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Her all albums are now above 1M making her the 7th best selling female artist of all time.
Britney has sold a lot of albums and has good numbers, especially for the last 25 years. But I must confess that I am disappointed with the sales of her albums in this article. I grew up thinking that BOMT had sold 30M, OIDIA 22M, Britney 15M and ITZ 9M. So bad! F**k Wikipedia and its sources, LOL! Could you verify this correctly? I mean, I really think BOMT has already reached 25M and OIDIA 20M. And what about 'Britney'? Her sales dropped a lot on the 3rd album. Was it because of the sex appeal with the single 'Slave 4 U'? Interesting.
I think its typical for teen pop stars to have big drop of sales on their 3rd studio albums. The pattern are similar for other teen pop stars like BSB, Nsync, Xtina Aguilera, etc. I believe its necessary for her to turn into a more sex appeal image in order to stay relevant. She probably would drop even more if she did not resort to that. She did all she could in order to stay relevant. Having said that I dont think she was inconsistent as people seems to paint a picture on her. Having multiple top 10 hits for her album Femme Fatalle, 12 years into her career. That shows great longevity. Not everybody can claim that achievement.
https://www.youtube.com/c/britneyspears/about Her Youtube says she sold 150 million records instead of albums
It is due to recertifications: Britney was last certified in the USA 6 weeks after release, where it sold 4 M pure, and that meant December 2001, and only 1 single (I’m a Slave 4 U) out to promote it. If she re-certified a year later she would have 2 movies (Crossroads & Austin Powers: Goldmember), which promoted her singles from her album: I’m Not a Girl, Overprotected: Darkchild Remix , I Love Rock & Roll (Crossroads), & Boys: Co-Ed Remix (Austin Powers).
Unlike Oops, and Baby One More Time, which were re-certified year after year and month after month, until they were Diamond, Britney was never re-certified. Plus, her DWADream Tour would have also promoted the singles and album, even after the breakup.
Lastly, if someone average 750K a week in sales in its 6th week, it’s clear she would have become diamond by the next few years, even as her sales for that album slowed, as her movies, and singles, tour, and potentially even the Breakup, would have kept up some of her momentum throughout 2002.
Compare it to INZone which sold 2 M in 1 month, and you notice that Britney’s average was still pretty strong, but like Britney, she never re-certified that beyond 1 month after release, same with Femme Fatale, and even Greatest Hits which both went 1x Platinum after 1 month to the day after release, but have not been re-certified since.
Throw in Track Album Equivalents (note: her singles also haven’t been re-certified) + streams, and it is hard to imagine her 3rd album slumping that hard.
Chartmasters can only go off of official data, and if Britney’s team doesn’t re-certify, it looks lower than it actually is.
I would say Britney’s 3rd album is diamond in the USA by now, after 20 years.
I was just going to say that Glory has hit 1 M! I see the streams updated from 2021-08-16!
I just asked the question the other day and this was the answer:
"the ‘old Spotify streams’ was set at 3,991,000 by the date of the article. I looked into the file, the correct value was actually 3,091,000! This was creating a ratio downgraded by nearly 25%. I fixed that number, her accurate totals appear to be 8,736,000 EAS from streams and 106,825,000 career sales!" -MJD
So just a simple typo changed the way the streaming calculations were made.
Hey guys!
Have y'all ever come across this forum that also discusses Britney's stats? I think you could find many useful info and sources for a more accurate article on Britney. For example it looks like you have underestimated some of her albums' sales like 'Britney' in France and Spain, ITZ in Japan and Italy, GH:MP in Japan and Italy, her Mexican sales etc.
The last 2 pages could be particularly helpful for you, please check them out and consider a possible update soon. Thank you!
https://www.ukmix.org/forum/chart-discussion/artist-chart-analysis/106542-britney-spears-charts-sales-history/page488
A small chart fact:
Britney’s RPM Canada chart peaks for year end charts in 2000 (was never published)
RPM Canada:
The oops Album (2000): #3
The oops I did it again (single) (2000); #13
Lucky (2000): #26
Stronger (2000): #91
Stronger (2001/RPM Canada (Bonus): #72
Lol not at all. Britney sold 750k during its debut week. Her sales was recorded clearly and soundscan confirmed she sold 2.6 million albums by end of 2001. Come 2002 her album only spend one week inside the top 10. So there is no way she would go from 2.6 million to 10 million considering she only stayed one week inside the top 10. By mid march 2002 the album sold 3.3 million according to soundscan. My bet is that RIAA probably certify the album as 4x plat due to pre orders. Record stores probably thought the album was going to smash the way that Oops did so they ordered her albums in bulks. But we all know the album wasnt a hit like her previous 2. Plus, there is no way she could have sold diamond for Britney. Britney only stayed in the top 10 for 8 weeks and only 7 of them in the top 5 , and only 4 weeks top 3. Oops was top 2 for 17 weeks and 6 more weeks top 10. That is on top of Oops having far bigger first few weeks sales compared to Britney. So there is no way Britney could have reached diamonds. RIAA never recertifies Britney because the album itself hardly sold a thing after its certifications. So there is no need for a re certifications
It's at 5M pure with music club sales (and if I'm right they count towards certifications). With SPS it should definitely reach 6x Platinum in a few years.
And nowhere near this: "RIAA never recertifies Britney because the album itself hardly sold a thing after its certifications. So there is no need for a re certifications"
