Hi,

Please go to :

[www.beatzenith.com]

Thanks - every studio album since Satanic has gone platinum or better, all prior to that gold or platinum...What a track record! 40 gold albums (US), 2nd only to the Beatles (42), & the site (dated 12/04) aint counting the still selling (& gold) Jump Back...

it makes 67 500 000 sales for albums, 2 350 000 for videos/dvds & 5 000 000 for singles.

It's quite surprising how low the sales number for videos & DVDs is..
we could expect much more.

who is the biggest albums seller ?
is it still Michael Jackson ? or the King or the Beatles ?

Jump Back was certified GOLD too in March.
The Stones have 41 Gold records from 43 chart entries, only Metamorphosis and No Security are without any award. Live Licks got a Gold award in december but that CD sold 102,000 copies in US so far!

Probably Elvis as the biggest seller?

Vilhelm
Nordic Stones Vikings

Top Artists

Totals are derived from cumulative album sales totals (U.S. only)

Artist
Certified Units (in Millions)

BEATLES, THE
166.5

PRESLEY, ELVIS
117.5

LED ZEPPELIN
106.0

BROOKS, GARTH
105.0

EAGLES
88.0

JOEL, BILLY
78.5

PINK FLOYD
73.5

STREISAND, BARBRA
71.5

JOHN, ELTON
67.5

AEROSMITH
64.0

ROLLING STONES, THE
63.5

AC/DC
63.0

SPRINGSTEEN, BRUCE
61.5

MADONNA
60.0

JACKSON, MICHAEL
58.5

METALLICA
57.0

CAREY, MARIAH
57.0

STRAIT, GEORGE
54.5

HOUSTON, WHITNEY
54.0

VAN HALEN
50.5


This is only for the US. You have to read it with in your mind how many albums every artist has released.

Like The Rolling Stones: 63.5 million for over 30 albums.
Michael Jackson: 58.5 for 6 albums.

Gawd, the Fourheaded monster on top...

Vilhelm
Nordic Stones Vikings

Hi Bowiestone. I see that list on the RIAA website. I wish they'd update it since it's from August 2003.
Since then, Back In Black has sold another 2 million copies and High Voltage was certified 3x platinum so AC/DC's total should be at 66 million now. As well, several Van Halen albums were re certified so I know their numbers should be several million higher, too. I'm sure most of the artists listed have had albums that have been recertified.
What surprises me is that the Stones haven't really sold that many albums in the States even though they've released alot of albums. Garth Brooks's numbers are amazing, although I honestly don't think that going forward, he'll sell a lot more. Eagles will continue to sell a ton of their Greatest Hits album.
I doubt any band will match the sales that 4 Flicks has done. 19x platinum, although each one sold counts as 4 because of the number of DVD's in it.

Michael Jackson has several solo albums on Motown recorded prior to his Sony debut in '79 (which is when Bowiestone is starting the '6 albums' count)...Also the Stones' accomplishment commercially is not a handful of massive hits, but remarkably strong sales over a 43 year career: every studio lp since 12 x 5 has gone top 5 in Billboard (unequaled, except by Beatles/Zep in shorter time frames), & every studio album has reached gold or platinum (and since Satanic, they've all gone platinum or better). It's useful to remember the sheer number of albums sold in the 80s/90s is vastly larger than in the 60s.The carefully contrived 'blockbuster' just didnt exist. Finally, some artists do have a couple of 'diamond' level blockbusters (like, nearly half of Jackson's 58 million is due to Thriller) with much of the rest of that catalog unimpressive saleswise, which is again contrary to the Stones' ongoing, uninterrupted popularity. (I exclude of course the Stones' own perverse inclination for live albums that have so disappointed listers that no one buys them anymore, or the odd contract-fulfilling comp).

The Stones had never been top sellers, but it's impressive how stable, steady sellers they are! Their studio albums of 1989 and 1994 have sold much more than the 1983 and 1986 albums did. A "best of"in 2002 sold much, much more than the "best of" in 1984 and 1993. Even "Live Licks", that came out very late (one year after the tour and after DVD's realise,too) finally sold similarly to the Flashpoint (1991). And DVD ("Forty Flicks")has sold 1.9 million!

Who cares about the singles if the albums are selling well? Also somebody can tell: "Who cares about the sells if they make good albums?" (Like "VL"? Like B2B? I say both...). But to be honest, all of us at heart care about the figures of their popularity, not only about the quality of their works. It's logic, we are fans. To me, the clearest figure of their popularity is the number of the audiences, the whole number of the people they have attract live in the last years: Since 1989, 22 or 23 million people!!

PS RIAA's lists are not indicating the real numbers because they round off the figures. For these indicators it's the same the sells of 2.1 million and the sells of 2.9 million. "2 platinum"... So, for example, Voodoo Lounge has sold in the USA 1.5 million copies (worldwide 7 or 8), not one million. B2B 1.2 (ww 3). Anyway...

I wrote: "And DVD ("Forty Flicks") sold 1.9 million!" Of course is 475,000 (1,900,000: 4). Still a huge number for a DVD.

john r Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Michael Jackson has several solo albums on Motown
> recorded prior to his Sony debut in '79 (which is
> when Bowiestone is starting the '6 albums'
> count)...

He indeed has, but Motown wasn't a member of the association so a motown act was never certified with gold or platinum. In was until the late seventies/early eighties that Motown finally received certifications.

But there are no certifications for Motown Michael jackson albums (1972-1975) or Jackson 5 albums (1969-1975).

The number RIAA uses is based on gold and (multi)platinum certifications. So in Jacksons case that starts in 79 with Off The Wall.

If you search for Stevie Wonder (a huge seller) you see that his first certification was for Hotter Than July in 1981. While Innervisions, Talking Book, Fulfillingness sold a lot more... but no certifications. (Songs In The Key of Life received all of a sudden a diamond certification last year... before that it had none)

That was the case with Motown.

I don't think this is unimpressive:
Off The Wall: 7x Platinum
Bad: 8x Platinum
Dangerous: 7x Platinum
History: 7 x Platinum

That's actually a very consistent high selling artist. Thriller was a phenomenon. 27 million...
Invincible didn't do well (2x platinum)... but that's it.

If you look at his worldwide sellings... very impressive: Off The Wall, 19 million. Thriller, 59 million. Bad, 28 million. Dangerous, 29 million. History, 18 million. Blood On The Dancefloor, 6 million. Invincible, 9 million.




Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2005-06-19 14:06 by BowieStone.

They are indeed impressive, but we're talking about 4 or 5 albums - you can also infer from chart stats (on the Motown stuff) roughly how well the pre-Off the Wall solo stuff did - my point is the Stones are always (studio) platinum or multiplatinum - I dont think 2 million (Invincible) is 'poor' unless you compare it to 24 million (or whatever the latest on Thriller is). Also, I didnt know when this was compiled (aug '03?), but if that's the case we're missing the (what, 3 or 4 X platinum?) Licks album & Abkco reissues. And I'm not trying to compare numbers with quality or importance (Garth Brooks - the Herb Alpert of the 90s? Herb was one of the 4 or 5 most successful acts of the 60s...)

Got to be there & Ben (his first two solo albums) did well, but there are no salesnumbers for the pre-off the wall stuff. 'Music & Me' & 'Forever, Michael' did very poor.
But those albums are not included in the RIAA list.
He also had large sales with The Jackson 5 & The Jacksons.

But it's not about selling ofcourse.
The Stones were never big sellers. They always sell good. Very consistent. Not very high, but also not low.