U2 Chart/Sales Statistics

[Popmartijn]

How did you get these figures? Can you get Soundscan figures for other U2 albums?

Someone mailed them to me, don't know where he got them. In that same mail he asked if I knew where the Doc is residing these days. Unfortunately, I haven't seen him on the Web lately. Do you might know where his current hangout is?

As for the other albums, I don't have any information. Sorry. It would be interesting to know the current sales of TBO 1990-2000 though...

C ya!

Marty

 

[STING2]

I'm not sure where the Doc is these days. As I am sure you know, the other forum where some interference people went to closed down. The name and address have slipped my mind at the moment. I was a member and posted there occasionally. Perhaps one of the MODS has his E-mail address?

Doc had a great source for Soundscan and used to post the top 200 albums every week as well as the top 200 Catalog albums as reported by Soundscan.

 

[Flare]

A kindly soul sent me Australian Music Report chart positions for the 80s (prior to ARIA taking over monitoring), so I've added them to my chart page.

Also came across some German single chart placings which I added.

[It's at u2flare dot com - click on "charts"]

 

[babyman]

very good work guys!! u2 are not only a commercial phenomenon, they got really big balls in doing music!!

 

[Popmartijn]

After more than 6 months, this thread has fallen off the first page, so here is a bump. At the moment there is nothing to report. Hopefully, new (recent) sales figures will become available once the promotion for the new album starts heating up.

*bump*

 

[Popmartijn]

To prevent this thread from falling off the page, here's another bump. In an interesting twist, I got a mail today with some recent Soundscan figures for The Best Of 1980-1990 (the single disc version, so without the B-Sides).

I also got an update from this person in January (look back in this thread to see it). Then, The Best Of 1980-1990 had sold 2,121,922 units. Now, 8 months later the result is 2,249,720. Apparently, in the week of 19-9-04, the album sold 4,370 copies, up from 3,854 copies the week before. And it is selling around this number week after week after week, resulting in ~130,000 copies sold in 8 months. This also means that the album will sell more than 200,000 copies this year. Not bad for a catalogue album.

C ya!

Marty

P.S. *bump*

 

[tkramer]

I miss Dr. Who, Blue Room, and Johnny Swallow...

 

[STING2]

I still see Blue Room in these parts from time to time.

Thanks for the soundscan update Popmartijn!

 

[Popmartijn]

No update from me, but since this thread was almost falling of page 2 (!), it is time for a bump again.

*bump*

Marty (still hoping for more accurate sales figures)

 

[Popmartijn]

Finally, some accurate sales numbers are in. For Europe, the IFPI (the world-wide recording industry associatin) has certified The Best Of 1980-1990 as 7x Platinum!
Here's their comment about it:

In 1976, 14 year old drummer Larry Mullen Jr. placed an ad on his high school bulletin board looking for other musicians interested in forming a band. What emerged was an Irish quartet by the name of U2 who were to become one of the most popular bands of the past 25 years. U2's The Best of 1980-1990 is a compilation of singles released from their range of albums from Boy through to Rattle & Hum and features hits such as Pride, With or Without You, Sunday Bloody Sunday and Unforgettable Fire. It joins a small group of albums to have notched up 7 Platinum Europe Awards.

(thanks to MikeUK for noticing this update)

Oh, this post is also a bump, since the thread was again halfway down page 2.
*bump*

 

[Vox02]

bump

 

[zoo tv mcg]

Based on last certification data, which U2 albums are due for recertification. Looks like Best Of 80-90 looks o.k, Pop is stuck at 1.5m - 1.6m, ATYCLB has the 4x platinum certifcation.

What about JT - if it did sell 2.8m copies in the 90's as reported in another post and the last certification date was 95, surely it would be close to selling another 1m copies since for 11x platinum.

What about Best of 90-00. Has this been certified at all? What are current sales for both versions

AB is 8x platinum. Any chance of this being close to 9X platinum

What about Rattle & Hum - been 5x platinum for a long time

 

[zoo tv mcg]

PS - Maybe with their 25 year anniversary and Hall of Fame appearance, they might recertify a few albums next year. I want to see them move up in overall Billboard sales list for USA - currently at 48m. They should overtake quite a few artists in the next 12months with the success of HTDAAB

 

[doctorwho]

The 90's "Best Of" is certified as Platinum.

However, the RIAA didn't make the distinction in their list, as they did with the 80's "Best Of". The 80's "Best of + B-sides" is certified as 2x Platinum. The 80's "Best Of" is also certified as Platinum. But there is a clear distinction made between the two formats.

In contrast, the 90's "Best Of" just has the one listing - and there is a showing for a Gold and Platinum certification. Does this mean that the 90's "Best Of + B-sides" was certified as both on one day? Does this mean that the 90's "Best Of" (no b-sides) was certified as both on one day? Does this mean that the "Best Of + B-sides" was certified as Platinum and that the "Best Of" was certified as Gold? Or does this mean that for some reason, both version of the 90's "Best Of" were combined and they are certified as Platinum? Don't know.

Based on actual sales data, the 90's "Best Of + B-sides" sold over 500,000 copies. As this is a double CD, it should be certified as Platinum. The 90's "Best Of" (no b-sides) sold enough to be certified as Gold.

Hope this helps!

And you're right - I'd love to see U2's entire back catalor re-examined for possible updates. But given that it took so long to get ATYCLB finally certified as 4x Platinum, I doubt this will happen soon. We knew it sold well over 4M copies to actual consumers ages ago - but the certification took forever. I think it was about a year between the time the 4 millionth copy was sold to an actual consumer and the certification.

 

[zoo tv mcg]

Just ran my eye over the European Certifications. Last posts for U2:

Best of 80-90 7m (October, 2004)
Best of 90-00 2m (2002- not classications in 03 or 04 so could be get to 3m in 12 months with the tour to help back catalogue sales)
ATYCLB 4m (last post 2002 so could be as per above)

 

[STING2]

BUMP

 

[Popmartijn]

I think it's time for a bump again.

HTDAAB has been certified triple platinum in both the USA (=3 million shipped) and the UK (= 900,000 shipped), while the pan-European figure (which includes the UK) is still double platinum (=2 million shipped, but this is from November).

 

[STING2]

I think it's time for a bump again.

HTDAAB has been certified triple platinum in both the USA (=3 million shipped) and the UK (= 900,000 shipped), while the pan-European figure (which includes the UK) is still double platinum (=2 million shipped, but this is from November).

One should take note that the UK platinum level of 300,000 is 50% higher on a per-capita basis than the US or Canadian platinum levels of 1,000,000 and 100,000 respectively. On the USA or Canadian level, 900,000 copies sold in the UK is the the same as selling 450,000 copies in Canada or 4,500,000 copies in the United States.

 

[Popmartijn]

With so much discussion about U2's chart performance in the recent weeks I think this thread can be very usefull, as it is an overview of what it known/certified. But with so much discussion about U2's chart performance in the recent weeks this page fall down quickly (it was already halfway page 4 ) so it needs a bump regularly. So here...




As for some real information, on 2 February 2005 Vertigo was awarded a Platinum award for it's paid downloads, meaning that more than 200,000 paid downloads.

 

[mikeuk]

I think it's time for a bump again.

HTDAAB has been certified triple platinum in both the USA (=3 million shipped) and the UK (= 900,000 shipped), while the pan-European figure (which includes the UK) is still double platinum (=2 million shipped, but this is from November).

Bomb was certified as 3 x platinum in Europe in December 2004.

Mike

 

[Slipstream]

This is such a great thread and super information doctorwho!

There was one bit of info I'm confused on. On page 1 of this thread, With Or Without You is listed as being at 2 on the Canadian charts. I was always sure it went to No. 1. U2 Wanderer which shows how most U2 songs did on the UK/US/Canada charts also backs this up. Of course they could be wrong. I'm just curious on where everyone gets their historical single chart information for Canada? There seems to be a lack of information on this. Billboard only does from 97 onward for Canada. There must be somebody!

If WOWY was a No. 1 then here is what I have for U2's top chart singles in Canada...

With Or Without You
Discotheque
Sweetest Thing
Beautiful Day
Walk On
Elevation
Stuck In The Moment
Electrical Storm
Vertigo
All Because Of You

...and hopefully and likely Sometimes... will go to No. 1. So that is 9 or 10 No. 1s and maybe 11 in Canada which could quite possibly top any other country in the world including Ireland??

Current Canadian singles chart (ending 24 March) had U2 at,

All Because Of You - 2
Sometimes... - 6
Vertigo Single - 7 (Vertigo-19 weeks still top ten)
Vertigo Maxi - 9

 

[Yahweh]

I believe there has actually been more #1s then that but Vertigo I dont believe ever made it to #1 because that Kalen Porter single was out at the same time I think it only made it to #2 which was the first time in a long time that a U2 single didnt go to #1 on the Canadian singles chart.

 

[beLIEve]

There are two Canadian charts...singles sales versus Airplay. On the Airplay chart, ABOY is at 19 this week while Sometimes is at 18 and Vertigo is at 92.

On the Singles sales chart, U2 has the top 10 filled with ABOY at #2 (peaked at 1), Sometimes at #6 (peaked at 4), Vertigo at #7 (peaked at 2), and Vertigo Maxi at #9 (peaked at 2).

I think you're talking about the sales chart, which is tracked by BB. Jam has the airplay chart, and I'd be curious to know how many #1 songs U2 has had on that chart. Didn't ABOY and Vertigo make it to #1?

 

[fitz]

Finally we have a searchable database for gold- and platinum-certifications in Germany:

www.ifpi.de/wirtschaft/gpsuche.htm

required sales figures for platinum:
till the end of 1999: 500 k
from 2000 to the end of 2002: 300k
since 2003: 200k
(gold always half of platinum).

So we have the follow sales figures for the certificated albums:

War: 250k+
Under a blood red sky: 500k+
The Joshua Tree: 1m+
Rattle and Hum: 500k+
Achtung Baby: 500k+
Zooropa: 250k+
Pop: 250k+
Best of 80-90: 500k+
All that you...: 450k+
Best of 90-00: 150k+
How to dismantle: 300k+

 

[ybird3k]

why are there 2 different versions of Vertigo available in Canada? what is Vertigo Maxi.

Its Amazing how U2 have had such huge success with singles in Canada.
its so different to the US.

 

[STING2]

Finally we have a searchable database for gold- and platinum-certifications in Germany:

www.ifpi.de/wirtschaft/gpsuche.htm

required sales figures for platinum:
till the end of 1999: 500 k
from 2000 to the end of 2002: 300k
since 2003: 200k
(gold always half of platinum).

So we have the follow sales figures for the certificated albums:

War: 250k+
Under a blood red sky: 500k+
The Joshua Tree: 1m+
Rattle and Hum: 500k+
Achtung Baby: 500k+
Zooropa: 250k+
Pop: 250k+
Best of 80-90: 500k+
All that you...: 450k+
Best of 90-00: 150k+
How to dismantle: 300k+

VERY INTERESTING! Thanks for the database!

It seems like albums can be certified as either multi-Gold , or multi-platinum.

Thanks again for the certification page. We now have exact certified awards databases for the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Germany. Europe also has a database but it only goes back to 1996.

 

[STING2]

Finally we have a searchable database for gold- and platinum-certifications in Germany:

www.ifpi.de/wirtschaft/gpsuche.htm

required sales figures for platinum:
till the end of 1999: 500 k
from 2000 to the end of 2002: 300k
since 2003: 200k
(gold always half of platinum).

So we have the follow sales figures for the certificated albums:

War: 250k+
Under a blood red sky: 500k+
The Joshua Tree: 1m+
Rattle and Hum: 500k+
Achtung Baby: 500k+
Zooropa: 250k+
Pop: 250k+
Best of 80-90: 500k+
All that you...: 450k+
Best of 90-00: 150k+
How to dismantle: 300k+

For purposes of certification in the United States, a double album with two disc has each disc in the album counted as an album sale. So sales of 100k of this album would mean the certification would be for 200k. Is this the way double albums in Germany are certified?

 

[Axver]

why are there 2 different versions of Vertigo available in Canada? what is Vertigo Maxi.

Its Amazing how U2 have had such huge success with singles in Canada.
its so different to the US.

There were two versions of Vertigo everywhere but it seems they are counted separately in Canada. There was the two-track one with Are You Gonna Wait Forever and the three-track (maxi) with Neon Lights and the remix.

 

[fitz]

VERY INTERESTING! Thanks for the database!

It seems like albums can be certified as either multi-Gold , or multi-platinum.

Thanks again for the certification page. We now have exact certified awards databases for the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Germany. Europe also has a database but it only goes back to 1996.

Yes, albums can be certified with multi-Gold, for example HTDAAB 3xgold. In the official chart list you see the sign for platin and gold. Both ways amounts to a total sales of 300k.

For your other question. In Germany it's different to the states. All the different versions of an album are counting as one for the charts and the certifications. For example the sales for the Best of 80-90 and the Best of with the B-sides count together for the charts and it doesn't matter, if this is a single or double cd. I think this is so right, or does anybody know it better?

 

[STING2]

Yes, albums can be certified with multi-Gold, for example HTDAAB 3xgold. In the official chart list you see the sign for platin and gold. Both ways amounts to a total sales of 300k.

For your other question. In Germany it's different to the states. All the different versions of an album are counting as one for the charts and the certifications. For example the sales for the Best of 80-90 and the Best of with the B-sides count together for the charts and it doesn't matter, if this is a single or double cd. I think this is so right, or does anybody know it better?

I notice that Pink Floyds the WALL is listed as double platinum (1994) while Dark Side of the Moon is only platinum (1993). In every other country I've seen sales for, Dark Side of the Moon are either equal or the larger seller than The Wall. In Germany though, this certification would suggest that The Wall has sold twice as many copies as Dark Side Of the Moon, which seems very unusual. Thats what prompted my question about how they certify double albums. Is there anywhere on that website that explains it?