CSPC: Kelly Clarkson Popularity Analysis
KELLY CLARKSON CAREER CSPC RESULTS
So, after checking all the figures, how many overall equivalent album sales has each album by Kelly Clarkson achieved? Well, at this point we hardly need to add up all of the figures defined in this article!
In the following results table, all categories display figures in equivalent album sales. If different, pure sales are listed between parentheses.
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
Conclusions
In the vein of Sheryl Crow, Brandy or Faith Hill, Clarkson is a consistent US seller that happened to get a once-in-a-lifetime success at some point, both in her country and abroad. Someway, Breakaway is bigger than her. This album is up to 15,7 million equivalent album sales overall, an immense number for a singer who’s name is barely known in various relevant markets. It continues to enjoy great numbers in all fronts, securing it a nice future.
My December is one of the biggest flops we have met so far. With that album, Clarkson decided she didn’t wanted to be a singer-only anymore. She wrote all its songs and refused the help of legendary producers like Max Martin, Dr. Luke. Not only the record generated 8 times less sales than its predecessor, resulting in heavy returns to the label, the arena tour was also cancelled. Once newly scaled, it featured only 3,000-ish sits arenas, which barely sold out. The album is also her worst rated at Allmusic.com.
The duo of producers was called back for All I Ever Wanted following this disaster. They offered My Life Would Suck Without You to Clarkson for the results we know. Clarkson lost her fight against the pop culture. Her comeback was confirmed with Stronger which managed to top the success of Thankful.
The last 3 efforts add for barely 2 million EAS combined. If we can forget about Wrapped in Red since it is a Christmas release, the remaining two show vertiginous declines from their immediate predecessors. Statistics of Meaning of Life are especially worrying. After 7 months, the album has yet to cross half a million units across all formats combined.
So far, Clarkson has shifted 34,9 million equivalent album sales. While we can’t put her in the same league as the likes Rihanna, Britney Spears, Beyoncé or Taylor Swift, her career’s total is highly respectable. To put it differently, back in 2002 not many would have bet she would reach those numbers.
To go deeper…
Thanks to our new ASR (Artist Success Rating) concept, we know that her sales represent 12,32 million times the purchase of her entire discography (equivalent discography sales). Coupled with her total sales, it translates into an ASR score is 117, almost on par with Amy Winehouse.
Additionally, the following pages list her most successful songs as well as her records and achievements. Do not forget to check our amazing cross-artists 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, YouTube, Discogs, Chartmasters.org.
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.