SoundScan Era - USA's Best Selling Artists and Albums

[tylersweep]

April 1, 2017 issue of Billboard magazine:

Big Machine's Biggest Hits

Taylor Swift, Fearless 7,094,000
Taylor Swift, 1989 6,027,000
Taylor Swift, Taylor Swift 5,652,000
Taylor Swift, Speak Now 4,620,000
Taylor Swift, Red 4,358,000

The consistency.
These sales figures look like ones from an artist in the 2000s.
Any prediction how high She can go on the SS Best-Selling Females list?

[TIfan]

^^^Top 3. She us one, maybe two albums away from hitting #3. Both Mariah and Celine are over 50 million which is hard to achieve.

[CelinetoBarbra]

^ 23m is a good guess.

Thank you

[marcsgirl85]

actually Taylor's last sound scan total was 29.8 million though the totals for the studio albums is 27.751.000 average per album 5.960

[thebigham]

Two new totals for albums over 4.6 million

http://roughstock.com/news/2017/04/4172 ... il-18-2017

Top Country Catalog Album Sales Chart: April 18, 2017
Posted By Matt Bjorke

CNTRY Artist Album Week Total Scans

20 Brooks & Dunn Greatest Hits Collection 1,000 4,608,400
-- Shania Twain Come On Over 800 15,671,500

[brian05]

From Yahoo,
Sgt. Pepper’s has sold 4,894,000 copies in traditional album sales since 1991, when Nielsen began tracking music sales. It of course sold millions more in its first 24 years of release.

From the LA Times,
Two other Beatles collections also still make the Billboard 200: “Abbey Road” from 1969, ranked at No. 123 and sales of almost 5.4 million over the last quarter-century, and “The Beatles” from 1968, a.k.a. “The White Album,” which is at No. 169 on total Nielsen-era sales of 12.8 million copies.

Reference should be to 1, not the White Album. Lazy journalist.

[thebigham]

^HITS is estimating 31-35k for next week's chart so ~70k until 5 million scanned.

[thebigham]

7/1 Billboard charts:

https://www.yahoo.com/music/chart-watch ... 00490.html

Chart Watch: Katy Perry's Disappointing Debut
by Paul Grein
Writer,Yahoo Music
June 19, 2017

Metallica’s 1988 album, …And Justice for All, tops the 6 million mark in traditional album sales this week. The band’s following studio album, 1991’s Metallica, is the sales leader since Nielsen began tracking sales in 1991. It has sold 16,594,000 copies in traditional album sales.

[borderwolf]

http://www.billboard.com/articles/colum ... es-catalog

Since the “Nielsen Music era” began in 1991, Seger has sold 22.1 million albums in the U.S., according to Nielsen Music.

His best-selling album in that span is Greatest Hits, which has sold 9.6 million copies. (It was released in 1994, so all sales are captured in the Nielsen window.) That album is also one of the 25 best-selling albums of the Nielsen era overall.

[thebigham]

7/29 Billboard 200

https://www.yahoo.com/music/chart-watch ... 10039.html

As of this week, the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band has sold 5 million copies (in traditional album sales) since Nielsen began tracking U.S. music sales in 1991. Of course, the 1967 classic sold millions more in its first 24 years of release. Sgt. Pepper’s is close behind the Beatles’ 1969 album, Abbey Road, which has sold 5,374,000 copies since 1991. Sgt. Pepper’s is a more legendary album, but more than a few fans prefer Abbey Road.

[tylersweep]

Looking at the All-Time Soundscan best sellers, a lot of albums from the '90s are overcertified.
Or do labels go by shipments?
Some certifications are two million ahead of actual sales.

[thebigham]

^Shipments.

[thebigham]

https://www.yahoo.com/music/chart-watch ... 25886.html

Chart Watch: For the First Time Ever, an All-Hip-Hop Top Five
by Paul Grein

Top Albums

The band’s 2000 debut album, Hybrid Theory, re-enters at No. 27. The album peaked at No. 2 in January 2002. Hybrid Theory has sold 10,489,000 copies in the U.S. in traditional album sales.

[thebigham]

Some updated album sales totals over 3 million courtesy of oldbloke:

Through the 8/12/17 Billboard charts

METALLICA - Metallica ( 16,617,000 )

LEGEND - Bob Marley & the Wailers ( 12,211,000 )

21 - Adele ( 11,851,000 )

THE EMINEM SHOW - Eminem ( 10,819,000 )
HYBRID THEORY - Linkin Park ( 10,508,000 )
DARK SIDE OF THE MOON - Pink Floyd ( 10,129,000 )

NEVERMIND - Nirvana ( 9,513,000 )
25 - Adele ( 9,368,000 )
GREATEST HITS - Journey ( 9,118,000 )

GREATEST HITS - Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers ( 8,534,000 )

CHRONICLE:THE 20 GREATEST HITS - Creedence Clearwater Revival ( 6,869,000 )
THRILLER - Michael Jackson ( 6,797,000 )
AMERICAN IDIOT - Green Day ( 6,553,000 )
LICENSED TO ILL - Beastie Boys ( 6,206,000 )
THEIR GREATEST HITS 1971-1975 - Eagles ( 6,194,000 )
1989 - Taylor Swift ( 6,061,000 )
AND JUSTICE FOR ALL - Metallica ( 6,014,000 )

GREATEST HITS - Guns N'Roses ( 5,960,000 )
APPETITE FOR DESTRUCTION - Guns N'Roses ( 5,600,000 )
ABBEY ROAD - Beatles ( 5,378,000 )
GREATEST HITS - 2Pac ( 5,361,000 )
MASTER OF PUPPETS - Metallica ( 5,296,000 )
GREATEST HITS - Fleetwood Mac ( 5,279,000 )
SGT PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND - Beatles ( 5,016,000 )

RIDE THE LIGHTNING - Metallica ( 4,906,000 )
THE FAME - Lady Gaga ( 4,770,000 )
CURTAIN CALL: THE HITS - Eminem ( 4,166,000 )

THE JOSHUA TREE - U2 ( 3,738,000 )
RUMOURS - Fleetwood Mac ( 3,688,000 )
PURPLE RAIN - Prince & the Revolution ( 3,686,000 )
THE LEGEND OF - Johnny Cash ( 3,679,000 )
GREATEST HITS - Simon & Garfunkel ( 3,641,000 )
BACK IN BLACK - AC/DC ( 3,519,000 )
BACK TO BLACK - Amy Winehouse ( 3,190,000 )
THE ULTIMATE HITS - Garth Brooks ( 3,096,000 )

[borderwolf]

Rewinding the Charts: In 1991, Garth Brooks Lassoed History
http://www.billboard.com/articles/colum ... ed-history
9/28/2017 by Gary Trust

The No. 1 Billboard 200 debut of 1991's "Ropin' the Wind," the first No. 1 start by a country act, put the star on track to becoming the best-selling artist of the Nielsen Music era.

GARTH BROOKS MADE HISTORY ON SEPT. 28, 1991, when his third album, Ropin' the Wind, debuted atop the Billboard 200: the record became the first country title to bow at No. 1. It also dethroned Metallica's then-five-week-old eponymous album. (No small achievement: The latter recording has gone on to become the best-selling album – 16.6 million copies – in the United States since Nielsen Music began tracking sales in May 1991.)

After moving 300,000 in its first week, Ropin' the Wind has sold 9.6 million to date and ranks as the best-selling country album by a male artist. Most remarkably, Brooks, then 29, achieved these milestones without the benefit of crossover airplay. Rather, it was his electric live concerts and a string of modern country classics from his first two albums, Garth Brooks and No Fences, that helped rocket his third album to No. 1, and propelled country radio to new ratings highs in the early 1990s.

Ropin' the Wind, which yielded five Hot Country Songs top 10 singles, including the No. 1s "Shameless" (written by Billy Joel), "What She's Doing Now" and "The River," became the first of nine No. 1 albums that Brooks would land on the Billboard 200. With 71.8 million albums sold in the U.S. since 1991 (though September 2017), Brooks is the best-selling artist of the Nielsen era, ahead of runners-up The Beatles, with 68.7 million.

[borderwolf]

Tom Petty by the Numbers: A 'Breakdown' of 40 Years of Hits
http://www.billboard.com/articles/colum ... -breakdown
10/3/2017 by Xander Zellner

20.3 million: In total, Tom Petty’s albums — both solo and with The Heartbreakers — have sold 20.2 million copies in the U.S. through Sept. 28, according to Nielsen Music, since the company started tracking sales in 1991. Petty’s best-selling studio album of the Nielsen era, Wildflowers, sold 3.2 million copies. It’s also worth noting that Petty sold 1.2 million copies as a member of Traveling Wilburys and 250,000 as a member of Mudcrutch.

[borderwolf]

Ask Billboard: Demi Lovato's Career Album & Song Sales
http://www.billboard.com/articles/colum ... -billboard
10/15/2017 by Gary Trust

Let's celebrate her latest chart achievements by recapping her career sales in the U.S., according to Nielsen Music.

Album Sales
549,000, Don't Forget (2008); 527,000, Unbroken (2011); 514,000, Here We Again (2009); 482,000, Demi (2013); 235,000, Confident (2015); 48,000, Tell Me You Love Me (2017)

Lovato's career U.S. album sales stand at 2.4 million.

[borderwolf]

The Top 25 Biggest Selling Latin Albums of the Last 25 Years: Selena, Shakira & More
http://www.billboard.com/articles/colum ... g-25-years
10/17/2017 by Marjua Estevez

Who are in the top 25 biggest selling Latin albums of the last 25 years? Selena Quintanilla’s larger-than-life reputation reigns supreme as the “Queen of Tejano” holds the coveted No. 1 spot with the posthumous Dreaming of You, selling 2,942,000 units in the last quarter century, according to Nielsen Music.

But there are plenty of other Latin superstars that made Billboard’s list, dotted by notable names like Gloria Estefan, Shakira, Mana, Ricky Martin, Vicente Fernandez and Buena Vista Social Club, and the ranking comes in timely fashion. At the top of Tuesday morning (Oct. 17), Google for the first time ever launched a Selena doodle in honor of her life and legacy, marking Selena’s eponymous debut album release.

Here’s the rundown on the top 25 biggest selling Latin albums of the last 25 years:

25. Vicente Fernandez, El Hijo Del Pueblo – 568,000

24. Alejandro Fernandez, Me Estoy Enamorando – 576,000

23. Shakira, Pies Descalzos – 580,000

22. Marco Antonio Solis, Trozos De Mi Alma – 598,000

21. Luis Miguel, Segundo Romance – 603,000

20. Wisin & Yandel, Pa’l Mundo – 676,000

19. Luis Miguel, Romances – 687,000

18. Mana, MTV Unplugged – 701,000

17. Mana, Amar Es Combatir – 702,000

16. Mana, Suenos Liquidos – 706,000

15. Juanes, Mi Sangre – 739,000

14. Juanes, Un Dia Normal – 745,000

13. Daddy Yankee, Barrio Fino: En Directo – 809,000

12. Mana, Donde Jugaran Los Ninos – 856,000

11. Elvis Crespo, Suavemente – 879,000

10. Ricky Martin, Vuelve – 888,000

9. Shakira, Donde Estan Los Ladrones – 920,000

8. Shakira, Fijacion Oral: Vol. 1 – 1,019,000

7. Daddy Yankee, Barrio Fino – 1,083,000

6. Gloria Estefan, Mi Tierra – 1,232,000

5. Vicente Fernandez, Historia De Un Idolo Vol. 1 – 1,242,000

4. Selena, Amor Prohibido – 1,246,000

3. Gipsy Kings, The Best of the Gipsy Kings – 1,563,000

2. Buena Vista Social Club, Buena Vista Social Club – 1,925,000

1. Selena, Dreaming Of You - 2,942,000

[CelinetoBarbra]

Selena?

[borderwolf]

What are the Biggest Selling Vinyl Albums of the SoundScan Era? Let’s Talk a Look.
http://ajournalofmusicalthings.com/bigg ... talk-look/

SoundScan–the record sales-counting tool that only registers a record as sold once its barcode is scanned at the cash–has been in place since March 1, 1991, in the US. Other countries–Canada, the UK and Japan–followed after that.
The system not only counts sales but can differentiate sales by format, too. Intern-in-residence Dorothy Lee went through a bunch of spreadsheets to find out which vinyl records have sold the most in the US since 1991 up until October 26, 2017.

RANK ARTIST TITLE RTD SALES
1 The Beatles Abbey Road 381,766
2 Bob Marley & The Wailers Legend 210,398
3 Amy Winehouse Back to Black 209,819
4 Miles Davis Kind of Blue 186,827
5 Michael Jackson Thriller 179,781
6 Soundtrack Guardians of the Galaxy: Awesome Mix Vol. 1 140,035
7 Fleetwood Mac Rumours 132,539
8 Kendrick Lamar Good Kid M.A.A.D City 118,899
9 Prince Purple Rain 71,803
10 Pink Floyd Dark Side of The Moon 46,743
11 The Smiths Queen Is Dead 43,392
12 Ed Sheeran Divide 38,115
13 Queens of The Stone Age Villains 25,892
14 Soundtrack The Nightmare Before Xmas 25,275
15 Kendrick Lamar Damn. 24,444
16 Spoon Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga 24,373
17 War on Drugs Deeper Understanding 20,595
18 Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers Greatest Hits 19,529
19 Foo Fighters Concrete & Gold 17,951
20 Various Artists Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2: Awesome Mix Vol. 2 16,786

Sorry, if not the right topic! A lot of vinyls are missing....
I remember, for example "The top-selling vinyl album since the beginning of 2010 is The Beatles’ Abbey Road with 172k, but the rest of the Top 5 consists of current releases: Mumford & Sons’ Sigh No More (Glassnote) with 110k, Bon Iver’s For Emma Forever Ago (Jagjaguwar) with 102k, Jack White’s Lazaretto (Third Man/Columbia) with 94k and Arctic Monkeys’ AM (Domino) with 89k." from http://hitsdailydouble.com/news&id=295578

[tidalexclusive]

Destiny's Child sales for each album?

[TIfan]

Does anyone know the best selling physical singles of the soundscan era? I've always wanted to know.

[Wayne]

Does anyone know the best selling physical singles of the soundscan era? I've always wanted to know.

viewtopic.php?p=342921#p342921

[QueenMadonna]

Guys, how many copies has Madonna's 80's studio albums sold in soundscan era?

[thebigham]

https://www.billboard.com/articles/colu ... -billboard

Ask Billboard: Taylor Swift's Career Album & Song Sales
11/26/2017 by Gary Trust

@gthot20

Can you update Taylor Swift's sales, please? Thanks!

Bree @013bree

Hi Bree,

With Swift having launched at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 (dated Dec. 2) with Reputation, marking her fifth No. 1, let's recap her career sales in the U.S., according to Nielsen Music.

Album Sales

7.1 million, Fearless
6.1 million, 1989
5.7 million, Taylor Swift
4.6 million, Speak Now
4.4 million, Red
1.2 million, Reputation (after its first week)
1.1 million, The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection (EP)
366,000, Speak Now: World Tour Live CD + DVD
341,000, Beautiful Eyes (EP)

Swift's career U.S. album sales stand at 31.4 million.

She's the 23rd-best-selling album artist since Nielsen Music began tracking sales in 1991, and the fifth-best-selling woman, after Mariah Carey (55.2 million), Celine Dion (52.8 million), Shania Twain (35 million) and Britney Spears (33.6 million).

Garth Brooks leads all artists with 71.9 million albums sold in that span.