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MJD
I guess both were equally big in album sales ,24m in 2010s isn't less than 75m in late 90s/early 2000s ,there was no yt, no streaming service, no way of illegally download, internet wasn't that big ,.also albums weren't that front looded and US isn't only country in the world I bet 1D has a lot better chart runs in European markets than black street boys ,OK
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Also 1d were huge touring force ,
2013: 123m
2014: 290m
2015: 210m
BSB can't compete with them in touring ,
I am not saying 1d are bigger than BSB let's say they both were equally big , both had big impact on pop culture ,they are on same boat
Hi Yes!
One Direction's albums sold on par with standard top sellers of their years. They haven't reach the impact of the likes Adele, Lady Gaga, Amy Winehouse, Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith etc. On their side, the BSB were the very top sellers of their era. Millennium outsold the contemporary albums by Dida, Aguilera, Eminem, Dixie Chicks, TLC, Red Hot Chili Peppers, N Sync or Creed by 10-15 million. That's where the difference between 1D and the BSB is, the first group was one of the top sellers, the second a blockbuster. 1D faced better the test of time (although it was still short) but at their respective peaks, BSB were one level higher.
As for tours, the inflation corrupts comparisons if you speak about grossed dollars. You should watch annual rankings and you will be surprised to see the BSB were second to Bruce Springsteen among top touring acts of 1999, so they definitely compete with 1D there!
Britney, Eminem, Santana, Celine Dion were as big as backstreet boys and 1 (beatles) and Supernatural sold far more than millenium. One direction did not have so many competitors of theirs same level or higher. And they sold 45 million equivalent albums since 2012. And I think that 45 million equivalente albums since 2012 is much more impressive than 94 million equivalents albums during the peak of albums sales.
Hi Duddy,
You are wrong there. Millennium outsold both Supernatural and One during their respective promotion campaigns, they catched it (and topped it for One) only thanks to catalog sales. In the same way, they outdid Britney and Eminem too, both topped them in the long run, but focusing on their first 5 years, none of them crack the BSB. Celine is the only one that was ahead, and the margin wasn't even that big while Adele to name only her outperformed massively 1D. So did the others I quoted like Ed Sheeran, Amy or Gaga.
I'm really the first one to give credit to 1D even in a perspective covering the last 50 years, but the BSB were bigger than them. You can argue about the market drop, but CSPC figures add downloads and streams to compensate, enough to make albums from Bruno Mars or so comparable with big 90s albums, still 1D are nowhere near BSB.
--I’m really the first one to give credit to 1D even in a perspective covering the last 50 years, but the BSB were bigger than them. You can argue about the market drop, but CSPC figures add downloads and streams to compensate, enough to make albums from Bruno Mars or so comparable with big 90s albums, still 1D are nowhere near BSB.---
Thank you very much for answering. It's very interesting what you said. So the industry has not had any crises? Dowlands and streams have made up the decline of albums sales? I find it hard to believe... Chrstina Aguilera and Lady Gaga have sold the same, but the sales of Lady Gaga, after of 2008, are not more impressive? I have lived the peak of the two and I think Gaga was bigger. I also lived the peaks of backstreet boys and One Direction and I think they were similar ... I'm not a fan of any, though.
Hi again Duddy!
Obviously, the market evolved, but not on those proportions. First, CSPC method make up for most of the drop. Second, even factoring in the market overall drop, they are still way too far. 1D had 5 albums, they sold less than 24 million units combined in pure album sales, 43 million CSPC. The first 3 and a half (as 2 came out as 1 in the US) BSB albums sold 68 million pure albums and 87 million CSPC. Twice as much as 1D with only two thirds of 1D's albums. Millennium alone sold the same in pure album format as the 5 1D albums combined. The market hasn't drop by 80%, especially not for a group with the demographics of 1D that benefit album sales towards downloads. To resume, the average of 1D / BSB first 3,5 albums were:
Pure album sales
1D - 4,8 million per album
BSB - 19,4 million per album
CSPC units
1D - 8,6 million per album
BSB - 24,9 million per album
This is including Black & Blue, flagged as a flop at the time. Without it, averages climb to 22,7 million and 29,6 million respectively.
If I get deeper into analysis, I would say that 1D was possibly bigger among 12-17 community, but the BSB had a wider appeal overall with older girls buying their records too. This is always why 1D managed to be more consistent over their 5 golden years, while BSB reached a higher peak. Millennium is one of the fastest selling albums of all-time, you will struggle to find an album that reached 20 million as fast as that one!
//Hi again Duddy!
Obviously, the market evolved, but not on those proportions. First, CSPC method make up for most of the drop. Second, even factoring in the market overall drop, they are still way too far. 1D had 5 albums, they sold less than 24 million units combined in pure album sales, 43 million CSPC. The first 3 and a half (as 2 came out as 1 in the US) BSB albums sold 68 million pure albums and 87 million CSPC. Twice as much as 1D with only two thirds of 1D’s albums. Millennium alone sold the same in pure album format as the 5 1D albums combined. The market hasn’t drop by 80%, especially not for a group with the demographics of 1D that benefit album sales towards downloads. To resume, the average of 1D / BSB first 3,5 albums were:
Pure album sales
1D – 4,8 million per album
BSB – 19,4 million per album
CSPC units
1D – 8,6 million per album
BSB – 24,9 million per album
This is including Black & Blue, flagged as a flop at the time. Without it, averages climb to 22,7 million and 29,6 million respectively.
If I get deeper into analysis, I would say that 1D was possibly bigger among 12-17 community, but the BSB had a wider appeal overall with older girls buying their records too. This is always why 1D managed to be more consistent over their 5 golden years, while BSB reached a higher peak. Millennium is one of the fastest selling albums of all-time, you will struggle to find an album that reached 20 million as fast as that one!//
I understand ... I know it's hard to know, but I wonder what sales you might have had the Backstreet Boys and Britney in the context of One Direction and Lady Gaga would have been. Would they have sold more albums in downloads than in pure albums? The first four BB and Britney albums sold 88 and 75 million respectively. Maybe BB would have sold 50 million albums and 200 million downloads and Britney Spears, 40 million albums and 200 million downloads. In your opinion, are these numbers possible? This topic is so interesting ... Thank you for your time.
They did not outsold Britney. They were trailing a few million copies. However their first four album (Including the BSB greatest hits which were their first release in the US) sold Britney's first few albums by almost 10 million. Which is very impressive. I wasn't surprised by Janet though. At best, she's a huge regional player and globally she never was really that big of deal.
Are you sure now?You counted BOMT again now.BOMT was so huge in Southeast Asia.
I don't think Britney Spears sold nearly 4 million pure albums less than Backstreet Boys.Britney has detailed sales for most countries because Sony published them but BB don't have.So it would be a little error.
if this is real, then I don't think BOMT only sold 130k copies in Taiwan because according to IFPI Taiwan their chart appearence' between BOMT and M's difference was not huge.I think the Sony 2011 figure for BS maybe did't use the 2008 crita for every country.Some country used but some countries weren't
It wouldnt. BSB has way bigger sales than Britney in Japan. They have comparable sales in South East Asia but considering BSB sold a lot more albums during the Boom album sales era. It is most probably they outsell Britney it that era too. And the way you speak as if Britney is so huge during her golden years in Asia, which is true. But seems like you are forgetting how massive BSB was in Asia back then. As big as Britney was, BSB has larger fan base. The biggest male singers in every era always have larger fan base than the biggest female singers anyway. So their results are hardly surprising.
That's it Michael!
There is no doubt that Britney was huge in Latin America and Asia in her early years, but the BSB were even bigger. They collapsed so fast afterwards that we tend to downgrade their sales but they did monstrous numbers back then!
Well SHJ, these cases are precisely the ones that we can't value with charts. Britney / BSB were outdoing remaining international artists by massive margins at the time, #1 or #3 may look like about the same, but the gap sales-wise could have been 10 or 20 to 1 in some weeks. There is really no doubt they used the 2008 criteria, there is too much data confirming it! Plus, it is also consistent with their global numbers provided. Really 130k in Taiwan is an utterly massive number, there is no "only" there!
Agree. Im willing even to bet, that had they not taken the 5-6 years break thet had. Their sales wouldnt have collapsed as big as they did when they made their comeback in 2006. By then, people already forgot who BSB was.
Their both biggest album sold about the same, at around 23.8 million. And Britney outsold BSB in CSPC by over 6 million.How do you dare to say BSB sold way more albums than Britney?Keep dreaming.
Hi SBSB!
Michael clearly refers to the golden years of both acts. BSB's albums from 1996 to 2001 shifted a combined 74,8 million pure album sales with 4 studio albums and compilations, Britney from 1999 to 2004 did 65,8 million with 4 studio albums and compilations. These are sales to date, considering Britney's albums sold more after their initial release, the gap during their hey-days is only bigger.
First of all I was talking about Asian sales. Not global sales. And btw MJD was absolutely right. Britney and BSB was basically at the same par. But obviously at their peak BSB was bigger. Over the course of the long run she has catch up and beat them obviously.
Hi SBSB!
Well, not that much. They've got 1999/2001 in common, so 2003/2004 really compares with BSB's 1996/1997 and these were similar markets. Sales went a bit down in some countries, but also up in others (in the UK for example they went up by over 20% from 197m to 239m between 1997 and 2004).
I would say the main difference between Britney's and BSB's golden eras is that the BSB were bigger where they were big, while Britney sold a little less in general but broke more markets.
BTW, do you know how many sales did 1xP equal to in Saudi Arabia?Spice is 2xP there by Nov. 1997
They were but that level was already a 'new' one, at some point in early 00s it changed from 50k to 40k! There are various references on Billboard of Gold/Platinum albums in Thailand for 25/50k shipped from the 90s.
There have never been an official award in Saudi Arabia, when it was created that was in 2008 and it encapsulated various gulf countries named GCC with 3k/6k levels. Thus it was up to labels to use whatever criteria they wanted on their in-house receipts!
