I had no idea that this was the case. I mean: Exile On Mani Street haven't even sold 8 million units yet. What's that all about??? Here's a list of the most sold albums in the USA ever.

28 Million Albums Sold
Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975 - Eagles

26 Million Albums Sold
Thriller - Michael Jackson

23 Million Albums Sold
The Wall- Pink Floyd

22 Million Albums Sold
Led Zeppelin IV - Led Zeppelin

21 Million Albums Sold
Greatest Hits Volumes I & II - Billy Joel

20 million albums sold
Back in Black AC/DC

19 Million Albums Sold
Rumours - Fleetwood Mac
The Beatles - The Beatles
Come On Over - Shania Twain

17 Million Albums Sold
Boston - Boston
The Bodyguard (Soundtrack) - Whitney Houston

16 Million Albums Sold
Cracked Rear View - Hootie & the Blowfish
Greatest Hits - Elton John
Hotel California - Eagles
The Beatles 1967-1970 - The Beatles
No Fences - Garth Brooks
Jagged Little Pill - Alanis Morissette

15 Million Albums Sold
Born in the U.S.A. - Bruce Springsteen
Physical Graffiti - Led Zeppelin
Dark Side of the Moon - Pink Floyd
Saturday Night Fever (Soundtrack) - Bee Gees
The Beatles 1962-1966 - The Beatles
Appetite for Destruction - Guns 'N Roses
Double Live - Garth Brooks
Supernatural - Santana

14 Million Albums Sold
Backstreet Boys - Backstreet Boys
Ropin' the Wind - Garth Brooks
Metallica - Metallica
Bat Out of hell - Meat Loaf
Simon & Garfunkel's Greatest Hits - Simon & Garfunkel

13 Million Albums Sold
Bruce Springsteen & E St. Band Live 1975-1985 (Box set) - Bruce Springsteen
Greatest Hits 1974-1978 - Steve Miller Band
Purple Rain (Soundtrack) - Prince and the Revolution
Whitney Houston - Whitney Houston
Millennium - Backstreet Boys
. . .Baby One More Time - Britney Spears

12 Million Albums Sold
Wide Open Spaces - Dixie Chicks
Yourself or Someone Like You - matchbox twenty
No Jacket Required - Phil Collins
Hysteria - Def Leppard
Slippery When Wet - Bon Jovi
II - Boyz II Men
Abbey Road - The Beatles
Ten - Pearl Jam
Led Zeppelin II - Led Zeppelin
Breathless - Kenny G
Forrest Gump (Soundtrack)
Kenny Rogers' Greatest Hits - Kenny Rogers
Hot Rocks - The Rolling Stones
The Woman in Me - Shania Twain

11 Million Albums Sold
James Taylor's Greatest Hits - James Taylor
Crazy****Cool - TLC
Falling into You - Celine Dion
Dirty Dancing (Soundtrack)
Houses of the Holy - Led Zeppelin
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - The Beatles
Eagles Greatest Hits, Vol. II - Eagles
Pieces of You - Jewel
Titanic (Soundtrack)
Candle in the Wind 1997/Something About the Way... (Single) - Elton John
Devil Without a Cause - Kid Rock
No Strings Attached - 'N Sync
Human Clay - Creed

10 Million Albums Sold
Fly - Dixie Chicks
'N Sync - 'N Sync
Let's Talk About Love - Celine Dion
Tragic Kingdom - No Doubt
Life After Death - Notorious B.I.G.
Up - Shania Twain
Best of the Doobies - Doobie Brothers
Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em - Hammer
Dookie - Green Day
The Stranger - Billy Joel
Aerosmith's Greatest Hits - Aerosmith
The Hits - Garth Brooks
Music Box - Mariah Carey
Unplugged - Eric Clapton
Tapestry - Carole King
Greatest Hits - Journey
Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin
The Immaculate Collection - Madonna
Like a Virgin - Madonna
Legend - Bob Marley & the Wailers
Faith - George Michael
Greatest Hits - Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
Nevermind - Nirvana
The Lion King (Soundtrack)
Can't Slow Down - Lionel Richie
Daydream - Mariah Carey
Van Halen - Van Halen
Eliminator - ZZ Top
The Joshua Tree - U2
1984 (MCMLXXXIV) - Van Halen

9 Million Albums Sold
Elvis' Christmas Album - Elvis Presley
Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness - Smashing Pumpkins
Hi Infidelity - R.E.O. Speedwagon
Top Gun (Soundtrack)
Footloose (Soundtrack)
Greatest Hits - Patsy Cline
Mariah Carey - Mariah Carey
Cooleyhighharmony - Boyz II Men
Garth Brooks - Garth Brooks
Licensed To Ill - Beastie Boys
The Sign - Ace Of Base
Escape - Journey
Whitney - Whitney Houston
The Best Of The Doors - The Doors
Some Gave All - Billy Ray Cyrus
Pyromania - Def Leppard
John Denver's Greatest Hits - John Denver
Brothers in Arms - Dire Straits
1 - The Beatles
All Eyez on Me - 2 Pac
Great Band Era - Various
Big Willie Style - Will Smith
Greatest Hits - 2 Pac
Oops! . . .I Did It Again - Britney Spears

8 Million Albums Sold
The Marshall Mathers LP - Eminem
Country Grammer - Nelly
Hybrid Theory - Linkin Park
The Writing's On The Wall - Destiny's Child
Christina Aguilera - Christina Aguilera
Breathe - Faith Hill
The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill - Lauryn Hill
R. - R. Kelly
Surfacing - Sarah McLachlan
Secrets - Toni Braxton
Black & Blue - Backstreet Boys
Come Away With Me - Norah Jones
The Eminem Show - Eminem
Speakerboxxx/the Love Below - Outkast
Greatest Hits - Fleetwood Mac (Warner Bros.)
Bad - Michael Jackson
Toys In The Attic - Aerosmith
Time, Love & Tenderness - Michael Bolton
In Pieces - Garth Brooks
Toni Braxton - Toni Braxton
The Chase - Garth Brooks
Bridge Over Troubled Water - Simon & Garfunkel
The Beatles Anthology, Vol 1 - The Beatles
Strait Out Of The Box - George Strait
Achtung Baby - U2
Whitesnake - Whitesnake
Core - Stone Temple Pilots
Hangin' Tough - New Kids On The Block
Grease (Soundtrack) - Various Artists
And Justice For All - Metallica
Synchronicity - The Police
Miracles: The Holiday Album - Kenny G
Led Zeppelin I - Led Zeppelin
Throwing Copper - Live

JumpingKentFlash

Well there's no accounting for popular tastes,
and sometimes I wish the Stones wouldn't try so hard,
and instead just follow their rock muse. Still,
they have done a lot to define this sound,
and Hot Rocks has been their reference
point for a lot of people. That's why
they play these warhorses so much
in concert.

>I had no idea that this was the case. I mean: Exile On Mani Street haven't even sold 8 million units yet. What's that all about??? Here's a list of the most sold albums in the USA ever.

Exile is FAR from the Stones most commercially successful album. It would barely have sold a couple of million in the US

"Exile is FAR from the Stones most commercially successful album. It would barely have sold a couple of million in the US"

It was widely regarded as a muddy, overblown mess when it came out a little more than a year after the pristine "Sticky Fingers." It eventually got modest commercial "legs" and the critics came around. By the time the comparatively lackluster "Goatshead Soup" was rolled out a year and a half after that, "Exile" was rightly regarded as a classic but was still a relatively expensive (double list-no discount) 2LP set. Today the "Exile'" CD is priced like any single CD.

By '75 the hits from "Exile" were on "Made In The Shade" making "Exile'" unnessessary to the casual buyer. Leastwise that's the way I remember selling them back then.

"Exile On Mainstreet" has always been 'under the radar' which is one of its many, MANY charms.

Hot Rocks is a double cd. So, normally you have to do 12/2 = 6 million. But I don't know if that's the case with Hot Rocks.

The Stones were never big sellers. That's known fact.
They have some good sellers like Some Girls (their best selling studio album) & Sticky Fingers, but generally they sold like an average popular band.

Exile has 3 times platinum in the states. That is 3 million copies were send to the shops. But do we have to divide that by 2 because it was a double album? It has something to do with the running time of each seperate disc.
But than I don't understand why you also had to divide 1962-1966 from the beatles by 2. Those two discs run for about 70 minutes.

Anyhow. They have no album in the list of the 100 best albums of all time (worldwide). They are not that commercial.

US Best Sellers
(According to RIAA Certifications/Billboard)

01. Hot Rocks (#4, 243 wks on chart, 12x Platinum)
02. Some Girls (#1, 82 wks on chart, 6x Platinum)
03. Tattoo You (#1, 58 wks on chart, 4x Platinum)
04. Forty Licks (#2, 48 wks on chart, 4x Platinum)
05. Sticky Fingers (#1, 62 wks on chart, 3x Platinum)
06. Exile On Main St. (#1, 43 wks on chart, 3x Platinum)
07. Goats Head Soup (#1, 37 wks on chart, 3x Platinum)
08. Big Hits (#3, 99 wks on chart, 2x Platinum)
09. Emotional Rescue (#1, 51 wks on chart, 2x Platinum)
10. Let It Bleed (#3, 44 wks on chart, 2x Platinum)
11. Voodoo Lounge (#2, 38 wks on chart, 2x Platinum)
12. Steel Wheels (#3, 36 wks on chart, 2x Platinum)
13. Out Of Our Heads (#1, 65 wks on chart, Platinum)
14. Aftermath (#2, 50 wks on chart, Platinum)
15. Through The Past, Darkly (#2, 32 wks on chart, Platinum)
16. Beggars Banquet (#5, 32 wks on chart, Platinum)
17. Bridges To Babylon (#3, 27 wks on chart, Platinum)
18. Dirty Work (#4, 25 wks on chart, Platinum)
19. Black And Blue (#1, 24 wks on chart, Platinum)
20. Undercover (#4, 23 wks on chart, Platinum)
21. Still Life (#5, 23 wks on chart, Platinum)
22. Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out! (#6, 23 wks on chart, Platinum)
23. Singles Collection (#91, 22 wks on chart, Platinum)
24. It's Only Rock'n Roll (#1, 20 wks on chart, Platinum)
25. Stripped (#9, 19 wks on chart, Platinum)
26. Made In The Shade (#6, 17 wks on chart, Platinum)
27. Now! (#5, 53 wks on chart, Gold)
28. Got Live If You Want It! (#6, 48 wks on chart, Gold)
29. Between The Buttons (#2, 47 wks on chart, Gold)
30. 12x5 (#3, 38 wks on chart, Gold)
31. Flowers (#3, 35 wks on chart, Gold)
32. England's Newest Hit Makers (#11, 35 wks on chart, Gold)
33. December's Children (#4, 33 wks on chart, Gold)
34. Their Satanic Majesties Request (#2, 30 wks on chart, Gold)
35. More Hot Rocks (#9, 29 wks on chart, Gold)
36. Love You Live (#5, 17 wks on chart, Gold)
37. Flashpoint (#16, 17 wks on chart, Gold)
38. Sucking In The Seventies (#15, 12 wks on chart, Gold)
39. Rewind (#86, 11 wks on chart, Gold)
40. Live Licks (#50, 2 wks on chart, Gold) *

No Certifications for:
41. Jump Back (#30, 23 wks on chart, 336.000 copies sold) **
42. Metamorphosis (#8, 13 wks on chart) ***
43. No Security (#34, 8 wks on chart, 325.000 copies sold)

Total Sales: 67+ million copies (#10 on all time artists)

* Live Licks didn't sell more than 85,000 copies to date.
** Jump Back will be Gold soon, the album spent 23 consecutives weeks on the Billboard 200 since last September (#138 this week).
*** Metamorphosis sold more than 500,000 copies.

One thing that nobody has mentioned is the longevity of the Stones. They have sold a good amount of discs for 40 years. Anybody else on the charts doing that? Hits collections not withstanding?
Their record is nothing to be ashamed of.

"04. Forty Licks (#2, 48 wks on chart, 4x Platinum)"

40 Licks outsells Hot Rocks now because it contains post '71 stuff AND because the list price is $10 lower than Hot Rocks.

Eventually 40 Licks will catch up and surpass Hot Rocks - but it might take another generation.

harlito1969 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> One thing that nobody has mentioned is the
> longevity of the Stones. They have sold a good
> amount of discs for 40 years. Anybody else on the
> charts doing that? Hits collections not
> withstanding?
> Their record is nothing to be ashamed of.
>


Their chart span in US is from June 1964 up to this week, 40 years and 8 months between Englands Newest Hits Makers and Jump Back. The Stones are #5 on all time top artists according to Billboard:
1. Frank Sinatra
2. Johnny Mathis
3. Beatles
4. Elvis
5. Rolling Stones

R Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Eventually 40 Licks will catch up and surpass Hot
> Rocks - but it might take another generation.


I will take 20 years or so!


I have a Soundscan sample for the Stones catalog for the issue date Jan 8, 2005, the Christamas week:

1. Jump Back (32,200 / #116 on Billboard 200)
2. Forty Licks (10,300 / #56 on Pop Catalog)
3. Live Licks (6,800)
4. Hot Rocks (3,100)
5. Let It Bleed (1,100)
6. Sticky Fingers (950)
7. Exile (810)
9. Beggars Banquet (700)
10. Some Girls (350)
35. No Security (10)
+ 1,500 copies from others 24 albums

Stones sales from last Christmas week, no tour, no new album and no promotion: 57,810 copies.


Now I have a Soundscan sample from two weeks ago, issue date Jan. 29, 2005:

1. Jump Back (7,872 / #127 on Billboard 200)
2. Forty Licks (2,800 / #79 on Pop Catalog)
3. Live Licks (1,800)
4. Hot Rocks (1,000)
5. Sticky Fingers (450)
35. No Security (3)

+ 1,000 copies from others 29 albums

Stones sales from an average week, no tour, no new album and no promotion: 15,000.

The RIAA counts double discs as two sold so in all of the above cases where it's a double disc, only half have literally been sold, so six million people have actually purchased Hot Rocks. Likewise, 11 1/2 million people have purchased The Wall.
Looking at the top of the list, it's doubtful that anyone could catch the Eagles since their Greatest Hits album is easily their biggest seller and I believe continues to sell very well each year.
Thriller is the biggest selling album worldwide selling 45 million and Back In Black is now second at 39 million. Perhaps in several years, it will overtake Thriller.

Well, Thriller sold 59 million copies worldwide. Back in Black is second with 40 million copies.

Thriller sold 45 million in its initial chart run, but kept on selling after that.

So the gap is 19 million copies. I think Thriller will forever be the #1 largest selling album of all time.

It was mentioned in the Rolling Stone Magazine commemerative TOTA glossy special edition that, even in '75, Olivia Newton-John dwarfed The Stones in record sales. That's because The Stones have always been perceived as a LIVE band. As much as I like and admire Madonna, I'd rather see Mick and the boys play warhorses than Madonna lip-synch her way yet again through "Vogue."

"The wonder of Jimi Hendrix was that he could stand up at all he was so pumped full of drugs." Patsy, Patsy Stone