SoundScan Era - USA's Best Selling Artists and Albums

[thebigham]

https://www.billboard.com/articles/b...lboard-mailbag

Britney Spears' Career Sales & Streams, In Honor of 20 Years of 'Oops!...I Did It Again': Ask Billboard Mailbag
5/15/2020 by Gary Trust

Back to Britney (and speaking of oops-es), let's recap the sales of all 15 Spears albums that have hit the Billboard 200 chart, according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data:

10.7 million, …Baby One More Time
9.2 million, Oops…I Did It Again
4.4 million, Britney
3 million, In the Zone
1.7 million, Circus
1.6 million, Greatest Hits: My Prerogative
1 million, Blackout
805,000, Femme Fatale
280,000, Britney Jean
268,000, The Singles Collection
170,000, Playlist: The Very Best of Britney Spears
157,000, Glory
138,000, B in the Mix: The Remixes
60,000, The Essential Britney Spears;
30,000, B in the Mix: The Remixes: Vol. 2

Spears has sold 33.8 million albums in the U.S. to date.

[scootermcgee27]

https://www.billboard.com/articles/c...-ask-billboard

Taylor Swift's career U.S. album sales stand at 32.7 million.

She's the 23rd-best-selling album artist since Nielsen Music began tracking sales in 1991

...and the fifth-best-selling woman:

1. Mariah Carey (55.5 million)
2. Celine Dion (53 million)
3. Shania Twain (35 million)
4. Britney Spears (33.6 million)
5. Taylor Swift (32.7 million)

Garth Brooks leads all artists with 72.4 million albums sold in that span.

https://www.billboard.com/articles/b...lboard-mailbag

Britney Spears' Career Sales & Streams, In Honor of 20 Years of 'Oops!...I Did It Again': Ask Billboard Mailbag
5/15/2020 by Gary Trust

Spears has sold 33.8 million albums in the U.S. to date.

Would Taylor have passed Britney? Taylor had 32.7 million just before Lover was released, and Lover has sold 1.16 million (old bloke's estimates), plus her older albums must've sold something since then, even if it's not a huge amount.

[thebigham]

^Taylor's album "Lover" sold over 1.1 million copies so she has passed Britney.

[marcsgirl85]

Mariah and Celine's first albums were both released about a year before soundscan was implemented Celine's Unison in April 1990 and Mariah's Self titled album June 12th 1990 the first billboard 200 for which soundscan was used was dated May 25th 1991 which was Mariah's 48th week on the chart she was #3

[Bojan]

Janet Jackson: 20,825,481

7,073,266 “Janet”
3,263,783 “The Velvet Rope”
3,119,526 “All for You”
2,492,289 “Design of a Decade: 1986-1996”
1,377,000, “Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814”
1,011,747 “Damita Jo”
663,194 “20 Y.O.”
496,000, “Control”
457,416 “Discipline”
309,204 “Number Ones”
272,488 “Unbreakable”
104,430 “Icon: Number Ones”
62,000 “Janet Jackson”
21,320 “Dream Street”

Additional data (I didn't include this to her total because I don't know if it's already included in numbers presented above)
125,275 “All for You,” special limited edition
66,984 “The Velvet Rope,” another version released on August 23, 2004
64,166 “The Velvet Rope,” another version
54,477 “The Velvet Rope,” another version
46,283 “20 Y.O.,” another version
13,833 “Janet Remixed,” import
13,233 “20 Y.O.,” another version
3,145 “The Velvet Rope,” import

Outdated data was used for “Janet Jackson,” “Dream Street,” “Control,” and “Rhythm Nation 1814.” For albums released during Nielsen Soundscan era, we have relatively fresh, two years old data.

[thebigham]

11/28/20 Billboard charts:

https://www.billboard.com/articles/b...ssical-albums/

Andrea Bocelli Earns 10th Top 10 on Album Sales Chart With ‘Believe,’ Bows at No. 1 on Classical Albums
By Keith Caulfield
11/25/2020

Through his career, Bocelli has sold 24.3 million albums in the U.S.

[thebigham]

12/12/20 Billboard Charts:

https://www.billboard.com/articles/b...m-sales-chart/

‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’ Lights Up Top 10 on Billboard’s Album Sales Chart
By Keith Caulfield
12/10/2020

It’s the sixth-biggest selling holiday album of the Nielsen Music/MRC Data-era (1991-present).

Vince Guaraldi Trio’s ever-popular soundtrack to A Charlie Brown Christmas returns to the top 10 on Billboard’s Album Sales chart (dated Dec. 12), as the set jingles up the list 14-9 (on the chart dated Dec. 12). The album, first released in 1965, sold just over 14,000 copies in the U.S. in the week ending Dec. 3 (up 37%), according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data. Notably, of that sum, 11,000 were on vinyl LP (up 35%).

With A Charlie Brown Christmas’ 14,000 copies sold in the latest tracking week, its total sales in the Nielsen Music/MRC Data era (1991-present) jump past 4 million, rising to 4.005 million. The soundtrack to the animated TV special, which premiered in 1965 on CBS TV, is the sixth-biggest selling holiday album of the Nielsen Music/MRC Data era.