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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.
