Say You Will debuted at #3 on the album charts here in the US, and sold about 800,000 copies to the best of my knowledge. Reprise/Warner expected the album to sell 2-3 Million by their own admission. At one point in the Destiny Rules documentary, Lindsey said he "didn't care if the album sold only 800,000 copies" if he could make the kind of album he wanted to make. So to me that says that 800,000 copies is a dismal failure to him.
I'd guess that the sales of SYW were viewed as a failure to those in Fleetwood Mac, and to Warner/Reprise as well. Not only that, Lindsey, Stevie, and Mick have all voiced that they weren't happy with the finished product of the album, either. Mick and Lindsey have referred to it as disjointed; Stevie's railed against Lindsey's production; they've all pointed at a need for an outside producer if another Mac album were ever to be made.
So the question is, was the album a bomb? I view a bomb to be a dismal failure, which SYW and it's tour really weren't. The album made Gold, nearly Platinum status, and it had some downright progressive material on it. The tour was 18 months long, and pretty darn successful. But was the album a flop? I'd have to say so. It barely got any radio play, it sank off the charts very quickly, received mixed reviews from critics, and is at best a footnote in Mac history.
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