When looking for all-time best sellers of each market, The Beatles is always an act to seriously consider. Worldwide, they are undoubtedly the biggest selling act ever. There is no word to describe their dominance in the US and in the UK and this situation got repeated in loads of countries.
We noted on previous France Album Sales articles how specific France market was yet. Various recent worldwide top sellers like Justin Timberlake or Taylor Swift struggle to move relevant amounts in this country. Now, if you consider the English language markets gigantic share of the worldwide market back in the Beatles day, you can really question either or not they can challenge biggest international acts there. So far, the leading five among artists studied in Chartmasters.org is made of Michael Jackson (14,4 million), Bob Marley (10,9 million), Madonna (10,8 million), U2 (9,7 million) and AC/DC (8,6 million). Place your bet on upcoming Beatles spot in this ranking!
Up to date, I used an album era logic in articles structure. As the majority of the Liverpool band album sales got built thanks to catalog sales and compilations’ sales that would make no sense in this case. Instead, during the next pages we will be studying carefully all information available for all relevant periods of the band. Let’s go!
Do you have the chart listing and sales for the album «The Beatles’ First», the 1969 reissue of the 1964 German compilation of Hamburg recording of 1961-2 with Tony Sheridan. Also, in 1964, a 25 inch LP of these eight songs was released…Any info on this one ?
Hi André! These albums haven’t chart, back then only a top 15 was published so it was very taugh to make the ranking. Even Yellow Submarine peaked at 11 only. As for sales, ‘First’ was reissued many times, including by the budget line Impact. All its French LP versions add for 2,422 owners on Discogs, while Abbey Road for example, which sold 200,000 plus up to the 80s, has 7,904 owners, a ratio of 3.26. Obviously not all albums are equally collected, but anything from 50,000 to 75,000 for all ‘First’ versions pre-CD era makes sense. About the 25″ LP,… Read more »
Thanks, I suspected that these editions did not do too well. But I wanted to make sure. Regards. André
You have to look at the eras that acts were active in. How many homes had record players in the 1960s, let alone the individuals in them. As time went on most kids had their own record/ cd players. It’s like comparing car sales. In the early 60s you were lucky to be a one car family. A few decades later many families had 2 and even 3 cars. It’s all relative.
I was expecting a little more coming from them, still a huge number that many acts can only dream of. Great analysis man, I will share this with my friends if you don’t mind.
About the other analysis that you made about Madonna… Do you know how much the “The Next Best Thing” soundtrack sold? Its chart-run was short-lived but it managed to peak at #36 on Billboard 200, at #19 in Germany and at #24 on the UK Soundtrack compilation chart.
It’s less than U2 and practically even with AC/DC… are you sure???? I’m shocked!
8.4 million only???? Less than Madonna??? WOW!!!
Why is it surprising? Madonna is huge in France.
Hello Gustavo!
For some reason remix albums weren’t listed on totals page so the overall result stands at 8,8 million actually. It doesn’t change the nature of your comment though. Yes, compared to their immaculate sales in English speaking countries this total may seem someway disappointing, but we must keep in mind unlike the US market, French one got relevant from mid 70s only. Everything considered their sales in France are amazing still!