Variable album ratings, Norway, and the disappointing truth about Bonnie Tyler →[More:]I was checking out the huge 80s music thread from several weeks ago, which I had missed while I was on vacation. Seeing the name of Bonnie Tyler invoked, I realized I didn't know much about her and figured, what the hell, and started reading her wikipedia entry. In that entry it is mentioned that her album "Bitterblue" went Quadruple Platinum in Norway. Being American, I was, "four million albums in Norway! WTF?" Which led me to checking and finding that the population of Norway was about four and a half million at that time. I then looked up record sales grades and was disappointed to find out that it only takes thirty thousand record sales to qualify for platinum in Norway as opposed to the one million it takes in the United States.

Call me crazy, but I much prefer the idea of Norway being this land of ice and snow and rabid Bonnie Tyler fandom where roughly 89% percent of the population owned a copy of "Bitterblue" as opposed to the more realistic figure of roughly three percent.

It's so much more fun the other way.