# Radiohead “In Rainbows” pay-what-you-want

> Radiohead let fans price a download, then sold 122,000 in its first US retail week.

- Owner: Radiohead
- Kind: Music
- Sector: Entertainment
- Seed date: 2007-10-10
- Peak proxy date: Oct 2007
- Date basis: Proxy date; not a directly measured attention peak. Dates use the stated precision; chart positions are date anchors.
- Spread Score: 37 (Niche, provisional), v1.3
- Mechanics: Transgression, Controversy, Platform jump, Press loop, Pairing

## Summary

Radiohead released a pay-what-you-want album download after a short announcement. Fans discussed prices, radio played it and Last.fm listeners filled its top ten. The retail album reached No. 1 in Britain and the US; publisher figures later put purchases at three million.

## Timeline

- 2007-09-30 — Jonny Greenwood / Radiohead (Open web) — Greenwood announced In Rainbows for October 10 and let fans choose the download price.
- 2007-10-01 — Deufin / MoneySavingExpert members (Open web) — A MoneySavingExpert thread shared the preorder in its Freebies forum and discussed paying nothing.
- 2007-10-10 — Radiohead (Open web) — Radiohead released In Rainbows as a download at a price each listener chose, including nothing.

The full timeline, metrics and sources are on the case page, or via the Pro API (https://howitspread.com/developers).

Canonical URL: https://howitspread.com/cases/radiohead-in-rainbows

Cite as: How It Spread (2026). “Radiohead “In Rainbows” pay-what-you-want.” Case HIS-01539. Spread Score v1.3: 37/100. Updated 2026-10-23. https://howitspread.com/id/HIS-01539