Did Twitter Controversy Help Kelly Clarksons Sales?

FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) - Kelly Clarkson recently found herself in hot water after tweeting comments in support of Republican presidential candidate and fellow Texan Ron Paul. I love Ron Paul. I liked him a lot during the last republican nomination and no one gave him a chance, Clarkson said. If he wins the nomination for the Republican party in 2012 hes got my vote.

The Burleson native, who blasted to stardom in 2002 as the winner of the first American Idol season, was immediately attacked by Twitter users who alleged that the pop singer was supporting racism and homophobia. Clarkson defended her endorsement, but was unable to deter the online roasting.

For many celebrities, such an incident could become a public relations nightmare. But for Clarkson, the minor online political scandal may have actually boosted her sales numbers for the week.

Clarksons fifth studio album titled Stronger debuted back in October to very strong sales which, naturally, have since waned. During the holiday week, album sales dropped across the board. But Clarksons drop was substantially lower than that of her peers 40 percent, from 41,000 to 25,000 copies according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Clarkson moved up from No. 39 to No. 17 on the Billboard 200 chart, as news of the tweet spread across the internet. This put Clarksons Stronger above the freshman album by most recent Idol winner Scotty McCreery, who dropped 74 percent.

Stronger also shot to No. 13 in album sales on Amazon and No. 6 on iTunes. And even a set of live performances exclusive to iTunes debuted at No. 85 with 9,000 downloads.

Given the unique circumstances of the holiday week, it is hard to tell if Clarksons jump on the charts was a result of the Paul endorsement or just a coincidence. The youthful voters who helped Paul place third in Tue! sdays Io wa caucuses may also be voting for Clarkson with their wallets.

Either way, Paul was thankful for the celebrity support, tweeting back, @kelly_clarkson I appreciate the kind words!