Cher :: Charts & Sales History

[StephenN17]

And these are from New Zealand:

1989 Heart Of Stone #7 26 weeks Platinum (15,000)
1991 Love Hurts #4 23 weeks Platinum (15,000)
1992 Greatest Hits 1965 - 1992 #6 12 weeks 4x Platinum (60,000)
1998 Believe #1 for 4 weeks 37 weeks 2x Platinum (30,000)
1999 Greatest Hits #15 12 weeks Platinum (15,000)
2002 Living Proof #26 1 week No certification

[StephenN17]

New sales/chart positions from Spain, with thanks to davidalic:

SONNY & CHER
Single:
1965 I got you babe #8 (16 Weeks)

CHER:
Singles:
1998 Believe #1 (for 9 weeks in total) (19 weeks)
1999 Strong enough #4 (11 weeks)
1999 D´ove l´amore #4 (6 weeks)
2001 The music´s no good without you #8 (4 weeks)

Albums:
1993 Greatest hits 65-92 #23 (20 weeks)
1998 Believe #2 (49 weeks) 4x PLATINUM 400,000
1999 The Greatest hits #5 (13 weeks) PLATINUM 100,000
2001 Living proof #17 (2 weeks) PLATINUM 100,000

[StephenN17]

From ARIA:

Cher

Singles:
Just Like Jesse James Gold
Strong Enough Gold
The Shoop Shoop Song (It's In His Kiss) Platinum
If I Could Turn Back Time 2x Platinum
Believe 3x Platinum

Albums:
Cher Gold
Love Hurts Platinum
Believe 2x Platinum
The Very Best Of Cher 2x Platinum
The Greatest Hits 3x Platinum
Heart Of Stone 4x Platinum

DVDs:
The Very Best Of Cher: The Video Hits Collection Platinum
Live In Concert 2x Platinum
The Farewell Tour 8x Platinum

[StephenN17]

I've recently discovered that Heart Of Stone by Cher was certified as 4x Platinum in Australia!

Australia 4x Platinum 280,000
Canada 4x Platinum 400,000
United Kingdom Platinum 500,000
United States 3x Platinum 3,200,000

So worldwide sales are about 4,500,000!

[StephenN17]

Based on certifications and sales we know, here are the sales of the single Believe:

Believe

Australia 210,000
Austria 30,000
France 750,000
Germany 1,250,000
Netherlands 75,000
New Zealand 7,500
Norway 20,000
Sweden 90,000
Switzerland 50,000
United Kingdom 1,720,000
United States 2,200,000

This makes 6,402,500 sales in just these countries. With all other countries included, the total number of sales could be 7,500,000-8,000,000.

[LostAvenger]

Highest figures I've read for "Believe" are at 10 million but I think it's higher than 7 million. Probably 8-8.5 million.

"My Heart Will Go On" sold over 10-12 million for sure.

[StephenN17]

It's ok, we all make mistakes lol. According to Media Traffic, it was very close between Cher and Britney in 1999. But I think it's a combination of sales and airplay. So maybe Britney sold the most in 1999, but in terms of overall sales and airplay Cher was higher. Here's the site:
http://www.mediatraffic.de/countdown1999.htm

[Wayne]

That's untrue. It didn't sell 85% of it's sales in 1998. It reached no.1 in New Zealand, Australia, France and Netherlands to name a few in January 1999 and it didn't reach no.1 in the US until about April 1999. So there's no way it sold 85% of its sales in 1998!

I am a dufus! You're absolutely right.

I don't know why I didn't bother reading about this, without first making such boisterous remarks, I do apologise!

Of its 7m or so sales, 1.65m come from the UK. When considering its year end chart placings in Germany and smaller European territories in 1998, it just can't have been the best-selling single of 1999. Britney Spears released Baby One More Time in 1998, but that didn't start selling until mid January 1999, and sold almost all of its near 6m units in 1999.

[StephenN17]

The RIAA site lists 1969 as the release date for "Take Me Home"- oops.

Yeah, they do make a few mistakes lol!

[StephenN17]

That's untrue. It didn't sell 85% of it's sales in 1998. It reached no.1 in New Zealand, Australia, France and Netherlands to name a few in January 1999 and it didn't reach no.1 in the US until about April 1999. So there's no way it sold 85% of its sales in 1998!

[Wayne]

But it is one of the best-selling singles of all time!?

Its sold about 7m copies worldwide, and was the 2nd best-selling single worldwide of 1998.

That's as big as it gets!

I thought it was the best selling single of 1999? As well, it is in the top 20 biggest selling singles of all time on Media Traffic.

Absolutely not. It was released in October 1998 in Europe, a month later in the US - it would've sold 85% of its sales in 1998. It was outsold worldwide that year by My Heart Will Go On.

[HolidayGuy]

The RIAA site lists 1969 as the release date for "Take Me Home"- oops.

[StephenN17]

But it is one of the best-selling singles of all time!?

Its sold about 7m copies worldwide, and was the 2nd best-selling single worldwide of 1998.

That's as big as it gets!

I thought it was the best selling single of 1999? As well, it is in the top 20 biggest selling singles of all time on Media Traffic.

[Wayne]

But it is one of the best-selling singles of all time!?

Its sold about 7m copies worldwide, and was the 2nd best-selling single worldwide of 1998.

That's as big as it gets!

[FadingLight]

What about "The Greatest Thing"? Wasn't it supposed to premiere like a couple of months ago?!

[joiPrince_JO]

But it is one of the best-selling singles of all time!?

[LostAvenger]

[quote=joiPrince_JO]

Is "Believe" really the best-selling single of all time?

No.

I have heard it is.[/quote:2p194wgy]

Then it would need about 25 million more to catch up with Elton's "Candle In The Wind '97". And "White Christmas" by Bing Crosby is rumoured to have sold 40-50 million.

[joiPrince_JO]

Is "Believe" really the best-selling single of all time?

No.

I have heard it is.

[StephenN17]

Some single certifications as well:

Please note that all the 70's singles which were certified Gold sold 1 million, not 500,000. Gold for singles back then was a million sales.

Gypsys, Tramps and Thieves 1971 Gold
Half Breed 1973 Gold
Dark Lady 1974 Gold
Take Me Home 1979 Gold
After All 1989 Gold
If I Could Turn Back Time 1989 Gold
Believe 1999 Platinum

After All has sold 226,000 since the digital era and Turn Back Time has sold 394,000 digital singles so both should really be Platinum by now. As well, Believe sold 1.8 million physical singles and 375,000 digital singles so has sold 2.2 million copies and should be 2x Platinum.

[LostAvenger]

Is "Believe" really the best-selling single of all time?

No.

[joiPrince_JO]

Is "Believe" really the best-selling single of all time?

[thebigham]

Cher RIAA

Cher 1xp
Half Breed Gold
Take Me Home Gold
Love Hurts Gold
Heart of Stone 3xp
Believe 4xp
If I Could Turn Back Time - Cher's Greatest Hit Gold
Living Proof Gold
The Very Best of Cher 2xp

Total: 12.5xp

[thebigham]

^Thanks, Stephen!! Nice to have some updated figures!!

The Very Best of Cher could be re-certified 3xp.

If I Could Turn back Time - Cher's Greatest Hit could be re-certified 1xp.

[StephenN17]

From Ask Billboard Today (please note, I asked the question to Billboard and they replied to me!):

CHER INFORMATION, YES?

Hi Gary,

I love reading your Chart Beat section and I wonder if you could help me out. As the "Burlesque" soundtrack should soon pass 500,000 in sales, what are Cher's top-selling albums and singles are since the advent of Nielsen SoundScan tabulation in 1991?

Thanks,

Stephen Nield
England


Hi Stephen,

The "Burlesque" soundtrack has totaled sales of 497,000, according to SoundScan. As it's averaged approximately 3,000 in sales in recent weeks, it's possible that the set will hit the half-million mark next week.

In the meantime, here's a recap of Cher's five best-selling albums and downloads during the SoundScan era.

Albums:
3.6 million, "Believe" (released in 1999)
2.8 million, "The Very Best of Cher" (2003)
964,000, "Heart of Stone" (1989)
955,000, "If I Could Turn back Time - Cher's Greatest Hits" (1999)
598,000, "Love Hurts" (1991)

Digital Songs:
394,000, "If I Could Turn Back Time" (released in 1989)
375,000, "Believe" (1999)
372,000, "I Got You Babe" (Sonny & Cher) (1965)
226,000, "After All" (with Peter Cetera) (1989)
212,000, "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves" (1971)

"Believe," released before the dawn of the digital era, has sold 1.8 million physical singles, Cher's top sales sum for the configuration.

[borderwolf]

New codes from Brasil

Cher - The Very Best Of Cher (2CD)
AM 1.000

Cher - The Farewell Tour (DVD) [Digipack]
AB 5.000

Cher - The Farewell Tour (DVD) [Amaray Case - distributed by Coqueiro Verde Records since 2009]
AI 7.500