Top Catalog Albums of the Soundscan era

by **Dane** » Sun Oct 02, 2005 9:13 pm

Basil wrote:Van Morrison's 1970 album Moondance scanned 2,225,000.

Thanks again. Do you have a date of scan?

by **Aries** » Sun Oct 30, 2005 6:16 pm

Great topic Dane!
Do you know if the year-end charts are compiled using points or sales?

by **Dane** » Mon Oct 31, 2005 7:48 am

Aries wrote:Great topic Dane!
Do you know if the year-end charts are compiled using points or sales?

Thanks, Aries.

Billboard's Year-End Catalog Charts are based on sales, but only sales during weeks on the Catalog chart.

Also note that the Billboard year doesn't follow the calendar year. To Billboard, the year 2005 ends with issue # 11-26-2005. So there's only 3 more chart weeks to go this year!
The 2005 Billboard year includes Xmas sales of 2004 and Xmas sales of 2005 will be included in the 2006 Billboard year.

by **Dane** » Mon Oct 31, 2005 11:08 am

I've added Rod Stewart's "Greatest hits" to the list on page 1.
Released in 1979 it had sold 1,485,000 copies during soundscan (since 1991) by February 2004 (thanks Hanboo).
That currently places it at # 56.

by **Dane** » Sun Nov 06, 2005 9:53 pm

Two Black Sabbath titles added:

Paranoid (at # 65)
We sold our soul to RnR (at #76)

The list now contain 80 catalog titles selling at least 1,000,000 albums according to SoundScan.

Still the list is nowhere near complete. There's probably many titles missing outside the top 40, maybe even a few in the top 40 as well.

by **NothingFails** » Sun Nov 06, 2005 10:03 pm

I read an article around the time (June 2005) Pat Benatar's "Greatest Hits" cd came out, that 1989's "Best Shots" (her prior "essential" Greatest Hits) has scanned 1.37 million in the Soundscan era, so that belongs up there.

by **Dane** » Mon Nov 07, 2005 10:27 am

NothingFails wrote:I read an article around the time (June 2005) Pat Benatar's "Greatest Hits" cd came out, that 1989's "Best Shots" (her prior "essential" Greatest Hits) has scanned 1.37 million in the Soundscan era, so that belongs up there.

Alright, quite impressive!
Do you remember where you read that article, I tried to google it with no luck...
Thanks.

by **NothingFails** » Tue Nov 08, 2005 7:19 am

this is where I got the figure. The poster "Holiday Guy" is a big Soundscan fan and weekly posts sales for certain artists, so I believe him

http://www.madonnanation.com/forums/ind ... &f=4&t=551

"Posted by: HolidayGuy Aug 10 2005, 04:44 PM
Pat Benatar Update

Greatest Hits rebounds 116-105 in its 9th week; it scanned another 10,139 units; its to-date total stands at 107,092 units.

Meanwhile, Best Shots has scanned roughly 1.38 million units in the SoundScan era."

by **Dane** » Tue Nov 08, 2005 11:11 am

NothingFails wrote:this is where I got the figure. The poster "Holiday Guy" is a big Soundscan fan and weekly posts sales for certain artists, so I believe him

http://www.madonnanation.com/forums/ind ... &f=4&t=551

"Posted by: HolidayGuy Aug 10 2005, 04:44 PM
Pat Benatar Update

Greatest Hits rebounds 116-105 in its 9th week; it scanned another 10,139 units; its to-date total stands at 107,092 units.

Meanwhile, Best Shots has scanned roughly 1.38 million units in the SoundScan era."

Great! I'll add Pat to the list on page 1.
Thanks a lot NothingFails, your help is appreciated!

by **Basil** » Sat Nov 12, 2005 5:53 pm

Another one for your list Thomas

America - History-Greatest Hits 1,103,641

figure from 2002 I'm afraid for this 1975 album. The America site has soundscan for all their albums but none of the others have exceeded 100,000.

by **MJDangerous** » Sat Nov 12, 2005 6:01 pm

What about Bob Dylan ? I know that "Blood On The tracks" was scanned 449k more than 7 years ago and at this time, his "Greatest Hit" was scanned over 650k. At least this one sold over 1m copies by now according to soundscan, maybe much more.

by **Dane** » Mon Nov 14, 2005 6:58 am

Basil wrote:Another one for your list Thomas

America - History-Greatest Hits 1,103,641

figure from 2002 I'm afraid for this 1975 album. The America site has soundscan for all their albums but none of the others have exceeded 100,000.

Great! Thanks Basil, I will add that one soon.

MJDangerous wrote:What about Bob Dylan ? I know that "Blood On The tracks" was scanned 449k more than 7 years ago and at this time, his "Greatest Hit" was scanned over 650k. At least this one sold over 1m copies by now according to soundscan, maybe much more.

Yeah, you might be right MJ. Does anyone have recent soundscan numbers for these?

by **Basil** » Mon Nov 14, 2005 6:39 pm

MJDangerous wrote:What about Bob Dylan ? I know that "Blood On The tracks" was scanned 449k more than 7 years ago and at this time, his "Greatest Hit" was scanned over 650k. At least this one sold over 1m copies by now according to soundscan, maybe much more.

We've no evidence yet that any Dylan title has scanned more than 1m.

Hanboo posted these figures in September

Greatest Hits - 705,000
The Essential - 737,000

by **MJDangerous** » Mon Nov 14, 2005 6:43 pm

Basil wrote:
MJDangerous wrote:What about Bob Dylan ? I know that "Blood On The tracks" was scanned 449k more than 7 years ago and at this time, his "Greatest Hit" was scanned over 650k. At least this one sold over 1m copies by now according to soundscan, maybe much more.
We've no evidence yet that any Dylan title has scanned more than 1m.

Hanboo posted these figures in September

Greatest Hits - 705,000
The Essential - 737,000

I think that it's a mistake :

Time Out of Mind is, most critics acknowledge, Dylan's best work since 1975's Blood on the Tracks; according to Soundscan, it has sold the most copies (690,000) of any Dylan title ever, except for his Greatest Hits collection. (Blood on the Tracks, his second most popular release, has sold a mere 449,000 copies--at least, since Soundscan began tracking such figures.)

From May 1998.

by **Dane** » Mon Nov 14, 2005 10:59 pm

I guess we'll just have to keep looking for new soundscan figures for Dylan.

by **NothingFails** » Mon Nov 14, 2005 11:10 pm

regarding Dylan's GH. It was remastered in 1999, so the 705k is likely from the remasters sales from June 99-onward, as the Soundscan counter is usually reset to 0 come a reissue

by **MJDangerous** » Mon Nov 14, 2005 11:30 pm

NothingFails wrote:regarding Dylan's GH. It was remastered in 1999, so the 705k is likely from the remasters sales from June 99-onward, as the Soundscan counter is usually reset to 0 come a reissue

Yes it's probably the reason. If it's really this, this mean that this Greatest Hits sold a minimum of 1,395,000 copies to date according to soundscan.

If in the other side the Greatest Hits sold only 705k (which seem impossible), so, Bob Dylan is the only artist in history who sold 15 millions albums soundscan without any million seller :lol:

by **Dane** » Wed Nov 16, 2005 7:18 am

NothingFails wrote:regarding Dylan's GH. It was remastered in 1999, so the 705k is likely from the remasters sales from June 99-onward, as the Soundscan counter is usually reset to 0 come a reissue

Yes likely. But it could also be that 705k is the old version, which has probably stopped selling since the remastered version came.

Hanboo, could you enlighten us?

by **mansfield** » Wed Nov 16, 2005 9:27 am

Do you know Elton John's "Goodbye yellow brick road" and "Don't shoot me" album sales ?

Goodbye y.b.r. got Platinum certification in UK (for example) but at that time Multiplatinum certificatios didn't exist so I don't know how much it actually sold. It is also the soldest album of all times in Australia .

any info about it ?

by **manowar555** » Wed Nov 16, 2005 12:18 pm

can you post some updated metallica sales

by **Hanboo** » Thu Nov 17, 2005 10:04 am

Dane wrote:
NothingFails wrote:regarding Dylan's GH. It was remastered in 1999, so the 705k is likely from the remasters sales from June 99-onward, as the Soundscan counter is usually reset to 0 come a reissue
Yes likely. But it could also be that 705k is the old version, which has probably stopped selling since the remastered version came.

Hanboo, could you enlighten us?

Well, GH keeps selling, it's now at 811K.
His biggest SS seller is "Time out of mind", which is at 868K (as of Oct.2002). Another biggie is "Essential" (797K).

Yes, his career SS total is at 15.2 million and he has no SS millionsellers, but you have you keep in mind that he has an enormous discography (more than 100 albums, of which about half has charted).

by **bishop82** » Thu Nov 17, 2005 2:14 pm

Hey, Do anybody have a soundscan number for prince 1999 album?

by **Dane** » Thu Nov 17, 2005 2:37 pm

mansfield wrote:Do you know Elton John's "Goodbye yellow brick road" and "Don't shoot me" album sales ?

No. GYBR is one of my most wanted at page one. It has probably scanned more than a million.

by **Dane** » Thu Nov 17, 2005 2:38 pm

manowar555 wrote:can you post some updated metallica sales

When I get updates for the old albums they will appear on page 1. I don't have recent updates on the newer album either.

by **Dane** » Thu Nov 17, 2005 2:48 pm

Hanboo wrote:
Dane wrote: Hanboo, could you enlighten us?
Well, GH keeps selling, it's now at 811K.
His biggest SS seller is "Time out of mind", which is at 868K (as of Oct.2002). Another biggie is "Essential" (797K).

Yes, his career SS total is at 15.2 million and he has no SS millionsellers, but you have you keep in mind that he has an enormous discography (more than 100 albums, of which about half has charted).

Thanks Hanboo, glad you could help.

No Dylan albums on the list yet then.
Greatest hits might still reach 1m eventually (and then included).
As the other two titles are released during soundscan they will never be listed in this thread.