James Wright's Patti LaBelle sweet potato pie review sparks sales at Wal-Mart

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The sweet potato surge started Thursday after James Wright posted video
In the video, Wright sang LaBelle songs and danced as he ate an entire pie
Social media was buzzing and Walmart's stock of pies started running low
The pies should cost $3.48 but are being sold online for as much as $45
Remaining pies are being routed to the stores where demand is strongest
Soul singer, 71, called Wright to express her appreciation for his review

By Dailymail.com Reporter and Associated Press

Published: 23:13 EST, 16 November 2015 | Updated: 09:02 EST, 17 November 2015

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Thanks to a YouTube review that's been viewed millions of times, two million pounds of potatoes are needed to get Patti LaBelle's suddenly famous sweet potato pie back onto shelves at Walmart.

Which means the pie that became a viral sensation during the weekend - selling roughly one every second - may not be back in time to grace your Thanksgiving table... not that Walmart isn't trying.

The sweet potato surge started Thursday, the day after James Wright posted a video of himself eating a slice of the pie, which Walmart launched in September.

Scroll down for video

The sweet potato surge started Thursday after James Wright posted a video of himself eating a slice of the pie

In the video, Wright sings LaBelle's songs If You Only Knew and On My Own, and dances as he eats

Social media started buzzing about Wright and the pie and Walmart's stock of the item began running low

In the video, Wright sings LaBelle's songs If You Only Knew and On My Own, and dances as he eats.

'You'll turn into Patti after eating this,' he said in the video.

'Mmmm. I swear... Bitch you'll feel like Patti LaBelle after eating this.

'Go to Walmart and buy the Patti LaBelle pie.

'Patti you bitch, you are my friend. I never knew until then, but I know now.'

Within 24 hours, social media was buzzing about Wright and the pie, and Walmart's stock of the baked goods was running low.

The remaining pies - which cost $3.48 but are being sold online for as much as $45 - are being routed to the stores where demand is strongest.

Demand is so high that the soul singer, 71, called Wright to express her appreciation for his review.

He said that her phone call brought him to tears, according to Chicago's Fox 32 News.

Wright told the station: 'She kept thanking me and she kept telling me how much she loved me and she just kept telling me to be me.

'She was like, 'Boy, you can sang!''

The 71-year-old singer (seen in June 2015) even called Wright to express her appreciation for his review

Walmart is routing its remaining pies to stores where demand is highest. They are no longer available online

'There's a lot of moving parts. The suppliers have been working all weekend,' Kerry Robinson, vice president for the bakery and deli at Walmart, said Monday.

'We need something like 2 million pounds of sweet potatoes, and that's not something easy to get.

'We swept everything we had right into the stores to supply the demand, including our Christmas volume, so they have everything we've got.'

Prior to the video, sweet potato pie hadn't been a top seller for the retailer.

But this year a revamped recipe and partnership with LaBelle showed enough promise that the company ordered twice as many pies as 2014.

Of course, that order was supposed to last through the holidays, not be wiped out before Thanksgiving.

The eight-inch, ready-to-serve pies are made with California-grown sweet potatoes, butter & spice.