Wal-Mart shoppers love Garth

Retail behemoth says it has sold more than 1 million copies of country star's boxed set since its Wal-Mart-only release November 23.

The exclusive sales deal Wal-Mart struck earlier this year with country star Garth Brooks appears to be paying big dividends.

The retail goliath said it has sold more than 1 million copies of Brooks' new six-disc boxed set since its November 23 release, raising eyebrows throughout the music business because the numbers aren't audited by industry sales monitor Nielsen Soundscan.

Geoff Mayfield, director of charts and senior analyst for Billboard magazine, which uses Nielsen Soundscan data to tally sales charts, told Gannett News Service that without multiple sources reporting sales figures, it's difficult to verify the numbers.

"We're hearing from industry sources that the sales figures may be more conservative than what's being released by Wal-Mart," he said.

Wal-Mart signed an exclusive deal with Brooks in August whereby all of his music will be sold only through Wal-Mart, Sam's Club, their respective online stores, and Brooks' Web site. Brooks retired from recording in 2001, but the $25 boxed set includes one CD of previously recorded unreleased material.

"We certainly anticipated that an item as incredible as this boxed set would be tremendously popular," David Porter, Wal-Mart's vice president for merchandise, said in a statement. "And for it to go platinum in such a short period of time--that simply shows how great this selection is. Going platinum for a boxed set in just two weeks is a huge accomplishment...and it just makes sense that Garth Brooks is the one to do it!"

Wal-Mart chose to bypass the SoundScan audit system entirely by not putting a scan code on the boxed set.

In other Garth-related news, Brooks wed fellow Nashville star Trisha Yearwood on Saturday in Oklahoma. The two became engaged in May when Brooks proposed to Yearwood onstage in front of an audience of 7,000 at Buck Owens' Crystal Palace in Bakersfield.