France best selling albums ever:
The Very Best Of by Supertramp (1990)

As every good thing has to come to an end, here is the very last article about one specific French million selling album. To close this study, we will go back to the future, more precisely in 1990 with Supertramp first compilation issued in France, The Very Best Of.

This album was released more than a decade after the band was the most hyper in the country thanks to its Breakfast In America 1979 blockbuster. It wasn’t their album hit yet as three other albums from the group sold upwards half a million units and all their eight albums up to that point were at least Gold. All of them were also issued in the vinyl era, creating a strong demand for a career spanning CD compilation.

Naturally, the public responded in 1990 fall when such a package finally came out. It was the biggest seller of that Christmas rush along with its twin brother, Elton John identically titled The Very Best Of. If this latter album sold 700,000 units by  July 1991, the Supertramp set had nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, it went Platinum in both 1990 and 1991 while peaking at #1 and #3 respectively, most likely a mistake as it should have been 2xPlatinum with about 600,000 copies sold by the end of 1991.

Both albums had quiet 1992 and 1993 years before coming back strong in 1994. Supertramp best of went as high as #3 that year, climbing to 800,000 units by 1996. In 1997, the album peaked one more time at #3, selling some 100,000 units in the process. After such a hard work, Very Best Of completed one last push to #8 in 2000 to pass the million sales level. On 1,15 million by the end of 2005, the album was then mostly replaced by Retrospectacle compilation. It has been selling from 5,000 to 10,000 units a year since.

Net shipment as of the end of 2015 is estimated at 1,230,000 copies.

As usual, feel free to comment and / or ask a question!

Sources: SNEP, IFOP, Platine, GFK, Billboard.