The Beatles :: Charts & Sales History

by **johnnyboy** » Wed Mar 21, 2012 7:45 pm

From:, 'Illustrated Book Of Rock Records', by Barry Lazell & Dafydd Rees (1982)

01 THE SOUND OF MUSIC … Soundtrack
02 WITH THE BEATLES … Beatles
03 BEATLES FOR SALE … Beatles
04 SGT PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND … Beatles
05 RUBBER SOUL … Beatles
06 WEST SIDE STORY … Soundtrack
07 THE BEATLES (WHITE ALBUM) … Beatles
08 REVOLVER … Beatles
09 A HARD DAY'S NIGHT … Beatles
10 ABBEY ROAD … Beatles

This list is for albums sales during the 60s.

From:, 'The Top Ten Of Music', by Russell Ash & Luke Compton (1993):,

01 SGT PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND … Beatles
02 THE SOUND OF MUSIC … Soundtrack
03 WITH THE BEATLES … Beatles
04 ABBEY ROAD … Beatles
05 SOUTH PACIFIC … Soundtrack
06 BEATLES FOR SALE … Beatles
07 A HARD DAY'S NIGHT … Beatles
08 RUBBER SOUL … Beatles
09 THE BEATLES (WHITE ALBUM) … Beatles
10 WEST SIDE STORY … Soundtrack

This list is for albums released in 60s and continued sellling beyond that.

Yes, my 60s estimate was probably too low. I put retail figures at 1.7m, the OCC gave 2m. Maybe my 60s figures were 0.3m too low.

by **blackbird** » Wed Mar 21, 2012 11:11 pm

Top Catalog Albums 31/03/2012: Week Ending March 18, 2012

No | Artist | Title | TW | % | LW | RTD
85 BEATLES 1 2,120 -27 2,886 12,036,339
125 BEATLES Abbey Road 1,797 -5 1,896 4,815,696

by **blackbird** » Wed Mar 21, 2012 11:14 pm

Catalog Physical Albums 31/03/2012: Week Ending March 18, 2012

No | Artist | Title | TW | % | LW | RTD
166 BEATLES Abbey Road 1,208 1 1,191 4,720,992
191 BEATLES 1 1,102 -19 1,368 1,880,040

by **blackbird** » Wed Mar 21, 2012 11:18 pm

Catalog Digital Albums 31/03/2012: Week Ending March 18, 2012

No | Artist | Title | TW | % | LW | RTD
39 BEATLES 1 1,018 -33 1,518 156,254
138 BEATLES Abbey Road 589 -16 705 94,676

by **blackbird** » Wed Mar 21, 2012 11:23 pm

Top Soundtracks 31/03/2012: Week Ending March 18, 2012

No | Artist | Title | TW | % | LW | RTD
81 BEATLES Let It Be 402 1 400 1,495,774
89 BEATLES Magical Mystery Tour 346 -15 407 1,867,269
93 BEATLES Help! 331 -4 346 1,543,945
96 BEATLES A Hard Day's Night 314 -8 341 1,472,418

by **blackbird** » Thu Mar 22, 2012 7:33 pm

Chart Watch by Paul Grein wrote:Legend has sold 1 million copies in less than three years. It topped the 10 million mark in the week ending June 21, 2009. No other album that is in the all-time top 10 has sold as many copies in this time frame. These two albums are followed by the Beatles' 1, which has sold 620K copies since June 21, 2009. Next in line: Metallica's Metallica (339K), Whitney Houston's The Bodyguard soundtrack (173K) and Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill (102K).

P.S. Will Legend one day be the best-selling album of the Nielsen SoundScan era? Or will the Beatles' 1? Discuss amongst yourselves.

by **stevieb** » Thu Mar 22, 2012 8:38 pm

May could be an expensive month for completists, McCartney's Ram is being re-issued (remastered) with up to 4 CDs and a bonus DVD on May 21st. Details on Amazon. Venus and Mars follows next, but no date yet given.

by **bigred** » Fri Mar 23, 2012 10:38 pm

stevieb wrote:May could be an expensive month for completists, McCartney's Ram is being re-issued (remastered) with up to 4 CDs and a bonus DVD on May 21st. Details on Amazon. Venus and Mars follows next, but no date yet given.

This is all very nice (4 cd's?),but how about issueing the remastered catalog on vinyl? Thats what I'm waiting on.

by **stevieb** » Sat Mar 24, 2012 5:54 pm

bigred wrote:
stevieb wrote:May could be an expensive month for completists, McCartney's Ram is being re-issued (remastered) with up to 4 CDs and a bonus DVD on May 21st. Details on Amazon. Venus and Mars follows next, but no date yet given.
This is all very nice (4 cd's?),but how about issueing the remastered catalog on vinyl? Thats what I'm waiting on.

Hi Bigred,

Speaking with absolutely no inside knowledge whatsoever, but I don't think we'll see these until the autumn as a high profile release to commemorate the 50th anniversary. Frustrating and slow it may be, but it looks to me as though Apple are working towards eventually having everything available in three formats: CD, digital download and vinyl. There is a logic to their release schedule since 2009 and I'd reckon on a similar package for the vinyl to the CDs - i.e. stereo and mono box sets, plus the individual vinyl albums also offered in stereo (maybe there'll be a singles box set on CD and vinyl at some point too). Then again, I've been wrong about this kind of thing before!

Meanwhile, I'll settle for May's releases (even though I certainly can't afford the more deluxe Ram packages at £50 plus!). But Yellow Sub and the digipacked Songtrack I'll definately purchase.

by **bigred** » Sat Mar 24, 2012 6:53 pm

Apple has a definite pattern of putting out major releases in the fall, so am hopeful that this year its the remasters on vinyl.The fact that there releasing this yellow sub project in the spring gives me hope.(There keeping the fall open for some release,no doubt).

by **johnnyboy** » Sun Mar 25, 2012 4:29 pm

The OCC puts Abbey Road on about 2m sales.

In the All Time Chart in 1987 it was at #88 which I estimate to be about 800,000 sales. Given it also made the Top 100 of the 70s, could it sales to 1987 be...

1969 - 200,000? (released late September)
1970s - 500,000?
1980-87 -100,00? (pre-CD release)

It has sold about 500,000 since 1992 which gives us about 1.3m excluding 1987 (post Cd - 1991). About 1.5m sales.

All these estimates are retail sales.

by **jimmypages59** » Sun Mar 25, 2012 5:45 pm

Johnyboy, do not waste your time or effort on here. Beatles fans (bar Brian) are pretty much only interested in weekly chart positions, trivia about their love, things that show them in a good light and info that further extends their sales, they do not take to people that question their sales or god for bid, try and diminish them.

It is quite a boring bunch on here, more interested in "worship" than actually trying to dissect things. To them EMI tell the truth and every Apple press release is Gospel. A truly pointless bunch of people on an "Artist Chart Analysis" forum, who only seek to regurgitate "press" and offer next to no analysis of anything. Who cares though because "Ram" is getting re-released as a 4 CD with bonus DVD and that is apparently worthy of more serious discussion in a Chart Analysis forum, than actually discussing or ANALYSING Beatles sales.

Sorry I take it all back, a few months ago, I did see a few of them analyse the fact that Beatles 1, was on about 11.9m soundscan sales and they deduced that it may cross the 12m mark soon.

by **bigred** » Sun Mar 25, 2012 6:54 pm

jimmypages59 wrote:Johnyboy, do not waste your time or effort on here. Beatles fans (bar Brian) are pretty much only interested in weekly chart positions, trivia about their love, things that show them in a good light and info that further extends their sales, they do not take to people that question their sales or god for bid, try and diminish them.

It is quite a boring bunch on here, more interested in "worship" than actually trying to dissect things. To them EMI tell the truth and every Apple press release is Gospel. A truly pointless bunch of people on an "Artist Chart Analysis" forum, who only seek to regurgitate "press" and offer next to no analysis of anything. Who cares though because "Ram" is getting re-released as a 4 CD with bonus DVD and that is apparently worthy of more serious discussion in a Chart Analysis forum, than actually discussing or ANALYSING Beatles sales.

Sorry I take it all back, a few months ago, I did see a few of them analyse the fact that Beatles 1, was on about 11.9m soundscan sales and they deduced that it may cross the 12m mark soon.

Sorry we bore you over here, don't let the door hit you on the way out! :lol:

by **stollar** » Sun Mar 25, 2012 7:38 pm

If only some people in this forum were

as entusiastic about dissecting sales from

other band/artists than the Beatles.

by **stevieb** » Sun Mar 25, 2012 8:57 pm

jimmypages59 wrote:Johnyboy, do not waste your time or effort on here. Beatles fans (bar Brian) are pretty much only interested in weekly chart positions, trivia about their love, things that show them in a good light and info that further extends their sales, they do not take to people that question their sales or god for bid, try and diminish them.

It is quite a boring bunch on here, more interested in "worship" than actually trying to dissect things. To them EMI tell the truth and every Apple press release is Gospel. A truly pointless bunch of people on an "Artist Chart Analysis" forum, who only seek to regurgitate "press" and offer next to no analysis of anything. Who cares though because "Ram" is getting re-released as a 4 CD with bonus DVD and that is apparently worthy of more serious discussion in a Chart Analysis forum, than actually discussing or ANALYSING Beatles sales.

Sorry I take it all back, a few months ago, I did see a few of them analyse the fact that Beatles 1, was on about 11.9m soundscan sales and they deduced that it may cross the 12m mark soon.

To be honest jimmypages59 I think your comments are somewhat unnecessary and largely inaccurate. I read these forums with an entirely open mind (as I think do most of the contributors), I would certainly never claim to have the level of knowledge on the historic aspect of Beatles sales that others do, and read the debates with interest. As in many areas of life, a healthy dose of scepticism of official information/claims and statistics is no bad thing (and I think that you are as open to that with Led Zeppelin as you are with other artists), but I am equally dubious of people whose input seems to lack balance and measure.

Charts and sales analysis is an ongoing matter, particularly where the Beatles are concerned, and so reports on sales and opinions on current trends are equally valid. It may be of no or limited interest to you but please respect the rights of people like myself to indulge in it and look away if it bores you. Ditto the news, information and other links about the band and its members that are put up here from time to time (such as my recent posting regarding the Ram reissues). It's not unreasonable to think that those Beatles enthusiasts who read these pages may find such postings of interest and I would hope that on such a forum, there is room for both what you call trivia and forensic analysis of data.

by **jimmypages59** » Sun Mar 25, 2012 8:58 pm

Bigred: Do not get me wrong I love The Beatles, but this thread is not about loving The Beatles or general trivia or articles about what they think or someone else thinks about them. It is meant to be about charts and sales and analysis of them, not any old tat, that just takes up pages and just makes the actual sales info harder to find amongst all the rubbish.

Stellar: Totally agree with you, even though you are being sarcastic. I've certainly tried on the Led Zeppelin thread, but just come up against much the same as here, fans of the band, not fans of sales and charts, who do not really want to analyse anything, other than how much they love their favourite artist.

by **jimmypages59** » Mon Mar 26, 2012 12:26 am

Sorry, I was maybe a bit extreme there...bad day at the football, had left me a bit tetchy!

by **blackbird** » Mon Mar 26, 2012 2:59 pm

jimmypages59 wrote:Sorry, I was maybe a bit extreme there...bad day at the football, had left me a bit tetchy!

It's ok. We all have our ups and downs.

by **bigred** » Mon Mar 26, 2012 3:32 pm

I have noticed that the U.S. Itunes hot 100 chart has stayed the same for over a week it seems.It use to update on a daily basis, but Beatles 1 has been at #16 for a while now. Nothing seems to change.Anybody?

by **johnnyboy** » Mon Mar 26, 2012 3:42 pm

http://www.jpgr.co.uk/pcs7027.html

You might be interested in this.

by **bigred** » Mon Mar 26, 2012 4:06 pm

johnnyboy wrote:http://www.jpgr.co.uk/pcs7027.html

You might be interested in this.

Thanks for this, I have actually seen this before but some of the others over here maybe have not.Sgt.Pepper was listed over 10 years ago as being the biggest selling beatle album worldwide at 32 million copies sold (you probably don't agree) with Abbey Road coming in second at 29 million copies sold.BTW, the mothers of invention pepper parody were only in it for the money album cover was a hoot!

by **johnnyboy** » Mon Mar 26, 2012 4:44 pm

You're right I don't agree with those figures

by **bigred** » Mon Mar 26, 2012 5:10 pm

johnnyboy wrote:You're right I don't agree with those figures

I didn't think you would.

by **stevieb** » Tue Mar 27, 2012 1:25 am

bigred wrote::lol: I have noticed that the U.S. Itunes hot 100 chart has stayed the same for over a week it seems.It use to update on a daily basis, but Beatles 1 has been at #16 for a while now. Nothing seems to change.Anybody?

Me too, it's been like it for about three weeks in fact.

by **jimmypages59** » Tue Mar 27, 2012 1:28 am

Do you double up as Cidermaster on the Led Zep thread, bigred lol