Yes, the mystery continues.

How in the world could Mariah Carey’s “E=MC2,” an album from 2008 that is almost out of stock completely at amazon.com, be number 1 suddenly on iTunes?

iTunes, don’t forget, measures downloads, not streaming.

Sales of CD and downloads from Friday through Sunday night, according to Buzz Angle Music, came to just 677 copies. If you count in streaming– which iTunes doesn’t– total sales have been 1,200.

Of course, even that last

Compare all of this to the Number 2 album on iTunes at this moment, Fiona Apple’s “Fetch the Bolt Cutters.” It’s sold 2,200 CDs and downloads since Friday. That’s three times as much as Mariah’s album. Fiona’s total sales since Friday including streaming are 4,100.

It doesn’t take Einstein to figure out something is very wrong. I’m not saying Mariah knows what’s happening. or has sanctioned this onslaught of iTunes. But this occurred once before, when her “Glitter” album inexplicably took off after 20 years of dormancy. It could be fans just hitting buy on iTunes over and over. But why? It’s clearly a fraud.

Something is going on with iTunes, that’s for sure.

And here’s an interesting note. According to Buzz Angle, Carey fans may have tried this back on February 14th. That one week, “E=Mc2” vaulted up in digital sales, didn’t quite make it, and fell back to Earth. So this is the second time someone has tried to manipulate sales of the album. This time, it worked.

Let’s see what happens next.

PS Here’s the projected top 5 this week from Hitsdailydouble.com. “E=MC2” is not even in their top 20.

• Youngboy Never Broke Again (NBA/Atlantic) 65-75k, 4-5k
• DaBaby (Interscope) 50-55k, 1-2k
• Lil Uzi Vert (Generation Now/Atlantic) 50-55k, <1k
• The Weeknd (XO/Republic) 50-55k, 4-6k
• Lil Baby (Quality Control/Motown/Capitol) 40-45k, <1k

Taylor Swift was so upset last week that an eight-tracks live album of her music was coming, albeit unauthorized.

“Live from Clear Channel, Stripped 2008” was just part of Swift’s catalog acquired by Scooter Braun and Scott Borchetta, the latter from Big Machine Records. It was the first time they dove into the library of unreleased material since Braun and a consortium bought Big Machine last year.

Swift, who knows the deal thoroughly, caught wind of the new set being prepared for streaming and blew a gasket. She posted a notice to her fans on Instagram explaining the situation.  She called out the Soros family and the Carlyle Group, accusing them of “shameless greed.”

Well, it worked. The stream appeared last week and at first sold 7 copies. SEVEN. Then on Friday and Saturday another 26. The total is 33. THIRTY THREE. That’s it. No one bought it. Plus, it seems only Spotify took it. Apple Music isn’t carrying it. Looks like Swift wins, although it is worth a listen, frankly. But I get her point.

Here’s a screen shot from Buzz Angle aka Alpha Data with the figures. Ignore the release date, which was last Thursday. June 26, 2008 was when it was recorded. BTW, Universal put up YouTube holders for all 8 songs and yielded about 6,000 views total.

Mariah Carey released “E=MC2” in April 2008. It was a hit, but not a big one. It was the follow up to “The Emancipation of Mimi.” her big comeback album.

This morning, “E=MC2” shows that mathematical formulas do not always resolve. The album has somehow shot to number 1 on iTunes, out of nowhere. This isn’t the first time this has happened. A couple of years ago, another Carey album, the soundtrack to her dreadful movie, “Glitter,” also soared to number 1 after more than a decade in oblivion.

Is it a coincidence? Probably not. Someone is gaming the system. It should be noted that this doesn’t happen to any other artist. It’s just Mariah. Her fans will swear it’s because she’s the grooviest singer in the world. But the numbers don’t bear it out.

According to Buzz Angle Music, now called Alpha Data, “E=MC2” sold a total of 229 copies on Friday and Saturday, and that mostly from streaming. Total hard sales– CDs and paid downloads– for Friday and Saturday came to 12. As in, Twelve. Last week, the total for 7 days was 88. With streaming, 408.

Just to compare: on Friday and Saturday the number 1 album including streaming, mostly streaming, was from a rap group called 38 Baby 2. The total was 21,600. The Weeknd was at number 3, with 13,400 including streaming and 681 in hard sales.

So what’s going on with Mariah? It’s up to iTunes to figure out how their system is manipulated. They’ve allowed this with Korean boy band BTS, too. Mysteriously albums and singles fly up the charts, take hold for a short time, then disappear.

So…hate to be a buzzkill. But whoever’s doing this isn’t doing Mariah any favors either. She has enough real success. She doesn’t need a scam.

UPDATE: Amazon lists “E=MC2” at number 15,611.

Hamilton Bohannon was already such a legend on the drums in 1981 that the Tom Tom Club– an outgrowth of Talking Heads– immortalized him on their now classic record, “Genius of Love.” See below, at 2:22 in the video. Bohannon, Bohannon, Bohannon.

Bohannon died today in Georgia at age 78. Starting in 1975 he was Stevie Wonder’s touring drummer, and became famous for his Motown band that played with all their acts that were on the road through the mid 80s. He was also a recording artist on his own, with hits on urban radio. Foot Stompin Music and Let’s Start the Dance were the two big ones.
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Even if you hated disco in the mid 70s (as I did) you couldn’t deny or get away from Bohannon, whose music I would say was more funk than disco. There wasn’t a club you’d walk into without hearing him. I have no doubt he’s been sampled countless times by rappers. Many of the beats you hear today or over the last 20 years came from Bohannon. The website WhoSampled counts at least 126 instances of Bohannon music “interpolated” into contemporary recordings.

Also, I loved his album covers. RIP.

Below you can listen to Rose McGowan’s sort of electronic dance music album, “Planet 9.” Here is my review: this the album cousin Serena always wanted to make on “Bewitched.” Since Rose played a witch on “Charmed Lives,” this all makes sense. Is it good? You can’t apply these mundane judgments. That “Planet 9” is digital only and is self-released says it all.

However, Rose has written liner notes:
Hello, I appreciate you taking the time to read this. I’m Rose McGowan and for a long time, I worked in a strange place called Hollywood. Being an actress was my day job, but behind the scenes I was honing my skills as a multi-media artist, writer and thought leader. After realizing I’d worked on sets for over 57k hours, I knew it was time to assert my own voice, so I directed a short film called Dawn which was nominated for the Sundance Grand Jury Prize. After Dawn, I began a three-year writing project, my book, BRAVE. While writing about my life and thoughts on society, I needed to create art that would be soothing. I’d always loved using my voice, it was my favorite part of performing. When I was a small child going through tough times, I created a utopian world in my mind and I named it Planet 9. I felt safe on this invented planet of mine. I also used to wonder what sounds existed on my planet. As life went on, I forgot about how special my planet was, I forgot I could go there in times of trouble. Six years ago, astronomers found a new planet they named Planet 9 – It’s the new planet that demoted Pluto to a star. Holy s! They found my Planet 9! Around the same time, I met some French electronic musicians and I decided to make music that has the power to lift your spirit. I know this, art heals. Planet 9 takes you on a very special journey. I am not trying to be a pop star, I will not be performing this album. By using my knowledge of cinema sound design, I carefully created the sounds and words for a better place, an unknown world in our own mind that we can all travel to. Planet 9 is an artistic endeavor that I hope will help others meditate in a unique way. Let go, come to Planet 9.