I hear Abbey Road is selling the most. Can you post the sales figures for each of the Beatles albums?

USsales for the 1st week :

3. ABBEY ROAD 97433 ex.
6. SGT. PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB 63220 ex.
7. BEATLES (WHITE ALBUM) 55962 ex.
9. RUBBER SOUL 49805 ex.
15. REVOLVER 37074 ex.
16. HELP! 35829 ex.
21. LET IT BE 26620 ex.
22. PAST MASTERS 1 & 2 26340 ex.
24. MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR 25127 ex.
25. HARD DAY'S NIGHT 24843 ex.
26. STEREO BOX SET 23623 ex. (x14 = 330722 ex. !)
33. PLEASE PLEASE ME 19432 ex.
38. FOR SALE 17921 ex.
39. WITH THE BEATLES 17656 ex.

TOTAL : 520.885 ex. (824.984 ex. with the copies of the stereo boxset)

Box sold out all over the Netherlands and also my friend in the US cannot get it any more.

Beatles albums on the U.S Top 200 this week:

3 RE-ENTRY Abbey Road, The Beatles
5 RE-ENTRY Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Beatles
7 RE-ENTRY The Beatles, The Beatles
8 RE-ENTRY Rubber Soul, The Beatles
10 RE-ENTRY Revolver, The Beatles
16 RE-ENTRY Help!, The Beatles
18 RE-ENTRY Let It Be, The Beatles
19 RE-ENTRY Past Masters, The Beatles
20 RE-ENTRY Magical Mystery Tour, The Beatles
24 RE-ENTRY A Hard Day's Night, The Beatles
26 NEW The Beatles In Stereo: The Original Studio Recordings, The Beatles
28 RE-ENTRY Please Please Me, The Beatles
31 RE-ENTRY With The Beatles, The Beatles
34 RE-ENTRY Beatles For Sale, The Beatles
45 RE-ENTRY Yellow Submarine, The Beatles
57 NEW The Beatles In Mono: The Complete Mono Recordings, The Beatles
62 (105) 1, The Beatles
111 RE-ENTRY Love, The Beatles

5 Top 10 albums, 9 Top 20 albums, 14 Top 40 albums and 18 Top 200 albums, the most simultaneous charting albums for an artist EVER.

Abbey Road 89,000
Sgt. Pepper 74,000
The Beatles 60,000
Rubber Soul 58,000
Revolver 46,000
Help! 39,000
Let It Be 32,000
Past Masters Vols I & II 31,000
Magical Mystery Tour 30,000
A Hard Day's Night 29,000
The Beatles in Stereo 26,000
Please Please Me 23,000
With The Beatles 22,000
Beatles For Sale 21,000
Yellow Submarine 14,000
The Beatles in Mono 12,000

Albums sold in retail = 568,000 units
The Stereo Box = 26,000 units = 364,000 albums sold
The Mono Box = 12,000 units = 132,000 albums sold
Total = 606,000 units and 1,064,000 albums sold


According to Mediatraffic (world sales):

#2 - Beatles, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - 258.000
#3 - Beatles - Abbey Road - 243.000
#4 - Beatles - The Beatles (White Album) - 230.000
#5 - Beatles - Rubber Soul - 228.000
#6 - Beatles - Revolver - 216.000
#7 - Beatles - Help! - 196.000
#8 - Beatles - Magical Mystery Tour - 184.000
#9 - Beatles - A Hard Day's Night - 184.000
#10 - Beatles - Please Please Me - 178.000
#11 - Beatles - With The Beatles - 172.000
#12 - Beatles - Beatles For Sale - 170.000
#13 - Beatles - Let It Be - 154.000
#14 - Beatles - Past Masters, Volume 1 & 2 - 153.000
#17 - Beatles - Yellow Submarine - 121.000
Total: 2.687.000!!!

[www.mediatraffic.de]

Glad to see the strong sales figures. They're worth it. I am probably a Stones fan most of all, but the Beatles are a damn close second. And truthfully, I think they are the best group ever in many ways - Stones are kust kind of a personal preference for me.

does macca make anything out of this? or MJ (Jackson not Jagger)?

OLDKR

Of course Macca does. Michael Jackson only bought out the publishing rights.

Jacko later renegotiated his ownership of the Northern Songs publishing to Sony Music to help pay off his debts.

[news.bbc.co.uk]

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Gazza
Of course Macca does. Michael Jackson only bought out the publishing rights.

Jacko later renegotiated his ownership of the Northern Songs publishing to Sony Music to help pay off his debts.

[news.bbc.co.uk]

McCartney owns 100% of the publishing for Love Me Do and P.S. I Love You which were published by Ardmore and Beachwood, prior to the formation of Northern Songs their second single, Please Please Me. He purchased these 2 songs sometime in the 70s or early 80s.

I am under the belief that Michael Jackson only owned controlling interest in the Northern Songs-Beatles catalog and not 100% owndership. When it was set up by Dick James for Lennon and McCartney, James had 50% ownership and Lennon and McCartney each had 25%. Lennon later sold most or all of his owndership and that, coupled with Dick James' 50% is what I believe is what Jackson owned. I believe that Paul has always owned his 25% stake since late 1962-early 1963, but as minority owner of those songs, he had no say in how they are licensed.

Macca would receive 50% of the royalties that go to the songwriter, plus if my belief is correct, 25% of the publishing royalties.

And to his credit, Macca didn't jump on the Blu-Ray bandwagon yet. I am sure he will, but could have picked up an even larger paycheck had he done it now.

I have to say, this is one of the classiest jobs of remastering I have ever heard in my life. Instead over the common over compression, lazily boosting the bass and loudness level but limiting the more intricate layers of sound, those guys at Abby Road went with careful subtlety, giving the songs a warmth and boost without compromising the integrity of the actual recordings. They're definitely louder and stronger than the original compact discs, but they leave room for the finer nuances, letting the songs breath, retaining their original intentions but highlighting the color of it all. Hats off to these guys - a true A+ effort, easily as good as the Stones Abcko remasters, and maybe even a tiny bit better.

5 Top 10 albums, 9 Top 20 albums, 14 Top 40 albums and 18 Top 200 albums, the most simultaneous charting albums for an artist EVER.


Don't think anyone can beat this

__________________________

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georgelicks

Abbey Road 89,000
Sgt. Pepper 74,000
The Beatles 60,000
Rubber Soul 58,000
Revolver 46,000
Help! 39,000
Let It Be 32,000
Past Masters Vols I & II 31,000
Magical Mystery Tour 30,000
A Hard Day's Night 29,000
The Beatles in Stereo 26,000
Please Please Me 23,000
With The Beatles 22,000
Beatles For Sale 21,000
Yellow Submarine 14,000

89,00 copies of Abbey Road compared to 4,000 copies of the remastered Sticky Fingers. And I think Sticky was the best seller of the Stones remasters.

Is anyone surprised by which Beatles albums are selling better than others? Anyone think it's a little odd that Revolver sold fewer copies than Rubber Soul, and only slightly more than Help?

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Halup

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Gazza
Of course Macca does. Michael Jackson only bought out the publishing rights.

Jacko later renegotiated his ownership of the Northern Songs publishing to Sony Music to help pay off his debts.

[news.bbc.co.uk]

McCartney owns 100% of the publishing for Love Me Do and P.S. I Love You which were published by Ardmore and Beachwood, prior to the formation of Northern Songs their second single, Please Please Me. He purchased these 2 songs sometime in the 70s or early 80s.

I am under the belief that Michael Jackson only owned controlling interest in the Northern Songs-Beatles catalog and not 100% owndership. When it was set up by Dick James for Lennon and McCartney, James had 50% ownership and Lennon and McCartney each had 25%. Lennon later sold most or all of his owndership and that, coupled with Dick James' 50% is what I believe is what Jackson owned. I believe that Paul has always owned his 25% stake since late 1962-early 1963, but as minority owner of those songs, he had no say in how they are licensed.

Macca would receive 50% of the royalties that go to the songwriter, plus if my belief is correct, 25% of the publishing royalties.

I believe thats correct

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tatters
89,00 copies of Abbey Road compared to 4,000 copies of the remastered Sticky Fingers. And I think Sticky was the best seller of the Stones remasters.

Sticky Fingers has sold 4,000 copies... but since the re-issue date in May and not during the first week, actually the 14 albums combined sales are still under the 25,000 mark in U.S.
Jump Back is the only album with "half decent" sales, about 10,000 copies sold in the last month.
The Stones' catalog sales during the last 3-4 years are worse than ever.

In fairness to the Stones the majority of the albums remastered and sold by Universal were remastered by Virgin in 1994, weren't they? The last three or so(Voodoo Lounge, Bridges To Babylon and A Bigger Bang) didn't need to be "remastered" at all. In 1987 when The Beatles CD's first came out LP's were king and they didn't want the CD's to sound substantially better, did they?
To me the mono remasters are far better than the stereo ones, just amazing clarity!

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georgelicks
Sticky Fingers has sold 4,000 copies... but since the re-issue date in May and not during the first week, actually the 14 albums combined sales are still under the 25,000 mark in U.S.
Jump Back is the only album with "half decent" sales, about 10,000 copies sold in the last month.
The Stones' catalog sales during the last 3-4 years are worse than ever.

Most likely the worst selling Beatle album - which is YELLOW SUBRAMINE now - will sell better than the whole brand-new Stones post-STICKY FINGERS catalog... The Stones never been any huge sellers compared to The FabFour but the gap nowadays is amazing, and seems to get bigger... A place for a good analysis here?

- Doxa

the remasters sales will probably be the most income the beatles camp have seen in a very long time but the stones will make more with one tour

WOW, simply stunning that the Fab Four still dominate. A new phenomena within a phenomena. Many great posts on this thread. Thanks so much georgia for the great information. I agree with all the accolades the remasters are getting. I finally hunkered down and listened to my Mono box set. My sound system is fantastic and I was simply blown away. All the new mixes I had never heard before! Stunning. There are so many layers of nuances that were buried and finally unlocked. From longer versions, shorter versions (Helter Skelter, the Stereo version blows it away from the Mono) to down right different versions, Like Please Please Me and Help. The booklet is very well written and very interesting. Great to crank it out and read along with the history playing.
They are the world's greatest rock band without a doubt. I love the Stones, but nothing can match the "four headed monster" (Jagger about The Beatles).

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whitem8
WOW, simply stunning that the Fab Four still dominate. A new phenomena within a phenomena. Many great posts on this thread. Thanks so much georgia for the great information. I agree with all the accolades the remasters are getting. I finally hunkered down and listened to my Mono box set. My sound system is fantastic and I was simply blown away. All the new mixes I had never heard before! Stunning. There are so many layers of nuances that were buried and finally unlocked. From longer versions, shorter versions (Helter Skelter, the Stereo version blows it away from the Mono) to down right different versions, Like Please Please Me and Help. The booklet is very well written and very interesting. Great to crank it out and read along with the history playing.
They are the world's greatest rock band without a doubt. I love the Stones, but nothing can match the "four headed monster" (Jagger about The Beatles).

Whitem8, with respect, but your days are numbered now in this board...><

- Doxa

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ghostryder13
the remasters sales will probably be the most income the beatles camp have seen in a very long time but the stones will make more with one tour

As their '1' compilation is the biggest selling album of this decade (30.4 million to date) I reckon they've been doing more than OK of late.

oh Doxa. "the farther one travels, the less one really knows..."

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georgelicks
Beatles albums on the U.S Top 200 this week:

3 RE-ENTRY Abbey Road, The Beatles
5 RE-ENTRY Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Beatles
7 RE-ENTRY The Beatles, The Beatles
8 RE-ENTRY Rubber Soul, The Beatles
10 RE-ENTRY Revolver, The Beatles
16 RE-ENTRY Help!, The Beatles
18 RE-ENTRY Let It Be, The Beatles
19 RE-ENTRY Past Masters, The Beatles
20 RE-ENTRY Magical Mystery Tour, The Beatles
24 RE-ENTRY A Hard Day's Night, The Beatles
26 NEW The Beatles In Stereo: The Original Studio Recordings, The Beatles
28 RE-ENTRY Please Please Me, The Beatles
31 RE-ENTRY With The Beatles, The Beatles
34 RE-ENTRY Beatles For Sale, The Beatles
45 RE-ENTRY Yellow Submarine, The Beatles
57 NEW The Beatles In Mono: The Complete Mono Recordings, The Beatles
62 (105) 1, The Beatles
111 RE-ENTRY Love, The Beatles

5 Top 10 albums, 9 Top 20 albums, 14 Top 40 albums and 18 Top 200 albums, the most simultaneous charting albums for an artist EVER.

Abbey Road 89,000
Sgt. Pepper 74,000
The Beatles 60,000
Rubber Soul 58,000
Revolver 46,000
Help! 39,000
Let It Be 32,000
Past Masters Vols I & II 31,000
Magical Mystery Tour 30,000
A Hard Day's Night 29,000
The Beatles in Stereo 26,000
Please Please Me 23,000
With The Beatles 22,000
Beatles For Sale 21,000
Yellow Submarine 14,000
The Beatles in Mono 12,000

Albums sold in retail = 568,000 units
The Stereo Box = 26,000 units = 364,000 albums sold
The Mono Box = 12,000 units = 132,000 albums sold
Total = 606,000 units and 1,064,000 albums sold


According to Mediatraffic (world sales):

#2 - Beatles, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - 258.000
#3 - Beatles - Abbey Road - 243.000
#4 - Beatles - The Beatles (White Album) - 230.000
#5 - Beatles - Rubber Soul - 228.000
#6 - Beatles - Revolver - 216.000
#7 - Beatles - Help! - 196.000
#8 - Beatles - Magical Mystery Tour - 184.000
#9 - Beatles - A Hard Day's Night - 184.000
#10 - Beatles - Please Please Me - 178.000
#11 - Beatles - With The Beatles - 172.000
#12 - Beatles - Beatles For Sale - 170.000
#13 - Beatles - Let It Be - 154.000
#14 - Beatles - Past Masters, Volume 1 & 2 - 153.000
#17 - Beatles - Yellow Submarine - 121.000
Total: 2.687.000!!!

[www.mediatraffic.de]

only the boxsets are on the billboard 200. the others are on the pop catalog/comprehensive albums chart because they are still old titles. the boxsets count as new releases

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tatters

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georgelicks

Abbey Road 89,000
Sgt. Pepper 74,000
The Beatles 60,000
Rubber Soul 58,000
Revolver 46,000
Help! 39,000
Let It Be 32,000
Past Masters Vols I & II 31,000
Magical Mystery Tour 30,000
A Hard Day's Night 29,000
The Beatles in Stereo 26,000
Please Please Me 23,000
With The Beatles 22,000
Beatles For Sale 21,000
Yellow Submarine 14,000

89,00 copies of Abbey Road compared to 4,000 copies of the remastered Sticky Fingers. And I think Sticky was the best seller of the Stones remasters.

Is anyone surprised by which Beatles albums are selling better than others? Anyone think it's a little odd that Revolver sold fewer copies than Rubber Soul, and only slightly more than Help?

All right. I guess I'll just answer my own question then. I'm not surprised that the later albums are outselling the earlier albums. Even in 1973 when the Red and Blue compilations were released, the Blue Album (1967-1970) sold better than the Red Album (1962-1966). In the case of these new remasters, it could be that people are rushing to buy the later albums thinking that because they were recorded using more advanced technology than the earlier albums, they will benefit more today's remastering technology. But if the reason people are buying the later albums is simply that they prefer later Beatles music, then I'm a little surprised. Is Abbbey Road really four times better than With The Beatles? It's outselling With The Beatles by a 4 to 1 margin. Roy Carr called With The Beatles one of their FOUR best albums, and I gotta say, I agree. Any thoughts?

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Gazza

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ghostryder13
the remasters sales will probably be the most income the beatles camp have seen in a very long time but the stones will make more with one tour

As their '1' compilation is the biggest selling album of this decade (30.4 million to date) I reckon they've been doing more than OK of late.

i keep forgetting about that compilation cd because i have the 1962-66 and 1967-1970 red and blue collections. basically i was thinking that the beatles were an album band and the stones are more of a touring band

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Doxa

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georgelicks
Sticky Fingers has sold 4,000 copies... but since the re-issue date in May and not during the first week, actually the 14 albums combined sales are still under the 25,000 mark in U.S.
Jump Back is the only album with "half decent" sales, about 10,000 copies sold in the last month.
The Stones' catalog sales during the last 3-4 years are worse than ever.

Most likely the worst selling Beatle album - which is YELLOW SUBRAMINE now - will sell better than the whole brand-new Stones post-STICKY FINGERS catalog... The Stones never been any huge sellers compared to The FabFour but the gap nowadays is amazing, and seems to get bigger... A place for a good analysis here?

- Doxa

Well, I can just tell you my personal experience which is that I bought the remastered Sticky Fingers, hated the way it sounded, and didn't buy any more of the Universal remasters. I probably won't buy any more until Exile comes out. While everyone seems to be in agreement that the Beatles remasters sound fantastic, and represent a vast improvement over the 1987 CDs, not everyone agrees that the Stones remasters represent any improvement at all over the 1994 Virgins. In fact, some of us think they sound worse.

Tatters I totally agree. Abby road is an incredible piece and the four seem to be at the pinnacle of their musical prowess. But it is not as gritty and diverse as The Beatles (White Album). The Beatles White album is the solo side, where they back each other up as the best session players in London. And it has a strange erie story to it that makes it almost a concept album in a unique way of growth and journey. They were just back from India and so full of ideas. Abbey Road was their goodbye note.
Tatters what do you think about Help? I am struck by the fact that was the beginning of The Beatles solo career with Macca doing Yesterday on his own. A great disc with a lot of fresh experimenting. You can hear their tales of meeting Dylan, getting high the first time and staying high all through '65. And Lennon becoming a cool keyboardist in his own write.

For The Beatles (WHite Album) next anniversary edition they should put out a box set in solid white wood. Inside the original album both stereo and Mon, then a double album of acoustic and alternative, and left off tracks. What's the New Mary Jane, Not Guilty, Child of Nature, On the Road to Rikikesh, Darah Dune, and the 20 minute version of Helter Skelter. Then a DVD of home movies from India, including the rare Wolfman Jack interview while the boys play acoustics. Oh, and the four pics are mat mounted on stock cardboard with small picture frame supports, and the collage poster is on mat with the lyrics and liner notes on the back. And a "making of" write up with unreleased photos.

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whitem8
Tatters what do you think about Help? I am struck by the fact that was the beginning of The Beatles solo career with Macca doing Yesterday on his own. A great disc with a lot of fresh experimenting. You can hear their tales of meeting Dylan, getting high the first time and staying high all through '65. And Lennon becoming a cool keyboardist in his own write.

While there's no such thing as a poor or even a mediocre Beatles album, I think Help is their weakest effort. Nothing wrong with the songs, I just think it's not particularly well produced. The production is a little "thin" if you know what I mean. (Except Ticket To Ride, which, oddly enough, is a totally state-of-the-art production for 1965.) I actually prefer Beatles For Sale, which is the album many consider to be their weakest-ever. Same "thin" production as Help, but better songs, imo.

In my opinion, the later Beatles albums are better as albums - the earlier ones have the great well-known singles but the rest of the songs are rather terrible. It somehow made me wonder whether the songs were written by the same Lennon/McCartney!
I always had the impression (considering the US London/Decca releases that have the singles) that the Stones were better album makers than the Beatles.

Why does one group have to be better than the other. I think the Beatles were a FANTASTIC group people who say otherwise are rather ignorant musically speaking in my opinion. That is not to say everyone should like them but they were afantastic group as Macca said they were magic even the early album tracks are charming. They are very well crafted tunes very melodic. My personal appeal is for the Stones grittier earthy sound that they have.

I have picked up Abbey Road and Rubber Soul and they are terrific sounding.

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JJHMick
In my opinion, the later Beatles albums are better as albums - the earlier ones have the great well-known singles but the rest of the songs are rather terrible. It somehow made me wonder whether the songs were written by the same Lennon/McCartney!
I always had the impression (considering the US London/Decca releases that have the singles) that the Stones were better album makers than the Beatles.

In terms of the early releases, it was only the Capitol albums that generally included singles. The three exceptions being: Please, Please Me, A Hard Days Night and Help! – the latter two of course, being soundtracks.

I like the early Stones albums, I really do, but the Beatles were way ahead of the pack.

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tatters


While there's no such thing as a poor or even a mediocre Beatles album, I think Help is their weakest effort.

Uhm, Yellow Submarine? Call me a Blue Meanie, but I'd call that mediocre-to-poor.