Michael Jackson's Record Sales ~merged~

Re: Michael Jackson's Record Sales

maybe his sister has a look that says 'just another day at Mike's office. lol'.

anyway, Hess..i like the sound of it, too. and it's no less believable than any other estimate. he's been in business for a long time and has never had a musical valley. and like Elizabeth Taylor says..all publicity is good publicity, so nothing has hurt his career as some may think. he's never filed for bankruptcy, now in the cloud of a third Donald Trump bankruptcy, it's not impossible for wealthy people to file for it, in one way or the other..so...no solid proof that MJ could be less than stellar, is available.


Yeah, all publicity sure is good publicity but up to 999 million seems a bit much IMO! :lol: - but sure one can only hope.
 
Re: Michael Jackson's Record Sales

^^^

That's a nice picture of Janet, but how and why does it fir into this thread!???? :lol: :lol:


:laugh:

Well usually when i'm too lazy to take my hands off the mouse and type, I just post pictures of how I feel about the topic.

There's a lot of talk about his sales and what they are based upon press releases and f/stans adding them up. Press releases state 750mil, but the auhor of the thread counted ~391mil, which seems more of an accurate number.

The media does inflate sales figures. For example, when Janet signed to IDJ, the pressed stated that she has sold 100mil albums. Being a Janet stans for 14 years I know darn well Janet has not sold anything close to 100mil albums. However she has DEFINITELY sold over 100mil RECORDS.

The only ppl who would have the most accurate number would be Sony as they were his label (and business partner) for years. Regardless of whether he has sold 750mil or ~390mil, MJs body of work can not be defined by sales figures. His talent alone overshadows it. 750mil or 391mil, MJ is still MJ and that's the way love goes. ;)
 
Re: Michael Jackson's Record Sales

yeah..conservative numbers seem more accurate to some people..the big numbers, some say are inflated..some say are not. neither party really has the authority to say what is inflated or not...

it is a matter of believing.:D

it's like some say there is a recession..others say there are some things that are recession proof.

ying..yang..lol

nothing anyone can do to change the figures as they really are..whatever they are.

some believe fantastic things and end up inventing things we can't do without. some people believe there is a ceiling, and don't invent things. it's safe to say MJ wouldn't be so successful if he believed in invisible ceilings.
 
Re: Michael Jackson's Record Sales

Nice thread. Some good info here. I would say that the 300-375 million figure i've read sounds accurate. That seems about right for his record sales. Regardless, I do believe Michael is the best selling solo artist of all time.
 
Re: Michael Jackson's Record Sales

KB50MJ, a great many of the sales figures you quote in the first post of this thread appear to be taken from the mjjcharts.com site, with one glaring exception: you list the Thriller album as having sold 108 million copies.

I've been a Jackson fan (and a charts watcher) since the early 1970s, but I don't care how many times this figure is quoted - IMO it's massively inflated. The true figure is probably around 59-60 million, with another 2 million added for Thriller 25.
 
Re: Michael Jackson's Record Sales

Well Guinness listed Thriller at 104mil. And Guinness shows no favortism. It's objective.
 
Re: Michael Jackson's Record Sales

Well Guinness listed Thriller at 104mil. And Guinness shows no favortism. It's objective.


It sure should be.

However I still find it hard to believe 104 million albums!! (isn't it 108?)


We have always been told it was around 50 millions, then all of a sudden they double that number ?? It's seems weird to me.

No doubt Thriller is the best selling album ever - but I think there is a little doubt to the actual sales!!
 
Re: Michael Jackson's Record Sales

well..25 years...lots of youtube videos..people finding excuses to do the dance..all the yearly halloweens and friday the 13ths..etc. etc.

if u get on a shuttle and go to space and see the size of the planet...add it all up...it's not so unfathomable..lol
 
Re: Michael Jackson's Record Sales

It sure should be.

However I still find it hard to believe 104 million albums!! (isn't it 108?)


We have always been told it was around 50 millions, then all of a sudden they double that number ?? It's seems weird to me.

No doubt Thriller is the best selling album ever - but I think there is a little doubt to the actual sales!!

Wikipedia, oops I meant, Sony, said it's 109 million now, lol.

From 1998 to around 2006, we were told between 47-60 million...
 
Re: Michael Jackson's Record Sales

Wikipedia, oops I meant, Sony, said it's 109 million now, lol.

From 1998 to around 2006, we were told between 47-60 million...


Mu point exactly!

If it had sold 60 million coies in 1998 - it's impossible that it sold 40 million copies in 10 years!!

Even fans ought to be able to see that!
 
Re: Michael Jackson's Record Sales

Mu point exactly!

If it had sold 60 million coies in 1998 - it's impossible that it sold 40 million copies in 10 years!!

Even fans ought to be able to see that!

You know the weirdest part is we've always said that MJ's sales have been undercertified so I guess if we're to believe Guinness (which I have no problem with, lol), the real sales come from what they were told.

However, they're the same ones to say both Elvis & the Beatles sold a billion singles and albums worldwide, lol.
 
Re: Michael Jackson's Record Sales

You know the weirdest part is we've always said that MJ's sales have been undercertified so I guess if we're to believe Guinness (which I have no problem with, lol), the real sales come from what they were told.

However, they're the same ones to say both Elvis & the Beatles sold a billion singles and albums worldwide, lol.


Yeah - and that makes it difficult to believe them.

I hope that some day it will be proved that Thriller has indeed sold 104 million albums - but i don't really believe that number.
 
Re: Michael Jackson's Record Sales

Yeah - and that makes it difficult to believe them.

I hope that some day it will be proved that Thriller has indeed sold 104 million albums - but i don't really believe that number.

i do......

guiness doesn't necessarily lie about everything. and i think the beatles and elvis were a little more loved by the media than MJ...so i don't think the media is out to help MJ in any way..
 
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Re: Michael Jackson's Record Sales

i do......

guiness doesn't necessarily lie about everything. and i think the beatles and elvis were a little more loved by the media than MJ...so i don't think the media is out to help MJ in any way..

So you think that Thriller has sold more than 40 million copies since 1992 ?? That seem unrealistic to me. Knowing that an album sells best the first years it's out makes it impossible to me that Thriller should have sold just as good from 1993-2008 as it did from 1982-1993!
 
Re: Michael Jackson's Record Sales

So you think that Thriller has sold more than 40 million copies since 1992 ?? That seem unrealistic to me. Knowing that an album sells best the first years it's out makes it impossible to me that Thriller should have sold just as good from 1993-2008 as it did from 1982-1993!

well..it may seem unrealistic..but the constant celebration of the album would seem unrealistic, every halloween, after all these years, unless you have proof that it is happening. people want to buy the cd to want to learn the dance. and..quite frankly, it would be unrealistic to think that thriller could sell forty million, before it did, the first time. things may seem unrealistic, when u haven't seen them..until they happen. mJ seems unreal in many ways..so...lol. a lot of things seem like anomalies..but that doesn't mean they cannot happen. hey. what's with the exclamation points..u mad at me? lol
 
Re: Michael Jackson's Record Sales

So you think that Thriller has sold more than 40 million copies since 1992 ?? That seem unrealistic to me. Knowing that an album sells best the first years it's out makes it impossible to me that Thriller should have sold just as good from 1993-2008 as it did from 1982-1993!

Considering everything Michael does defies logic somehow, I wouldn't be all that surprised.
 
Re: Michael Jackson's Record Sales

It sure should be.

However I still find it hard to believe 104 million albums!! (isn't it 108?)


We have always been told it was around 50 millions, then all of a sudden they double that number ?? It's seems weird to me.

No doubt Thriller is the best selling album ever - but I think there is a little doubt to the actual sales!!

Well what we can go on are the facts that are stated. Guinness has a pretty good track record. But one thing we also consider is what Guinness is considering "an album." So IDK...no one will know the sales figures.
 
Re: Michael Jackson's Record Sales

So you think that Thriller has sold more than 40 million copies since 1992 ?? That seem unrealistic to me. Knowing that an album sells best the first years it's out makes it impossible to me that Thriller should have sold just as good from 1993-2008 as it did from 1982-1993!

I agree - it's totally unrealistic Thriller has sold as well in recent years as it did in the first ten years, no matter what Guinness and Wikipedia claim

Fans will believe what they choose to believe (often, the highest figure quoted), but sorry - no one will convince me Thriller has sold 100+ million.
 
Re: Michael Jackson's Record Sales

the only way it has sold such numbers is if sony were holding back the real sales figures to start with. so the album hasnt suddenly sold 40 million since a certain date which makes it look unrealisitc but it had actually sold many millions more in the early years than sony were letting on in order to not have to pay up and now the true figures have been released.

either way as long as it stays the top ww seller i dont really care. nothing is straight forward when it comes to business things with mj
 
Re: Michael Jackson's Record Sales

the only way it has sold such numbers is if sony were holding back the real sales figures to start with. so the album hasnt suddenly sold 40 million since a certain date which makes it look unrealisitc but it had actually sold many millions more in the early years than sony were letting on in order to not have to pay up and now the true figures have been released.

either way as long as it stays the top ww seller i dont really care. nothing is straight forward when it comes to business things with mj

That's the only logical reason I can see how it sold that much.
 
Re: Michael Jackson's Record Sales

I agree - it's totally unrealistic Thriller has sold as well in recent years as it did in the first ten years, no matter what Guinness and Wikipedia claim

Fans will believe what they choose to believe (often, the highest figure quoted), but sorry - no one will convince me Thriller has sold 100+ million.

Well, according to a guy named Damien who lives in Australia, Sony Ause. said it sold 108 million.
 
Re: Michael Jackson's Record Sales

I've updated the list.

I changed the Thriller figure. I'm starting to dought that 100 million figure because when you add up sales from all over the world, it just doesn't add up. I'm going towards the 65 million figure. But its still by far the biggest selling album of all time and MJ is still the biggest selling solo artist of all time. The second biggest selling album of all time sold 42 million, which means that it would have to sell 25 million to catch up, and thats just not happening.
 
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