Interesting discussing MJD

But wouldn't Spears's first three albums each spending only one week at number one make the sales for those three albums more impressive than some might give them credit for?

My mistake MJD,

Her debut actually did have more weeks at number one than one week but her next two did not.

Hi Cbvnm!

Weeks at #1 depend too much on the competition. You must look at Top 3/5/10 weeks. BOMT managed 50 consecutive weeks inside the Top 10 (47 at #7 or better) in spite of a huge debut. Then Oops had 17 consecutive weeks Top 3 sticking long at #2 due to heavy Eminem / Nelly albums. Britney sold bucket loads within' 7 weeks due to the late release and Top 5 placing during the crucial Holiday season. It's not the same at all as, say, Femme Fatale which debuted at #1 thanks to low April competition and then dropped fast!

Wow. Britney's peak was monstrous. BOMT and OIDIA managed more weeks inside top 10 than the whole discography of Beyonce, for example, and at the most competitive era of all-time. And she was so young...

Are you goint to analyze Spice Girls soon? I wanna know if her peak was so succesful as the Backstreet Boys´s peak.

Thanks for that info MJD.

One would think that weeks inside the top 10 or top 3 are a more tangible testament of popularity than sales being large during a given period, unlike the poster you went back forth with suggested.

I may be mistaken but I don't think you've mentioned The Essential BSB (which charted in South Korea) and the collaboration album with the New Kids On The Block. The latter charted in Australia, the US, Canada and probably elsewhere too. It contains 5 BSB hits and 3 new songs recorded with TNKOTB. Only one song out of those last 3 is available on streaming platforms.
It didn't do much in the charts but it still counts ! 🙂

By the way, I think their carreer trajectory is very similar to that of TNKOTB who were hugely successful from 1986 to 1991, even though sales were weaker at that time.
It's funny how BSB never really made it in France.

I never knew they were THAT huge, 80 million albums is just incredible. They're outsold Janet and Britney. I never knew.

Hi MJD!

I was looking back at this analysis and I have thought up some questions regarding the Backstreet Boys' album sales, mainly concerning that in Europe.

Their distribution of sales in Europe was quite weird. They were absolutely massive in Spain and Germany, but were relatively weak in the UK, France and Netherlands. Could you explain this phenomenon? Was teen pop more successful in certain European countries than others? Britney Spears and the Spice Girls had a more linear album sales distribution across Europe though.

Another country where their sales confused me is Japan. Their first 2 albums sold modestly there, when they were experiencing their peak in several other markets. Then, suddenly with Millineum, they somehow achieved a huge 1,2m seller? What's more, they managed impressive sales in Japan even after their golden years (1997-2001). Could you please explain this? Also, are they the biggest selling western acts in Japan out of the teen pop acts that emerged during the same time period? Their studio albums combined have sold an impressive 4m albums, much more than Destiny's Child, Britney, Christina and The Spice Girls.

Finally, could you please provide the album sales breakdown for their The Hits album?

Please and Thank You!

Backstreet Boys was really2 huge in South East Asia. I can only speak from where I came from which is Malaysia. And here even the local artist would struggle to sell 25,000 (Platinum certification). For a foreign artist to have all 3 of their first albums selling above 100,000 copies and having 4 times platinum or more, is ridiculously huge. Their numbers in Philippines and Indonesia are really strong too, though not as impressive as Britney Spears. I also am pretty surprised that other than their album "Millennium", none of their albums was really that big in North East Asia. I always assumed they were the biggest thing ever growing up, because from where I came from, they were crazy big.

Young kids these days doesnt know how big Backstreet Boys were back then. Backstreet Boys was the biggest thing ever back then. Their first 3 studio albums alone sold more than 50 million copies worldwide(Backstreet Back and Backstreet Boys are literally the same album with different marketing name in different area). That is already something very extremely impressive. Their songs are much bigger than one direction anyway. Plus, selling more on tours is a good way to gauge somebody's popularity. You need to consider inflation, how much shows were they covering for every tours, etc. I remember Britney Spears in 2002 was probably the biggest superstar in the world but she made only 56 million total gross. That is because she only perform on 60+ shows only. So total tour gross, is not really a good method to gauge someone's popularity.

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
.
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.