7/22/10
UPDATE: A few albums have been updated with sales since April
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Michael Jackson is the biggest selling solo artist in history. Many record companies were known to prop up record sales with unrealistic figures. For example EMI says that the Beatles sold over a billion records, RCA says Elvis sold over a billion, and Michael Jackson says that he sold 750 million; all of those figures are obviously ludicrous. The reason they do this is because they want to promote their artist to be bigger than they really are, but music experts realize that these are obviously fabricated figures. This is especially true for older artists, whose record sales were not documented as thoroughly and as much as they should have, so they fabricated these figures a lot. To date, no artist or group has sold over 500 million records, but some have come close.
The impressive part about Michael's record sales is not how many records he released, but how much he has sold with so little he released compared to the likes of The Beatles and Elvis. For anyone who wants to know the run through of Michael Jackson's record sales here is a run through of his record sales.
THANKS MJJCHARTS FOR A LOT OF THIS INFO
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Michael is well known for recording the world's bestselling album, but the sales and achievements of his other solo albums are less well publicized. On this page, I have listed Michael's solo albums - Motown and CBS/Epic - in order of release, together with known or estimated sales figures, plus known certifications.
Albums:
Studio Albums: 10
1. Got To Be There (1971) - 4,112,879
2. Ben (1972) - 4,401,605
3. Music and Me (1973) - 1,980,440
4. Forever, Michael (1975) - 1,687,234
5. Off The Wall (1979) - 21,628,000
6. Thriller (1982) - 69,705,000
7. Bad (1987) - 35,486,000
8. Dangerous (1991) - 31,937,000
9. HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book l (1995) - 22,803,000 (45.60 million units)
10. Invincible (2001) - 13,031,000
Studio Albums Sold= 206,772,158
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Compilations: 25
1. The Best of....(All Versions) - 3,500,223
2. One Day In Your Life (1981) - 1,600,208
3. Farewell My Summer (1984)- 2,087,110
4. Looking Back to Yesterday (1986) - 302,330
5. 18 Greatest Hits (?)- 1,500,000
6. Anthology (?)- 2,655,098
7. Other Pre- 1991 Motown Compilations (?)- 700,000
8. Their Very Best- Back To Back (?)- 250,000
9. Love Songs (?)- 800,000
10. The Original Soul Of (?)- 377,745
11. The Michael Jackson Mix (?)- 500,000
12. The Best of- The Motown Years (?)- 300,000
13. The Best of- The Millennium Collection (?)- 300,000
14. Love Songs (?)- 100,000
15. Other Post- 1990 Motown Compilations (?)- 2,500,000
16. Special CD Box (?)- 4,000
17. Greatest Hits HIStory Volume 1 (2001) - 3,000,000
18. Number Ones (2003) - 11,440,000
19. Michael Jackson: The Ultimate Collection (2004) - 500,000
20. The Essential Michael Jackson (2005) - 5,960,000
21. King of Pop (2008) - 3,673,000
22. 14 Greatest Hits (1984) - 500,000
23. The Collection (2009) - 800,000
24. The Motown Years (2009) - 500,000
25. This Is It (2009) - 5,266,000
Compilations Sold= 49,115,714
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Other Albums: 3
1. E.T. The Extra- Terrestrial & Singles Packs (1982) - 100,000
2. Dangerous- The Remix Collection (?)- 22,000
3. Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix (1997)-8,356,000
Other Albums Sold= 8,478,000
Total Confirmed Unaccounted Sales:6,473,000
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Total Albums Sold= 270,838,872
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On this page, I have listed Michael's home music videos & DVDs in order of release, together with known or estimated sales figures, plus known certifications.
HOME VIDEO/DVD
Home Video/DVD: 14
1. Making Michael Jackson's Thriller (VHS- 1983) - 3,000,000
2. The Legend Continues... (VHS- 1988)- 1,500,000
3. Moonwalker (VHS- 1988) - 3,300,000
4. Dangerous- The Short Films [VHS (1993), DVD (2001)] - 750,000
5. Video Greatest Hits- HIStory [VHS (1995), DVD (2001)] - 1,750,000
6. HIStory On Film- Volume ll (DVD- 1997) - 1,400,000
7. Ghosts (1997) - 250,000
8. Number Ones (DVD- 2003) - 2,500,000
9. The Ones (DVD- 2004) - 200,000
10. Live In Bucharest: The Dangerous Tour (DVD- 2005) - 1,600,000
11. History I + II (?)- 50,000
12. The Best Of - Live / Live In Japan/ Bad In Japan (?, all unofficial) - 400,000
13. Number Ones / Live In Bucharest: The Dangerous Tour(?) - 50,000
14. This Is It (2009) - 10,000,000
Home Video/DVD Sold= 26,750,000
NOTE: Home Video/DVD Sales are NOT counted in overall record sales.
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Michael's single sales are much less well documented than his album sales.
On this page, we have listed Michael's solo singles - Motown and CBS/Epic/Sony - in order of release, together with known or estimated sales figures, plus all known certifications.
SINGLES:
Singles: 73
1. Got To Be There (1971) - 2,500,000
2. Rockin' Robin (1972) - 3,160,000
3. I Wanna Be Where You Are (1972) - 1,400,000
4. Ain't No Sunshine (1972) - 300,000
5. Ben (1972) - 3,300,000
6. Morning Glow (?)- 16,300
7. With A Child's Heart (1973) - 360,000
8. Music And Me (1973) - 13,000
9. Doggin' Around (?)- 5,000
10. We're Almost There (1975) - 430,000
11. Just A Little Bit of You (1975) - 925,000
12. One Day In Your Life (1981) - 1,900,000
13. Happy (?)- 160,000
14. Farewell My Summer Love (1984) - 840,000
15. Girl You're So Together (1984) - 94,000
16. Touch The One You Love (?)- 1,000
17. Twenty- Five Miles (?)-11,000
18. Ease On Down The Road (1978) - 125,000
19. A Brand New Day (?)- 62,500
20. You Can't Win (1979) - 62,500
21. Don't Stop Till' You Get Enough (1979) - 4,100,000
22. Rock With You (1979) - 3,450,000
23. Off The Wall (1980) - 1,425,000
24. She's Out Of My Life (1980) - 1,360,000
25. Girlfriend (1980) - 40,000
26. The Girl Is Mine (1982) - 2,820,000
27. Billie Jean (1983) - 9,425,000
28. Beat It (1983) - 7,184,000
29. Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' (1983) - 2,840,000
30. Human Nature (1983) - 1,690,400
31. P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing) (1983) - 2,030,000
32. Say Say Say (1983) - 3,650,000
33. Thriller (1984) - 6,876,000
34. I Just Can't Stop Loving You (1987) - 2,939,000
35. Bad (1987) - 2,470,000
36. The Way You Make Me Feel (1987) - 2,623,000
37. Man In The Mirror (1988) - 2,520,000
38. Get It (1988) - 225,000
39. Dirty Diana (1988) - 1,946,000
40. Another Part Of Me (1988) - 1,100,000
41. Smooth Criminal (1988) - 2,601,000
42. Leave Me Alone (1989) - 700,000
43. Liberian Girl (1989) - 220,000
44. Black Or White (1991) - 3,740,000
45. Remember The Time (1992) - 2,000,000
46. In The Closet (1992) - 860,000
47. Jam (1992) - 680,000
48. Who Is It (1992) - 720,000
49. Heal The World (1992) - 2,250,000
50. Give Into Me (1993) - 420,000
51. Will You Be There (1993) - 1,600,000
52. Goon Too Soon (1993) - 125,000
53. Scream/ Childhood (1995) - 2,993,000
54. You Are Not Alone (1995) - 4,281,000
55. Earth Song (1995) - 4,231,000
56. They Don't Care About Us (1996) - 2,515,000
57. Why (1996) - 600,000
58. Stranger In Moscow (1996) - 700,000
59. Blood On The Dance Floor (1997) - 1,250,000
60. HIStory/ Ghosts (1997) - 475,000
61. You Rock My World (2001) - 1,915,000
62. Cry (2001) - 60,000
63. One More Chance (2003) - 290,000
64. Visionary- The Video Singles (2006) - 350,000
65. The Girl Is Mine 2008 (2008) - 200,000
66. Wanna Be Startin' Somtin' Somethin' 2008 (2008) - 200,000
67. Beat It 2008 (2008) - 60,000
68. Billie Jean 2008 (2008) - 50,000
69. Working Day And Night - 100,000
70. The Lady In My Life - 100,000
71. Smile - 75,000
72. Butterflies - 100,000
73. We Are The World (Demo) - 75,000
Total Confirmed Single Sales That Are Not Listed:160,000
Singles Sold= 113,098,700
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Total Albums + Singles= 383,937,572
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RECORD SALES ACHIEVEMENTS AND RECORDS
This part will recognize the record breaking and amazing achievements that Michael Jackson set during his solo career. I am not going to include chart history or achievements unless it I have to.
1. Jackson's album "Thriller" (1982) is the best selling album of all time, with 69 million copies sold worldwide. And has tied with the Eagles Greatest Hits, for the biggest selling album in the U.S.(29x platinum). And The best-selling album by a solo artist in the United States.
2. Jackson's album "Off the Wall" (1979) was the biggest selling album by a black artist at the time, with 10 million sold at the time, and 21 million sold to date. This record was later smashed by Michael's next album "Thriller". And has sold 8.7 million copies In the U.S.
3. Jackson's album "Bad" (1987) at one point for a few years was the second biggest selling album of all time, with 28 million sold at the time and over 35 million sold to date. But that has since then been surpassed.
4. Jackson's album "Dangerous" (1991) is the biggest selling New Jack Swing album of all time with over 31 million copies sold worldwide. And 8.5 million copies in the U.S. And for a period in time it was close to being the third best selling album of all time.
5. Jackson's album "HIStory: Past, Present, and Future Book I" (1995) is the biggest selling multi-disc album of all time by a solo artist, with over 22 million copies sold worldwide (44 million units). And 4.2 million copies in the U.S. (8.4 million units).
6. Jackson's album "Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix" (1997) is the biggest selling remix album of all time with over 8 million copies sold worldwide. And 1 million in the U.S.
7. "Thriller" currently holds the record for being the first and only album in the United States to top the sales charts for two separate years. Being the best selling album in 1983 and 1984.
8. "Thriller" is Jackson's biggest selling album in the United States with 29 million sold to date. And Jackson's second biggest selling album in the U.K. with 4.5 million and one of the U.K.'s biggest selling albums.
9. "Bad" is Jackson's biggest selling album in the United Kingdom with 4.8 million copies sold, and is one the best selling albums in the U.K. And in the U.S. it has sold 10.5 million copies, making it Jackson's second biggest selling album in the U.S. And the best selling record by a solo artist in UK history.
10. When released 'Bad' became the fastest selling album ever in the UK. For many years it was the biggest selling album in the UK. Jackson, along with Queen, is the only artist to have 2 albums on the top 10 biggest selling albums in the U.K.
11. "Dangerous" has become one of the biggest selling albums of the 1990's.
12. "Dangerous" is the fastest selling album in history to be on the #1 position of the charts. And makes history for going to #1 just 3 days after its release.
13. In worldwide sales, in the UK and US, Bad were 48% of the total worldwide sales. For Dangerous, it is 33%, making it more successful globally (not just restricted to those two regions). The singles from Dangerous were mostly bigger hits in Europe and Australia and more were released than Bad. These were spectacular sales records compared to Michael's earlier two albums, Thriller and Bad in many European countries and Australia. Dangerous sold very well in both Asia and South America, two emerging and growing record markets.
14. Jackson is the biggest selling artist of the 1980s, with an unprecedented sale of over 110 million records from 1980-1989. Thriller and Bad were also the biggest selling albums of the 80's.
15. Jackson has sold approximately 70 million records in the new millennium, from 2000-2009.
16. In 1987 "Bad" shipped over two million copies in the United States, and during its first week in the U.K. it outsold the no.2 album "HITS 6" by an unprecedented margin of 10:1 shifting 350,000 copies- a record.
17. In a hectic three days trading after its release, "Dangerous" shifted 200,000+ copies, good enough to Michael the top spot ahead of U2'ss new album, "Achtung Baby".
18. Released in November of 1991, by the end of 1991 "Dangerous" sold an impressive 10 million copies.
19. In 1992, "Dangerous" was the 6th bestselling album of the year in the United States, and the 5th bestselling album in the U.K. And the biggest selling album of 1992 worldwide.
20. In the United States, in crashing in at #1, "HIStory" sold 391,000 copies in its first week. Good enough to make it the largest selling multi-disc debutant of the 'SoundScan' computer monitored sales era, comfortably topping the 369,000 copies shifted by the Beatles' "Live at the BBC"
21. Amazingly, given it was issued on a Friday and so only had two days sales to count towards its first chart position, "HIStory" was also an instant #1 in the U.K. In those two days it shifted 100,000+ copies, more than the #2 and #3 albums- by Pink Floyed and Bjork- put together.
22. In the first three weeks, "Blood on The Dance Floor" shifted just 79,000 copies across the United States, compared to with 100,000+ in Holland, 250,000 in the U.K. and nearly 450,000 in Germany. Globally, in just three weeks, Blood On The Dance Floor shipped around 3.5 million copies, with sales subsequently topping 4 million- unprecedented for a remix album.
23. In the United States "Invincible" sold 366,000 copies in the first week- Michael's second best opening figure of the SoundScan era. The album shifted 110,000 copies in the first week and gave him his seventh chart topping album.
24. According to the 2000 World Music Awards, Jackson is the biggest selling solo artist of the past millennium, with record sales of over 250 million records.
25. Jackson has 9 platinum singles, the second most by any male artist in the U.S. (second only to Elvis).
26. Jackson is the first United States Artist to sell 100 million copies outside of the U.S.
27. Jackson is the first artist ever to have 4 consecutive albums sell 167 million records internationally.
28. Michael Jackson is the biggest selling international artist in the United States with 249.5 million records sold outside of the U.S.
29. Michael Jackson is the biggest selling male artist of the 90's with 123 million sold.
30. He is the only musical act to have 2 albums in the Top 10 biggest selling albums of all time.
31. He is the only musical act to have 3 albums in the Top 20 biggest selling albums of all time.
32. With 3 million units sold Michael's "The Making of Thriller" is the second biggest selling music home video of all time.
33. With 3 million copies sold Moonwalker is the biggest selling music home video of all time.
34. Jackson is the first artist in Nielsen/SoundScan history to have four albums in the year-end top 20.
35. With "Number Ones" ranking #3 on YTD list, it would be the highest year-end ranking for an album by an artist who had died(2Pac's All Eyez On Me was the #6 album of 1996. The Notorious B.I.G.'s Life After Death was the #6 seller of 1997).
36. Number Ones, which was released in 2003, will also become the first catalog album to make the year-end top 10 in Nielsen/SoundScan history.
37. Number Ones sold 339,000 and racked up the biggest weekly sales total in Nielsen/SoundScan history for a catalog album (excluding Christmas albums). Jackson also held the old record, which he set in February 2008, when Thriller 25 sold 166,000 copies in its first week.
38. Thriller is the only the second catalog album (again, excluding Christmas albums) to top the 100,000 sales mark more than once since 1992. It follows the Grease soundtrack which topped the 100,000 mark twice. So far Thriller has topped 100,000 mark in 5 times.
39. Jackson became only the 13th artist in Billboard chart history to have the best-selling album in the U.S. posthumously.
40. With #1's topping the chart in June 28th.,it marks the first time in Nielsen/SoundScan history (which dates to 1991) that the #1 Catalog album has outsold the #1 current album.
41. He became the first artist to sell more than 1 million song downloads in one week. He far exceeded that total, running up a tally of 2.6 million.
42. Number Ones, first released in 2003, sold 108,000 copies on week ending June 28th. The two-CD The Essential Michael Jackson, first released in 2005, sold 102,000 copies. Thriller, first released in 1982, sold 101,000. It's the first time since at least 1992 that one artist has topped the 100,000 mark with three albums in the same week. Even Garth Brooks at his peak didn't do that. In any event, this week marks the first time that any one act has had the three best-selling albums in the U.S. since at least 1963. The closest for this record are the Beatles, on May 2, 1964, when The Beatles' Second Album was #1, Meet The Beatles! was #2 and Introducing...The Beatles was #4.
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