Best selling albums in the US by release date, 1956-2011

[Spiderpig]

Where's is Survivor, Dangerously In Love and B'Day?

maybe you should look again...

RedSimba, "Songs In The Key Of Life" is a double lp, so 10x platinum = 5 million shipped

[Spiderpig]

I got a question for the UKMIX chart experts : what's your estimation for the Sound Of Music soundtrack ? I only know that one version was certified gold in 1960, and another one in 1965 (the movie soundtrack), and since it's the 3rd biggest movie of all time in the US I guess it must have sold at least 3 or 4 million...

nobody ?
I read somewhere that the 1959 version sold 3 million copies and apparently RCA claimed that the 1965 version sold 11 million copies, which would make it the best selling album from 1965...

[MJDangerous]

When the Beatles released their White Album is 1968, advance orders were outstanding. The Rolling Stones magazine writed an article about its sales by the end of 1968, on it we can read:

To catch the all-time top-selling LP, the Sound of Music soundtrack, The Beatles would have to top 8 million in sales. Considering the unprecedented demand for the new Beatles offering, that's not unthinkable.

[Spiderpig]

8 million by the end of 1968 ? is this possible ? or is it worldwide sales ?
anyway I begin to wonder if it could be the most undercertified album ever...

[MJDangerous]

Here is the full article, they refer to US sales:

Beatles Record-Busting LP May Be All-Time Biggest
"Meet the Beatles" meets "The Beatles"

Posted Dec 21, 1968 12:00 AM

The new The Beatles double-record album (Apple SWBO 101) after one week in record stores, is the fastest selling Beatles album ever -- and probably the fastest-selling LP of any sort. It's a good bet to surpass Meet the Beatles, which sold 5.8 million copies (NB: A typo here in the article, which says "58 million", I corrected it since they mean clearly 5.8 million) , and become the Beatles' biggest album yet.

Nearly three and a half million copies have been shipped to stores so far, according to Capitol, Apple's US distributor -- and they were snapped up so fast that store owners began reordering the same day they got their first consignments.

And the Beatles single "Hey Jude" is well on its way to becoming their top selling single to date. With sales of better than 3 million in two months, "Hey Jude" is still selling about 200,000 a week, Capitol says, with no sign of slowing down. It's been Number One on the charts for the past 12 weeks.

To catch the all-time top-selling LP, the Sound of Music soundtrack, The Beatles would have to top 8 million in sales. Considering the unprecedented demand for the new Beatles offering, that's not unthinkable.

The album was given one full week of air-play before it reached the stores. This is normally thought to be poison on sales.

But rather than breeding familiarity, the advance air-play only whetted the appetite of the audience. Capitol executives all over the country received phone calls night and day from younger Beatle fans, asking them to set aside the first copy they got "so I can be the first kid at my high school with one."

The stations were similarly besieged with callers. "There was such a tremendous number of people calling to ask when it would go on sale," says Tom Donahue, program director at San Francisco rock station KSAN FM, "that our phones were all but useless."

In city after city around the country, the impact was amazing. For several days, at least half the programming on many shiners was The Beatles. A few jumped the gun, and played it before Capitol-Apple's 4:00 PM Friday, Nov. 15, release date. Lawyers representing Capitol quickly put a stop to this.

It seemed as if the only music worth hearing was the new Beatles, and some stations played the one hour, 40 minute double album continuously. San Francisco pop station KFRC's latest Top Thirty listing lists The Beatles title by title, from 1-30, perhaps the most accurate possible indication of the album's stature.

One free-enterpnsing record shop was running ads in underground papers here, reading, "**** our competitors. Buy first tape at $2.91. Receive second tape for $1.91. New Beatle tape." There were rumors of pirating in every city during the week before the record sent on sale.

Advance orders before the album went on sale came to 1.7 million, nearly half a million over any previous Capitol advance order, and though to be the largest advance order ever.

In San Francisco, Capitol distributors were telling record stores that no dealer had gotten more than 50 percent of his initial order -- so heavy was the demand -- and most, much less.

Capitol spokesmen here said those figures were off the mark, but declined to say how much, or in which direction.

Capitol record-factory men had never seen anything like the initial demand. "It's especially tricky in a thing like this," one told Rolling Stone, "where you don 't know if it's going to be two- or three- or four- or five-million, because if we don't make enough you could miss a lot of sales. But if you print too many, you can lose a pile of money.

And then The Beatles went on sale. Almost instantly, stores sold out. The Harvard Coop sold out its 1500 copies the first day. Tower Records in San Francisco too sold out 2000 in a day, got a reorder of 1500 a day laterer and sold those in 24 hours. It was the same story all across the U.S.

Capitol sold 3,301,275 copies to stores within four days of its going on sale. Though no firm figures are in yet on sales to the public, it can be assumed, that many of these are now in the hands of Beatles fans old and new.

For comparison, the two Simon and Garfunkel albums, The Graduate soundtrack and Bookends have dominated the LP charts this past year, with each pressing toward 2 million sales, The Graduate. The record setting soundtrack recording for The Sound of Music has been on the charts for nearly four years.

It is likely that The Beatles has already passed Meet the Beatles in terms of profits. Since it is a two record set, 6.6 individual records are actually on the market. The list price of the new record is $11.98. The list price of the new record is $11.98, compared with $4.79 for a Capitol LP.

The normal arrangement for royalties on recordings is five per cent to the artist. But since the Beatles own Apple their share is doubtless larger.

And it isn't just that people are buying the new album. Reports indicate that significant number of people are picking up old Beatles albums they hadn't bought the first time around -- most usually either Sargeant Pepper or Magical Mystery Tour. New demand for these two records -- both of which were still in the top One Hundred LP's bracket before the entry of the new album -- has jumped enough that Capitol is reshipping them nationally.

The Beatles went on sale before Capitol had originally intended it should. "We hadn't planned to ship it until December 1st," says Rocky Catena, the company's national marketing chief, "but we just couldn't hold off any longer."

Meanwhile, "Hey Jude" is already the 16th Beatles single to sell over a million, and figures to eclipse the best-seller to date, "I Want to Hold Your Hand," which grossed about 4 million sales. Whether "Hey Jude" might rival the mid-Fifties sales of Elivs Presley and Patti Page singles is another question. Patti's "Tennessee Waltz" is send to have sold about 7 million, incredibly enough.

Among the artists who are to record "Hey Jude" are Wilson Pickett, Jose Feliciano and Bing Crosby.

[Spiderpig]

nice find !
and if these figures are real... wow, it would mean that TSOM is probably the first album to sell 5 million copies (btw Josh Groban's "Noel" is probably the last one ) and also maybe the first album to sell 10 million copies
I've read somewhere that the movie sold more than 140 million tickets in the US, so in a way it'd be logical (Grease sold around 75 million tickets for example).

[Herkenrath]

MJDangerous, that is an incredibly informative article you dug out there. I had no idea the late-60s "Rolling Stone" would have articles on record sales as detailed as that, it reads like something I would have expected from "Billboard".

[Dane]

Top 10 selling 2008 releases, and a few to watch:

1 - 19 LIL WAYNE THA CARTER III 25,992 -55 57,813 2,900,412
2 - 1 SWIFT*TAYLOR FEARLESS 89,607 -66 262,399 2,201,786
3 - 25 COLDPLAY VIVA LA VIDA 24,280 -59 59,924 2,168,208
4 - 37 AC/DC BLACK ICE 19,202 -80 96,738 1,934,374
5 - 32 METALLICA DEATH MAGNETIC 20,998 -69 68,165 1,586,076
6 - 13 T.I. PAPER TRAIL 32,180 -59 78,319 1,554,283
7 - 2 BEYONCE I AM...SASHA FIERCE 76,938 -64 210,918 1,535,791
8 - 107 JOHNSON*JACK SLEEP THROUGH THE STATIC 6,625 - 56 14,980 1,499,104
9 - 12 MAMMA MIA SOUNDTRACK 36,607 -51 74,132 1,442,305
10 - 60 JONAS BROTHERS LITTLE BIT LONGER 12,566 -80 62,099 1,422,640

11 - 56 LEWIS*LEONA SPIRIT 12,804 -60 32,027 1,407,356

28 HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 3: SENIOR SOUNDTRACK 21,815 -74 82,376 1,256,077
5 NICKELBACK DARK HORSE 64,385 -64 177,297 1,229,650
4 TWILIGHT SOUNDTRACK 65,827 -56 148,157 1,193,366
6 SPEARS*BRITNEY CIRCUS 64,060 -68 202,841 1,168,403
3 WEST*KANYE 808S & HEARTBREAK 70,932 -57 165,117 1,094,859

[Spiderpig]

1963 and 1964 added

[Dane]

Top 10 selling 2008 releases, and a few to watch:

1 - 26 LIL WAYNE THA CARTER III 15,887 15,355 3 2,949,420
2 - 1 SWIFT*TAYLOR FEARLESS 62,575 63,301 -1 2,399,189
3 - 40 COLDPLAY VIVA LA VIDA 12,693 12,923 -2 2,208,459
4 - 43 AC/DC BLACK ICE 11,493 11,175 3 1,969,603
5 - 2 BEYONCE I AM...SASHA FIERCE 50,927 49,221 3 1,685,304
6 - 44 METALLICA DEATH MAGNETIC 11,453 11,167 3 1,621,899
7 - 18 T.I. PAPER TRAIL 20,889 20,178 4 1,617,709
8 - 140 JOHNSON*JACK SLEEP THROUGH THE STATIC 3,533 3,548 0 1,510,782
9 - 21 MAMMA MIA SOUNDTRACK 18,840 20,966 -10 1,507,869
10 - 64 JONAS BROTHERS LITTLE BIT LONGER 7,855 6,477 21 1,444,197

11 - 48 LEWIS*LEONA SPIRIT 10,001 9,433 6 1,435,917

3 NICKELBACK DARK HORSE 45,031 46,408 -3 1,373,618
33 SUGARLAND LOVE ON THE INSIDE 14,156 12,757 11 1,358,929
5 TWILIGHT SOUNDTRACK 33,066 36,010 -8 1,305,330
7 SPEARS*BRITNEY CIRCUS 30,825 34,015 -9 1,273,499
4 WEST*KANYE 808S & HEARTBREAK 39,234 39,529 -1 1,224,108

(50 HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 3: SENIOR SOUNDTRACK 9,693 9,626 1 1,286,739 )

[Spiderpig]

1956 to 1962 added
Lots of gold albums of course, so I didn't really rank them. It seems like very few albums from the previous years were certified (I only found a dozen), so I guess it all really started in 1956 (the year of the first Elvis album I believe).

and thanks Dane seems like Beyonce will pass AC/DC soon...

[Dane]

I hope not, but she is having solid sales!

[MJDangerous]

Spider, I think you should add John Coltrane. Hard to tell how much he sold, but the following 4 albums are definitely in the top 10 of their respective years:

1957 Blue Train
1959 Giant Steps
1960 My Favorite Things
1964 A Love Supreme (over 500k soundscan alone)

Calypso by Harry Belafonte was the first million seller ever.

[MJDangerous]

A few more:

Kind Of Blue by Miles Davis is now 4xPlatinum.
Sketches Of Spain by Miles Davis sold over 750k according to Soundscan alone.

His Birth Of The Cool scanned 215k+, it was released in 1949!

Time Out by Dave Brubeck scanned over 1.1m, at least 2m sold.

[Spiderpig]

thanks for this MJD, I think I'll add the Coltrane albums... do you think they could all be million sellers ? (A Love Supreme obviously is, released in 1965 btw but it certainly sold more than "Early Beatles")
and about Sketches Of Spain, do you think it could have sold 2 million ? I say that because 1960 looks kinda sad (just like Elvis at his piano )

[Spiderpig]

I hope not, but she is having solid sales!

yeah if she keeps on like this she could actually pass Coldplay too (and it could end up as her most successful album)

[MJDangerous]

thanks for this MJD, I think I'll add the Coltrane albums... do you think they could all be million sellers ? (A Love Supreme obviously is, released in 1965 btw but it certainly sold more than "Early Beatles")
and about Sketches Of Spain, do you think it could have sold 2 million ? I say that because 1960 looks kinda sad (just like Elvis at his piano )

A Love Supreme is even over 600k according to SS (449k and 164k for 2 different editions, that do not even cover all sales). Blue Train may be as high as ALS (in 99 it was the #9 Jazz album of the year for example). My Favourite Things was in the top 50 catalog chart this year and Giant Steps is a classic too. The first two are for sure well over 1m (even maybe 2m), the two others should be at just 1m or more. They were all avalaible on Clubs.

Sketches Of Spain too was avalaible at least at Columbia House, it has shipped at least a million since 1991 so I would say yes it should be easily over 2 million from its release to now.

I still wonder how much Kind Of Blue sold since the 4m copies concern the CD only. Could be anywhere from 6m to ... !

[Spiderpig]

I still wonder how much Kind Of Blue sold since the 4m copies concern the CD only. Could be anywhere from 6m to ... !

the best selling album from the 50's ?

I added the Coltrane albums, and Sketches Of Spain is now the #1 album from 1960

[Dane]

The top 15 releases of 2008:

1 - 22 LIL WAYNE THA CARTER III 20,158 15,569 29 2,985,147
2 - 4 SWIFT*TAYLOR FEARLESS 63,892 55,102 16 2,518,183
3 - 31 COLDPLAY VIVA LA VIDA 16,721 11,280 48 2,236,460
4 - 50 AC/DC BLACK ICE 11,745 10,951 7 1,992,299
5 - 5 BEYONCE I AM...SASHA FIERCE 51,371 51,531 0 1,788,206

6 - 19 T.I. PAPER TRAIL 22,919 20,561 11 1,661,189
7 - 52 METALLICA DEATH MAGNETIC 11,584 11,031 5 1,644,514
8 - 30 MAMMA MIA SOUNDTRACK 16,754 16,167 4 1,540,790
9 - 178 JOHNSON*JACK SLEEP THROUGH THE STATIC 3,493 2,976 17 1,517,251
10 - 6 NICKELBACK DARK HORSE 47,338 43,774 8 1,464,730

11 - 42 LEWIS*LEONA SPIRIT 12,742 9,534 34 1,458,193
12 - 98 JONAS BROTHERS LITTLE BIT LONGER 7,118 6,637 7 1,457,930
13 - 41 SUGARLAND LOVE ON THE INSIDE 12,768 12,597 1 1,384,294
14 - 18 TWILIGHT SOUNDTRACK 23,400 24,621 -5 1,353,351
15 - 11 SPEARS*BRITNEY CIRCUS 30,469 28,412 7 1,332,380

Kanye may join the club soon:

9 WEST*KANYE 808S & HEARTBREAK 33,882 33,228 2 1,291,218

Nickelback has pushed Jo Bros out of the top 10 (Leona has overtaken them too). Dark Horse will be the 10th album to pass 1.5M scans next week

Jack Johnson's days in the top 10 may be numbered too, but who's gonna replace him? Leona? Britney? Or perhaps Kanye?

Also next week AC/DC's Black Ice will be the 4th album to pass 2M , and Lil' Wayne's Carter III will be the first to pass 3M

[MJDangerous]

So, 7 albums safe in the top 10 (at least until a long time):

Lil Wayne
Taylor Swift
Coldplay
AC/DC
Beyonce
TI
Nickelback

Three spots to take. Britney & Kanye are the hottest albums not there yet, so they have good chances to get in. That would put one of the following two out: Mamma Mia and Metallica.

I still wonder how much Kind Of Blue sold since the 4m copies concern the CD only. Could be anywhere from 6m to ... !

the best selling album from the 50's ?

I added the Coltrane albums, and Sketches Of Spain is now the #1 album from 1960

Depends how you consider Christmas Album versions of Elvis. Adding different editions it sold over 14 million!

[Dane]

So, 7 albums safe in the top 10 (at least until a long time):

Lil Wayne
Taylor Swift
Coldplay
AC/DC
Beyonce
TI
Nickelback

Three spots to take. Britney & Kanye are the hottest albums not there yet, so they have good chances to get in. That would put one of the following two out: Mamma Mia and Metallica.

I think Metallica is pretty safe too. For now at least. Mamma Mia is only gaining about 5k a week, at that pace it's gonna take 20 weeks to catch DM. And by then sales of Mamma Mia must have dropped...

Furthermore, DM still has a +300k lead over Britney and +350k lead over Kanye. That's gonna take quite a while to catch up... if ever.

But I agree with you, those 11 albums have the best cards for a place in the top 10 by years end

[Spiderpig]

yeah I think Metallica could keep selling for a while and easily pass 2m, I'm still not sure about Kanye... but if he eventually makes it it'll be the first time that 3 rappers end up in the top 10 (and it'll also be the first time for him, since Graduation will probably be outsold by Back To Black).

good news : it seems like there won't be one single Disney album in the 2008 top 10

[Dane]

Top 15 2008 releases:

1 - 33 LIL WAYNE THA CARTER III 17,660 -35 3,029,770
2 - 1 SWIFT*TAYLOR FEARLESS 62,272 -32 2,672,171
3 - 14 COLDPLAY VIVA LA VIDA 27,877 -55 2,326,443
4 - 76 AC/DC BLACK ICE 8,257 -45 2,015,469
5 - 5 BEYONCE I AM...SASHA FIERCE 40,540 -25 1,882,683

6 - 12 T.I. PAPER TRAIL 29,286 -12 1,723,807
7 - 60 METALLICA DEATH MAGNETIC 10,374 -34 1,670,656
8 - 43 MAMMA MIA SOUNDTRACK 13,770 -27 1,573,515
9 - 4 NICKELBACK DARK HORSE 43,240 -23 1,563,939
10 - 191 JOHNSON*JACK SLEEP THROUGH THE STATIC 3,242 -23 1,524,694

11 - 61 LEWIS*LEONA SPIRIT 10,339 -35 1,484,453
12 - 86 JONAS BROTHERS LITTLE BIT LONGER 7,315 -31 1,475,857
13 - 46 SUGARLAND LOVE ON THE INSIDE 13,555 -44 1,422,254
14 - 17 TWILIGHT SOUNDTRACK 24,281 -22 1,408,939
15 - 25 SPEARS*BRITNEY CIRCUS 20,364 -32 1,382,511

Moving on up:
8 WEST*KANYE 808S & HEARTBREAK 32,458 -12 1,360,456

Last time I forgot about Miley Cyrus, but she's out of the top 15 now...

Nickelback has overtaken Jack Johnson, and will pass Mamma Mia next week. Metallica's 7th position is slipping too.

And at this pace it wont be long until Beyonce overtakes AC/DC on 4th place!

[Spiderpig]

I don't want to update the list every week so I made this one in prevision of the next weeks/months :

2008



TAYLOR SWIFT - Fearless : 3,5 million
LIL WAYNE - Tha Carter III : 3,2 million
COLDPLAY - Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends : 2,7 million
BEYONCE - I Am... Sasha Fierce : 2,3 million
AC/DC - Black Ice : 2,1 million
NICKELBACK - Dark Horse : 2 million
T.I. - Paper Trail : 1,9 million
METALLICA - Death Magnetic : 1,8 million
Various Artists - MAMMA MIA (soundtrack) : 1,7 million
KANYE WEST - 808s & Heartbreak : 1,6 million

Surprisingly, she's the first blonde female artist to have a #1 album of the year

[Dane]

^^ Interesting to see your projections, but really, the first post on page one should reflect actual sales, shouldn't it?

Anyway...your thead