Donald Trump’s relationship with musicians has been famously touch and go — but did he actually help a musician out in the case of “America’s Got Talent” alum Jackie Evancho?
President-elect Trump took to Twitter on Wednesday to insinuate that he helped Evancho’s record sales skyrocket, after Evancho was tapped to perform the national anthem at Trump’s inauguration later this month.
“Jackie Evancho’s album sales have skyrocketed after announcing her Inauguration performance,” Trump wrote, in a bout of familiar boastfulness. “Some people just don’t understand the ‘Movement.’”
Does Trump’s claim have the ring of truth, or is the only real “movement” coming from the next Leader of the Free World’s bowels? TheWrap did some digging.
Jackie Evancho’s album sales have skyrocketed after announcing her Inauguration performance.Some people just don’t understand the “Movement”
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2017
According to data obtained from BuzzAngle Music, there might be some veracity to Trump’s allegation. Then again, there might not be.
Evancho announced her inauguration gig on Dec. 14 — and, in fact, the singer’s album sales jumped 98 percent in the week of Dec. 9 to Dec. 16, from 7,176 10 14,173. Of course, it’s impossible to say exactly how much of that was the result of a Trump Bump — the week prior to the announcement, Evancho’s album sales climbed 23 percent, from 5,819 units to 7,176.
And if there was indeed a boost from the announcement, it was short-lived — in the week of Dec. 16 to Dec. 23, Evancho’s sales slid 33 percent, from 14,173 to 9,479.
But still, Trump is technically accurate — Evancho’s album sales did increase significantly in the period surrounding the inauguration announcement. Fair-ish enough.
Broadening the research to sales of Evancho’s songs, sales increased 131 percent during the week of the inauguration announcement — though the previous week saw a nearly-as-robust 122 percent increase. And again, the results weren’t as spectacular the week after the inauguration announcement — song sales for Evancho were up a far more modest 26 percent in the week of Dec. 16 – 23.