U2 album sales in the US

[04072511]

Hi, would anybody be able to post reasonable estimates of how many copies each U2 album has sold in the USA?

The certified amounts seem awfully low for many (if not all) of U2's albums.

This would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

[Mirrorball06]

Here are my estimates by using SS sales since last certification dates. It's not quite up to date anymore but it's something.

Boy - 1.013.000 (RIAA 1995 1.000.000 + Soundscan 2005-2006 13.000)
October - 1.009.000 (RIAA 1995 1.000.000 + SS 2005-2006 9.000)
War - 4.146.000 (RIAA 1995 4.000.000 + SS 1998 44.000 + SS 2003-2006 102.000)
UABRS - 3.008.000 (RIAA 1994 3.000.000 + SS 2008 8.000)
Unforgettable Fire -3.000.000 (RIAA 1995)
WAIA - 1.000.000 (RIAA 1994)
The Joshua Tree - 10.531.000 (RIAA 1995 10.000.000 + SS 1998 104.000 + SS 2002 12.000 + SS 2003-2008 415.000)
Rattle & Hum - 5.125.000 (RIAA 1995 5.000.000 + SS 1998 43.000 + SS 2003-2006 82.000)
Achtung Baby - 8.150.000 (RIAA 1997 8.000.000 + SS 1998 40.000 + SS 2003-2006
110.000)
Zooropa - 2.332.000 (Soundscan 2006)
Pop - 1.497.000 (Soundscan 2006)
BO 80-90 (2cd) - 1.400.000 (Soundscan 2005)
BO 80-90 - 3.063.000 (Soundscan 2009)
ATYCLB - 4.300.000 (Soundscan 2006)
BO 90-00 (combined) - 1.267.000 (Soundscan 2006)
HTDAAB - 3.213.000 (Soundscan 2007)
18 Singles - 964.000 (Soundscan 2009)
Live from paris (digital) - 14.000 (Soundscan 2008)

Total: 55.032.000 but it could me more. The Joshua Tree and The Best of 1980-1990 especially are undercertified. I hope there are some more Soundscan or RIAA updates for the other albums soon.

 

[04072511]

Here are my estimates by using SS sales since last certification dates. It's not quite up to date anymore but it's something.

Boy - 1.013.000 (RIAA 1995 1.000.000 + Soundscan 2005-2006 13.000)
October - 1.009.000 (RIAA 1995 1.000.000 + SS 2005-2006 9.000)
War - 4.146.000 (RIAA 1995 4.000.000 + SS 1998 44.000 + SS 2003-2006 102.000)
UABRS - 3.008.000 (RIAA 1994 3.000.000 + SS 2008 8.000)
Unforgettable Fire -3.000.000 (RIAA 1995)
WAIA - 1.000.000 (RIAA 1994)
The Joshua Tree - 10.531.000 (RIAA 1995 10.000.000 + SS 1998 104.000 + SS 2002 12.000 + SS 2003-2008 415.000)
Rattle & Hum - 5.125.000 (RIAA 1995 5.000.000 + SS 1998 43.000 + SS 2003-2006 82.000)
Achtung Baby - 8.150.000 (RIAA 1997 8.000.000 + SS 1998 40.000 + SS 2003-2006
110.000)
Zooropa - 2.332.000 (Soundscan 2006)
Pop - 1.497.000 (Soundscan 2006)
BO 80-90 (2cd) - 1.400.000 (Soundscan 2005)
BO 80-90 - 3.063.000 (Soundscan 2009)
ATYCLB - 4.300.000 (Soundscan 2006)
BO 90-00 (combined) - 1.267.000 (Soundscan 2006)
HTDAAB - 3.213.000 (Soundscan 2007)
18 Singles - 964.000 (Soundscan 2009)
Live from paris (digital) - 14.000 (Soundscan 2008)

Total: 55.032.000 but it could me more. The Joshua Tree and The Best of 1980-1990 especially are undercertified. I hope there are some more Soundscan or RIAA updates for the other albums soon.

Thanks for that. The Boy to Achtung Baby figures look extremely low.

I'd say surely The Joshua Tree would have to be near 12x Platinum and Achtung Baby at 9x Platinum by now.

Also Zooropa is surely higher than that as when the album was released Soundscan only covered something like 70% of the market i thought??

 

[Mirrorball06]

I agree with Zooropa. It could be 3x platinum by now. And BO 80-90 single disc still is 2x platinum. And 18singles isn't certified at all.

 

[rollingbob]

I'm no whizz, but i think the SS figures were always made up to 100% but excluded Music Club sales (which was why Achtung Baby, for example, got 8xP on SS sales of about 4.5m in ‘97). Anyway here’s their US albums total in the last 5 years,

‘04 : 2.914m (HTDAAB 2.156m)
‘05 : 1.750m (HTAAB 828k)
‘06 : 1.330m (18 Singles ~501k)
‘07 : 730k (18 Singles ~330k)
‘08 : ~600k (18 Singles ~114k)

Total sales : ~7.324m
Total certs : just the 3xP for HTDAAB

So their undercertified total in just the last 5 years is around 4.3m. & given their total certs add up to 50m & most haven’t been upgraded since ‘95/’97 then I’d put their total now in the 60-65m ball park.