If you're following their story, you've probably heard different things about how Natalie Maines's insult of President Bush has affected sales of Dixie Chicks CDs. Entertainment Weekly has the sales totals, and there's been a fairly steep drop.

Pre-Bush insult:

week ending February 9: 114,159

week ending February 16: 170,603 (up after a Saturday Night Live appearance)

week ending February 23: 26,096

week ending March 2: 202,350 (after winning some Grammys)

week ending March 9: 145,788

week ending March 16: 123,952

Post-Bush insult:

week ending March 23: 71,732

week ending March 30: 51,739

week ending April 6: 41,554

week ending April 13: 33,127

week ending April 20: 43,000

So the boycott is working -- though most musicians never sell 30,000 copies of any CD over a lifetime, much less in a week.

(Stats are from the print edition of Entertainment Weekly -- EW's content isn't available online to nonsubscribers.)

*****

Oh, and the Daily Howler asks -- quite properly -- why the Dixie Chicks have to answer for a mild insult of Bush when Jerry Falwell has never been asked to explain why he called Clinton a murderer.