BONUS – Singles Ranking
Below is the Top 10 list of albums that totaled the highest number of singles sales among all records studied so far. George Michael registers an impressive one entry plus two bubbling under.
1 1978 Soundtrack – Grease – 24,400,000
2 1977 Bee Gees – Saturday Night Fever – 19,810,000
3 1984 Wham! – Make It Big – 13,890,000
4 1992 Whitney Houston – The Bodyguard – 13,580,000
5 1979 Bee Gees – Spirits Having Flown – 13,170,000
6 1986 Madonna – True Blue – 12,200,000
7 1984 Madonna – Like A Virgin – 12,100,000
8 1996 Spice Girls – Spice – 11,350,000
9 1967 Beatles – Magical Mystery Tour – 11,150,000
9 1965 Beatles – Help! – 11,150,000
1986 Wham! – Music from the Edge of Heaven – 10,150,000
1987 George Michael – Faith – 9,060,000
The following Top 10 is quite simply the highest selling physical singles out of well past 1,000 hits covered up to now. George Michael’s leading hit make its entry with Careless Whisper being topped only by one non-Soundtrack non-Orphan hit, Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen.
1 1992 – Soundtrack / Whitney Houston – I Will Always Love You [The Bodyguard] – 10,560,000
2 1978 – Soundtrack – You’re the One That I Want [Grease] – 10,400,000
3 1968 – Beatles – Hey Jude [Orphan] – 8,200,000
4 1997 – Soundtrack / Celine Dion – My Heart Will Go On [Let’s Talk About Love] – 8,100,000
5 1963 – Beatles – I Want to Hold Your Hand [Orphan] – 7,800,000
6 1977 – Soundtrack / Bee Gees – Stayin’ Alive [Saturday Night Fever] – 6,470,000
7 1975 – Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody [A Night At The Opera] – 6,400,000
8 1984 – George Michael – Careless Whisper [Make It Big] – 6,290,000
9 1999 – Britney Spears – …Baby One More Time […Baby One More Time] – 6,000,000
10 1979 – Bee Gees – Too Much Heaven [Spirits Having Flown] – 5,640,000
In Switzerland, the total should be 950,000 not 95,000, right?
hello! i have 2 questions:
1. is the total aes of “don’t let the sun go down on me” including sales generated from duets by elton john and other elton compilations or just sales generated exclusively by michael’s work? if so what is it’s total
2. are physical, digital and streaming sales from the elton john tracks “wrap her up” and “nikita” included into george michael’s total, because i THINK wrap her up officially credits michael, but i don’t think nikita does despite michaels major contribution to the song, like stings contribution to money for nothing ?
i’m suprised “i knew you were waiting (for me)” with aretha franklin didnt reach 1m aes i always thought it was one of his biggest hits
Faith sales was around 20-25 million and Song from the last century was around 4 million.
Yes I thought this too
Coming back to this analysis, I’m still very confused as to why George Michael and Wham’s numbers are combined. This isn’t done for any other artists that can be seen as the face of the group. Saying that “Wham is George Michael” doesn’t prove anything. They’re two separate artists whose sales and charting counts as two separate positions. Just look at their respective discography pages and chart histories on Billboard, OCC, etc…