Numbers Behind the Grammys

The current issue of the Economist has a special report on mass entertainment - Winner Takes All.  If you watch the Grammys tonight showcasing the winners - - keep in mind these facts from the report:

"Anita Elberse, of the Harvard Business School, working with data from Nielsen, notes that in 2007, 91% of the 3.9m different music tracks sold in America notched up fewer than 100 sales, and 24% only one each.  Just 36 best-selling tracks accounted for 7% of all sales.  By last year the tail had become yet longer but even thinner: of 8.7m different tracks that sold at least one copy, 96% sold fewer than 100 copies and 40% - 3.5m songs - were purchased just once."