Rolling Stone 'Boston Bomber' cover sells twice the number of issues

The controversial Rolling Stone issue that many companies vowed not to sell has reportedly sold twice as many copies than last year's August issue.

Retail sales of Rolling Stone's 2013 August issue featuring a self portrait of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev allegedly jumped 102 percent from the previous year's sales, Magazine Information Network reported.

The numbers were obtained based on the study of 1,420 retailers from July 19 to July 29. Among those retailers, 13,232 issues of the magazine were sold, a number that more than doubles the sales from the prior year.

When the issue came out in mid July, critics condemned Rolling Stone for glamorizing a terrorist by featuring a picture taken from the teen's Facebook profile which resembles a 1981 cover starring Jim Morrison.

In turn, several retailers including CVS Pharmacy, Walgreens and New England grocer Tedeschi Food Shops refused to sell the magazine.

But the boycott campaign, aimed at lowering the sales of the issue, couldn't have had a significant impact as only 5 percent of Rolling Stone's total circulation is sold at retail. Nevertheless, who is to say that controversy wasn't a key factor in turning the issue into a hit?

Rolling Stone's August 2013 cover, featuring alleged Boston bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

According to Ad Week, a 1970s cover of the magazine featuring notorious murderer Charles Manson was not only one of the magazine's bestselling issues, but it also won it a National Magazine Award.