Green Day Tops Charts Despite Wal-Mart Ban

Wal-Mart has a reputation for controlling its suppliers and manufacturers of the products it sells. To a large degree, the same is true of the artists who produce music that is sold at Wal-Mart. With the continuing decline and disappearance of traditional music stores, Wal-Mart has emerged as the number one seller of CDs in America. But there's a catch. Wal-Mart will not offer an CDs that carry a PA rating, or Parental Advisory rating.

So artists that are known for their explicit lyrics are forced to provide Wal-Mart with censored versions of their work so that the CDs can be sold in Wal-Mart stores around the world.

But Green Day decided not to give in to Wal-Mart's request to censor their latest album, 21st Century Breakdown. Instead, they argued that there was nothing in the album that merited censorship and they chose to forgo the distribution channel that is Wal-Mart and let people purchase their music through other means. So far, their plan is working well. Green Day has the number one selling album in the country and appears poised for a long run at the top of the charts.

And while Wal-Mart is certainly a major factor in the music distribution scene at the moment, people are more knowledgeable about how and where to purchase CDs in places other than Wal-Mart. Even though traditional music shops have become almost extinct, there are other places to buy your music that are not Wal-Mart. People know this and they are able to adapt accordingly.