COUNTRY CATALOG IS A BURNS-ING SENSATION

Ken Burns’ PBS documentary series Country Music is pumping up sales of deep catalog from Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson and others at iTunes and Amazon.

More than half the Top 40 country best-sellers at iTunes are albums from artists featured in the eight-part series that wrapped this week. Nelson’s Stardust and Red Headed Stranger (Sony Legacy) are Top 5 along with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s 1972 set with first-generation country stars Will the Circle Be Unbroken (Capitol Nashville).

Wanted!, the first album from The Outlaws (Waylon Jennings, Nelson, Jessi Colter and Tompall Glaser) is Top 10 along with The Essential Johnny Cash, Cash’s American IV: The Man Comes Around and Sony Legacy’s box-set soundtrack for the series.

Will the Circle Be Unbroken, Stardust, the Country Music soundtrack and Wanted! are Top 5 among all genres on Amazon’s CD and vinyl chart with compilations from Garth Brooks, Jennings and Kris Kristofferson in the Top 25. All but three titles are catalog items in the country Top 50 for CDs and vinyl. Will the Circle Be Unbroken is the top download at Amazon’s digital store.