Are these numbers accurate?

[U2girl]

I found this on a German Elevation tour website:

War - 7 million copies sold

UF - 5 million

JT - 18 million

Rattle and Hum - 18 million (really?!?)

AB - 13 million

Zooropa - 9 million

Pop - 8 million

ATYCLB - 11 million

Thanks in advance for your replies!

 

[STING2]

This is what I know U2 albums to have sold at a minimum. I put in brackets if I think the total is higher and what I think that could be based on other things I have seen.

Boy 2.5 million
October 2.5 million
War 7 million
Under A Blood Red Sky 8 million
Unforgettable Fire 7 million
Joshua Tree 20 million (most likely above 25 million now)
Rattle And Hum 9 million (probably around 13 million now)
Achtung Baby 17 million
Zooropa 7 million
POP 6 million
The Best Of 1980-1990 Over 12 million
ATYCLB 11 million
The Best Of 1990-2000 Over 6 million

Total: 124 million albums sold worldwide.

 

[womanfish]

Sting,

hasn't R&H sold 6 million just in the U.S.? This would put it's worldwide numbers at at least 12 million back in the early 90's. I would say these numbers all look reasonable. I wish they would do some updated certifications soon.

 

[STING2]

Rattle And Hum was at 5 million in 1995. It has not been recertified since I don't think. It was still at 5 million this past spring.

Can you look at the RIAA site, www.riaa.com . For some reason, I can never access the Gold and Platinum (multi-platinum too) database ever since they switched to a new format. I think has something strange to do with my computer. I'd be interested if you or anyone else could access it and look up the numbers.

 

[mikeuk]

This is what I know U2 albums to have sold at a minimum. I put in brackets if I think the total is higher and what I think that could be based on other things I have seen.

Boy 2.5 million
October 2.5 million
War 7 million
Under A Blood Red Sky 8 million
Unforgettable Fire 7 million
Joshua Tree 20 million (most likely above 25 million now)
Rattle And Hum 9 million (probably around 13 million now)
Achtung Baby 17 million
Zooropa 7 million
POP 6 million
The Best Of 1980-1990 Over 12 million
ATYCLB 11 million
The Best Of 1990-2000 Over 6 million

Total: 124 million albums sold worldwide.

I guess press releases for the new album will quote overall sales figures, but in the interim I found a press release from Universal on 17 September 2002 that stated sales as follows:


Best Of 80-90 - 13.8m

ATYCLB - 10.3m

At the time of release of Best Of 90-2000 I did read that Best Of 80-90 had sold more than 15m, with Joshua Tree around 19m.

Mike

 

[STING2]

The Press release from Universal is wrong on the ATYCLB figure as the album hit the 10 million mark in December of 2001 as reported by Billboard magazine using figures from Universal. By mid 2002 ATYCLB was at 11 million sold worldwide, with 4.1 million from the USA, over 500,000 from Canada, over 4 million from Europe, over 50,000 from New Zealand, over 300,000 from Australia, over 400,000 from Brazil.

Thats over 9.4 million in sales from the USA, Europe, Canada, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand. Rest of the world accounted for the remaining sales.

In addition to this, there was another individual in U2's organization or Universal who talked about the success of the album in the Spring of 2002 siting 4 million in sales in the USA with a total of 11 million worldwide.



The Joshua Tree hit the 14 million mark in December of 1987 as confirmed by multiple media articles from the time. At that time the album had sold 4 million copies in the USA(RIAA confirmed). USA sales would go on to improve to 10 million by 1995 as confirmed by RIAA. This adds 6 million to the 14 million mark, making global sales of the Joshua Tree by 1995 at least 20 million. Add in sales outside the USA after December 1987 and the total sales of Joshua Tree go well passed 20 million by 1995.
Then all sales worldwide since 1995 are added in, and obviously the album is well ahead of 20 million in sales and most likely closer to 30 million.