped all of the 'rappers' / 'African American artists' 2gether:

James Blake – The Bells Sketch EP / CMYK EP / Klavierwerke EP (511/4,091/na)
Twin Shadow – Forget (10,985)
Girls – Broken Dreams Club EP (10,266)
No Age – Everything In Between (13,802)
Wavves – King of the Beach (18,563)
Robyn – Body Talk (23,869)
Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – Before Today (25,942)
Hot Chip – One Life Stand (~30k)
Caribou – Swim (33,803)
The Walkmen – Lisbon (39,159)
Crystal Castles – Crystal Castles (39,368)
Best Coast – Crazy For You (48,296)
Joanna Newsom – Have One on Me (48,754)
Deerhunter – Halcyon Digest (59,879)
Sleigh Bells Treats (94,478)
Sufjan Stevens – The Age of Adz (100,405)
Beach House – Teen Dream (104,217)
LCD Soundsystem – This Is Happening (126,288)
The National – High Violet (211,615)
Gorillaz – Plastic Beach (385,454)
Vampire Weekend – Contra (454,914)
Arcade Fire – The Suburbs (459,083)

African American Artists/Rappers

Janelle Monae – The ArchAndroid (129,152)
Erykah Badu – New Amerykah Part Two: Return of the Ankh (~300k)
Rick Ross – Teflon Don (541,299)
Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (915,391)
Drake – Thank Me Later (1,219,473)

QUICK HIT REACIONS

• African American artists are more popular/have more fans than indie artists, so it makes sense that Pitchfork is 'negrofying'
• The Arcade Fire is 'really popular'
• Vampire Weekend will soon be 'more popular' than the Arcade Fire
• Regine should go solo
• Bradford Cox should spend more time on the Deerhunter brand than the Atlas Sound Brand
• James Murphy will not retire due 2 his band's popularity
• Ariel Pink's next album should sell close to 100k copies
• Drake is more popular than Kanye West
• Sleigh Bells is 'really successful' for a 'debut indie band.' Might start blogging abt them if they really have 'that many fans.' Wonder how they can make their sound go 'more mainstream' or something
• Hot Chip 'flopped'
• Sufjan Stevens sells tons of albums 2 cool dads.
• The National has a 'strong brand' with ppl who buy albums
• Best Coast basically deserves the same amount of respect as Joanna Newsom (based on album sales)
• WAVVES should be jealous of Best Coast because of her krazie album sales

What trends 'jump out at u?
Are all of these successful indie bands 4 lamestreamers?

This iteration of the list is ordered in 'Pitchfork album of the year contest ratings'

50 Wavves – King of the Beach (18,563)
49 Wild Nothing – Gemini (8,773)
44 Kylesa – Spiral Shadow (7,778)
43 Tame Impala – Innerspeaker (15,101)
42 Drake – Thank Me Later (1,219,473)
39 Best Coast – Crazy For You (48,296)
38 Rick Ross – Teflon Don (541,299)
35 Gorillaz – Plastic Beach (385,454)
34 Crystal Castles – Crystal Castles (39,368)
33 The Tallest Man on Earth – The Wild Hunt (35,524)
29 The Fresh & Onlys – Play It Strange (3,633)
28 The National – High Violet (211,615)
27 Four Tet – There Is Love in You (22,228)
26 Twin Shadow – Forget (10,985)
25 Sufjan Stevens – The Age of Adz (100,405)
24 Hot Chip – One Life Stand (~30k)
22 Girls – Broken Dreams Club EP (10,266)
21 The Walkmen – Lisbon (39,159)
18 Erykah Badu – New Amerykah Part Two: Return of the Ankh (~300k)
17 Caribou – Swim (33,803)
16 Sleigh Bells Treats (94,478)
15 Robyn – Body Talk (23,869)
14 Flying Lotus – Cosmogramma (33,574)
13 No Age – Everything In Between (13,802)
12 Janelle Monae – The ArchAndroid (129,152)
11 Arcade Fire – The Suburbs (459,083)
10 Titus Andronicus – The Monitor (26,090)
09 Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – Before Today (25,942)
08 James Blake – The Bells Sketch EP / CMYK EP / Klavierwerke EP (511/4,091/na)
07 Joanna Newsom – Have One on Me (48,754)
06 Vampire Weekend – Contra (454,914)
05 Beach House – Teen Dream (104,217)
04 Big Boi – Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty (208,747)
03 Deerhunter – Halcyon Digest (59,879)
02 LCD Soundsystem – This Is Happening (126,288)
01 Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (915,391)

What did u learn from this list?
Is this information 'legitimate' or just 'lies'?
Are indie bands 'more relevant than evr' in a mainstream kind of way?
If u could invest in an indie buzzband, which 1 would u buy stock in?