“Hope For Haiti Now” Downloads Raise $3 Million
Total iTunes downloads of the “Hope For Haiti Now” special, including both full album sales and individual tracks, have now topped $3 million, with all proceeds benefiting Haiti relief funds. As Rolling Stone previously reported, Hope For Haiti also topped this week’s Billboard 200 chart with 170,000 digital copies sold, marking the first time in chart history that a digital-only album debuted at Number One on the charts. iTunes’ $3 million haul accounts for nearly all digital sales of the project.
Check out photos of Justin Timberlake, Madonna, Bruce Springsteen and more Hope for Haiti Now performers.
In a statement, iTunes proclaims that Hope For Haiti Now was the service’s biggest one-day album pre-order in history, and that Hope For Haiti was the first special to lock up the Number One spot on their album, song and TV chart. At press time, the entire album remains Number One on iTunes Album chart, though Justin Timberlake & Matt Morris’ cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” has been bumped off the Top Songs chart after leaping to the top spot earlier this week.
Hope For Haiti Now also featured unique and intimate performances by Madonna, Beyonce with Coldplay’s Chris Martin, Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young and Dave Matthews and the “Stranded (Haiti Mon Amour)” collaboration between Jay-Z, Rihanna and U2’s Bono and the Edge. The telethon helped raise over $61 million for Haiti relief.
Related Stories:
• On the Charts: “Hope For Haiti Now” Debuts at Number One
• “Hope For Haiti Now” Raises $61 Million, Heads to Number One on the Chart
• Hope for Haiti Now: Rolling Stone Live Blogs the All-Star Telethon
• Watch Springsteen, Madonna, More Hope for Haiti Performances