Can 1st week sales of new Coldplay album (X&Y) match those of HTDAAB?

Whats the story morning glory was certified 4x platinum in the US and wonderwall peaked at #8 in the BB Hot 100, so they were pretty huge in america at that time, but their popularity soon dissapeared in the states with their third album which only went platinum.

[sue4u2]

So far I love Speed Of Sound. But then I love Coldplay for themselves and no one else. It doesn't matter to me who, what when, did more or less. I have both albums by them and will have this one as well. I have been waiting for it for a while now and it's based on the merit of "their" music not any thing or anyone else.

This is a good thing for music no matter which way you look at it.
Like them or not.
I'm happy for them and truly think they are phenomenal. They are an entity amoung themselves and I like that.
Can't wait to hear the rest of the tracks.

[edge3]

The box below, with the 'x' in the middle, is supposed to be a scan of the front cover of this months Q Magazine featuring Coldplay & U2 - but I'm not exactly sure how to post it. So I'm sorry if you can't see it.

[edge3]

BTW - I have already scanned the cover onto my computer. I just don't know how to post it onto this thread.

Can someone please explain how to do this? It would be much appreciated.

[Squire]

Fedeu2, i agree when you say British media would do anything to put a brith band on top.

Thanks 04072511. I didn't know Oasis did so well in the American market. 4xplatinum?? That's even better than Pop and Zooropa. Well Sting... it seems they were not unsucessfull as you thought.

So by that we can say they were the biggest in 95/96.

Fedeu2, they supported U2 in 97... and from what it is said, they were invited by U2 themselves. Why would they refused?

Here are Oasis' certifications in the US:
Definitely Maybe - Platinum
Whats The Story Morning Glory - 4x Platinum
Be Here Now - Platinum
There And Then (Video) - Gold

Here are their chart positions on BB:

1994 Supersonic Mainstream Rock Tracks 38
1994 Supersonic Modern Rock Tracks 11
1995 Live Forever Mainstream Rock Tracks 10
1995 Live Forever Modern Rock Tracks 2
1995 Morning Glory Modern Rock Tracks 24
1995 Rock 'N' Roll Star Modern Rock Tracks 36
1995 Wonderwall Mainstream Rock Tracks 9
1995 Wonderwall Modern Rock Tracks 1
1996 Champagne Supernova Adult Top 40 33
1996 Champagne Supernova Mainstream Rock Tracks 8
1996 Champagne Supernova Modern Rock Tracks 1
1996 Champagne Supernova Top 40 Mainstream 10
1996 Don't Look Back in Anger Modern Rock Tracks 10
1996 Don't Look Back in Anger The Billboard Hot 100 55
1996 Don't Look Back in Anger Top 40 Mainstream 33
1996 Wonderwall Adult Top 40 30
1996 Wonderwall Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales 17
1996 Wonderwall The Billboard Hot 100 8
1996 Wonderwall Top 40 Mainstream 10
1997 D'You Know What I Mean? Mainstream Rock Tracks 36
1997 D'You Know What I Mean? Modern Rock Tracks 4
1997 Don't Go Away Adult Top 40 27
1997 Don't Go Away Mainstream Rock Tracks 36
1997 Don't Go Away Modern Rock Tracks 5
1997 Don't Go Away Top 40 Mainstream 35
1998 Acquiesce Modern Rock Tracks 24
1998 All Around the World Modern Rock Tracks 15
2000 Go Let It Out Modern Rock Tracks 14

[ybird3k]

Whats The Story Morning Glory - 4x Platinum
thats pretty good,
any1 know the global sales of it?

[edge3]

I would say about 14M (in 1997 it was certified 6xPlat IFPI Europe)

[Yahweh]

Coldplay will certainly get off to a very hot start but in the end there fanbase doesnt run near as deep as the U2 fanbase.

Morning Glory has sold 4.2 million in the UK, probably close to 5 million in the US at this stage as it was last certified in November 1996. It has been certified 8xPlatinum in Canada and was last certified in May 1997 so its probably at 900,000 by now. So between these 3 countries alone sales are at around 9.8 Million, so 14 Million sounds very conservative. At least 20 Million sounds a better estimate.

[edge3]

It would be great if Morning Glory had sold 20M but I'd be amazed if it has :

I know it's sold 4.2M in UK but this figure is included in the 6xPlat IFPI Europe certificate. So, rather like Coldplay's first 2 albums, this means that Morning Glory has only sold another 1.8M in rest of Europe. However it might have sold close to 7M in Europe & UK now so it's fair to say it's now sold about 6.5M in Europe & UK.

According to Soundscan it had sold 3.5M in US as at 2004. Soundscan accounted for about 70% of sales at this time so we can add 1M to this - that's 4.5M in US.

It's done v.well to go 8xPlat in Canada but it's not actually certified 9xPlat so it's fair to say it's now sold about 850K in Canada. I very much doubt it's done that well in any other country. However it was cerified 6xPlat in Australia in 1999 - that's sales of 420K.

So, that's 6.5M in Europe + 4.5M in US + 850K in Canada + 420K in Australia = 12270M.

As with U2's albums, these markets would have made up about 80-90% of Morning Glorys' worldwide sales. So we can add on another 2.5M to this figure for rest of the world sales - maximum. So thats 12270M + 2.5M = about 14,770,000 worldwide sales for Morning Glory to date.

Now, I've been a big fan of Oasis over the years & I've read a heck of a lot of music magazines about them & not one has ever said that Morning Glory has sold 20M - not even Noel Gallagher himself!! In 1998 Q magazine said Morning Glory had sold 12M & this is the figure I've heard most often quoted.

Over a similar period of time, the first Spice Girls album might have just passed 20M but that out-sold Morning Glory everywhere (except UK - just). It has sold 8M in Europe & 7M in US. Alanis Morisette's 'Jagged Little Pill' has sold over 20M worldwide but that's sold 7M in Europe & over 14M in US!!

[phanan]

Originally posted by Squire


So by that we can say they were the biggest in 95/96.

Oasis wasn't the biggest recording artist in the world in 95/96. Biggest rock band, yes, but not overall.

Morning Glory has worldwide sales of 18 million, which is incredible, but there were other artists whose records sold more during this same period.

Alanis Morrisette's Jagged Little Pill came out the same year, and it has worldwide sales of 29 million, far outpacing Oasis.

And as much as I hate her, Celine Dion had not one, but TWO albums during 95/96:

Fallen Into You - 29 million
Let's Talk About Love - 30 million

Yes, sick, isn't it? Why bother? But that's beside the point.

Shania Twain and The Fugees also had the same worldwide album sales as Oasis around this time too.

Even Hootie & The Blowfish's debut from 1995 comes in at 17 million.

So Oasis was the biggest rock band for those two years, but not the biggest overall artist, or even the biggest rock act. Alanis beats them there.

Just getting the specifics out of the way for argument's sake.

[phanan]

Originally posted by STING2


Oasis may have been the biggest band in the United Kingdom and other parts of Europe in 1995/1996, but that was not the case here in North America. Oasis would struggle to fill small arena's here during that time or play theaters. They were not even close to trying stadiums here in the United States. In fact, a band like INXS was more popular here in North America in 1988 than Oasis was in 1995/1996.

Kick by INXS was perhaps bigger in the U.S. in terms of the success of its singles and videos, but in reality, the album sold about the same amount. It was certified 4x platinum in 1989, about two years after its release, whereas Morning Glory by Oasis was certified 4x platinum in the U.S. within a year.

Now, Kick has since reached 6x platinum in the U.S. (in 1997), so it has done better than Morning Glory as a catalog album.

In worldwide sales, it's not even close. Morning Glory (18 million) is way ahead of Kick (10 million).

Getting back to Coldplay, I'm a bit more optimistic at its first week sales potential than some of you. I think it will do around 400,000 - 500,000 units in the U.S. alone.

[BigMacPhisto]

Oasis wasn't the biggest at all when Morning Glory came out..........Pearl Jam, for example, had a five million seller in Vitalogy.......Hootie and the Blowfish sold a bajillion records also around the same time here in the States.........maybe Oasis was huge in the rest of the world, but they were just a quick flash in the pan here in the US.

[phanan]

Originally posted by BigMacPhisto
Oasis wasn't the biggest at all when Morning Glory came out..........Pearl Jam, for example, had a five million seller in Vitalogy.......Hootie and the Blowfish sold a bajillion records also around the same time here in the States.........maybe Oasis was huge in the rest of the world, but they were just a quick flash in the pan here in the US.

When you talk about just the U.S., you're absolutely correct. There were tons of artists who released albums in 1995 and 1996 that outsold Morning Glory. However, Squire was talking about worldwide sales combined, and in that sense, Morning Glory outsold Pearl Jam, Hootie, etc.

As I previously mentioned, Alanis Morrisette's Jagged Little Pill was the only rock album released around the same time that outsold Morning Glory worldwide. I don't count Celine Dion.

[STING2]

Originally posted by phanan


Kick by INXS was perhaps bigger in the U.S. in terms of the success of its singles and videos, but in reality, the album sold about the same amount. It was certified 4x platinum in 1989, about two years after its release, whereas Morning Glory by Oasis was certified 4x platinum in the U.S. within a year.

Now, Kick has since reached 6x platinum in the U.S. (in 1997), so it has done better than Morning Glory as a catalog album.

In worldwide sales, it's not even close. Morning Glory (18 million) is way ahead of Kick (10 million).

Getting back to Coldplay, I'm a bit more optimistic at its first week sales potential than some of you. I think it will do around 400,000 - 500,000 units in the U.S. alone.

INXS Kick was certified 3 times platinum within a year back in 1987/1988 which was more impressive relative to the market which was smaller in 1988 than it was in 1996.

EQUALLY important as album sales is concert ticket sales. INXS for example played multiple shows at 15,000 to 20,000 seat arena's in most cities in the United States in 1988. Oasis on the other hand played primarily single shows even in the big cities. INXS were a much stronger concert draw in the USA in 1988 than Oasis was in the USA in 1996, so even if you were to compare album sales from these two different years one for one, INXS would still come out on top overall in comparing the level of popularity achieved in each year by the two groups.

In addition, the current figure for Kick is higher than 10 million as the album hit the 8 million mark worldwide by the Summer of 1989. After this it would go on to sale another 2 million in the USA plus an unknown number in the rest of the world.

[STING2]

Originally posted by edge3
True. But I believe Oasis recently sold out Madison Square Garden & I still think that Definately Maybe is one of the all time great debut albums. Coldplay's 'Parachutes' is quite a good debut album as well....& I still think X&Y could debut at #1 in US with sales of 500K

Selling out Madison Square Garden is a something that a band without even a platinum record potentially has the capability of doing. I'm not knocking selling out the Garden, but if you can only sellout one night at the Garden, your unlikely to sellout out any other similar sized Arena in the USA. The reason of course is that New York City Metro area with its 15 million people makes it much easier to accomplish such a task than any other place in the USA.

A band that can only sellout one night at Madison Square Garden in New York City, will often be booked in a 4,000 seat theater in the city the size of Atlanta.

[STING2]

Originally posted by Squire




I said Oasis were the biggest band in the world in those 2 years. North America is not the world.
Oasis belonged to a style of music whose media categorized it as "Britpop", and we all know how difficult it is for music made in UK to actually penetrate in USA market, not to mention a kind of music typically Britain.

Oasis were in fact the biggest band in the world in 95/96.
Now if you ask me if they were as successfull as they were in the rest of the world... my answer will be NO. But is it sufficient to not consider them as the biggest band in the world? My answer will be of course NO.

Oasis was booked in Arena's, primarily single dates at each, for most of their tour in 1996. It was only in the United Kingdom and Ireland that Oasis were booked in Stadiums. In addition, of the 6 million copies of "Whats The Story Morning Glory" that were sold in Europe, 4.2 million, about 70% of all copies sold in Europe, were sold in the United Kingdom.

Overall worldwide in 1996, Oasis could only play single Arena shows in most cities around the world, while U2 could play stadiums with capacities that were on average were three times the size of most venues Oasis would play in.

While ZOOROPA sold about half of what Morning Glory did in its first year, as Concert Selling artist, Oasis were much further behind U2 worldwide to a degree that was much greater than the difference between ZOOROPA and Morning Glory, which is why U2 was still the biggest band during that time frame.

Obviously by the same criteria in the United Kingdom alone, no one was bigger than Oasis there. But worldwide, Oasis were not a strong enough concert selling act to be considered the biggest band, even though they did have the album sale part of the equation down. Both album sales and concert ticket selling strength are considered equally.

[STING2]

Originally posted by 04072511
Whats the story morning glory was certified 4x platinum in the US and wonderwall peaked at #8 in the BB Hot 100, so they were pretty huge in america at that time, but their popularity soon dissapeared in the states with their third album which only went platinum.

Album sales are only half of the story, Concert ticket sales are the other half. While Morning Glory hit 4 million in sales, the tour did primarily single arena dates in various cities through out the USA. No big multi-night stands at 20,000 seat arena's and no Stadium shows at all in the USA.

[STING2]

Originally posted by Squire
Fedeu2, i agree when you say British media would do anything to put a brith band on top.

Thanks 04072511. I didn't know Oasis did so well in the American market. 4xplatinum?? That's even better than Pop and Zooropa. Well Sting... it seems they were not unsucessfull as you thought.

So by that we can say they were the biggest in 95/96.

Fedeu2, they supported U2 in 97... and from what it is said, they were invited by U2 themselves. Why would they refused?

I never said they were unsuccessful in the USA and I already know they sold 4 million of Morning Glory in the USA. But album sales are only half of the total picture. The other half is concert ticket sales, and the Morning Glory tour played only single Arena dates in most cities in the USA. The tour was not able to do mutli-night business or play in stadiums in the USA. The same holds true for most of Europe outside the United Kingdom.