"Cities 97 Sampler Volume 22" lands on Billboard album chart

Around here, we know that the "Cities 97 Sampler" albums are a big deal. But it was a big enough deal for "Sampler Volume 22" to land at No. 25 on Billboard's album chart last week. In a quick two hours at Target stores in the Twin Cities, "Sampler Volume 22" sold all 33,000 copies that were allowed to be pressed (the industry limit for charity discs to avoid paying artist and songwriting royalties). That's not exactly blockbuster sales but, nowadays, that's healthy sales unless your name is Taylor Swift, Rihanna or the cast of Glee. Susan Boyle's "The Gift" was the nation's best-seller with 335,000 copies. Her holiday disc ranked second in the Twin Cities, behind "Cities Sampler Volume 22." Kanye West's "Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" is expected to top this week's chart with his new . Look for "Sampler Volume 22" to disappear from the charts, but you can find about four dozen of the discs for sale on eBay, last we checked.