CSPC: Titanic Popularity Analysis
You’rree heere, there’s nooothing I feaarr
And I knoooow that my heart will.. go oonnn
We’llll staay foreeeever this way
With these lyrics in our mind and the song will go on and on
It has now been 20 years since the release of the earthquake titled Titanic. The movie, its actors, the VHS, the DVD, the Soundtrack, its theme song, everything about it was utterly massive. During 4 months the entire World kept watching a ship sinking.
James Horner was naturally elected to compose the Soundtrack of this juggernaut project. The American conductor passed away in a plane crash 3 years ago this week. Before the sad event, he rose to fame thanks to his works on Star Trek, Aliens, Braveheart and Apollo 13 among others.
At first, the composition of the Titanic Soundtrack was given to Enya, who refused it. The Irish theme of the album made her an obvious first choice. Music tainted with Irish and Celts sounds was also incredibly popular at the time thanks to diverse acts like the aforementioned Enya but also the Corrs, ERA, the Cranberries and the huge Riverdance show. Horner perfectly translated these influences into the soundtrack. He was assisted by Norwegian legend Sissel who contributes with background vocals all along the record. Horner also added lyrics to one song and recorded it with the biggest global singer of the time: Céline Dion. The rest is history.
As usual, I’ll be using the Commensurate Sales to Popularity Concept in order to relevantly gauge its results. This concept will not only bring you sales information for Titanic‘s soundtrack, physical and download singles, as well as audio and video streaming. In fact, it will also determine its true popularity. If you are not yet familiar with the CSPC method, the next page explains it with a short video. I fully recommend watching the video before getting into the sales figures. Of course, if you are a regular visitor feel free to skip the video and get into the figures.
I wonder what james horners total would be?
I believe you mentioned that Bat out of Hell by Meatloaf was the last artist with a “30 million seller”, but what about “Boston” (self titled album?)
I’m Nathan! Horner’s total would be tricky, he participated in so many soundtracks and charts of various countries treat them differently, so it’s harder to set up estimates. For an album like Titanic it’s easy since it is documented but for one like Braveheart for example, we have close to 0 info from many places. He would most likely top 50 million anyway. About Boston’s debut, it sold about 22 million copies. It is the frontrunner of their discography, their biggest (and only) compilation sold like 3 million units, so the CSPC total won’t be that much higher. Santana’s Supernatural… Read more »
Omg! so it’s pretty much arguable that if all sales of titanic is credited to Celine, Celine is the best-selling female artist of all time. Buwahahaha.
But I’ll stick to what MJD believes in. Still adding 29 million EAS to Celine’s chart analysis is a HUGE update. Ahahahaha.
Im just so happy right now.
Thanks MJD and the rest of the chartmasters staff. You are all awesome.
Cant believe you were all keeping the 29million EAS of MHWGO a secret until the Titanic Chart Analysis is posted.
It sure is a great day to be a Celine Dion fan!
Hi MJD,
Will the 29 million EAS of MHWGO sales related to Titanic be added to the total EAS of Celine Dion’s total EAS on its next update? I hope it would. 🙂
Hi RLAAMJR! Nope, it won’t! 🙂 They are sales of albums that aren’t credited to her. For example, Rihanna receives only a part of Love The Way You Will’s sales, the ones she is credited for. Sales of Eminem’s album Recovery do not go to her, it’s the same case here. Just like sales of ‘Now’ compilations and all aren’t added! At the end of the day, the consumer went after a soundtrack / an Eminem album / a multi-artist brand rather than after a record of Celine or Rihanna 😉 This being said, MHWGO will now lead the top… Read more »
My Heart Will Go On sold over 1.6 million in UK, 1.3 in France, 2 in Germany, 0.7 in US, 0.3 in Japan, 0.15 in Belgium, Australia, Netherlands, it’s already 6.35 million.
?! You credied MHWGO 8,100,000 physical sales in Celine’s article almost two years ago, and now 1.3 million disappeared?!
Titanic the movie is what really pushed the soundtrack sales.
I’m so happy right now. My Heart Will Go On pushed both Titanic soundtrack album and Celine Dion’s Let’s Talk About Love album to sell more than 25 million albums each but it’s not getting the credit. But seeing the single is combined cos it’s same song and same singer, I’M already satisfied. My Heart Will Go On is the biggest song of all time with 62,750,000 EAS!
Why did MHWGO lose 1,190,000 physical sales in this new update? According to the Céline analyses from 2016 made by yall, mhwgo had 8,100,000 physical copies, not 6,910,000…. Can I get an answer?
My heart will go on lost over a million in physical sales?
Hi Pat! (& François & Will) The decrease of MHWGO was expected. All articles posted before that date had Global sales extrapolated from key markets with Album markets shares, but singles happen to be way more focused on just a few countries during the 90s. Europe, the US and Australia, at times Japan for some singles, and that’s it. All updates posted in recent months had the same conclusion. Shakira’s being updated at the moment and the result will be pretty much the same, her career total stands at 8,5 million instead of 11 million. Obviously, this will also impact… Read more »
Great article, but Will Jennifer Lopez’s article be posted later today? Im excited for hers 😃😃