Original Albums Sales – 1985-1998
During the 80s, Michel Berger was a household name in France. He wasn’t only incredibly popular as a singer, but also as a composer since he wrote the massive musical Starmania as well as all hits by his wife, France Gall. Rated as the best writer from France, Johnny hired him to create Rock’N’Roll Attitude. The album went to #2, a pretty average showing for the artist. However, hits kept it around for one full year, most notably Quelque chose de Tennessee. Their long-lasting appeal enabled the album to hit Platinum in 3 distinct formats: in 1986 thanks to the original release, in 1996 as part of the 2-CD box Paroles d’Hommes and in 2011 as the first number of a bi-weekly 71-discs collection La Collection Officielle.
He reproduced the same formula with Gang, this time with the new star of the country, Jean-Jacques Goldman. The album struggled at first peaking at #5, but for 18 months its singles like L’Envie, Laura and Je te Promets were everything. It was the second disc of the set Paroles d’Hommes which perfectly used the growing status of those two albums among Johnny‘s discography.
Until 1998 all his standard albums continued to sell at least 600,000 units worldwide except for the foreign language album Rough Town and the half-new half-live set Destination Vegas. As a fan of American music, the frustration of Johnny remained strong throughout his career seeing as his foreign language records were again and again his least successful outputs.
I counted 10 million less. Are you counting EP’s as singles?
Hi MJD!
I’ve read that Mon pays c’est l’amour has already sold 890,000 (!!!) copies in France in the weeks since its release. Of course, given the circumstances and Johnny Hallyday’s stature that doesn’t actually feel too surprising, but comprehensively speaking, how do you see it performing in the long-run compared to the rest of his discography? Also, do you have a ballpark figure of how much his CSPC results may have increased in the year since his passing?
Hi Orange! Yes, it sold 888k pure units in its first two weeks. Not sure it will do that well in the long run (except in the run of Christmas of course), it’s sales aren’t reflective of an organic success. It’s mostly down to nostalgia effect added to the most insane promotion campaign that have ever been. Even main TV channels stopped their programs at midnight to stream live the album, to be honest it felt kind of nonsense. All jornalists and all were saying how utterly essential / great the album is even before listening parties had happen. I… Read more »
Thank you! I wasn’t aware of all the TV promotion, that does sound a bit ridiculous haha.
If he sold that much in 2 weeks, he must have totally crushed his own record of highest first-week sales in France, which is fantastic but it seems like it would be impossible for that to happen if he were still alive.
I’ve just gone through it, too quickly, but I’m going to look at it more carefully. That’s already the best level of Johnny sales research I’ve ever seen. This is a titanic job and must be difficult, as there is so much missing data. I am fairly familiar with Johnny’s career and have read quite a few books, some of which contain first-hand accounts. His artistic directors, record company heads. Everyone agrees that some times were more difficult. 66/67,74/75,81/84. Concerts were not always full and the hits were rarer. Outside, from what I’ve seen, it’s not always reflected in your… Read more »
France Gall has died. I believe she’s among those who had the most successful french songs abroad in the 60’s, isn’t she ?
Hi Rell! Yes, she definitely is. Maybe more impressively, Ella Elle L’A also did wonders all over continental Europe, as did Babacar. Obviously Poupée de Cire Poupée de Son was her biggest international hit during the 60s. It is reputed to have sold a million copies in Japan, and while this is most likely wrong (300k to 500k is a more realistic ballpark) it was definitely a smash there. It shipped 25,000 units upon release in the Netherlands and 10,000 units in Spain. It was a #1 hit in Norway and #2 in Germany. Except in continental Europe, she mostly… Read more »
Je vous suis très reconnaissant pour la qualité de votre travail. Fan de Johnny depuis toujours, je savais qu’il cumulait des chiffres de ventes impressionnants. Pouvoir précisément connaître les chiffres de tous ses opus est incroyable……… Grâce à vous, certains peuvent mesurer l’impact de cette immense star qui restera gravé à jamais dans notre cœur…..