From the MCRFB news archive: 1966
NEW YORK — Sales are continuing to escalate for S /Sgt. Barry Sadler’s “Green Berets” in its single and LP version. The single, ‘Ballad of the Green Berets’ has sold more than 2 million copies, and the album, “Ballads of the Green Berets” has passed the million mark in copies sold.
“Both the album and the single are still gaining momentum,” a spokesman for RCA Victor said, “Our estimates or guesses, even at what we sell are the most optimistic, just haven’t lived up to the fantastic rate the single and album are selling. We give a projection, and virtually by the time we hang up the phone, both album and single are a couple of hundred thousand copies beyond it.”
The album has been in release since Jan. 19. and achieved its million-sale status in less than five weeks. The single was released a week earlier. END
(Information and news source; Billboard; March 5, 1966)
