MJ moves up Soundscan's 'best selling artists chart'!

bobmoo79

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MJ moves up the Soundscan's 'best selling artists' chart again. This the chart that compiles the best selling artists in the US since 1991.

In the last chart issued before he died MJ was the 47th best selling artist of the Soundscan era (i.e. since soundscan started in 1991). The following year he was catapulted up to #18, having sold an additional 9,066,000 albums.

In this year's chart he is 15th best selling artist behind Elvis presley with additional sales of 1,540,000 albums. In the past year, he pushed ahead of Britney Spears, the Backstreet Boys and AC/DC in total, post-1991 sales.

Sales of both 'Michael' and 'Immortal' have been disappointing in the US (IMO!) and so they have had less affect on the chart position than I would have liked, but perhaps BAD25 will help MJ overtake Elvis in the next year or two. That would be a great milestone!


SoundScan's Top 30 Best Selling Artists:
1) Garth Brooks (68,554,000)
2) The Beatles (63,100,000)
3) Mariah Carey (53,474,000)
4) Metallica (53,059,000)
5) Celine Dion (51,415,000)
6) George Strait (43,138,000)
7) Eminem (41,028,000)
8) Tim McGraw (40,075,000)
9) Alan Jackson (38,771,000)
10) Pink Floyd (37,069,000)
11) U2 (34,715,000)
12) Kenny G (34,248,000)
13) Shania Twain (34,118,000)
14) Elvis Presley (33,656,000)
15) Michael Jackson (32,722,000)
16) Britney Spears (32,432,000)
17) AC/DC (31,489,000)
18) Pearl Jam (31,082,000)
19) Backstreet Boys (30,958,000)
20) Dave Matthews Band (30,725,000)
21) Aerosmith (30,637,000)
22) Eagles (30,611,000)
23) Eric Clapton (30,432,000)
24) Reba McEntire (29,896,000)
25) Rod Stewart (28,811,000)
26) Toby Keith (28,761,000)
27) Tupac (28,559,000)
28) Jay Z (28,470,000)
29) Frank Sinatra (28,216,000)
30) NSYNC (28,096,000)
 
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Sadly the Beatles actually sold more albums than MJ in the past year pushing them even further ahead and given their huge lead over him I doubt MJ will ever get close to the top of this chart.

It's really confusing how these charts work. On the year-end Billboard album chart the album "Michael" ranked at 54, Number Ones at 120, whereas the most successful album by the Beatles "1" was ranked at Nr 175. So how did they sell more albums than MJ? Even if they sold little amounts of other albums I very much doubt that would accumulate to a number that would make them increase their lead by so much. Something isn't right with this.

Edit: Also on the Billboard Top Artists of the Year, Michael is Nr 33, while the Beatles are Nr 86.
 
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It's really confusing how these charts work. On the year-end Billboard album chart the album "Michael" ranked at 54, Number Ones at 120, whereas the most successful album by the Beatles "1" was ranked at Nr 175. So how did they sell more albums than MJ? Even if they sold little amounts of other albums I very much doubt that would accumulate to a number that would make them increase their lead by so much. Something isn't right with this.

Edit: Also on the Billboard Top Artists of the Year, Michael is Nr 33, while the Beatles are Nr 86.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think this chart represent the biggest selling artists of the Soundscan era, ie the biggest selling artists since 1990.
 
It's really confusing how these charts work. On the year-end Billboard album chart the album "Michael" ranked at 54, Number Ones at 120, whereas the most successful album by the Beatles "1" was ranked at Nr 175. So how did they sell more albums than MJ? Even if they sold little amounts of other albums I very much doubt that would accumulate to a number that would make them increase their lead by so much. Something isn't right with this.

Edit: Also on the Billboard Top Artists of the Year, Michael is Nr 33, while the Beatles are Nr 86.

I agree with your observation...same with Elvis. WTH have purchased 34M of Elvis' albums since 1991?

The Beatles might have sold a bit more this year because of the "Beatles on iTunes" campaign...but nothing for the record book.

Bobmoo would you be able to tell us how much did the Beatles' sale increase over the previous year?
 
Oops, you're correct - Well spotted!
I just double checked and actually the Beatles sold less than MJ in the past year.
Beatles sold about 1,034,000, MJ sold about 1,540,000.
Not sure about Elvis as I haven't found last year's figure.
I'll edit my original post!
 
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think this chart represent the biggest selling artists of the Soundscan era, ie the biggest selling artists since 1990.

I'm talking about the year 2011, which belongs to the Soundscan era. The topic starter said the Beatles sold more albums in 2011 than Michael and thus increased their lead over him compared to last year. How, when according to the year-end Billboard charts two of Michael's albums ranked much higher on Billboard than the best selling Beatles album "1"?
 
Oops, you're correct - Well spotted!
I just double checked and actually the Beatles sold less than MJ in the past year.
Beatles sold about 1,034,000, MJ sold about 1,540,000.
Not sure about Elvis as I haven't found last year's figure.
I'll edit my original post!

Yeah, OK. Then mystery solved. Thanks.
 
I agree with your observation...same with Elvis. WTH have purchased 34M of Elvis' albums since 1991?

And WTH purchases Garth Brooks albums? Sorry but that's some horrible taste in music by the US! :D
 
And WTH purchases Garth Brooks albums? Sorry but that's some horrible taste in music by the US! :D

Yeah, OK. Then mystery solved. Thanks.

Tell me about it. Apparently, country music & Garth Brooks werevery big in the early '90s

Irony is, when I was down in Vegas for the MJ Immortal show, I saw lots of ads for Garth Brooks...Apparently, he is doing a residency at one of the hotels there.
 
I wonder if this only includes his solo albums? either way, it's still an impressive feat considering artists like elvis have a lot more albums out

Update: I just checked wiki and they release 2 to 5 elvis albums every single year since 1956! (a mix of live cds, masters, greatest hits, etc) wow, I had no idea!
 
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Tell me about it. Apparently, country music & Garth Brooks werevery big in the early '90s

Irony is, when I was down in Vegas for the MJ Immortal show, I saw lots of ads for Garth Brooks...Apparently, he is doing a residency at one of the hotels there.

I actually didn't even know who George Strait, Tim McGraw and Alan Jackson are and they are Nr 6, 8 and 9 on the list. I checked out: all country music stars. Big in the US, nobodies everywhere else.
 
I don't think this is a fair chart. It doesn't include the 1980s. If it did Michael would be even higher. Also is there like a world chart like this? I think these kinds of things are misleading because it only represents a certain time period. I would rather compare everyone career wise totals.
 
I don't think this is a fair chart. It doesn't include the 1980s. If it did Michael would be even higher. Also is there like a world chart like this? I think these kinds of things are misleading because it only represents a certain time period. I would rather compare everyone career wise totals.
It is fair because it's clear what this chart represents-they don't pretend this is the 'best selling artists ever' chart. These are the best selling artists , as tracked by soundscan since the company started in 1991. Simple. I do think that some mindless journalist could use these numbers incorrectly though.
 
It is fair because it's clear what this chart represents-they don't pretend this is the 'best selling artists ever' chart. These are the best selling artists , as tracked by soundscan since the company started in 1991. Simple. I do think that some mindless journalist could use these numbers incorrectly though.

I wouldn't mind seeing a best selling artists ever chart lol. It would be interesting to see where Michael would be compared to everybody. I have heard different numbers to that. I agree about the journalist part.
 
about the Garth Brooke sales in the US:


Mio
Garth Brooks (12. April 1989)9
No Fences (27. August 1990)16
Ropin' The Wind (10. September 1991)14
Beyond the Season (25. August 1992)3
The Chase (22. September 1992)8
In Pieces (31. August 1993)8
The Garth Brooks Collection (2. September 1994)
The Hits (13. Dezember 1994)10
Fresh Horses (21. November 1995)6
Sevens (25. November 1997)9
The Limited Series (5. Mai 1998)2
Double Live (17. November 1998)20
The Magic of Christmas (23. November 1999)1
Garth Brooks In… The Life of Chris Gaines (28. September 1999)2
Scarecrow (13. November 2001)5
The Lost Sessions (7. Februar 2006)2
The Ultimate Hits (6. November 2007)
115

<tbody>
</tbody>









this are the sales from RIAA. the complete sales are 128 mio, accourting to the RIAA.
Soundscan says he sold 68 mio so who is liying?
did the RIAA manipulate the certificates because to get some titles for him.. like best selling artist of the 90's? or the century?
 
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^^ You know RIAA counts each disc separately, for example HIStory is 7 million.

As for big selling artist of all time, here is the list from Wikipedia:


Artist Country of origin Period active Release-year of first charted record Genre Total certified sales
(From available markets)[Notes] Claimed sales
The Beatles United Kingdom 1960&#8211;1970[4] 1962[4] Rock / Pop[4]
US: 207.1 million[5]
JAP: 1.8 million[Notes][6][7]
GER: 8 million[Notes][8]
UK: 7 million[Notes][9]
FRA: 3.1 million[Notes][10]
AUS: 2.7 million[Notes][11]
CAN: 13.5 million[Notes][12]
NLD: 295,000[Notes][13]
SPA: 640,000[Notes][14]
BRA: 550,000[Notes][15]
AUT: 400,000[Notes][16]
BEL: 265,000[Notes][17][18]
SWI: 350,000[Notes][19]
SWE 485,000[Notes][20]
POL: 155,000[Notes][21]
ARG: 1.5 million[Notes][22]
NZ: 525,000[Notes][23]
Total available certified sales: 248.3 million
1 billion[24][25]
600 million[26]
Elvis Presley United States 1954&#8211;1977[27] 1954[27] Rock and roll / Pop / Country[27]
US: 186.3 million[5]
GER: 1.2 million[Notes][8]
UK: 5.8 million[Notes][9]
FRA: 2.4 million[Notes][10]
AUS: 1.1 million[Notes][11]
CAN: 2.8 million[Notes][12]
NLD: 520,000[Notes][13]
SPA: 100,000[Notes][14]
BRA: 125,000[Notes][15]
AUT: 165,000[Notes][16]
SWI: 135,000[Notes][19]
SWE 380,000[Notes][20]
FIN: 213,945[Notes][28]
Total available certified sales: 201.2 million
1 billion[29][30]
600 million[31]
Michael Jackson United States 1964&#8211;2009[32] 1971[32] Pop / R&B / Rock / Dance[32]
US: 90.8 million[5]
JAP: 2.7 million[Notes][6][33]
GER: 11.1 million[8]
UK: 18.8 million[9]
FRA: 10.7 million[10][34][35]
AUS: 5.4 million[Notes][11]
CAN: 4.5 million[12]
NLD: 1.9 million[13]
ITA: 580,000[Notes][36]
SPA: 1 million[Notes][14]
BRA: 280,000[Notes][15]
AUT: 1.2 million[Notes][16]
BEL: 275,000[Notes][17][18]
SWI: 900,000[Notes][19]
SWE: 1.1 million[Notes][20]
MEX: 3.3 million[Notes][37]
POL: 405,000[Notes][21]
FIN: 336,677[28]
NZ: 562,000[Notes][23]
Total available certified sales: 155.8 million
750 million[38][39]
350 million[40]
 
^ Fron this list, you can say that MJ is an international supertstar.. He has even sold more than the Beatles in their home country UK, which is incredible.
 
Michael is of course the first and only true global superstar.

In terms of plain record sales, The Beatles and Elvis might be well ahead of him though. Still, I'm sure Michael has sold plenty in smaller piracy rampant countries that have not been certified.
 
I think MJ would be Nr 1 in terms of sales/record. He has a lot less albums than the Beatles and Elvis.
 
What is the 750 million, 350 million at the bottom mean?

It means that it's impossible to tell the real numbers. I find it likely that the top numbers for all artists are highly exaggerated. Not just for Michael, but I always thought to say the Beatles and Elvis sold 1 billion records is ridiculous. Michael probably didn't sell 750 million either. The real numbers are somewhere in between.
 
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1 billion? since last years the media are talking about 2 billion. for both.... sometime for the beatles and sometimes for elvis. like they want to handle this. you know the media is doing what they want to do.
how stupid do they think the people are? :crazy
 
1 billion? since last years the media are talking about 2 billion. for both.... sometime for the beatles and sometimes for elvis. like they want to handle this. you know the media is doing what they want to do.how stupid do they think the people are? :crazy
anybody who knows anything about music sales knows that there is no way either elvis or the beatles have sold a billion. It's impossible and cannot be backed up by any data. However, the media can say what they want and people will believe it. The record labels have their acts' reputation to maintain and hype beyond believe. watch any episode of x factor and see the crap they write about the celebrity acts performing and you'll se what I mean. Similarly there is no way that mj has sold 750 million albums. the truth is all 3 of these acts sold a huge amount and there us no need to hype them like that because they already proved themselves. Also, I hate when people use wikipedia. That site is so unreliable and proves nothing because anybody can write what they want using some erroneous and invalidated source as evidence which itself could be wrong or written by somebody equally as clueless.
 
WikiPedia is not a reliable source, most numbers are ridiculous, unofficial and hugely overrated - for The Beatles, Elvis and MJ, or ABBA, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra.....

There is not such a thing like the 1 billion records... sold... physically or digitally..., simply it is not possible to produce, distribute, and sell them... in such huge amounts.

The Soundscan chart "may be" correct, as for selling since 1991. Everything before.... is completely another chart, mostly based on estimations and guesses, if albums or singles are not officially certified.

Garth Brooks is known only in the USA and Canada, not in Europe, Asia or rest the world.
The same for other country artists.
 
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