In Rainbows, the media scrutinized album by Radiohead, first released online last October, finally achieved a number one chart position in the band's home country of England earlier this week. The album also scored a number one position in the Billboard 200 chart, after entering at #156 last week due to early releases. The release last week brings to a close the three months that media outlets have scrutinized the band's decision to release the album online to fans at pay-their-own-prices, and demonstrates the "traditional" success possible after such a gimmick.

According to Billboard, the top position in Britain is the fifth time Radiohead has enjoyed such success. The band's first number one album was 1997's OK Computer, followed by 2000's Kid A, 2001's Amnesiac, and 2003's Hail to the Thief. A new single off In Rainbows, "Jigsaw Falling into Place," is set to be released in the United Kingdom next week, which will surely enjoy success on its own as well as promoting the album further.

Neither the band nor its management has released any viable information elaborating on the success of the band's decision to release the album online, and the physical release -- the "discbox" -- which the band released alongside the download was unavailable to enter charts when it finally hit streets in early December. While it is impossible to determine what kind of precedent the download release and the new CD version will set for the music industry, Radiohead has enjoyed similar success in the past. Both 2000's Kid A and 2003's Hail to the Thief saw online leaks before being released and eventually enjoyed major chart success, a number one and number three in the Billboard 200 respectively.

The Wall Street Journal's "The Numbers Guy" blogger Carl Bailik has an interesting post about sales of Radiohead's latest musical effort, "In Rainbows". The album was offered by the band directly to the public via the internet on a 'pay as you see fit' basis. Since I love the band's music, I paid $12, which I thought a fair compromise between what the tunes were really worth to me and the cost savings they realized by this type of release.

Sadly, if Comscore's stats as reported by Bailik are reflective of the purchasing public, my decision was way, way out of the norm. They show that, on average, purchasers thought that $2.26 was the free market price. Worse, 62% paid nada, depending on schmucks like me to support their habit. Worse yet, according to Forbes, over half a million people chose to download the album from illegal sites, even though they could get it for free (and legally) from Radiohead.

Bialik rightly calls into question the veracity of the stats, though. Since Comscore uses a self-selected group of two million that have agreed to allow the company to track their habits via software installed on their computers, one must question if these users accurately reflect the buying public in the aggregate. I know that my buying wasn't part of that sampling. For example, I'm not a file-sharer as a rule. Perhaps the buying behavior of people like me would make the results less discouraging for those championing Radiohead's model.

After listening to the tunes for a couple of weeks, though, I have to say I don't begrudge a penny of my $12. This band has earned it with an excellent listen. Those of you listening on my nickel; I hope you enjoy it, too.