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georgelicks
Also, how many copies of some of their songs are splited among various albums?

Let's take one, "Brown Sugar":

13.5m Hot Rocks
9.4m Sticky Fingers
7.7m Forty Licks
6.9m Jump Back
4.0m Flashpoint
2.5m Rewind
2.5m Love You Live
2.4m Get Stoned/Greatest Hits
2.2m GRRR
2.2m Singles Collection
1.9m Made In The Shade
1.5m Rolled Gold
0.8m Live Licks
0.7m Shine a Light

+ 4.5m from the physical/digital single

+ 6-7m from other albums (Sweet Summer Sun + vault live albums as Hampton 81, Texas 81, SF Live, etc + local compilations) and live videos (At The Max, B2B live, Four Flicks, Biggest Bang, etc.)

Total: 69m+ copies sold

Almost 70 million copies of Brown Sugar floating around over there.

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Testify

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Doxa

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Testify
Some girls knew it was the best-selling album (leaving out compilations), but I'm glad to see VL right behind LIB, I always thought it's a great album.

SOME GIRLS is their best selling studio album because Americans decided during the summer of 1978 that it was the best thing one can get. That explains its huge sales (6.8 m units sold only in the US market). It was a great seller all over the world, but, for example, in Europe it has sold about the same as VOODOO LOUNGE did, both EXILE and STICKY FINGERS selling more. In UK, BLUE & LONESOME has sold almost as many copies as SOME GIRLS!

Anyway, my biggest concern has always been relatively small sales of BEGGARS BANQUET. It is one of their most hailed albums ever but that doesn't quite translate in sales.

- Doxa

Sorry but ... what did the Americans do to you? Do you mean to say that Americans are less important? I am European, but your speech does not seem acceptable to me or at least I don't understand it.

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Doxa

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Spud
Oh, I know , you're 100% right .

But we still feel better for having a moan don't we .

Hahaha... totally justified! There are ways of doing the self-therapy... mine is trying to see some sort of reason behind all of this....

- Doxa

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Doxa

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Spud

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Testify
My nephew of 17 years has recently become passionate about the Rolling Stones, this Honk will be his first album and he already asks me if they will still play in Europe! Whether you like it or not, the Rolling Stones have this magnet for the new generation, it's the strength of rock'n roll and it doesn't matter if it's another collection for someone this is its first collection! Respect !

Right...so that raises an interesting thought.

Instead of assuming that yet another "Greatest Hitss" collection is just a repeated cynical money spinning exercise to extract more money from the same customer base ...

...We accept a marketing wisdom that you need a "new" product to win a new and younger audience ?

The premise is to make money - but that's not any news, no record companies like UMG or entertainers like the Stones are any charity organisations - but I think both of those suggestions hold true.

One needs to have "new" products in form of greatest hits collections to gather the potential money from casual costomers. The record companies are so smart that they know that not anyone is a hardcore fan who owns all of their catalogue so far in order to buy any new Rolling Stones albums. Even the hardcore fans were not born to be such, but needed to start from somewhere. A greatest hits collection is many times a good option for that. Then there are people occasionally going to their concerts, and easily want to have something to go with it, especially being stunned by the concert (The Stones, by the way, have promoted their greatest hits collections for ages now by touring them). Then there are people having a nostalgic feel, and want suddenly to update their youthful memories if a suitable easily reachable compilation is available ('"give me money back, this bloody Honk doesn't contain "Satisfaction" or any of those songs I remember, 'best of' my ass...). Then there are people who just out of curiosity and the feel of the moment under right cirmustances go: "Rolling Stones? Heard much about them. Why not..." Will any of these people buy anything else ever, doesn't really matter. One more sold copy anyway.

But the cruel fact the potential casual costumer-base as described above is getting smaller and smaller. The people interested in rock music are aging, and quite many of them already own some sort of Stones greatest hits collection. The kids just stream what they want, and one cannot do miracles with just one Eddie Sheeran track.. And they probably have told to their pas and grandpas already, 'please no new Rolling Stones hit compilation for this Xmas again'.

Here comes the cynicism. The record company knows that any big catalogue artist has a loyal hardcore fanbase who already own their whole catalogue. This is a resource one can, thankfully, always count on. As the years go by, more important they and their money is (thankfully, being rather aged, they are also rather wealthy and used to buy stuff). For them two different tactics are applied. First of all, there is an army of loyalists who buy anything anyway. For them go and release the product in as many as possible, variant forms and packages and they will buy them all. Then, secondly, there is not so-loyal, but a bit bigger bunch who need something extra to stimulate them to buy the product. Give them something non-released before (something like a couple of new tracks or a live album), and the deal is done.

Oh-la-la. Nothing else left to do than laugh all the way to bank.

- Doxa

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GasLightStreet
This release is hilarious. What the hell!

Here's another bizarre comp, from RSR, that includes tracks from LOVE YOU LIVE and STILL LIFE.




[www.discogs.com]

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GasLightStreet

EDIT: After a look at discogs.com for JUMP BACK... the 2004 edition is the 1993 edition.

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ironbelly

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GasLightStreet

EDIT: After a look at discogs.com for JUMP BACK... the 2004 edition is the 1993 edition.

Jump Back was European only release. It was not sold in the USA. It appears in the USA only in 2004 with that strange blue cover.

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Testify
I never thought that the success of an album necessarily corresponds to quality, but it is an important indicator. Each of us has different musical sensibilities, but it's nice to know that your musical sensibility sometimes matches the success of an album. For me music is sacred, I don't like it all, but I always have great respect for those with other tastes. I can't stand having the presumption to say that what he listens to is better ...

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ironbelly

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bitusa2012

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ironbelly

Jump Back was European only release. It was not sold in the USA. It appears in the USA only in 2004 with that strange blue cover.

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GasLightStreet

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boogaloojef

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Doxa

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Testify
Some girls knew it was the best-selling album (leaving out compilations), but I'm glad to see VL right behind LIB, I always thought it's a great album.

SOME GIRLS is their best selling studio album because Americans decided during the summer of 1978 that it was the best thing one can get. That explains its huge sales (6.8 m units sold only in the US market). It was a great seller all over the world, but, for example, in Europe it has sold about the same as VOODOO LOUNGE did, both EXILE and STICKY FINGERS selling more. In UK, BLUE & LONESOME has sold almost as many copies as SOME GIRLS!

Anyway, my biggest concern has always been relatively small sales of BEGGARS BANQUET. It is one of their most hailed albums ever but that doesn't quite translate in sales.

- Doxa

I think it's concerning that something like Bridges to Babylon, Steel Wheels and even Emotional Rescue outsold better albums like Aftermath and Out Of Our Heads as well as Beggars Banquet.

Two of those three had huge tours. STEEL WHEELS was the water tank after a drought so it made sense that it would sell well. #5 single with Mixed Emotions, people were excited.

BRIDGES... no big hits on it but perhaps the singles got enough attention in other ways that made people interested. It's also a very diverse album so it's possible word of mouth helped out with that.

EMOTIONAL RESCUE had a huge single (#3) with the title track and it was on the back of SOME GIRLS - people were still paying attention. Their longest running #1 LP ever - without a tour. In the US anyway, Start Me Up got to #2, with a tour. So that gives the significance of Emotional Rescue's single release some weight as a hit song, which they bizarrely ignored on tours - they should've played it for the 1981-82 tours.

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ironbelly

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GasLightStreet

EDIT: After a look at discogs.com for JUMP BACK... the 2004 edition is the 1993 edition.

Jump Back was European only release. It was not sold in the USA. It appears in the USA only in 2004 with that strange blue cover.

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nankerphlege

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ironbelly

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GasLightStreet

EDIT: After a look at discogs.com for JUMP BACK... the 2004 edition is the 1993 edition.

Jump Back was European only release. It was not sold in the USA. It appears in the USA only in 2004 with that strange blue cover.

It was released in the US in 1993. I bought Jump Back in 1993 at a record store here in the US. Probably a chain called Turtles. It wasn’t a one off as others bought it as well.

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GasLightStreet

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nankerphlege

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ironbelly

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GasLightStreet

EDIT: After a look at discogs.com for JUMP BACK... the 2004 edition is the 1993 edition.

Jump Back was European only release. It was not sold in the USA. It appears in the USA only in 2004 with that strange blue cover.

It was released in the US in 1993. I bought Jump Back in 1993 at a record store here in the US. Probably a chain called Turtles. It wasn’t a one off as others bought it as well.

That was strictly an import. I got it then in New Orleans.

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ironbelly

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GasLightStreet

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nankerphlege

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ironbelly

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GasLightStreet

EDIT: After a look at discogs.com for JUMP BACK... the 2004 edition is the 1993 edition.

Jump Back was European only release. It was not sold in the USA. It appears in the USA only in 2004 with that strange blue cover.

It was released in the US in 1993. I bought Jump Back in 1993 at a record store here in the US. Probably a chain called Turtles. It wasn’t a one off as others bought it as well.

That was strictly an import. I got it then in New Orleans.

Correct. It was sold as import. But not as original US release which appeared in 2004.

Jump Back: The Best of The Rolling Stones is the sixth official compilation album by The Rolling Stones. It was initially released worldwide, except in North America, in 1993. The North American release came on 24 August 2004.

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Toru A
2005&2009 remastered albums will be released on May 22.
[www.musiclifeclub.com]

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Rockman
It was initially released worldwide, except in North America, in 1993. The North American release came on 24 August 2004.

Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't
the track by track liner notes by Mick
and Keith only first appear on the 2004 US release ….

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ironbelly

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Toru A
2005&2009 remastered albums will be released on May 22.
[www.musiclifeclub.com]

A bit messed up. The other press release claim 2009 remaster for all but Sucking in the 70's, not for Rewind.
[www.universal-music.co.jp]
In any case, these are for die-hard only, IMHO.
Apart of 2005 remaster nothing can beat old editions
1975 - Made In The Shade [CDCBS 450201 2] / [32DP604]
1980 - Sucking In The 70s [CDCBS 450205 2] / [32DP610]
and 1984 - Rewind [CP35-5021]
in terms of sound quality.
The other two is just copy-paste job from 2009 sources and special booklets. So, you know .