U2 Top List of UK Sourced Overseas Sales

[STING2]

U2 Top List of UK Sourced Overseas Sales

"U2's latest album HOW TO DISMANTLE AN ATOMIC BOMB beat ROBBIE WILLIAMS' GREATEST HITS to top British trade magazine MUSIC WEEK's list of 2004's overseas sales for UK-sourced albums."

"The Irish rockers sold 7.5 million copies of their album outside of the UK last year despite releasing it in late November (04), while Williams claimed second place after selling 3.8 million copies of his compilation, which was released in October (04)."


With 7.5 million albums shipped outside the UK and nearly a 1 million shipped inside the UK, the total shipment figure at the end of 2004 was 8.4 million worldwide!!!!

 

[Sleep Over Jack]

That is amazing...so how many did they actually sell to consumers as a comparison in 2004?

 

[Yahweh]

They will be easily selling that number especially when the tour starts will create some new hype for the album.

 

[mikeuk]

That is amazing...so how many did they actually sell to consumers as a comparison in 2004?

www.mediatraffic.de puts the figure at around 5.6 million (exact figure elsewhere in this forum), but they only capture the 36 main markets. I would think the total figure -taking in around 100 markets-would be close to 6 million.

I think the initial shipment was 5.2 million - so the success of Bomb meant a further 3.2 million had to be shipped pretty quickly.

I do wish such reports wouldn't mix terminology though e.g. sales & shipments.

Mike

 

[doctorwho]

That is amazing...so how many did they actually sell to consumers as a comparison in 2004?

If 8.5M copies of HTDAAB were shipped to stores, according to this thread, 5.3M were sold to actual consumers in 2004.

At present, HTDAAB has sold 6M copies to actual consumers. I doubt there's any more being shipped right now. For example, HTDAAB is 3x Platinum in the U.S., but about 2.2M have been sold to actual consumers. That means stores have 800K copies on their shelves - a reasonable sum for a new album. I highly doubt they'll be ordering a lot more in the near future, unless U2's tour gives them a huge boost or a new single/commercial/TV performance gives them a sustained boost. If the album sells similarly to ATYCLB, it'll nicely sell 20-50K copies per week over the year, with various boosts here and there. Depending on how big those boosts are, we could see 4x Platinum by the end of the year.

Still, for such an "old" band, clearly these sales are very strong. The fact that HTDAAB spent 5 weeks in the U.S. Top 5 and is now lingering in the Top 15 is fantastic. "Pop" wished it was able to do that! At least ATYCLB had decent sales, if not decent chart positions, for a long time.

 

[fitz]

With 7.5 million albums shipped outside the UK and nearly a 1 million shipped inside the UK, the total shipment figure at the end of 2004 was 8.4 million worldwide!!!! [/B]

I remember of a message, that U2 has sold more than a million albums from HTDAAB in UK (a few weeks ago - i think at the end of the last year). So the toal was at least 8.5 million worldwide at the end of 2004.

 

[mikeuk]

If 8.5M copies of HTDAAB were shipped to stores, according to this thread, 5.3M were sold to actual consumers in 2004.

At present, HTDAAB has sold 6M copies to actual consumers. I doubt there's any more being shipped right now. For example, HTDAAB is 3x Platinum in the U.S., but about 2.2M have been sold to actual consumers. That means stores have 800K copies on their shelves - a reasonable sum for a new album. I highly doubt they'll be ordering a lot more in the near future, unless U2's tour gives them a huge boost or a new single/commercial/TV performance gives them a sustained boost. If the album sells similarly to ATYCLB, it'll nicely sell 20-50K copies per week over the year, with various boosts here and there. Depending on how big those boosts are, we could see 4x Platinum by the end of the year.

Still, for such an "old" band, clearly these sales are very strong. The fact that HTDAAB spent 5 weeks in the U.S. Top 5 and is now lingering in the Top 15 is fantastic. "Pop" wished it was able to do that! At least ATYCLB had decent sales, if not decent chart positions, for a long time.

The end of year figure of 5.3 was from mediatraffic at what we would see as week 5, but actually week 6 as Bomb was released in Japan a week earlier (and sold 85k that week). Mediatraffic has this as week 1 for `05 which is slightly confusing - so actual sales in 04 from this source may be understated as the chart was published on 31/12 - therefore presume a number of day's sales not taken into account, although would have to check with them the last day of sales taken into account.

What is probably more important is overall sales from this source, and I will post a summary soon if it hasn't already been done.



Mike

 

[mikeuk]

see the world Chart Week 9 thread for details of overall sales as recorded by mediatraffic.

Mike

 

[Sleep Over Jack]

Thanks for the details!

 

[STING2]

These are the biggest selling albums of the decade so far worldwide. ATYCLB is at #12!

1. Beatles: 1 : 28,000,000
2. Norah Jones : Come Away With Me : 18,734,000+
3. Eminem: The Marshall Mathers LP : 17,000,000
4. Linkin Park: Hybrid Theory : 16,000,000
5. Britney Spears: Oops!....I Did It Again : 15,000,000
6. Eminem : The Eminem Show : 14,967,000+
7. Avril Lavigne: Let Go : 13,197,000+
8. Evanescence: Fallen : 13,105,000+
9. N'Sync: No Strings Attached : 13,000,000
10. Madonna: Music : 12,500,000
11. Usher : Confessions : 12,247,000+
12. U2: ALL THAT YOU CAN'T LEAVE BEHIND : 12,000,000
13. Shakira: Laundry Service : 11,000,000
14. Dido: No Angel : 11,000,000
15. Limp Bizkit: Chocolate Starfish : 11,000,000
16. Pink: M!SSUNDAZTOOD : 11,000,000
17. Enya: A Day Without Rain : 10,500,000
18. Shaggy: Hotshot : 10,500,000
19. Norah Jones : Feels Like Home : 10,000,000
20. Moby : Play : 10,000,000

 

[Yahweh]

I cant believe Moby sold that many albums....

 

[fitz]

Universal Germany has today confirmed, that HTDAAB have already sold over 8.5 m worldwide! Our estimations are very good!

 

[roy]

Universal Germany has today confirmed, that HTDAAB have already sold over 8.5 m worldwide! Our estimations are very good!

Alas, the only thing that's important is sales in the USA...

 

[mikeuk]

Universal Germany has today confirmed, that HTDAAB have already sold over 8.5 m worldwide! Our estimations are very good!

Hmmm - I for one wish that the record company (and others) would distinguish between shipments to suppliers & sales to consumers, For me Bomb has `sold' more than 6 m copies to consumers - the real measurement !

Mike

 

[STING2]

Alas, the only thing that's important is sales in the USA...

Most albums sold in the world are not sold in the USA and the true measure of success is total global sales for the album.

 

[STING2]

Hmmm - I for one wish that the record company (and others) would distinguish between shipments to suppliers & sales to consumers, For me Bomb has `sold' more than 6 m copies to consumers - the real measurement !

Mike

Early on, that is the case, but eventually, the shipment figure falls in line with the actual sales figure, just a little bit ahead. Since its not possible to track all sales to consumers, the shipment figure is used when asking what an album has sold worldwide. As far as U2 or any artist is concerned, an album shipped to a retailer is an album sold with the artist receiving their royalty regardless of when the album is actually sold to a consumer.