Sales v critics v fans 1.3: Biggest selling albums of all time - Decades

You might think that albums from the 70s would have outsold albums from the 80s, which in turn would have outsold albums from the 90s, etc simply because the older albums have been around longer and therefore would have had the chance to sell more.

The truth is just the opposite, as shown in the following chart. (Click to enlarge.)

Each decade had more big selling albums than the one before - until a wall was hit in the 2000s. The wall was the Net, as discussed in the prior post.

But what of the trend before then? Either: (a) the whole market was expanding from decade to decade; or (b) the market was concentrating (i.e. the big sellers were getting a bigger share of the pie); or a combination of (a) and (b). We can't tell from these data alone.

Sales v critics v fans 1.2: Biggest selling albums of all time - Years

In this post we look at the year of release of the albums in the top 100 - shown in the chart below. (Click on the chart to enlarge.)

• The first entry is in 1967 - the Beatles with Sgt Pepper. No Sinatra or Miles Davis. The big sellers are products of the modern era beginning in the late 60s.
• Surprisingly, the biggest year was not in the glory days of the 60s or 70s - but was 8 entries in 1991. Rock, in all its manifestations, was going off - with 2 entries from G'n'R and entries from Metallica, Nirvana, Pearl Jam and U2. Here are the entries for 1991: 

Guns n' Roses	Use Your Illusion 2
Guns n' Roses	Use Your Illusion 1
Metallica	Metallica (Black Album)
Michael Jackson	Dangerous
Nirvana	Nevermind
Pearl Jam	Ten
Queen	Greatest Hits II
U2	Achtung Baby

• Even though 1991 had the most entries, the half way mark was 1987. 49 entries were released in 1987 or earlier. 51 entries were released in 1988 or later.
• Things die after 2002. There are no entries for 8 consecutive years until the final entry - 21 by Adele.

The bottom line is that the age of the blockbuster album is over and ended in 2002. The causes are probably threefold:

• the internet era and the unbundling of albums made possible by iTunes and streaming services; 
• the democratisation of the means of music production with an attendant flood of product, diluting sales over a greater number of releases; and
• greater competition for the entertainment dollar from entertainment forms that didn't exist in the heyday of the album.

There will be occasional exceptions (witness Adele), but they will be rare.

To conclude on a positive note - Adele's achievement is quite extraordinary. 21 was the biggest selling album in 2011 and 2012. It has continued to sell strongly in 2013. When this list was compiled (Feb 2013) it was already at equal 30th place in all time sales. I suspect that by now it is one of the top 20 biggest selling albums of all time. And she did it while keeping her clothes on.

The only other album from the 2000s and beyond to make the top 20 is 1 by the Beatles.

Sales v critics v fans 1.1: Biggest selling albums of all time - Artists

Which artists have the most entries on the Top 100 biggest selling albums of all time? Glad you asked.

The artist with the most entries is - Soundtrack, with 8 entries. In descending sales order they are:

Grease, The Bodyguard, Saturday Night Fever, Dirty Dancing, Titanic,  Footloose, Top Gun, The Lion King

Ok, let's put them to one side.

1. The Beatles - 6 entries

Well, that makes sense. Sgt Pepper, Abbey Rd, White Album, Rubber Soul, Revolver, Let It Be - all worthy contenders right? Wrong.

The biggest selling Beatles album of all time is: 1 - the greatest hits collection released in 2000. So far it has outsold Sgt Pepper, the next biggest selling. Then comes Abbey Rd, then two more greatest hits collections released in 1973 (originally as two LP sets), 1962-1966 and 1967-1970. Finally the White Album rounds out the half dozen.


2. Michael Jackson - 5 entries

Probably not too surprising. Thriller is, of course, the biggest selling album of all time - by a long way. Then come (in order of sales) Bad, Dangerous and Off the Wall. Finally the greatest hits collection HIStory. So MJ actually has one more original album in the top 100 than the Beatles.


3.= Celine Dion, Guns'n'Roses, Led Zeppelin, Madonna, Pink Floyd, U2 - 3 entries

Not a bad club. I was a little surprised to see Celine and the Gunners there. But combined with the Beatles and MJ this would be an ok desert island collection.

Celine Dion: Let's Talk About Love, Falling Into You, All the Way...a Decade of Song

Guns'n'Roses: Appetite for Destruction, Use Your Illusion 2, Use Your Illusion 1

Led Zeppelin: IV, II, Houses of the Holy

Madonna: The Immaculate Collection, True Blue, Like a Virgin

Pink Floyd: Dark Side of the Moon (#2 overall), The Wall, Wish You Were Here

U2: The Joshua Tree, The Best of 1980-1990, Achtung Baby


9.= Backstreet Boys, Bon Jovi, Britney Spears, Eagles, Eminem, Fleetwood Mac, Mariah Carey, Phil Collins, Queen, Simon & Garfunkel, Whitney Houston - 2 entries

Surprised to see Eminem here with The Marshall Mathers LP and The Eminem Show. The rest not so surprising. Only a couple of what I would call truly disposable artists - but I must admit to guilty pleasure with Backstreet Boys and Britney.

Backstreet Boys: Millenium, Backstreet Boys

Bon Jovi: Slippery When Wet, Crossroad (The Very Best of)

Britney Spears: Baby One More Time, Oops!...I Did it Again

Eagles: Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975, Hotel California

Fleetwood Mac: Rumours, Greatest Hits

Mariah Carey: Music Box, Daydream

Phil Collins: No Jacket Required, ...But Seriously

Queen: Greatest Hits, Greatest Hits II

Simon & Garfunkel: Greatest Hits, Bridge over Troubled Water

Whitney Houston: Whitney Houston, Whitney


Everyone else - 1 entry

An interesting bunch. Not suprising that most of these are on the list. But I was surprised that artists like Prince and Elton John didn't have more entries.

Abba

AC/DC

Ace Of Base

Adele

Alanis Morissette

Andrea Bocelli

Avril Lavigne

Billy Joel

Bob Marley

Boston

Bruce Springsteen

Carole King

Cranberries

Def Leppard

Dire Straits

Elton John

Eric Clapton

Garth Brooks

George Michael

Green Day

Hootie & The Blowfish

James Taylor

Journey

Kenny G

Linkin Park

Lionel Richie

MC Hammer

Meat Loaf

Metallica

Nirvana

Norah Jones

Oasis

Pearl Jam

Prince

Santana

Shania Twain

Spice Girls

Supertramp

The Police

Tracy Chapman

ZZ Top

Notable absences from the top 100 include David Bowie, Bob Dylan, Rolling Stones. I hypothesise that this is because they are relatively prolific artists who have been working over many decades - so their sales are diluted by being spread over many releases meaning that none make it onto the top 100.  

Sales v critics v fans 1: Biggest selling albums of all time

We are going to start our three way play off by looking at the biggest selling albums of all time.

The first challenge is sourcing the data. I've chosen the Alltime Album Chart from Mediatraffic. This combines "official" sales figures from around the world.

Rank	Artist	Album	Date		Sales (million)
1	Michael Jackson	Thriller (inc. 25th Anniversary Reissue)	1983		34
2=	Pink Floyd	The Dark Side Of The Moon	1973		20
2=	Soundtrack	Grease	1978		20
4=	Soundtrack	The Bodyguard	1992		19
4=	Eagles	Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975	1976		19
6	Soundtrack	Saturday Night Fever	1978		18
7=	Led Zeppelin	Led Zeppelin IV	1971		17
7=	Shania Twain	Come On Over	1997		17
7=	AC/DC	Back In Black	1980		17
7=	Michael Jackson	Bad	1987		17
11=	Fleetwood Mac	Rumours	1977		16
11=	Bob Marley & The Wailers	Legend	1984		16
11=	Alanis Morissette	Jagged Little Pill	1995		16
11=	Beatles	1	2000		16
15=	Beatles	Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band	1967		15
15=	Michael Jackson	Dangerous	1991		15
15=	Celine Dion	Let's Talk About Love	1997		15
15=	Pink Floyd	The Wall	1979		15
19=	Guns n' Roses	Appetite For Destruction	1988		14
19=	Celine Dion	Falling Into You	1996		14
19=	Dire Straits	Brothers In Arms	1985		14
19=	Bruce Springsteen	Born In The U.S.A.	1984		14
19=	Eagles	Hotel California	1976		14
19=	Soundtrack	Dirty Dancing	1987		14
19=	Abba	Gold Greatest Hits	1992		14
19=	Simon & Garfunkel	Greatest Hits	1972		14
19=	Meat Loaf	Bat Out Of Hell	1978		14
19=	U2	The Joshua Tree	1987		14
19=	Queen	Greatest Hits	1981		14
30=	Beatles	Abbey Road	1969		13
30=	Soundtrack	Titanic	1998		13
30=	Madonna	The Immaculate Collection	1990		13
30=	Mariah Carey	Music Box	1993		13
30=	Adele	21	2011		13
35=	Nirvana	Nevermind	1991		12
35=	Metallica	Metallica	1991		12
35=	Backstreet Boys	Millennium	1999		12
35=	Santana	Supernatural	1999		12
35=	Beatles	1962-1966	1973		12
35=	Beatles	1967-1970	1973		12
35=	Eric Clapton	Unplugged	1992		12
35=	Norah Jones	Come Away With Me	2002		12
43=	Whitney Houston	Whitney Houston	1985		11
43=	Britney Spears	Baby One More Time	1999		11
43=	Bon Jovi	Slippery When Wet	1986		11
43=	Elton John	Greatest Hits	1974		11
43=	Queen	Greatest Hits II	1991		11
43=	Phil Collins	No Jacket Required	1985		11
43=	Spice Girls	Spice	1996		11
43=	Madonna	True Blue	1986		11
43=	Phil Collins	...But Seriously	1989		11
43=	Simon & Garfunkel	Bridge Over Troubled Water	1970		11
43=	Backstreet Boys	Backstreet Boys (Original + U.S.Version)	1996		11
43=	Eminem	The Marshall Mathers LP	2000		11
43=	Beatles	The Beatles (White Album)	1968		11
56=	Boston	Boston	1976		10
56=	Celine Dion	All The Way...A Decade Of Song	1999		10
56=	Mariah Carey	Daydream	1995		10
56=	Lionel Richie	Can't Slow Down	1983		10
56=	Ace Of Base	The Sign / Happy Nation	1994		10
56=	Madonna	Like A Virgin	1984		10
56=	Pink Floyd	Wish You Were Here	1975		10
56=	Whitney Houston	Whitney	1987		10
56=	Prince	Purple Rain	1984		10
56=	Eminem	The Eminem Show	2002		10
56=	Bon Jovi	Cross Road (The Very Best Of)	1994		10
56=	Britney Spears	Oops!...I Did It Again	2000		10
56=	Led Zeppelin	Led Zeppelin II	1969		10
56=	Michael Jackson	Off The Wall	1979		10
56=	Michael Jackson	HIStory	1995		10
71=	Tracy Chapman	Tracy Chapman	1988		9
71=	Carole King	Tapestry	1971		9
71=	George Michael	Faith	1987		9
71=	Soundtrack	Top Gun	1986		9
71=	Def Leppard	Hysteria	1987		9
71=	Hootie & The Blowfish	Cracked Rear View	1994		9
71=	Garth Brooks	No Fences	1990		9
71=	Linkin Park	Hybrid Theory	2000		9
71=	U2	The Best Of 1980-19	1998		9
71=	Billy Joel	Greatest Hits I & II	1985		9
71=	Guns n' Roses	Use Your Illusion 2	1991		9
71=	Green Day	Dookie	1994		9
71=	James Taylor	Greatest Hits	1976		9
71=	Soundtrack	Footloose	1984		9
71=	Supertramp	Breakfast In America	1978		9
86=	MC Hammer	Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'em	1990		8
86=	Soundtrack	The Lion King	1994		8
86=	U2	Achtung Baby	1991		8
86=	ZZ Top	Eliminator	1983		8
86=	Guns n' Roses	Use Your Illusion 1	1991		8
86=	Kenny G	Breathless	1992		8
86=	Oasis	(What's The Story) Morning Glory?	1995		8
86=	Pearl Jam	Ten	1991		8
86=	Andrea Bocelli	Romanza	1997		8
86=	Led Zeppelin	Houses Of The Holy	1973		8
86=	Cranberries	No Need To Argue	1994		8
86=	Fleetwood Mac	Greatest Hits	1988		8
86=	Avril Lavigne	Let Go	2002		8
86=	Journey	Greatest Hits	1988		8
86=	The Police	Synchronictiy	1983		8