Donald Trump claims Jackie Evancho album sales 'skyrocketed' after inauguration announcement

Official album sales figures say otherwise

Jackie Evancho performs in Washington, DC in 2016 (Getty)

It looks as though Donald Trump has given up trying to find A-list artists for his inauguration ceremony - and resorted to heaping praise on the few acts that will perform.

Using his favourite social network, Trump sent a tweet that attempted to big up Jackie Evancho - the former America's Got Talent runner-up who is scheduled to sing at the event.

But people were quick to point out the unfortunate reality.

Vanity Fair noted that 16-year-old Evancho's latest offering was a Christmas album, so any boost in album sales is likely to do with the festive season rather than the announcement of her inauguration performance.

Evancho also appeared on a holiday special of America's Got Talent aired on 19 and 29 December.

Billboard added that while sales of her record, Someday At Christmas, did go up after the 14 December announcement - "skyrocket" is a pretty big overstatement. (Overstating something? Trump? Well I never).

Overall Christmas albums that week saw an average increase in sales of 18 per cent, Billboard reported.

Evancho's 94 per cent gain (11,000 copies in the chart week ending 22 December after 6,000 for 15 December) appears more impressive because the album was selling fairly poorly in the first place. Essentially she sold 5,000 more copies in that week than the one before.

What's more is that none of her other five studio albums returned to the Billboard 200 chart since the announcement of her upcoming inauguration performance.

Trump's rather sulky tweet may have been prompted by the news that Barack Obama's final White House party will be attended by the likes of Beyonce, Jay Z, Bruce Springsteen, Bradley Cooper, Samuel L Jackson, Chance the Rapper, Paul McCartney, and Star Wars directors George Lucas and JJ Abrams.

Meanwhile Evancho is one of just three, not so-A-list acts confirmed to perform at Trump's presidential inauguration ceremony, which takes place on 20 January. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir and The Rockettes have also been booked.