True, but that's not that uncommon either, when albums pick up steam post-release. For example, even though Nine Inch Nails' debut album, 1989's Pretty Hate Mac

True, but that's not that uncommon either, when albums pick up steam post-release. For example, even though Nine Inch Nails' debut album, 1989's Pretty Hate Machine, was quite successful, it caught on slowly and never rose above #75 on the album charts (even worse than Daft Punk!). None of its singles broke into the top 100 on the singles charts, either. But still it was not that surprising when 1994's Downward Spiral debuted at #2 on the charts, because by 1994 NIN had built up so many fans that there was a ton of anticipation. I don't think you could honestly talk about it as a sleeper hit from an obscure Cleveland musician who came out of nowhere, even though it's technically true he had never had a top-50 hit previously.