David Bowie Career CSPC Results
So, after checking all figures, how many overall equivalent album sales each David Bowie album achieved? Well, at this point we barely need to do the addition of all figures defined all over this article!
In the following results table, all categories display figures in equivalent album sales. If different, pure sales are listed between parentheses.
| # | Cover | Album | Total CSPC | Sales* | Streams | Total CSPC | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio Albums | Other LPs | Physical Singles | Digital Singles | Last verified | Auto update | Daily Increase | |||||
| 1 |  | David Bowie (1967) | 744,000 | 200,000 | 359,000 | 135,000(450,000) | 15,000(100,000) | 33,000 (03/11/22) | 35,000 (10/02/22) | Av.: 10LD: 10 | 744,000 |
| 2 |  | David Bowie (1969) | 7,898,000 | 2,300,000 | 4,247,000 | 675,000(2,250,000) | 308,000(2,050,000) | 336,000 (03/11/22) | 368,000 (10/02/22) | Av.: 160LD: 160 | 7,898,000 |
| 3 |  | The Man Who Sold the World | 2,494,000 | 1,900,000 | 398,000 | 15,000(50,000) | 60,000(400,000) | 108,000 (03/11/22) | 121,000 (10/02/22) | Av.: 60LD: 60 | 2,494,000 |
| 4 |  | Hunky Dory | 10,624,000 | 4,700,000 | 4,572,000 | 435,000(1,450,000) | 330,000(2,200,000) | 530,000 (03/11/22) | 587,000 (10/02/22) | Av.: 280LD: 280 | 10,624,000 |
| 5 |  | The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars | 15,811,000 | 8,550,000 | 5,681,000 | 405,000(1,350,000) | 308,000(2,050,000) | 765,000 (03/11/22) | 867,000 (10/02/22) | Av.: 500LD: 530 | 15,811,000 |
| 6 |  | Aladdin Sane | 6,454,000 | 4,900,000 | 879,000 | 473,000(1,577,000) | 68,000(450,000) | 122,000 (03/11/22) | 134,000 (10/02/22) | Av.: 60LD: 70 | 6,454,000 |
| 7 |  | Pin Ups | 3,309,000 | 2,750,000 | 173,000 | 330,000(1,100,000) | 23,000(150,000) | 30,000 (03/11/22) | 33,000 (10/02/22) | Av.: 10LD: 10 | 3,309,000 |
| 8 |  | Diamond Dogs | 7,119,000 | 3,650,000 | 2,566,000 | 420,000(1,400,000) | 120,000(800,000) | 328,000 (03/11/22) | 363,000 (10/02/22) | Av.: 170LD: 160 | 7,119,000 |
| 9 |  | Young Americans | 6,039,000 | 2,650,000 | 2,060,000 | 945,000(3,150,000) | 195,000(1,300,000) | 169,000 (03/11/22) | 189,000 (10/02/22) | Av.: 100LD: 110 | 6,039,000 |
| 10 |  | Station to Station | 4,581,000 | 2,600,000 | 1,183,000 | 615,000(2,050,000) | 60,000(400,000) | 108,000 (03/11/22) | 123,000 (10/02/22) | Av.: 70LD: 80 | 4,581,000 |
| 11 |  | Low | 3,734,000 | 2,600,000 | 553,000 | 390,000(1,300,000) | 60,000(400,000) | 120,000 (03/11/22) | 131,000 (10/02/22) | Av.: 50LD: 90 | 3,734,000 |
| 12 |  | Heroes | 8,479,000 | 2,900,000 | 4,760,000 | 135,000(450,000) | 165,000(1,100,000) | 457,000 (03/11/22) | 519,000 (10/02/22) | Av.: 300LD: 300 | 8,479,000 |
| 13 |  | Lodger | 2,051,000 | 1,650,000 | 128,000 | 225,000(750,000) | 15,000(100,000) | 31,000 (03/11/22) | 33,000 (10/02/22) | Av.: 10LD: 10 | 2,051,000 |
| 14 |  | Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps) | 6,038,000 | 3,450,000 | 1,446,000 | 915,000(3,050,000) | 75,000(500,000) | 136,000 (03/11/22) | 152,000 (10/02/22) | Av.: 80LD: 100 | 6,038,000 |
| 15 |  | Let's Dance | 15,635,000 | 8,700,000 | 2,933,000 | 3,060,000(10,200,000) | 270,000(1,800,000) | 597,000 (03/11/22) | 672,000 (10/02/22) | Av.: 370LD: 330 | 15,635,000 |
| 16 |  | Tonight | 4,214,000 | 3,400,000 | 142,000 | 600,000(2,000,000) | 23,000(150,000) | 45,000 (03/11/22) | 49,000 (10/02/22) | Av.: 20LD: 20 | 4,214,000 |
| 17 |  | Never Let Me Down | 2,644,000 | 2,300,000 | 12,000 | 315,000(1,050,000) | 5,000(30,000) | 11,000 (03/11/22) | 12,000 (10/02/22) | Av.: 10LD: 10 | 2,644,000 |
| 18 |  | Tin Machine | 1,472,000 | 1,400,000 | 0 | 60,000(200,000) | 3,000(20,000) | 8,000 (03/11/22) | 9,000 (10/02/22) | Av.: 0LD: 0 | 1,472,000 |
| 19 | Tin Machine II | 645,000 | 600,000 | 0 | 45,000(150,000) | 0(0) | 0 (01/11/17) | N/A | N/A | 645,000 | |
| 20 |  | Black Tie White Noise | 1,648,000 | 1,500,000 | 21,000 | 105,000(350,000) | 8,000(50,000) | 13,000 (03/11/22) | 14,000 (10/02/22) | Av.: 10LD: 10 | 1,648,000 |
| 21 |  | 1. Outside | 1,264,000 | 1,050,000 | 41,000 | 128,000(427,000) | 15,000(100,000) | 28,000 (03/11/22) | 30,000 (10/02/22) | Av.: 10LD: 10 | 1,264,000 |
| 22 |  | Earthling | 1,297,000 | 1,050,000 | 83,000 | 105,000(350,000) | 23,000(150,000) | 33,000 (03/11/22) | 36,000 (10/02/22) | Av.: 10LD: 10 | 1,297,000 |
| 23 |  | Hours | 1,096,000 | 1,000,000 | 12,000 | 45,000(150,000) | 15,000(100,000) | 23,000 (03/11/22) | 24,000 (10/02/22) | Av.: 10LD: 10 | 1,096,000 |
| 24 |  | Heathen | 1,368,000 | 1,250,000 | 28,000 | 30,000(100,000) | 23,000(150,000) | 35,000 (03/11/22) | 37,000 (10/02/22) | Av.: 10LD: 10 | 1,368,000 |
| 25 |  | Reality | 1,033,000 | 950,000 | 16,000 | 15,000(50,000) | 23,000(150,000) | 27,000 (03/11/22) | 29,000 (10/02/22) | Av.: 10LD: 10 | 1,033,000 |
| 26 |  | The Next Day | 1,656,000 | 1,500,000 | 24,000 | 0(0) | 45,000(300,000) | 84,000 (03/11/22) | 87,000 (10/02/22) | Av.: 10LD: 10 | 1,656,000 |
| 27 |  | ? (Blackstar) | 2,228,000 | 2,000,000 | 12,000 | 0(0) | 60,000(400,000) | 149,000 (03/11/22) | 156,000 (10/02/22) | Av.: 40LD: 40 | 2,228,000 |
| 28 | Orphan | 8,421,000 | 0 | 3,694,000 | 2,640,000(8,800,000) | 660,000(4,400,000) | 1,427,000 (03/11/22) | N/A | N/A | 8,421,000 | |
| *Pure sales figures updated on 03/11/22. 'Av.' stands for Average, 'LD' for Last Day. | |||||||||||
As a reminder:
- Studio Album: sales of the original album
- Other Releases: sales of compilations generated thanks to the album
- Physical Singles: sales of physical singles from the album (ratio 3/10)
- Download Singles: sales of digital singles from the album (ratio 1,5/10)
- Streaming: equivalent album sales of all the album tracks (ratio 1/1500 for Audio stream and 1/6750 for Video stream)
See where the artist ranks among remaining singers
Thanks to all compilation and live albums sold on the back of its songs, The Rise And Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars ends up beating Let’s Dance by a few units, both at roughly 15 million equivalent album sales.
Just under Aladdin Sales in album sales only, Hunky Dory appears to be much bigger overall thanks to larger hits, it is his third album over 10 million. David Bowie (1969), Heroes, Diamond Dogs, Aladdin Sane, Scary Monsters and Young Americans all passed the 5 million mark.
Maybe even more important to highlight is the way the singer managed to stick over 1 million with all his releases except one during his last 30 years in spite of getting no hits at all in this time frame.
Guess what? A couple of albums at 15 million or 50 years of albums over 1 million is still less significant than the impressive total of 125,8 million equivalent album sales David Bowie amassed over his legendary career. Following pages list the most successful songs of the artist.
Do not forget to check our amazing lists posted inside the CSPC: Data Collector which includes the full listing of all CSPC results compiled so far to better gauge her position in the history of the music industry.
As usual, feel free to comment and / or ask a question!
Sources: IFPI, Spotify, Chartmasters.org.
The Greatest solo artist in history.
That will be Michael Jackson
Best selling solo artist of all time, but not most important or most influential solo artist of all time.
That’s just your opinion, mine is he is very overrated and his sales are poor considering he is supposed to be that good. Half a dozen very good songs doesn’t make you the greatest.
Yes, Jacksons sales and popularity are amazing and his influence immense but Bowie was way, way more diverse than Jackson.
It’s so irritating when people can’t wrap their heads around the fact that sales aren’t everything. Sales are great but they don’t indicate how inventive, creative, influential, etc. an artist was/is.
Who cares. Musical diversity and critical acclaim is so overrated.
Lots of people care, lots of people don’t want to listen to an artist who just releases the same sounding stuff over and over again.
As for critical acclaim, I couldn’t give a toss about it either.
“That’s just your opinion”
It’s all about opinions, except if you believe that talent should be measured by success, which would be very dumb.
Also the version of All The Young Dudes with Ian Hunter and Bowie on vocals on the Mott The Hoople page doesn’t show up on his features.
Just noticed that a number of Bowie songs have recently been been greyed out on spotify and their totals no longer show on the spotify tool report.They’re all on the albums Platinum Collection and Sound + Vision.
Also for some reason the songs credited to Bowie and the Spider on the Bowie at the Beeb album have a separate artist id??