Week 9

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doctorwho

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Below are chart & sales summaries for the 90's "Best Of + B-sides", "Best Of" and their combined efforts. Many countries have combined the sales of both versions, which ranks the album higher on the charts. However, in the U.S., the albums are listed separately (Canada does this as well). Therefore, I wanted to make a "combined" list to show where the album would have ranked on the charts had the sales of both versions been combined. This last item, IMO, is a better indicator of the overall success of the "Best Of". :yes:

I have the actual chart positions for the two albums, however, I did not receive SoundScan reports for during the weeks of Christmas and New Year's. I did receive a SoundScan report from last week, which listed New Year's week's numbers. I am estimating the Christmas week sales based on chart positions. Remember, this is perhaps the top-selling week of the year. In previous years, the top 50 (!) albums all sold over 100,000 copies - so my estimates may be quite low. However, I do recall NOT seeing U2's albums "gold highlighted" on Billboard, indicating that they did not have a major jump in sales (at least when compared to other releases). Hence, my estimates are conservative.

90's "Best Of + B-sides":

Charts:
#3 - 27 - 49 - 62 - 80 - 91- 88 - 93 - 100 - 134

Sales:
184,804 + 59,694 + 31,512 + 36,916 + 26,344 + 33,292 + 50,000 (estimate) + 33,055 + 13,613 + 7,469

Total Estimated Sales:
476,699


90's "Best Of":

Charts:
#34 - 57 - 49 - 58 - 56 - 58 - 64 - 88 - 94

Sales:
37,922 + 26,436 + 50,687 + 34,331 + 49,635 + 65,000 (estimate) + 44,993 + 15,377 + 11,048

Total Estimated Sales:
335,429


Combined:

Charts (theoretical position if sales were combined):
#3 - 13 - 30 - 29 - 35 - 37 - 37 (estimate) - 40 - 45 - 52

Sales (combined weekly sales of both albums):
184,804 + 97,616 + 57,948 + 87,603 + 60,675 + 82,927 + 115,000 (estimate) + 78,048 + 28,990 + 18,517

Total Sales (for both albums):
812,128


As shown, the combined sales have already crossed 800,000 copies in the U.S. Sales did drop dramatically this week, but this was true for ALL albums. In fact, I saw a report on this (based on HitsDailyDouble.com's numbers) stating that all sales were much lower than expected. Despite the fact that the combined "Best Of" releases saw 36% sales drop, the combined albums only would have theoretically declined 7 spots on the charts. The huge drops for the "B-side" release are most likely due to the fact that this version of the album is now fading out. More and more stores are just pushing the less expensive single CD version of the album.

In any event, the "B-Sides" version of the album has officially sold close to 500,000 copies in the U.S. Due to RIAA rules, this should certify it as Platinum. The single CD version should be certified as Gold. While both albums are selling less than the 80's "Best Of", this should not be of a surprise to anyone. Furthermore, the 90's single CD version is on a similar track to the 80's single CD (which never charted high).
 
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Catalog and DVD Sales

Now some Catalog sales updates...

Sting2 wrote:
Week 111 brings sales of 5,880 for ATYCLB! This is the most it has sold since it was on the Billboard 200 album chart! Total sales now stand at:

3,988,020

+ 9 weeks of unkown sales data!

If we estimate 3K in sales for each of those 9 weeks, then total sales are 4.015M. Great job U2!

I do not have information for Week 112 (Christmas week). However, we know that the week before Christmas, ATYCLB sold 5,880 copies. In Week 113, the album sold 6,960 copies. With ATYCLB selling nearly 6K copies the week before Xmas and 7 K copies the week after Xmas, I will estimate 9K copies the week of Christmas.

Here are the sales and Catalog chart positions for ATYCLB in recent weeks.

Chart:
148 (Christmas week) - 125 - 129 - 159

Sales:
9,000 (estimate) + 6,960 + 3,021 + 2,138

In other words, we have a known subtotal amount of:

4,000,139 + 10 unknown weeks

I estimate the sales for those 10 unknown weeks as at least 36,000 copies. This brings the total estimated sales to:

4,036,139

No matter what, ATYCLB has truly crossed the 4M mark in sales in the U.S., making it the fourth best selling U2 album in the U.S. (behind JT, AB, and R&H).


The 80's "Best Of" (single CD version) also continues to sell very well.

Here are the sales and Catalog chart positions for it in recent weeks.

Chart:
81 (Christmas week) - 68 - 73 - 57

Sales:
12,000 (estimate) + 9,248 + 4,144 + 3,473

I can envision a future where both the 80's and 90's "Best Of" single CD versions are firmly planted on the Catalog charts, happily selling between 2,500-5,000 copies a week (barring holiday weeks or when a new U2 album is released).


DVD Sales

The DVD for the "Best Of" continues to sell well. I estimate 15,000 copies sold Christmas week. It sold 9.4K copies on New Year's week, 3.8K copies last week and 2.7K copies this week. It has never left the top 5 and sits at #4 this week.

The "Elevation" DVD also continues to sell very well. I estimate 3K copies sold Christmas week. It sold 2.5K copies on New Year's week, 1.3K copies last week, and a far more "normal" 812 copies this week. This is the amount it was selling before the holiday season. It has never left the Top 50 of SoundScan's DVD music videos charts, but does sit at #43 this week.

That's it! :wave:
 
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Just thought I would add this cool sales article from U2.com that was also posted here in the U2news forum. This article talks about U2's sales outside of the UK. It could help us get a little better idea of how much the Best of 80-90, Best of 90-2000, and ATYCLB have sold worldwide.


>U2 were the biggest selling overseas act on any UK label last year, according to a new report from UK magazine Music Week.

The Best of 1990-2000, released only in November, sold more than 5m copies outside the UK by the year end ? and two other U2 albums sold more than a million each. Behind U2 in the global sales league of other UK-signed acts came The Rolling Stones, Robbie Williams, Coldplay, Elton John and Kylie Minogue.

?The enduring global appeal of U2 showed no signs of slowing in 2002,? reported industry title Music Week.

The second ?Best of? reignited sales of the first (?Best of 1980-1990?) and also of All That You Can?t Leave Behind, released in 2000, which has now reached cumulative worldwide sales outside the UK of 11m.

?The Best of 1980-1990 has been a phenomenal seller for us since its release four years ago,? said Steve Matthews, Island Records International Group, ?And it got a new lease of life with the release of the second volume. U2 have managed to draw in a whole new generation of fans with All That You Can?t Leave Behind and the Elevation tour.<
 
Re: Catalog and DVD Sales

doctorwho said:


No matter what, ATYCLB has truly crossed the 4M mark in sales in the U.S., making it the fourth best selling U2 album in the U.S. (behind JT, AB, and R&H).


I believe you forgot to mention a classic album from 1983 that has sold more than ATYCLB. :yes:
 
Denmark #18 (lw #10)

The Neterlands #7 (#6)

Ireland #6 (#6)

Germany #33 (#22)

Austria #9 (#5)

Italy #5 (#5)

Finland #36 (#29)

Switzerland #5 (#7)

Czech Republic #16 (#10)

Australia #9 (#7)

New Zealand #12 (#1)

Belgium #5 (#4)


The Uk

Best Of + B-Sides

#33 (#30)

Best Of

#65 (#62)


Canada

Best Of + B-Sides

#47 (#39)

Best Of

#28 (#27)
 
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Europe & World positions

A Maaaaaaan said:
Denmark #18 (lw #10)

The Neterlands #7 (#6)

Ireland #6 (#6)

Germany #33 (#22)

Austria #9 (#5)

Italy #5 (#5)

Finland #36 (#29)

Switzerland #5 (#7)

Czech Republic #16 (#10)

Australia #9 (#7)

New Zealand #12 (#1)


The Uk

Best Of + B-Sides

#33 (#30)

Best Of

#65 (#62)


Canada

Best Of + B-Sides

#47 (#39)

Best Of

#28 (#27)



Add to the above:

World Chart - 8

Europe Chart - 5


Mike
 
Hello,

Last week was another very busy week for me and thus I did not have time to update the Dutch chart report. And when I finally had time, the forum was down! So now I return and I see that A Maaaaaaaan (how many a's are needed?) has already mentioned the new Dutch numbers. Oh well...
In its 9th week the album drops again 1 position to #7. It seems like it has reached a jojo-phase as it keeps bouncing between #6 and #7. As it is still early in the new year I expect sales to be minimal. There is a small asterisk to U2's position as the 2 versions are counted together.
Here is the chart run for The Best Of 1990-2000 (16-11-02):
1-1-3-4-4-6-7-6-7

There are no other U2 albums on the regular album chart and there will not be any other U2 albums on it for a while. In the newly founded Back Catalog Top 50 The Best Of 1980-1990 has also dropped out of the charts. As those are catalog sellers and as sales are quite low at the moment I think this drop is temporary, but it will also happen more often. I think the sales needed for charting in the Back Catalog Top 50 are so low that it'll always be a very volatile chart (I think we're talking maybe at several hundred copies a week)
The chart run for The Best Of 1980-1990 on the Back Catalog Top 50 was (4-1-03):
30-15

There are no U2 singles on the singles chart (again a Top 50 since 1 January).

As I said, last week was supposedly a slow week. Robbie Williams has the #1 album with Escapology and Eminem's Lose Yourself is still the #1 single.

C ya!

Marty
 
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