SoundScan Era - USA's Best Selling Artists and Albums

[Fedepeti]

The Billboard Catalogue Chart runs to 200 titles. The title at No. 200 can sell as little as 1,000 copies - or about 50,000 per year. I have a few of these charts in different years. In my next posting on this thread I will analyse some of these.

Great, I always want to know sales and history from this "strange" chart.
Why some albums during the 90's were on the Billboard 200 for years (see Phantom Of The Opera, Queen's Greatest Hits and Metallica's Black Album among others), others were removed from the Billboard 200 after 104 weeks, others went straight at the Catalog chart in 1991 (Dark Side, Back In Black) and others not?
When this rule started? Around 1996-97?

[pagronek]

The Billboard Catalogue Chart runs to 200 titles. The title at No. 200 can sell as little as 1,000 copies - or about 50,000 per year. I have a few of these charts in different years. In my next posting on this thread I will analyse some of these.

Great, I always want to know sales and history from this "strange" chart.
Why some albums during the 90's were on the Billboard 200 for years (see Phantom Of The Opera, Queen's Greatest Hits and Metallica's Black Album among others), others were removed from the Billboard 200 after 104 weeks, others went straight at the Catalog chart in 1991 (Dark Side, Back In Black) and others not?
When this rule started? Around 1996-97?

Albums are moved to the catalog chart after two years from release date, no matter how many weeks they were on The Billboard 200. When the album two years after release is lower than number 100, it will never be removed to the main chart. For example, if album released in 1999 didn't sell anything until 2005 and in 2005 it is in the Top 100 of the comprehensive chart, it will still chart only on the catalog chart, not Billboard Top 200. I think that rule started when the catalog chart started.

[Fedepeti]

Ok, I know the rules but I want to know the reason for chart runs like this during the early 90's:

QUEEN - GREATEST HITS
Date: 03/10/1992 - Run: 22-*11*-18-26-30-31-35-35-39-42-36-41-42- (13 wsf)
02/01/1993: 42-46-42-49-50-53-46-48-53-57-65-62-59-70-79-82-80-91-67-62-65-72-69-74-74-78-86-94-101-101-107-100-107-106-113-82-82-127-114-124-130-133-131-125-125-130-139-134-140-141-132-135- (65 wsf)
01/01/1994: 140-135-122-125-127-127-120-125-130-132-124-122-126-120-122-108-110-118-122-126-137-143-139-144-135-140-140-136-122-115-114-117-117-114-122-133-128-124-128-140-144-166-166-163-160-172-178-184-178-165-169-174-177- (118 wsf)
07/01/1995: 187-180-174-163-152-145-148-154-160-143-151-161-153-148-157-161-164-172-163-128-156-153-147-151-156-149-156-156-144-133-139-143-142-140-144-163-165-165-169-173-190-189-193-189-195-191-181-0-0-196-169-172- (168 wsf)
06/01/1996: 190-169-153-143-134-140-149-141-142-144-155-160-170-175-176-156-153-155-173-184-194-183-188-183-183-171-175-183-181-179-180-173-166-183-187-178-194-192 (206-165c wks)
Re #01: 02/11/1996 197 (1 wk)
Total # of re-entries: 2
Total # of weeks: 207-165c (Top 20: 2 Top 40: 10)

Why this album didn't go to Catalog chart until November 1996, after 4 years on the Billboard 200 and 2 years on the lower of the chart?
Nirvana's Nevermind, Metallica's black album and the Phanton of the Opera Soundtrack are other examples.

[HolidayGuy]

I;m nor sure I'm comprhending some of these compilations- plus, True Blue was in 1986!

[jgs]

Ok, I know the rules but I want to know the reason for chart runs like this during the early 90's:

QUEEN - GREATEST HITS
Date: 03/10/1992 - Run: 22-*11*-18-26-30-31-35-35-39-42-36-41-42- (13 wsf)
02/01/1993: 42-46-42-49-50-53-46-48-53-57-65-62-59-70-79-82-80-91-67-62-65-72-69-74-74-78-86-94-101-101-107-100-107-106-113-82-82-127-114-124-130-133-131-125-125-130-139-134-140-141-132-135- (65 wsf)
01/01/1994: 140-135-122-125-127-127-120-125-130-132-124-122-126-120-122-108-110-118-122-126-137-143-139-144-135-140-140-136-122-115-114-117-117-114-122-133-128-124-128-140-144-166-166-163-160-172-178-184-178-165-169-174-177- (118 wsf)
07/01/1995: 187-180-174-163-152-145-148-154-160-143-151-161-153-148-157-161-164-172-163-128-156-153-147-151-156-149-156-156-144-133-139-143-142-140-144-163-165-165-169-173-190-189-193-189-195-191-181-0-0-196-169-172- (168 wsf)
06/01/1996: 190-169-153-143-134-140-149-141-142-144-155-160-170-175-176-156-153-155-173-184-194-183-188-183-183-171-175-183-181-179-180-173-166-183-187-178-194-192 (206-165c wks)
Re #01: 02/11/1996 197 (1 wk)
Total # of re-entries: 2
Total # of weeks: 207-165c (Top 20: 2 Top 40: 10)

Why this album didn't go to Catalog chart until November 1996, after 4 years on the Billboard 200 and 2 years on the lower of the chart?
Nirvana's Nevermind, Metallica's black album and the Phanton of the Opera Soundtrack are other examples.

Prior to January 18, 1997, albums were not moved to catalog status unless they were at least 2 years old and had been off all Billboard charts for a period of three consecutive months.

[Basil]

Wow, this is amazing work, Basil! I just had two questions. Shouldn't Eminem be included in the top selling artists list? Here are his SoundScan Sales Figures eff. 4/05:

Slim Shady: 4,900,000
Marshall Mathers LP: 9,740,000
Emimem Show: 9,348,000
Encore: 4,471,481
Total: 28,459,481

Second question: Are Marshall Mathers and Eminem Show still selling well enough to pass 10mm in the next year or so (if you have a breakdown of these albums sales)?

Thank you very much askew.

The answer is a definite yes. The reason he wasn't was the lack of a recent figure on Slim Shady.

Yours is a brilliant post. Up to date soundscan figures on an entire catalogue. This means the total can be added to thread and I will do that when I next edit.

By having all the most up to date figures in the same place, we have a resource for the forum.

For your second question, I haven't been able to dig out the figures I know I have somewhere! Will post them for you as soon as I can.

[Basil]

I;m nor sure I'm comprhending some of these compilations- plus, True Blue was in 1986!

Many thanks! That was a dumb error on my part. It is in fact the first album Madonna from 1983 and I've now changed it. I can't believe no-one else spotted it. I really appreciate having errors pointed out because I want these lists to be as accurate as possible.

What are the lists that you don't comprehend? I'll be happy to explain further.

[gj]

Arriving late, but I found some of your numbers not correct or questionable.

Like 31m for Tim McGraw, when his RIAA shipments are around the 26-27m. Hard to believe, that his label would not update so much.
Same with A. Jackson. I think his Soundscan numbers are high too.
And does Shania's numbers include updates on The Woman In Me, and the numbers of her debut album?

[Basil]

Arriving late, but I found some of your numbers not correct or questionable.

Like 31m for Tim McGraw, when his RIAA shipments are around the 26-27m. Hard to believe, that his label would not update so much.
Same with A. Jackson. I think his Soundscan numbers are high too.
And does Shania's numbers include updates on The Woman In Me, and the numbers of her debut album?

Soundscan gave a Tim McGraw total of 26.3m in july 2004. Then his new album was released and has sold over 3.2m and is still on the chart selling 18,400 this week. Then his catalogue, particularly Greatest Hits (which is still on the chart) sells consistently well. So I see no problem at all with 31m, it is a conservative estimate.

Certifications, in his case, will lag soundscan sales. For example his Greatest Hits has sold 4,587,900. It is 4x platinum. Therefore it is 587,900 over its certification. It will have to reach 5m to get a new riaa award. Most of his catalogue has higher soundscan sales than his riaa certifications.

Before posting any of these figures I had to meticulously research each artists' catalogue. You have to believe me when I say this takes a huge amount of time. The aim is to get the most accurate possible figures.

Exactly the same reasoning applies to Alan Jackson. His official sales released by soundscan in july 2003 was 29.9m and my current estimate including sales of his new album and extensive catalogue is 32m. Conservative again.

I'm therefore disappointed that you find these figures questionable. Hell, I don't like their music, but that is irrelevant. Like it or not they are huge sellers in the US.

Shania Twain's total soundscan figure in july 2004 was 29.1m. And yes, this does include her entire catalogue. The Woman in Me sold 7,600,000 to february 2005. As with Time McCraw and Alan Jackson, I've added her sales since. Her soundscan sales are lower than the riaa total because she has sold so many through record clubs. Check on

http://www.ukmix.org/forums/viewtopic.p ... 47&start=0

to see her riaa sales, plus soundscan, plus some of the record club figures.

I have only posted totals for artists that I have accurate information on. If sales of only one album by an artist is not available, I cannot post a total. This was the case for Eminem - I didn't have an up to date figure for just one album! As you see above, this information was kindly posted and now I can go ahead and added Eminem to the list.

These figures did not come out of thin air. If you do have better figures, please post them.

[Basil]

Have found sales for another complete catalogue.

Iron Maiden Jan 2005

Iron Maiden - 196,628
Killers - 211,410
Number of Beast - 357,463
Piece of Mind - 347,400
Powerslave - 299,022
Somewhere in Time - 291,420
Seventh Son - 218,056
No Prayer - 213,745
Fear of the Dark - 421,786
The X Factor - 112,710
Virtual XI - 65,243
Brave New World - 282,460
Dance of Death - 138,904

Best of the Beast - 251,112
Edward the Great - 130,611

Live After Death - 558,578
A Real Live One - 108,177
A Real Dead One - 130,652
Rock in Rio - 69,307

Ed Hunter - 52,886
Eddie's Archive - 16,000 (may 2003)

Live at Donnington - 23,639
A Real Dead/Live One - 20,621

Grand Total - 4,517,830

[Fedepeti]

Ok, I know the rules but I want to know the reason for chart runs like this during the early 90's:

QUEEN - GREATEST HITS
Date: 03/10/1992 - Run: 22-*11*-18-26-30-31-35-35-39-42-36-41-42- (13 wsf)
02/01/1993: 42-46-42-49-50-53-46-48-53-57-65-62-59-70-79-82-80-91-67-62-65-72-69-74-74-78-86-94-101-101-107-100-107-106-113-82-82-127-114-124-130-133-131-125-125-130-139-134-140-141-132-135- (65 wsf)
01/01/1994: 140-135-122-125-127-127-120-125-130-132-124-122-126-120-122-108-110-118-122-126-137-143-139-144-135-140-140-136-122-115-114-117-117-114-122-133-128-124-128-140-144-166-166-163-160-172-178-184-178-165-169-174-177- (118 wsf)
07/01/1995: 187-180-174-163-152-145-148-154-160-143-151-161-153-148-157-161-164-172-163-128-156-153-147-151-156-149-156-156-144-133-139-143-142-140-144-163-165-165-169-173-190-189-193-189-195-191-181-0-0-196-169-172- (168 wsf)
06/01/1996: 190-169-153-143-134-140-149-141-142-144-155-160-170-175-176-156-153-155-173-184-194-183-188-183-183-171-175-183-181-179-180-173-166-183-187-178-194-192 (206-165c wks)
Re #01: 02/11/1996 197 (1 wk)
Total # of re-entries: 2
Total # of weeks: 207-165c (Top 20: 2 Top 40: 10)

Why this album didn't go to Catalog chart until November 1996, after 4 years on the Billboard 200 and 2 years on the lower of the chart?
Nirvana's Nevermind, Metallica's black album and the Phanton of the Opera Soundtrack are other examples.

Prior to January 18, 1997, albums were not moved to catalog status unless they were at least 2 years old and had been off all Billboard charts for a period of three consecutive months.

Thank you for the explanation.

[gj]

Soundscan gave a Tim McGraw total of 26.3m in july 2004. Then his new album was released and has sold over 3.2m and is still on the chart selling 18,400 this week. Then his catalogue, particularly Greatest Hits (which is still on the chart) sells consistently well. So I see no problem at all with 31m, it is a conservative estimate.

Certifications, in his case, will lag soundscan sales. For example his Greatest Hits has sold 4,587,900. It is 4x platinum. Therefore it is 587,900 over its certification. It will have to reach 5m to get a new riaa award. Most of his catalogue has higher soundscan sales than his riaa certifications.

Before posting any of these figures I had to meticulously research each artists' catalogue. You have to believe me when I say this takes a huge amount of time. The aim is to get the most accurate possible figures.

Exactly the same reasoning applies to Alan Jackson. His official sales released by soundscan in july 2003 was 29.9m and my current estimate including sales of his new album and extensive catalogue is 32m. Conservative again.

I'm therefore disappointed that you find these figures questionable. Hell, I don't like their music, but that is irrelevant. Like it or not they are huge sellers in the US.

Shania Twain's total soundscan figure in july 2004 was 29.1m. And yes, this does include her entire catalogue. The Woman in Me sold 7,600,000 to february 2005. As with Time McCraw and Alan Jackson, I've added her sales since. Her soundscan sales are lower than the riaa total because she has sold so many through record clubs. Check on

http://www.ukmix.org/forums/viewtopic.p ... 47&start=0

to see her riaa sales, plus soundscan, plus some of the record club figures.

I have only posted totals for artists that I have accurate information on. If sales of only one album by an artist is not available, I cannot post a total. This was the case for Eminem - I didn't have an up to date figure for just one album! As you see above, this information was kindly posted and now I can go ahead and added Eminem to the list.

These figures did not come out of thin air. If you do have better figures, please post them.

Your estimitaions are still incorrect in my opinion.
McGraw's RIAA total is 27m, including 3xPlatinum for his GH. So his label is pretty much hands on it. If you want, you can add 2 more millions for the GH, and his current album, plus catalogues. It's not 31 million by all means.

Same for Jackson, 3m Soundscan from last year June? His latest album didn't do much.

As for Shania, if you add only her GH to that 29.1 million, without her catalogue, than she's over 32 million already.

[MJDangerous]

some others
Madonna - 24.8m
The Eagles - 24.4m
Elton John - 24m
Dixie Chicks - 23m
Whitney Houston - 22.9m
AC/DC - 22m
Led Zeppelin - 22m
Guns n Roses - 21.7m
Janet Jackson - 18.3m
Brooks & Dunn - 17.9m
Leann Rimes - 17.6m
Michael Jackson - 17m
Van Halen - 16.4m
Toby Keith - 16.1m
TLC - 15.2m
Ozzy Osbourne - 15m
Def Leppard - 14m
Bon Jovi - 13.8m
Destiny's Child - 13.6m
Spice Girls - 11.8m
Brandy - 11.5m
Kiss - 8.3m
Iron Maiden - 4.6m
Alice Cooper - 3m
Whitesnake - 2m
America - 1.7m
Blur - 1.6m

And what about Green Day ?

This week :
Dookie = over 7.4m
American Idiot = over 3.3m
International Superhits = over 1.1m

[Basil]

Your estimitaions are still incorrect in my opinion.
McGraw's RIAA total is 27m, including 3xPlatinum for his GH. So his label is pretty much hands on it. If you want, you can add 2 more millions for the GH, and his current album, plus catalogues. It's not 31 million by all means.

Same for Jackson, 3m Soundscan from last year June? His latest album didn't do much.

As for Shania, if you add only her GH to that 29.1 million, without her catalogue, than she's over 32 million already.

First, this is a soundscan thread. RIAA awards are a separate issue on another thread. However, I must point out that Tim McGraw's riaa total is 26m not 27m and his Greatest Hits album is 4x platinum not 3x.

Soundscan released his total in July 2004 at 26.3m. His latest album released in October sold 3.2m. His Greatest Hits has sold nearly 0.5m in that time. The rest of his catalogue is still selling well, particularly Dancehall Doctors. I estimate the 6 together selling nearly 1m. Just add these up and you get a total of 31m. If soundscan were to release the actual total right now, it would be in the range 30.5 to 31.5m.

Have you better figures?

Now to Alan Jackson. 3m since July? Where do you get this figure? 32 minus 29.9 equals 2.1m. Big difference.

Alan Jackson has no less then Fifteen albums on catalogue. All of them still sell. Since July he had a new album that has sold around 0.8m. Then Greatest Hits Vol 2 sold well over 0.5m in that time. Then both his Christmas albums went onto the catalogue chart in the autumn. Then there are the sales of his first Greatest Hits and 9 more studio albums. In fact, I think a 2.1m total for this lot is too conservative an estimate and so I'll be increasing the estimate to 32.5m when I next edit.

As for Shania Twain her catalogue is much smaller and Come On Over has sold around 0.3m since July. As her Greatest Hits is still selling and has reached 2.9, will be able to update her total to 32.5m before long.

So there you go

Tim McGraw - estimate unchanged 31m
Alan Jackson - raised from 32 to 32.5m
Shania Twain - raised from 32 to 32.5m

To use the word incorrect, given these tiny margins, is I think uncalled for.

[pagronek]

some others
Madonna - 24.8m
The Eagles - 24.4m
Elton John - 24m
Dixie Chicks - 23m
Whitney Houston - 22.9m
AC/DC - 22m
Led Zeppelin - 22m
Guns n Roses - 21.7m
Janet Jackson - 18.3m
Brooks & Dunn - 17.9m
Leann Rimes - 17.6m
Michael Jackson - 17m
Van Halen - 16.4m
Toby Keith - 16.1m
TLC - 15.2m
Ozzy Osbourne - 15m
Def Leppard - 14m
Bon Jovi - 13.8m
Destiny's Child - 13.6m
Spice Girls - 11.8m
Brandy - 11.5m
Kiss - 8.3m
Iron Maiden - 4.6m
Alice Cooper - 3m
Whitesnake - 2m
America - 1.7m
Blur - 1.6m

And what about Green Day ?

This week :
Dookie = over 7.4m
American Idiot = over 3.3m
International Superhits = over 1.1m

Plus "Warning" 1m

[Basil]

And what about Green Day ?

This week :
Dookie = over 7.4m
American Idiot = over 3.3m
International Superhits = over 1.1m

Quite simply we don't have a total figure for soundscan sales. If you don't have this, the only alternative is to have sales of every single album in the catalogue. I believe Green Day have at least 8 albums, so sales from 3 is no good.

There are 2 posts above this giving sales of entire catalogues for Eminem and Iron Maiden which then gives us a soundscan total.

To include Green Day we need the sales of every album.

[MJDangerous]

And what about Green Day ?

This week :
Dookie = over 7.4m
American Idiot = over 3.3m
International Superhits = over 1.1m

Quite simply we don't have a total figure for soundscan sales. If you don't have this, the only alternative is to have sales of every single album in the catalogue. I believe Green Day have at least 8 albums, so sales from 3 is no good.

There are 2 posts above this giving sales of entire catalogues for Eminem and Iron Maiden which then gives us a soundscan total.

To include Green Day we need the sales of every album.

Sure, it's why I ask you for Greend Day's soundscan sales ! lol
I will try found others informations about this.

2Pac soundscan total is great too. 24.4m the week after the release of Loyal To Game who sold 700k since. So 25.1m + catalogue sales between december 2004 and now.
I think that he is around 25.5m.

[Basil]

2Pac soundscan total is great too. 24.4m the week after the release of Loyal To Game who sold 700k since. So 25.1m + catalogue sales between december 2004 and now.
I think that he is around 25.5m.

Many thanks. If you have a source and date for that soundscan total MJ, I can add 2 Pac to the list. Could anyone have predicted at his death in '96 that he would go on to sell so many more albums? And 4 of those are 2CD sets. Amazing.

[MJDangerous]

2Pac soundscan total is great too. 24.4m the week after the release of Loyal To Game who sold 700k since. So 25.1m + catalogue sales between december 2004 and now.
I think that he is around 25.5m.

Many thanks. If you have a source and date for that soundscan total MJ, I can add 2 Pac to the list. Could anyone have predicted at his death in '96 that he would go on to sell so many more albums? And 4 of those are 2CD sets. Amazing.

Edited By Jonathan Cohen. December 22, 2004, 10:05 AM ET

Tupac's 'Game' Haunts Album Chart At No. 1


Late rapper Tupac Shakur grabs his third posthumous Billboard 200 chart-topper as "Loyal to the Game" (Amaru/Interscope) enters the chart at No. 1. The set, which sold 330,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan, becomes the late rapper's fifth No. 1 on the tally.

Since his 1996 murder, Tupac's album sales total more than 18 million units in the United States, with a career total is 24.4 million. His last posthumous album, "Better Dayz," debuted in 2002 at No. 5 with 366,000 copies; it has sold 1.6 million to date.

LINK

18m (now 19m) albums sold since his death is more than amazing !

[Basil]

Tupac's album sales total is 24.4 million[/b]. His last posthumous album, "Better Dayz," debuted in 2002 at No. 5 with 366,000 copies; it has sold 1.6 million to date.

Yes, that's good enough for me. I'll take that and add it to the list. He's certainly over 25m by now.

Thanks MJ

I thought I had every artist over 25m. But then there was Eminem and now 2 Pac. Maybe there are still more to be found.

[NothingFails]

1983 - Madonna's 396,000 is the top figure. Not many other candidates - ZZ Top, Def Leppard - none likely to be over 1,000,000. Conclusion is that nobody buys music released in 1983! Must have been a very bad year.

1989 - Another bad year. Something wrong with music in 1989. Janet Jackson probably the highest figure as not many are missing.

I beg to differ. 1983 is one of the greatest years ever for music, the problem is, most of the artists who were huge that year have since released Greatest Hits albums that took away the need to own the regular albums.

Another 1983 title to consider would be Cyndi Lauper's "She's So Unusual", it was recertified in 1991, and then again in 1997. It could possibly have scanned more copies than "Madonna" has if you count the remaster and the original cd.

[NothingFails]

1983 - Madonna's 396,000 is the top figure. Not many other candidates - ZZ Top, Def Leppard - none likely to be over 1,000,000. Conclusion is that nobody buys music released in 1983! Must have been a very bad year.

What about The Police - Synchronicity ? No over 396.000 ? :-?
And Flashdance Soundtrack ? Or Can't Slow Down by Lionel Richie ?

I've looked very closely at all the candidates for 1983. I don't think that any album has exceeded 1m soundscan sales. The most likely best sellers are ZZ Top - Eliminator, Def Leppard - Pyromania, and maybe, as you suggest The Police - Synchronicity. Lionel Richie and Flashdance are not in the running as they had virtually stopped selling by 1991. It remains a mystery why no album from 1983 sells very much now.

I wouldn't totally count Flashdance out. I think it probably has sold 200,000-500,000 since 1991. Not a boffo catalog seller, but I know a lot of people who own the soundtrack on CD, and bought it after 91.

Other 1983 titles to consider:
U2 - War
Metallica - Kill Em All
David Bowie - Let's Dance
R.E.M. - Murmur

I think 1983 isn't such a big year is because there really isn't a classic "Greatest Hits" album that came out that year. I mean, even though 1984 had blockbusters like Purple Rain and Born In The U.S.A., it's still Bob Marley that sells most, same with 1982, Eric Clapton's Timepieces has outsold Thriller since 91. A lot of the big albums from 1983 were albums that really didn't become "catalog" smashes. While albums like Culture Club's "Colour By Numbers" and Duran Duran's "Seven And The Ragged Tiger" still sell enough to remain in print, their days of selling hundreds of thousands are over.

[Basil]

I wouldn't totally count Flashdance out. I think it probably has sold 200,000-500,000 since 1991. Not a boffo catalog seller, but I know a lot of people who own the soundtrack on CD, and bought it after 91.

Other 1983 titles to consider:
U2 - War
Metallica - Kill Em All
David Bowie - Let's Dance
R.E.M. - Murmur

Hey, you've got it!!

Checked out the titles you suggested and all were very likely or definitely under 1m - except Kill 'Em All. I've unearthed a very old figure from May 2000 of

1,786,000

So finally a reasonable figure for 1983.

Thanks. 396,000,or whatever, for the best selling album was ridiculous.

Let's see if anyone comes up with a higher figure for a 1983 release.

[Basil]

Second question: Are Marshall Mathers and Eminem Show still selling well enough to pass 10mm in the next year or so (if you have a breakdown of these albums sales)?

OK Askew, I finally have the figures you were asking for. Eminem sales patterns as follows

Slim Shady
charted mar 1999 - selling
2,800,000 by dec 1999
4,000,000 by dec 2000
4,300,000 by sep 2002
4,900,000 by mar 2005

This is only 4xP. Add on BMG club figures of 1.16m, and you get 6.06m, so it should be 6xP

Marshall Mathers
charted jun 2000
7,900,000 by dec 2000
8,900,000 by sep 2002
9,547,000 by mar 2004
9,740,000 by mar 2005

So it has slowed to 193,000 sales in the past year. Should get over 10m soundscan sometime in 2006. Again, it you add BMG figures of 1.54m, you get 11.28m, so it should be 11xP.

Eminem Show
charted jun 2002
5,400,000 by sep 2002
7,608,000 by dec 2002
8,985,000 by mar 2004
9,348,000 by mar 2005

So 363,000 sold in the past year. It should eventually get to 10m, but may take 2 years. With the new album doing so well, the catalogue may pick up a bit. No BMG figure for this one. It should still be 9xP, though.

Eminem is now on the main list - page one. Have also added 2 Pac, Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley.

More totals on the way.

[john2000]

Some new soundscan datas

bob marley legend : 8,551,846
queen greatest hits 1 : 5,426,499
queen greatest hits 1&2 : 796,160
Queen - Greatest Hits (We Will Rock You) : 237,056
Tool - Aenima : 3,056,034
Tool - Lateralus : 2,232,816