Our female celebration continues with its final chapter. From 1999, a new wave of female superstars replaced the former one with the inevitable Britney Spears leading the way.
The fantastic run of Madonna, Mariah Carey, Celine Dion and Whitney Houston came to an abrupt end with this switch. This big 4 topped 12 out of 15 years from 1984 to 1998. We will see that the story has been completely different since 1999.
As a reminder, guidelines of this articles can be found on the first chapter here.
Good for Lemonade being near the 5 million mark with such limited availability . The era paid off well.
Hi IvyLeague!
As often explained, different formats cannibalize each other. When an album isn’t available on one format (say streaming), then its sales and downloads are boosted. There is no evidence that a release on all avenues would create higher totals!
what about Metamorphis from Hilary Duff in 2003? I’ve read before it sold about 7 million pure copies worldwide.
7 million seems too high, but definitely over 5 million. It sold over 4 million in the US, at least 166,091 in Japan (without imports), at least 400k in Canada, at least 70k in Australia, at least 50k in Mexico, at least 20k in Argentina, etc.
Hi Blackout/Stephen!
Metamorphosis is definitely under 5m pure album sales since it was #43 of the year in 2003 and under the Top 50 in 2004 in IFPI’s list. As shown by certifications, it came close though and its singles must push it over 5m EAS so I added it. I had missed the updated SS figure while quickly checking first. I also added yesterday Namie Amuro’s Sweet 19 Blues in 1996. All additions are welcome!
Hi MJD,
In the article, you noted that 4 has sold 9M equivalent album sales while BEYONCÉ has only 8M. How is this possible when BEYONCÉ sold nearly a million more in pure units, has more streams, and has more YouTube views? Should they not be nearly identical, or shouldn’t BEYONCÉ be at about 9,5M? Anyways, thank you for these three articles, I thoroughly enjoyed them.
Hi beygood!
Actually, it is a typo for 4 as it stands on over 7,8 million! As the comparison 4 vs Beyoncé, if the latter sold more albums and has more streams, it is behind (by more than 1m combined) in all remaining sections – compilations / videos sales generated, physical singles and digital singles.
How Barbra’s Partners rank in 2014？
Hi again MJD!
Do you know if other albums that haven’t reached 5 million equivalents yet are Top 10 for their respective years? For example, was Femme Fatale Top 10 in 2011? And was Witness Top 10 in 2017?
Do we have a full Top 10 for 2016?
Great results and great article! Let’s see if I got this right… 1960 – Etta James 1961 – Patsy Cline 1962 – N/A 1963 – N/A 1964 – Barbra Streisand 1965 – N/A 1966 – N/A 1967 – Aretha Franklin 1968 – Aretha Franklin 1969 – Dusty Springfield 1970 – Diana Ross 1971 – Carole King 1972 – Carly Simon 1973 – Roberta Flack 1974 – Linda Ronstadt 1975 – Olivia Newton-John 1976 – Barbra Streisand 1977 – Linda Ronstadt 1978 – N/A 1979 – Donna Summer 1980 – Barbra Streisand 1981 – Stevie Nicks 1982 – N/A 1983 –… Read more »
Madonna at the TOP 5 TIMES CSPC:
1984 Like A Virgin nearly 40 M WW
1986 True Blue 36.6 M WW
1989 Like A Prayer 25.4 M WW
1998 Ray Of Light 21.2 M WW
2005 Confessions On A Dance Floor 12.5 M WW
Queen!
Madonna’s Music
10,000,000 pure sales + 2,000,000 in equivalent album sales ?
Long-life Anti did better than forgettable Lemonade, Hurray!
Beyoncé has been in the top 2 for every release in a 13-year span. The only female closest to that is Madonna, the ultimate queen. Oh well, Madonna & Beyoncé showing their powers as the greatest to do it once more.
*5 of the 6 in the top 2. My mistake.
She is still losing to Rihanna’s total at the end of the day and is highly unlikely to take over her total. She’s not in anyway closest to Madonna. Plenty of other female singers outsold her by a huge margin.
Beyoncé was 2nd place 4 times. Such a shame!
Overrated
What about A BEST from Ayumi released in 2001?
Hi Kubiak!
Compilations are assigned into studio albums which are the real creators of the values of the recordings, this is why all albums listed are studio albums.