The digital-only album was made available for pre-order through
iTunes on January 22, 2010. It set a record as the biggest one-day album pre-order in iTunes history.[2]
The album sold 171,000 copies in its first weekend, and, in merely two days, became the first digital-only album to top the
Billboard 200 album chart.[3]
The album has since also become available on
Amazon and
Rhapsody.
Hope for Haiti Now debuted on the
Billboard 200 at number 1, selling 171,000 copies in only two days as
Nielsen SoundScan's sales tracking week at the time ended at the close of business each Sunday, thus becoming the first digital-exclusive set to top the tally in Billboard's history.[3] It also became the
second independently distributed album to reach the number one spot on the Billboard 200 chart that year (and 13th overall) following
Vampire Weekend's Contra.[4]Hope for Haiti Now sold another 143,000 downloads in its second week of release.[5] The album sold 60,000 copies in its first-two days outside the U.S.[6]