The choir's annual Christmas concert is Utah's hottest ticket, with more than a million requests logged for this year's event. Barrick said production and editing time prevents the choir from releasing the current year's concert for viewing on PBS, but even with a year's lag time, the show is among the highest-rated programs for PBS annually.

This year, the LDS Church's First Presidency sent a letter to be read by leaders of local congregations, publicizing the dates and times of the PBS broadcast.

With the Grammy nominations, the PBS broadcasts, beliefnet and an exclusive promotional package with Wal-Mart, Barrick said he expects the CD will be sold out locally just before Christmas and has already sold out the 20,000 copies that were sent to Scandinavia, where few have heard of the choir but nearly everyone knows Sissel.

"It's just flying off the shelves, and we're excited about the fact that it's exceeded all our expectations."

About 150,000 copies were produced for sale, he said. By comparison, the choir's best-selling CD in recent memory has sold 220,000 copies but has been out for several years. The numbers are surprising, though marketing is difficult once Dec. 26 rolls around, he said.

At this point, the album ranks 173rd on Billboard's top 200 albums nationwide. And if "we're fortunate enough to win a Grammy, that should help boost it," Barrick said.

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E-mail: carrie@desnews.com