CSPC: Kelly Clarkson Popularity Analysis
Physical Singles Sales
As a reminder, the weighting is done with a 10 to 3 ratio between one album and one physical single.
Thankful (2003) – 278,000 equivalent albums
A Moment Like This – 670,000
Miss Independent – 150,000
Low – 50,000
The Trouble with Love Is – 55,000
Breakaway (2004) – 315,000 equivalent albums
Breakaway – 120,000
Since U Been Gone – 310,000
Behind These Hazel Eyes – 140,000
Because of You – 420,000
Walk Away – 60,000
My December (2007) – 19,000 equivalent albums
Never Again – 60,000
One Minute – 2,000
Don’t Waste Your Time – 2,500
All I Ever Wanted (2009) – 36,000 equivalent albums
My Life Would Suck Without You – 100,000
I Do Not Hook Up – 10,000
Already Gone – 10,000
Stronger (2011) – 12,000 equivalent albums
Mr. Know It All – 35,000
What Doesn’t Kill You (Stronger) – 10,000
Wrapped in Red (2013) – 0 equivalent album
No physical single released.
Piece by Piece (2015) – 1,000 equivalent albums
Heartbeat Song – 3,000
Meaning of Life (2017) – 0 equivalent album
No physical single released.
Orphan – 0 equivalent album
No orphan physical single released.
From 2001 to late 00s, winners of singing TV series were surefire smashes on physical formats in all relevant markets. Freshly off from her victory on American Idol, Clarkson issued her much hyped debut single, A Moment Like This. It was far and away the highest selling US single of 2002.
Subsequent singles had traditional releases: they had no CD release in the US, but they came out in Europe and Australia instead. Several of them were successful, most notably Because of You which sold 420,000 units. After Already Gone, her singles started to be released in digital formats only except a few exceptions.
All in all, the vocalist sold over 2,2 million units in this format.
One of the things that wasn’t discussed is that by the time this article was written, she was the only American Idol to cross 100 #1s worldwide. And even right now, she is STILL the only American Idol to do it. She is far and away the most successful person to come from AI or the shows that followed. Kelly is the back from which all of those artists stand on and that is not a small feat. I get that there is a lot of emphasis put on album sales, but I think there is a lot of additional… Read more »
You forgot the she is the most successful singer to come from an idol contest of all times.
You say she is unknown in relevant markets, but everyone knows who she is.
She is much more well known than Carrie Underwood who has sold nothing outside of North America.
I’m not even from the Western Hemisphere and I’ve known Kelly Clarkson since I was born
I’m not sure she took risks too soon. I mean, take a look at Pink when she released “Try This”. It was also a major drop in sales compared to “Missundaztood”. But when she released “I’m Not Dead” back in 2006, she was able to increase her sales by a great margin compared to “Try This”, and from then on she was able to stabilize her sales and even up her game with “Funhouse”. Of course there wasn’t a smash like her sophomore, but the market was already dropping in sales, so it was a general problem. Anyway, she kept… Read more »
Would you mind breaking down the WW sales of Stronger (WDKY) & Because of You further? Not that I’m complaining but your estimations are millions higher than mine!
Hi Temporal!
Please find below relevant markets for both songs. Most missing ones are calculated with formulas as per the market share / weight of ringtones on their year of exploitation.
Stronger:
4975 US DLs
650k SK DLs
500k UK DLs
450k US RTs
250k CA DLs
215k OZ DLs
150k JP DLs+RTs
100k GE DLs
45k FR DLs
Because of You
2900k SK DLs
2100k US DLs
550k US RTs
325k UK DLs
200k JP DLs+RTs
150k CA DLs
125k GE DLs
45k FR DLs
Thank you for this!!
Kelly is a legend!!
And I’m very surprised with South Korean numbers… do you have more details?
Hi Vitor!
A good share of her total comes from Because of You which stands at 2,9 million in SK. Mr. Know It All, What Doesn’t Kill You (Stronger) and I Forgive You all stand in the 650-800k range. Before Your Love is at 350k. Then, Catch My Breath, My Life Would Suck Without You, Breakaway, Since U Been Gone and Walk Away are all estimated within’ the 150-250k range.