Top Catalog Albums of the Soundscan era

[STING2]

This is not a complete list and there are probably many albums missing from it. I got this list from the UKMIX FORUM. It shows the number of copies scanned by soundscan and the date the "total" comes from. Soundscan started in 1991. There are several U2 albums on the list. Keep in mind Soundscan only partially covered the retail market in the early 1990s and record clubs,
, mail order houses, specialty stores, units shipped for Internet fulfillment or direct marketing sales, such as TV-advertised albums, were not covered by Soundscan.


01 1984 Bob Marley ”Legend” 8,931,000 jan06
02 1973 Pink Floyd “Dark Side of the Moon” 7,561,000 jan06
03 1976 James Taylor “Greatest hits” 6,177,000 jan06
04 1985 Jimmy Buffett “Songs you know by heart” 5,919,000 jan06
05 1988 Journey “Greatest Hits” 5,810,000 jan06
06 1980 AC/DC “Back in black” 5,299,000 jan06 ***
07 1978 Soundtrack “Grease” 5,291,000 oct05
08 1986 Beastie Boys “Licensed to Ill” 5,004,000 sep05
09 1979 Pink Floyd "The Wall" 5,000,000 sep05
10 1976 The Eagles “Their greatest hits 71-75” 4,899,000 dec05

11 1978 Steve Miller “Greatest hits 74-78” 4,891,000 feb05
12 1988 Metallica "And Justice For All" 4,810,000 dec05
13 1980 Aerosmith “Aerosmith’s Greatest Hits” 4,665,000 okt05
14 1974 Elton John “Greatest hits” 4,546,000 dec05
15 1982 Eric Clapton “Time pieces” 4,506,000 sep05
16 1987 Guns N’ Roses “Appetite For Destruction” 4,399,000 may05
17 1976 Creedence Clearwater Revival “Chronicle” 4,124,000 nov05
18 1986 Metallica “Master of Puppets” 4,082,000 dec05
19 1985 Metallica "Ride the Lightning" 3,961,000 dec05
20 1988 Fleetwood Mac “Greatest hits” 3,768,000 feb05

21 1967 Patsy Cline “Greatest hits” 3,588,000 feb05
22 1988 Enya "Watermark" 3,500,000 dec01
23 1969 The Beatles “Abbey road” 3,490,000 aug05
24 1985 Billy Joel "Greatest hits I+II" 3,474,000 jan06
25 1988 Mannheim Steamroller "A fresh aire Christmas" 3,467,000 nov05
26 1971 Carole King “Tapestry” 3,405,000 jan06
27 1967 The Beatles “Sgt. Pepper” 3,388,000 aug05
28 1984 Mannheim Steamroller "Christmas" 3,324,000 nov05
29 1971 Led Zeppelin “IV” 3,190,000 jun05
30 1977 Meat Loaf "Bat out of hell" 3,173,000 aug03

31 1982 The Eagles “Greatest hits Vol 2” 3,152,000 dec05
32 1987 U2 “The Joshua tree” 3,036,000 dec05
33 1968 The Beatles “The White album” 2,843,000 feb05
34 1959 Miles Davis “Kind of blue” 2,700,000 apr05
35 1972 Simon & Garfunkel “Greatest hits” 2,678,000 feb05
36 1986 Bon Jovi “Slippery When Wet” 2,559,000 oct05
37 1977 Fleetwood Mac “Rumours” 2,506,000 may05
38 1973 The Beatles “67-70” 2,477,000 may05
39 1982 Michael Jackson “Thriller” 2,407,000 nov05
40 1983 Metallica "Kill em all” 2,345,000 dec05

41 1982 Hank Williams Jr. "Greatest hits" 2,284,000 aug05
42 1984 Prince “Purple rain” 2,283,000 jan06
431976 The Eagles "Hotel California" 2,282,000 dec05
44 1987 Various Artists "A very special Christmas" 2,264,000 nov05
45 1987 Soundtrack “Dirty dancing” 2,226,000 oct05
46 1970 Van Morrison "Moondance" 2,225,000 n/a
47 1987 Def Leppard "Hysteria" 2,168,000 jul03
48 1974 Santana “Greatest hits” 2,163,000 apr05
49 1973 The Beatles “62-66” 2,146,000 may05
50 1965 The Beatles “Rubber soul” 2,031,000 feb05

51 1969 Led Zeppelin “II” 1,978,000 mar04
52 1987 Enya "Enya(The Celts)" 1,960,000 dec01
53 1965 Vince Guaraldi "A Charlie Brown Christmas" 1,943,000 jan06
54 1976 Doobie Brothers "Best of the Doobies" 1,933,000 jan06
55 1972 Neil Young "Harvest" 1,926,000 sep04
56 1979 AC/DC “Highway to hell” 1,879,000 aug05
57 1976 Boston “Boston” 1,846,000 apr05
58 1981 Bob Seger "Nine tonight" 1,788,000 dec05
59 1978 Van Halen "Van Halen" 1,777,000 aug04
60 1977 Soundtrack ”Saturday night fever” 1,769,000 oct05

61 1968 Frank Sinatra "Greatest hits" 1,752,000 feb05
62 1986 AC/DC “Who made who” 1,733,000 jun05
63 1973 Led Zeppelin “Houses of the holy” 1,618,000 apr05
64 1973 Elton John “Goodbye Yellow brick road” 1,559,000 dec05
65 1966 The Beatles “Revolver” 1,525,000 feb04
66 1977 Elton John "Greatest hits, vol.2" 1,512,000 dec05
67 1985 Org. Broadway Cast “Les Miserables” 1,500,000 may05
68 1978 The Carpenters "Christmas portrait" 1,496,000 nov05
69 1979 Rod Stewart “Greatest hits” 1,485,000 feb04
70 (1949) Bing Crosby "White Christmas" 1,469,000 dec05

71 1981 Barbra Streisand "A Christmas album" 1,466,000 dec05
72 1979 Michael Jackson “Off the wall” 1,407,000 apr05
73 1983 U2 "War" 1,406,000 dec05
74 1989 Pat Benatar "Best shots" 1,380,000 aug05
75 1977 Billy Joel “The Stranger” 1,366,000 feb05
76 1967 The Beatles “Magical mystery” 1,339,000 jan04
77 1969 Led Zeppelin “I“ 1,309,000 feb05
78 1984 Van Halen “1984” 1,294,000 jan05
79 1976 Linda Ronstadt "Greatest hits" 1,230,000 jan06
80 1989 Guns n Roses “Lies” 1,198,000 jun03

81 1988 U2 “Rattle & Hum” 1,182,000 dec05
82 1980 Ozzy Osbourne “Blizzard of Ozz” 1,180,000 apr05
83 1970 Black Sabbath “Paranoid” 1,159,000 jan04
84 1984 Bruce Springsteen “Born in the USA” 1,155,000 nov03
85 1989 Beastie Boys "Paul's boutique" 1,151,000 nov99
86 1975 Aerosmith “Toys in the attic” 1,150,000 feb05
87 1987 George Michael 1,131,000 jan06
88 1989 Barbra Streisand "A collection - GH and more" 1,123,000 dec05
89 1973 Janis Joplin “Greatest hits” 1,115,000 oct05 (1999remaster???)
90 1975 America “History: Greatest hits” 1,104,000 jan01

91 1988 The Beatles “Past masters vol 2” 1,098,000 jan04
92 1985 Dire Straits “Brothers in arms” 1,096,000 may05
93 1969 The Beatles “Yellow submarine” 1,090,000 jan04
94 1965 The Beatles “Help” 1,087,000 jan04
95 1986 Van Halen "5150" 1,082,000 jul03
96 1975 Led Zeppelin “Physical graffiti” 1,081,000 apr05
97 1976 Black Sabbath “We sold our soul to RnR” 1,074,000 jan04
98 1988 Sade "Stronger than pride" 1,062,000 jan06
99 1964 The Beatles “Hard days night” 1,037,000 jan04
100 1970 The Beatles “Let it be” 1,032,000 jan04

101 1957 Elvis Presley "Christmas album" 1,020,000 nov05
102 1970 Led Zeppelin “III” 1,016,000 apr05
103 1981 Barbra Streisand "Memories" 1,012,000 dec05
104 1987 Michael Jackson “Bad” 1,010,000 may05
105 1983 ZZ Top "Eliminator" 1,005,000 jan06

 

[cjboog]

This list seems really inaccurate. Is it supposed to be updated for recent albums, and is it supposed to be worldwide totals??? And by the way Sting2 is an old man now with 7000 posts on the button

 

[u2mad25]

This list seems really inaccurate. Is it supposed to be updated for recent albums, and is it supposed to be worldwide totals??? And by the way Sting2 is an old man now with 7000 posts on the button

Yea, I agree - where's Madonna's Immaculate Collection - I know that's sold millions over the past 10 years at least, it was released in 1990 and is certified for 10x platinum...

 

[edge3]

I think you'll find that these are correct & official figures from SoundScan for the USA only (worldwide no such thing exists).

These figures are only from around May 29th 1991 'cos that is about when SoundScan started. Also an album can only qualify as a catalogue albums after it's been out for 2 years. Obviously these are the main 2 reasons why Madonna's Immaculate Collection is not on the list as it was released 1st Nov 1990.

ps - great to see JT (now past 3m), War, & R&H all featuring well.

 

[STING2]

This list seems really inaccurate. Is it supposed to be updated for recent albums, and is it supposed to be worldwide totals??? And by the way Sting2 is an old man now with 7000 posts on the button

The list does not include every album that should be on there. Its just a list of known soundscan totals for catalog albums. Also anything released after May 1991 is not included.

 

[phanan]

Yeah, I can see that certain major albums are not here, like The Police's Synchronicity or Springsteen's Born To Run. It's too bad there isn't an official list somewhere.