Digital Singles Sales – Part 1
As a reminder, the weighting is done with a 10 to 1,5 ratio between one album and one digital single.
Thankful (2003) – 573,000 equivalent albums
The Trouble with Love Is – 360,000
Miss Independent – 1,560,000
Low – 140,000
A Moment Like This – 1,180,000
Before Your Love – 420,000
Remaining tracks – 160,000
Breakaway (2004) – 3,143,000 equivalent albums
Breakaway – 3,180,000
Since U Been Gone – 4,840,000
Behind These Hazel Eyes – 2,380,000
Because of You – 7,740,000
Because of You (with Reba McEntire) – 780,000
Walk Away – 1,820,000
Remaining tracks – 210,000
My December (2007) – 312,000 equivalent albums
Never Again – 1,710,000
Remaining tracks – 370,000
All I Ever Wanted (2009) – 1,446,000 equivalent albums
My Life Would Suck Without You – 5,360,000
I Do Not Hook Up – 1,240,000
Already Gone – 2,550,000
Remaining tracks – 490,000
Do you know that Clarkson‘s debut album Thankful was released 13 days before the arrival of iTunes Store? Obviously, digital sales were near-inexistent by then. By 2006, they were starting to be significant, although still only a third of their later peak of 2012. Under those circumstances, exactly 30 months passed until the first million selling download in the US way back in October 2005. Two months later, a second song made it past a milli: Clarkson‘s Since U Been Gone. By late 2008, she was the second artist with the most million sellers, topped only by Rihanna.
If her singles, most notably those of Breakaway, were massive successes in the US, they weren’t always as big elsewhere. If we exclude Because of You, they sold more than 75% of their units there. That hit was a global blockbuster though, selling 7,7 million units globally. It did so thanks to huge initial impact and lasting appeal as it was impossible to sell that much back then. In total, Breakaway‘s songs sold close to 21 million downloads and ringtones making it one of the first monster-digital seller.
My December bombed hard. With a market growing fast, it failed miserably to produce hits. Combined, its songs sold 10 times less than titles from its predecessors in spite of a market that almost tripled. My Life Would Suck Without You was a nice comeback for the artist, opening the way to a decently successful era. That one originated 3 million sellers.
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 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.