The Best Selling Albums released after January 1, 2000 WORLDWIDE!

[phanan]

Actually it took nearly two years for it to sell 2 million copies in Europe. Catalog sales of all studio albums in Europe beyond two years are much lower than they are here in the United States. In Europe, people buy more compilations and Greatest Hits packages rather than the old studio albums to a degree much greater than seen here in the USA.

How do you figure? The album was released in April, 2003, and had sold 2 million in Europe by October, 2004. That's not two years, although I said a year before and that wasn't correct, either.

So it was a year and half for two million copies. A few hundred thousand for another year would seem to be about right.

Agreed about Europe - they do like their compilations and greatest hits. However, I think with a relatively newer band like Linkin Park, with only two studio albums out, might do fairly well in catalog sales there, too. Especially since half the album are radio hits.

 

[STING2]

How do you figure? The album was released in April, 2003, and had sold 2 million in Europe by October, 2004. That's not two years, although I said a year before and that wasn't correct, either.

So it was a year and half for two million copies. A few hundred thousand for another year would seem to be about right.

Agreed about Europe - they do like their compilations and greatest hits. However, I think with a relatively newer band like Linkin Park, with only two studio albums out, might do fairly well in catalog sales there, too. Especially since half the album are radio hits.

Well, if we really want to get technical the album was release March 25, 2003 and that makes it a 1 year and 7 months to hit 2 million in Europe. Realize, the album had dropped out of most charts by the Spring of 2004 in Europe. Remember this is Europe, and half the album songs were not radio hits in all parts of Europe. I think this album and HTDAAB are both above 9 million, but their not to 10 million yet and unless I see a new certification from another country to put them over the top, then "over 9 million" is where I'm going to keep them. In this era of file sharing and CD burning, off the chart catalog sales at any level cannot be presumed.

 

[phanan]

I agree nothing is official - just saying that an estimate of 10 million is a very realistic possibility at this point.

 

[phanan]

Apparently, Linkin Park think that Meteora is at 10 million already...

EDIT: I see that this Marketwire article comes directly from Warner Brothers, so I'd say that would be official. If it was just the band hyping the numbers, I'd say no.

Warner Bros. puts Hybrid Theory up to 18 million now as well.


Mike Shinoda Announces the Release of Fort Minor


LOS ANGELES, CA -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 09/20/2005 -- Mike Shinoda will release his much-anticipated hip-hop side project under the name Fort Minor on November 22nd on Linkin Park's label Machine Shop Recordings / Warner Bros. Records. The album, titled "The Rising Tied," is executive produced by Jay-Z and features collaborations with such well-known artists as Common, John Legend, Kenna, Black Thought, Linkin Park's Joe Hahn and new Machine Shop artists Styles of Beyond and Holly Brook. The album is produced by Shinoda, who not only wrote every track, but played nearly every instrument as well.

The Fort Minor record is all about getting back to basics in hip-hop, both sonically and for me personally," shared Shinoda. "And working with Jay-Z again has been phenomenal. We can't wait for people to hear the final product."

Currently the club 12" "Petrified"/"Remember the Name" is being shipped to club and mix show DJs nationwide. Both tracks will be available for download starting October 4th online.

Shinoda is half the vocal firepower of the multi-platinum, Grammy® Award-winning band Linkin Park, trading diaphragmatic diatribes with singer Chester Bennington and infusing the searing alternative rock with equally intense hip-hop.

Fort Minor is a wholly unique, unadulterated hip-hop album, owing as much to Shinoda's polished lyricism as his musical adeptness. The variety of themes, styles and moods he creates makes this side project likely to do much more than simply satisfy existing Linkin Park fans; it threatens to expose Shinoda as a rap devotee who is as at home in hip-hop as he is in the cross-genre hybrid of Linkin Park.

Multiple Grammy® Award-winning group Linkin Park has sold over 35 million records worldwide in just five years. Their first album, "Hybrid Theory," has been certified platinum 18 times, and their second album, "Meteora," ten times. In collaboration with Jay-Z they also released six tracks on a groundbreaking EP, "Collision Course," which garnered rave reviews. They plan to release their next album in Spring 2006. In addition, Linkin Park established Music For Relief with the Red Cross in January 2005 to help aid victims of world catastrophes, the first being the Tsunami in Southeast Asia. For more information on Linkin Park, Fort Minor and Music For Relief, please log on to www.linkinpark.com, www.fortminor.com, or www.musicforrelief.org.

 

[phanan]

Here's a link for this article which clearly shows it is from Warner Bros. records.


http://www.marketwire.com/mw/release_html_b1?release_id=95700

 

[STING2]

Here's a link for this article which clearly shows it is from Warner Bros. records.


http://www.marketwire.com/mw/release_html_b1?release_id=95700

Its a press release from a record company trying to promote its product. Also only and independent auditing firm can officially certify that an album has sold x amount of copies. Currently there is no global auditing firm that certifies all global sales. There are regional and national firms that do this. RIAA in the United States, IFPI in Europe, CRIA in Canada etc.

There have been some media articles stating that HTDAAB has sold 10 million copies. This always happens for any album as it gets closer to that mark.

Regardless, the criteria for list of albums above that have sold 10 million is data from certification firms and soundscan or other point of sale information for countries and regions around the world. Right now, Meteora has sold 5 million copies in the USA, 2 million in Europe and 400,000 in Canada. These sources and others do indicate that the album has passed the 9 million mark, but until I see a new certification in Europe for 3 million in sales, or one in the USA for 6 million in sales(either from RIAA certification or soundscan data), or some other combination of sales data from outside this area indicating at least 1 million copies more in sales, I'm not going to put the album on the 10 million list. Same goes for HTDAAB.

 

[phanan]

Hey, it's your list. You can do whatever you wish with it.

Personally, I'd say both albums are right around 10 million.

The ironic thing is that while we wait for an updated certification, we still are only estimating what the rest of the world's sales are, which are definitely going to be different from one artist to another. It will never be an exact science until a global system is in place.

 

[edge3]

Well, i'm not so sure about Meteora but, as i was saying the other day, i reckon HTDAAB has now reached / is currently at the 9 million sales to consumers mark &, judging from various media reports, might have shipped 10 million.

Incidentally, going back to my earlier possible theory of there not being enough copies shipped in the UK to make HTDAAB re-chart there : on Sunday i looked in another (though smaller) Virgin megastore in South Kensington, London & found zero copies of HTDAAB in store.

 

[fedeu2]

But if they have shipped 10 million copies and consumer sales are at 9 million (a bit more actually) how come there are no copies in the stores???

Well, i'm not so sure about Meteora but, as i was saying the other day, i reckon HTDAAB has now reached / is currently at the 9 million sales to consumers mark &, judging from various media reports, might have shipped 10 million.

Incidentally, going back to my earlier possible theory of there not being enough copies shipped in the UK to make HTDAAB re-chart there : on Sunday i looked in another (though smaller) Virgin megastore in South Kensington, London & found zero copies of HTDAAB in store.

 

[edge3]

But if they have shipped 10 million copies and consumer sales are at 9 million (a bit more actually) how come there are no copies in the stores???

That's just the UK though where it's certified 4xPlat for 1.2 m & has now virtually sold that many...so there just maybe only another 50K or so copies left in the whole of the UK (or shipments of 1,250,000) which may not be enough to get it back in the top 75/200 at this busy time of year.

For worldwide shipments of 10 million it could be something like this :

Europe : 3.8 m
USA : 3.2 m
ROW : 3 m

Btw - i just went back in to London, South Kensington, Virgin Megastore & they've now got 1 limited edition copy of HTDAAB in store (no joke).

 

[STING2]

That's just the UK though where it's certified 4xPlat for 1.2 m & has now virtually sold that many...so there just maybe only another 50K or so copies left in the whole of the UK (or shipments of 1,250,000) which may not be enough to get it back in the top 75/200 at this busy time of year.

For worldwide shipments of 10 million it could be something like this :

Europe : 3.8 m
USA : 3.2 m
ROW : 3 m

Btw - i just went back in to London, South Kensington, Virgin Megastore & they've now got 1 limited edition copy of HTDAAB in store (no joke).

But the wearhouse for these stores will have plenty of copies. Those store chains order albums based on sales. If demand increases, they will restock or order more albums. There is no way they are going to miss out on a significant increase in sales. But in the first couple of weeks after Christmas, it is true that stores experience shortages on albums they did not anticipate would do so well during the mass Christmas buying week, but these shotages usually happen with much older "catalog" titles.

Another factor to consider is that when an album like HTDAAB sells so well in this environment, its more likely that as time goes by, people seeking the album will run into a friend or colleage who already has the album and will simply burn it for free instead of going to the store to buy it.

 

[U2Man]

But the wearhouse for these stores will have plenty of copies. Those store chains order albums based on sales. If demand increases, they will restock or order more albums. There is no way they are going to miss out on a significant increase in sales. But in the first couple of weeks after Christmas, it is true that stores experience shortages on albums they did not anticipate would do so well during the mass Christmas buying week, but these shotages usually happen with much older "catalog" titles.

Another factor to consider is that when an album like HTDAAB sells so well in this environment, its more likely that as time goes by, people seeking the album will run into a friend or colleage who already has the album and will simply burn it for free instead of going to the store to buy it.

No, because that is illegal

 

[STING2]

For albums releases since January 2000, I just notice that there have only been 4 albums that have sold 10 million plus copies in the United States alone. These are:

N' Sync : No Strings Attached at 11 million

Norah Jones : Come Away With Me at 10 million

Britney Spears: Oops!....I Did It Again at 10 million

Beatles: 1 at 10 million


Three of these albums were released in 2000. For albums released since January of 2001, only Norah Jones has reached the 10 million mark at this time.

Usher and M&M have a couple of albums at 9 million that could go 10 million in a year or two.

For the most part though, going diamond is suddenly becoming very rare in the USA.

 

[STING2]

1. Beatles: 1 : 30,000,000+
2. Norah Jones : Come Away With Me : 19,000,000
3. Eminem: The Marshall Mathers LP : 17,000,000
4. Linkin Park: Hybrid Theory : 16,000,000
5. Britney Spears: Oops!....I Did It Again : 15,000,000
6. Eminem : The Eminem Show : 15,000,000
7. Usher : Confessions : 14,000,000
8. Avril Lavigne: Let Go : 13,500,000
9. Evanescence: Fallen : 13,500,000
10. N'Sync: No Strings Attached : 13,000,000
11. Green Day : American Idiot : 13,000,000
12. Madonna : Music : 12,500,000
13. U2 : ALL THAT YOU CAN'T LEAVE BEHIND: 12,000,000
14. Backstreet Boys : Black And Blue : 12,000,000
15. Shakira: Laundry Service : 11,000,000
16. Dido: No Angel : 11,000,000
17. Limp Bizkit: Chocolate Starfish : 11,000,000
18. Pink: M!SSUNDAZTOOD : 11,000,000
19. Enya: A Day Without Rain : 10,500,000
20. Shaggy: Hotshot : 10,500,000
21. Norah Jones : Feels Like Home : 10,000,000
22. Moby : Play : 10,000,000
23. Coldplay : A Rush Of Blood To The Head : 10,000,000


Green Day's American Idiot is now at the 13 million mark worldwide in shipments. It sold 79,000 copies worldwide this past week according to mediatraffic.

 

[STING2]

Here are some minor updates on the 10 million plus sellers for this decade.

1. Beatles: 1 : 30,000,000+
2. Norah Jones : Come Away With Me : 20,000,000
3. Eminem: The Marshall Mathers LP : 19,000,000
4. Britney Spears: Oops!....I Did It Again : 18,000,000
5. Linkin Park: Hybrid Theory : 16,000,000
6. Eminem : The Eminem Show : 16,000,000
7. Usher : Confessions : 14,000,000
8. Dido: No Angel : 14,000,000
9. Avril Lavigne: Let Go : 13,500,000
10. Evanescence: Fallen : 13,500,000
11. N'Sync: No Strings Attached : 13,000,000
12. Green Day : American Idiot : 13,000,000
13. Madonna : Music : 13,000,000
14. Enya: A Day Without Rain : 13,000,000
15. U2 : ALL THAT YOU CAN'T LEAVE BEHIND: 12,000,000
16. Backstreet Boys : Black And Blue : 12,000,000
17. Dido : Life For Rent : 12,000,000
18. Shakira: Laundry Service : 11,000,000
19. Limp Bizkit: Chocolate Starfish : 11,000,000
20. Pink: M!SSUNDAZTOOD : 11,000,000
21. Shaggy: Hotshot : 10,500,000
22. Norah Jones : Feels Like Home : 10,000,000
23. Moby : Play : 10,000,000
24. Coldplay : A Rush Of Blood To The Head : 10,000,000

 

[MJDangerous]

Both Eminem's albums, Come Away Wit Me and Oops! by Britney Spears sold even more than this.

Kelly Clarkson & James Blunt have both WW shipment of 9 millions by now.

 

[ybird3k]

both bomb and X&Y must be almost on 10M by now. surely ATYCLB is now closer to 13M than it is to 12M?

 

[STING2]

Both Eminem's albums, Come Away Wit Me and Oops! by Britney Spears sold even more than this.

Do you have certification evidence to back that claim up?

 

[STING2]

both bomb and X&Y must be almost on 10M by now. surely ATYCLB is now closer to 13M than it is to 12M?

X&Y is probably only a few months a way, while the BOMB may take until next year to reach that point considering how sales have really slowed up now. ATYCLB sales an average of 1,000 copies a week in the United States, so you can say that its sold 200,000 copies in the USA since 2002. Sales outside the United States are almost impossible to estimate and there have not been any new certifications. I'd say its sold at least 400,000 since 2002, although it was not yet at 12 million in the Summer of 2002, so total sales are probably somewhere between 12 million and 12.5 million.

 

[phanan]

Dido moved that many copies of both her albums between your updates, or is that a typo?

 

[ybird3k]

ATYCLB selling 1000 copies a week in the US, will be ahead of bomb before long. how much is Joshua Tree selling each week in the US?

 

[STING2]

Dido moved that many copies of both her albums between your updates, or is that a typo?

No, I changed the figure after looking at some sales data that to me showed the global sales figure was higher. The figures might be slightly inflated though by 1 or 2 million copies. Remember, this is all estimates because there is not yet a company that certifies global album sales worldwide. But both Dido albums shipped over 5 million copies in Europe alone which is only 1/3 of the global market. With sales of 4 million and 2 million respectively in the US market, this leaves about 1/3 of the rest of the market where sales are unknown. Its possible another 5 million were sold there as well, so that is why I pushed the figures up. This may be overstating the real figures a little bit, but I thought it was important to be consistent in the formula and criteria for the estimates for the albums released prior to when mediatraffic started to provide exact global retail sales for most of the world. It is nice though that Mediatraffic has been providing exact retail sales numbers for most of the world since April 2004. Its easy to make a very accurate estimate off of that for total actual sales to consumers, and then come up with a shipment figure.

 

[STING2]

ATYCLB selling 1000 copies a week in the US, will be ahead of bomb before long. how much is Joshua Tree selling each week in the US?

These are the average weekly sales of some U2 albums over the past 2 years from soundscan.(2004 and 2005).

WAR = 950

Joshua Tree = 2,343

Achtung Baby = 775

POP = 131

All That You Can't Leave.... = 1,205


It is surprising how low Achtung Baby's numbers are, only about 1/3 of the Joshua Tree's and less than WAR.

By the way, ATYCLB is already ahead of BOMB in sales. BOMB has sold a little over 9 million copies compared to ATYCLB 12 million sales.

 

[ybird3k]

thanks for the info,

yeah i know ATYCLB's total is ahead of bombs, but bomb's still selling more copies each week at the moment isnt it, tho probably not for long.

 

[STING2]

thanks for the info,

yeah i know ATYCLB's total is ahead of bombs, but bomb's still selling more copies each week at the moment isnt it, tho probably not for long.

It will probably take about a year for BOMB's weekly sales to completely drop to the point of ATYCLB or lower.

 

[fedeu2]

Yeah, I don´t think the gap between both albums will ever narrow to less than 1 million copies (in the US).

It will probably take about a year for BOMB's weekly sales to completely drop to the point of ATYCLB or lower.

 

[MJDangerous]

No, I changed the figure after looking at some sales data that to me showed the global sales figure was higher. The figures might be slightly inflated though by 1 or 2 million copies. Remember, this is all estimates because there is not yet a company that certifies global album sales worldwide. But both Dido albums shipped over 5 million copies in Europe alone which is only 1/3 of the global market. With sales of 4 million and 2 million respectively in the US market, this leaves about 1/3 of the rest of the market where sales are unknown. Its possible another 5 million were sold there as well, so that is why I pushed the figures up.

She sold 5 millions of both in Europe (even more for the first) but it's because 3 millions are from UK, this mean "only" 2 millions for the rest of Europe. So she sold much more than a third of her sales in Europe. And she is a poor seller in Japan.

And yes of course I have evidences about Eminem, Spears & Come Away With Me.

 

[STING2]

She sold 5 millions of both in Europe (even more for the first) but it's because 3 millions are from UK, this mean "only" 2 millions for the rest of Europe. So she sold much more than a third of her sales in Europe. And she is a poor seller in Japan.

And yes of course I have evidences about Eminem, Spears & Come Away With Me.

Well, just because she is a poor seller in Japan, does not in of itself prove anything. If you have the certifications for her album in every country outside of Europe, lets see it.

If you really do have evidence that proves your point about Eminem, Spears, and Come Away With Me, lets see it.

 

[MJDangerous]

Well, I have not many time so I will give sales of Come Away With Me for the moment and the rest another day.

Firstly, I will speak about mediatraffic as it is take as the reference. Come Away With Me is at 18.734.000 copies sold, adding 5% this mean 19.601.000 albums sold. It was charted for 114 weeks while it was released more than 4 years ago : Approximatively 100 weeks while even now it still selling between 15k & 30k by week, they are at list 2 millions missing.

But let's look at his performances throught the world even if many of his certifications are not updated :

USA : Nearly 9.8 millions according to soundscan only, certified 10xPlatinum since 14 months, it sold an average of 8-9k by week during this time so they are ~10.500.000 copies sold.

Canada : She is 8xPlatinum since February 2004 and she still selling, sales by now around 1.000.000 copies sold.

It sold at least 150.000 copies in Brazil, initial shipment of Feels Like Home was as high as 45.000 albums shipped (50.000 with the DVD+CD edition).

Certified at 80.000 in Argentina since more than 1 year.

Estimated sales of 12.500.000 albums minimum in America.

In Europe... Certified 6xPlatinum since September 2004.
- UK : 2.343.000 copies sold (shops only).
- France : 1.566.000 copies sold.
- Germany : Certified 750.000 since 2004, at least 850.000 by now.
- Sweden : At least 150.000 copies sold.
- Netherland : 240.000
- Italia : at least 400.000
- Spain : 200.000
- Denmark : 100.000
- Austria : 60.000
- Belgium : 150.000
- Switzerland : 150.000
- Portugal : 80.000
- Poland : 100.000

Already 6.4 millions, many are only certifications, and still missing Greece, Norway, Finland, Ireland etc...
Estimated sales of 7.000.000 albums minimum in Europe.


Japan : 400.000
South Korea : 100.000
Australia : 700.000
NZ : 180.000

Nearly 1 million in Oceania alone, surely at least 2 millions in Asia with such sales in Japan/South Korea, and still Africa. To be conservative, we can add 3 millions for all the sales out of America/Europe.

Total sales of 22.500.000 copies sold.

 

[STING2]

Well, I have not many time so I will give sales of Come Away With Me for the moment and the rest another day.

Firstly, I will speak about mediatraffic as it is take as the reference. Come Away With Me is at 18.734.000 copies sold, adding 5% this mean 19.601.000 albums sold. It was charted for 114 weeks while it was released more than 4 years ago : Approximatively 100 weeks while even now it still selling between 15k & 30k by week, they are at list 2 millions missing.

But let's look at his performances throught the world even if many of his certifications are not updated :

USA : Nearly 9.8 millions according to soundscan only, certified 10xPlatinum since 14 months, it sold an average of 8-9k by week during this time so they are ~10.500.000 copies sold.

Canada : She is 8xPlatinum since February 2004 and she still selling, sales by now around 1.000.000 copies sold.

It sold at least 150.000 copies in Brazil, initial shipment of Feels Like Home was as high as 45.000 albums shipped (50.000 with the DVD+CD edition).

Certified at 80.000 in Argentina since more than 1 year.

Estimated sales of 12.500.000 albums minimum in America.

In Europe... Certified 6xPlatinum since September 2004.
- UK : 2.343.000 copies sold (shops only).
- France : 1.566.000 copies sold.
- Germany : Certified 750.000 since 2004, at least 850.000 by now.
- Sweden : At least 150.000 copies sold.
- Netherland : 240.000
- Italia : at least 400.000
- Spain : 200.000
- Denmark : 100.000
- Austria : 60.000
- Belgium : 150.000
- Switzerland : 150.000
- Portugal : 80.000
- Poland : 100.000

Already 6.4 millions, many are only certifications, and still missing Greece, Norway, Finland, Ireland etc...
Estimated sales of 7.000.000 albums minimum in Europe.


Japan : 400.000
South Korea : 100.000
Australia : 700.000
NZ : 180.000

Nearly 1 million in Oceania alone, surely at least 2 millions in Asia with such sales in Japan/South Korea, and still Africa. To be conservative, we can add 3 millions for all the sales out of America/Europe.

Total sales of 22.500.000 copies sold.

I've taken another look, and I would agree with 22 million in sales. I don't agree though with making presumptions about what an album sales when it is not actually charted in various countries. Unless there is excellent data on catalog sales, like there is for the top 50 Catalog chart in the USA, I think one should avoid making estimates of sales for uncharted albums and wait for certifications.

I'll be interested to see your case for Eminem and Britney. Also, do you know of any titles that have passed the 10 million mark that are not on the list? I know in the coming weeks there will be several that will attain that position, but are there currently any titles that you believe has sold 10, 11, 12 million or more that are not on the list below and were released after January 1, 2000?


1. Beatles: 1 : 30,000,000+
2. Norah Jones : Come Away With Me : 22,000,000
3. Eminem: The Marshall Mathers LP : 19,000,000
4. Britney Spears: Oops!....I Did It Again : 18,000,000
5. Linkin Park: Hybrid Theory : 16,000,000
6. Eminem : The Eminem Show : 16,000,000
7. Usher : Confessions : 14,000,000
8. Dido: No Angel : 14,000,000
9. Avril Lavigne: Let Go : 13,500,000
10. Evanescence: Fallen : 13,500,000
11. N'Sync: No Strings Attached : 13,000,000
12. Green Day : American Idiot : 13,000,000
13. Madonna : Music : 13,000,000
14. Enya: A Day Without Rain : 13,000,000
15. U2 : ALL THAT YOU CAN'T LEAVE BEHIND: 12,000,000
16. Backstreet Boys : Black And Blue : 12,000,000
17. Dido : Life For Rent : 12,000,000
18. Shakira: Laundry Service : 11,000,000
19. Limp Bizkit: Chocolate Starfish : 11,000,000
20. Pink: M!SSUNDAZTOOD : 11,000,000
21. Shaggy: Hotshot : 10,500,000
22. Norah Jones : Feels Like Home : 10,000,000
23. Moby : Play : 10,000,000
24. Coldplay : A Rush Of Blood To The Head : 10,000,000