Originally posted by Bonovation:
Well, by my calculations (which may not be right) they have sold over a billion albums throught out there career....WOW!
You have too many zeroes at the end of that number - check your math again. Overall, U2 are zooming in on 100 million albums sold worldwide (not a billion). By some calculations - like STING's, they may have already passed it.
I disagree with STING in a few areas. I think his total sales numbers are high. However, as STING indirectly alluded to, no source has stated U2's total worldwide sales. As such, we have to work with the info. we have.
I also disagree with STING about sales between "then and now." If we were comparing the late 60's/early 70's to now, then I would fully agree. Back then, an artist was thrilled to see their album go Gold in the U.S. (500,000 copies sold) as that was a big accomplishment. If it wasn't a big accomplishment, why would there be a Gold album award?
However, slowly the music business picked up and the standards shifted. Now, a "true" hit album in the U.S. is at least Double Platinum, if not MUCH more. Hence why I am anxious to see ATYCLB reach that 3x Platinum certification this year - that makes it a truly successful release.
In the 80's sales were a bit different. True, while the top selling albums of the year may have sold 4-5 million copies in the U.S., catalog sales were tremendous as people started replacing their albums with CDs. This replacement drove up catalog sales for many years and only recently died down (as pretty much this replacement has ended). The advent of CDs was huge for the recording industry.
At present, while the top selling albums of the year may reach the 10 million mark in the U.S., it's usually only one or two albums - and by some manufactured "hot" artist that may flop on their very next release. Typically, the Top 15 albums in any year, barring those one or two standouts, still go 3-4x Platinum. Therefore, overall, the comparisions between 1987, 1992 and 2001 still stand - at least here in the U.S. However, worldwide sales may be different. It does appear that worldwide sales are significantly stronger today than they were years ago.
[This message has been edited by doctorwho (edited 08-11-2001).]