Think about "Tell Him". What do you do with the single sales and the streams? Don't you count it for Celine's and Barbra's total?

Let's say the single sold 1,5 million. You add 1,5 million to Celine Dion and 1,5 million to Barbra Streisand right? You don't count 0,75m for Celine and 0,75m for Barbra.

Over 100 million tracks of "My Heart Will Go On" were sold wordwide and you just ignore 30 million from the Titanic soundtracks.

Look at Celine's top 25 songs on itunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/celine-dion/id63729
You have The Prayer at #2 (track from the Andrea Bocelli album) and #6 (track from the single). You have "My Heart Will Go On" with 5 versions (Let's Talk About Love, My Love and 3 Titanic Soundtracks). You have "Because You Loved Me" at #6 (All The Way) and #9 (a compilation not from Celine).

I can buy and stream Tell Him from a Celine album or from a Barbra Streisand album.

If i want Celine's "God Bless America" i can buy the compilation or the digital single. If i buy the digital single you count it, if i buy the album you ignore it. What is the logic?

Hi Bjs,

Once again you are completely missing the credits concept. The logic is quite simple, Tell Him is a song by Barbra and Celine, so it's normal they both get its sales. Let's Talk About Love is NOT a Barbra album, so it's normal she gets 0 sale from it. When people went pick LTAL, they went to buy a Celine album, not a Barbra album. In the same way, God Bless America is a Celine song, so it's normal to assign her it's sales. A various artists compilation containing it is NOT a Celine album, so it's normal she gets 0 sale from it.

The point is not to multiply all sales of all records into all persons who ever participated into it (I see that you voluntarily left out the question about Rihanna), the point is to judge the popularity of an artist catalog and for that, we matter about how many records the catalog of the artist moved. MHWGO is part of Celine catalog, Titanic OST isn't.

MJD's reasoning makes sense.

as for the 100 million MHWGO tracks sold on multiple releases, it becomes unimaginable work and illogical to attribute the sales that did not come from her single or LTAL album. imagine doing that for every artist, it would take a few months to analyze each artist and see all the albums they are featured on lol.

Hello Pat200!

Here is the top 20 "French songs":
1 1995 Pour que tu m'aimes encore [D'Eux] - 5,900,000
2 1998 On ne change pas [S'Il Suffisait D'Aimer] - 2,300,000
3 1995 J'irai où tu iras [D'Eux] - 1,820,000
4 1998 S'il suffisait d'aimer [S'Il Suffisait D'Aimer] - 1,350,000
5 1995 Je sais pas [D'Eux] - 1,210,000
6 1991 Un garçon pas comme les autres (Ziggy) [Dion Chante Plamondon] - 850,000
7 1982 D'Amour Ou D'Amitié [Early Material Albums] - 680,000
7 1991 L'amour existe encore [Dion Chante Plamondon] - 680,000
9 1995 Destin [D'Eux] - 650,000
10 2003 Tout l'or des hommes [1 Fille & 4 Types] - 630,000
11 1987 Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi [Early Material Albums] - 560,000
12 1995 Les derniers seront les premiers [D'Eux] - 520,000
13 2016 Encore un soir [Encore Un Soir] - 500,000
14 2003 Et je t'aime encore [1 Fille & 4 Types] - 490,000
15 1995 Vole [D'Eux] - 480,000
16 2012 Parler à mon père [Sans Attendre] - 400,000
17 1995 Le ballet [D'Eux] - 390,000
18 1998 Dans un autre monde [S'Il Suffisait D'Aimer] - 380,000
19 1995 Regarde-moi [D'Eux] - 370,000
20 1981 Ce N'Était Qu'Un Rêve [Early Material Albums] - 360,000

And the top 100 overall:
1 1997 My Heart Will Go On [Let's Talk About Love] - 36,370,000
2 1996 Because You Loved Me [Falling Into You] - 16,180,000
3 1993 The Power of Love [The Colour Of My Love] - 13,010,000
4 1996 It's All Coming Back to Me Now [Falling Into You] - 12,210,000
5 1992 Beauty and the Beast [Celine Dion] - 6,700,000
6 1996 All by Myself [Falling Into You] - 6,530,000
7 1993 Think Twice [The Colour Of My Love] - 6,230,000
8 1995 Pour que tu m'aimes encore [D'Eux] - 5,900,000
9 2002 I'm Alive [A New Day Has Come] - 5,290,000
10 1998 The Prayer [These Are Special Times] - 3,390,000
11 2003 I Drove All Night [One Heart] - 3,370,000
12 1998 Happy Xmas (War Is Over) [These Are Special Times] - 3,320,000
13 2002 A New Day Has Come [A New Day Has Come] - 3,240,000
14 1997 Tell Him [Let's Talk About Love] - 3,180,000
15 1998 I'm Your Angel [These Are Special Times] - 3,060,000
16 1990 Where Does My Heart Beat Now [Unison] - 2,920,000
17 1997 Immortality [Let's Talk About Love] - 2,400,000
18 1998 On ne change pas [S'Il Suffisait D'Aimer] - 2,300,000
19 1999 That's The Way It Is [Orphan] - 2,160,000
20 1995 J'irai où tu iras [D'Eux] - 1,820,000
21 1996 Falling into You [Falling Into You] - 1,390,000
22 1998 S'il suffisait d'aimer [S'Il Suffisait D'Aimer] - 1,350,000
23 2007 Alone [Taking Chances] - 1,290,000
24 1995 Je sais pas [D'Eux] - 1,210,000
25 1992 If You Asked Me To [Celine Dion] - 1,100,000
26 1998 O Holy Night [These Are Special Times] - 1,040,000
27 1996 River Deep, Mountain High [Falling Into You] - 980,000
28 2007 Taking Chances [Taking Chances] - 950,000
29 1991 Un garçon pas comme les autres (Ziggy) [Dion Chante Plamondon] - 850,000
30 1992 Love Can Move Mountains [Celine Dion] - 720,000
31 1996 I Love You [Falling Into You] - 680,000
31 1982 D'Amour Ou D'Amitié [Early Material Albums] - 680,000
31 1991 L'amour existe encore [Dion Chante Plamondon] - 680,000
34 1995 Destin [D'Eux] - 650,000
35 1997 The Reason [Let's Talk About Love] - 640,000
36 2003 Tout l'or des hommes [1 Fille & 4 Types] - 630,000
37 1997 To Love You More [Let's Talk About Love] - 620,000
38 1996 Seduces Me [Falling Into You] - 560,000
38 1987 Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi [Early Material Albums] - 560,000
40 2003 One Heart [One Heart] - 550,000
41 1996 Call the Man [Falling Into You] - 530,000
42 2013 Loved Me Back to Life [Loved Me Back to Life] - 520,000
42 1995 Les derniers seront les premiers [D'Eux] - 520,000
44 1993 Only One Road [The Colour Of My Love] - 510,000
45 2007 My Love [Taking Chances] - 500,000
45 1996 If That's What It Takes [Falling Into You] - 500,000
45 2016 Encore un soir [Encore Un Soir] - 500,000
48 2003 Et je t'aime encore [1 Fille & 4 Types] - 490,000
49 2002 Have You Ever Been in Love [A New Day Has Come] - 480,000
49 1995 Vole [D'Eux] - 480,000
49 1993 When I Fall in Love [The Colour Of My Love] - 480,000
49 1998 Ave Maria [These Are Special Times] - 480,000
53 2002 I Surrender [A New Day Has Come] - 460,000
53 1997 When I Need You [Let's Talk About Love] - 460,000
55 1998 Christmas Eve [These Are Special Times] - 440,000
55 2000 Sous Le Vent [Orphan] - 440,000
57 1998 Feliz Navidad [These Are Special Times] - 420,000
58 2012 Parler à mon père [Sans Attendre] - 400,000
58 1998 Don't Save It All for Christmas Day [These Are Special Times] - 400,000
60 1995 Le ballet [D'Eux] - 390,000
61 1998 Dans un autre monde [S'Il Suffisait D'Aimer] - 380,000
61 2002 Goodbye's (The Saddest Word) [A New Day Has Come] - 380,000
63 2004 A Mother's Prayer [Miracle] - 370,000
63 1993 Misled [The Colour Of My Love] - 370,000
63 1995 Regarde-moi [D'Eux] - 370,000
66 1981 Ce N'Était Qu'Un Rêve [Early Material Albums] - 360,000
67 1991 Je danse dans ma tête [Dion Chante Plamondon] - 350,000
68 1995 Prière païenne [D'Eux] - 330,000
69 1996 Fly [Falling Into You] - 320,000
69 1991 Des mots qui sonnent [Dion Chante Plamondon] - 320,000
69 1995 J'attendais [D'Eux] - 320,000
72 1998 The Magic of Christmas Day (God Bless Us Everyone) [These Are Special Times] - 310,000
73 1997 Let's Talk About Love [Let's Talk About Love] - 290,000
74 2004 What a Wonderful World [Miracle] - 280,000
75 2013 Incredible [Loved Me Back to Life] - 260,000
75 1998 Je crois toi [S'Il Suffisait D'Aimer] - 260,000
75 1993 The Colour of My Love [The Colour Of My Love] - 260,000
75 1996 Dreamin' of You [Falling Into You] - 260,000
75 2004 If I Could [Miracle] - 260,000
80 1987 Incognito [Early Material Albums] - 250,000
80 1993 Love Doesn't Ask Why [The Colour Of My Love] - 250,000
80 2007 Eyes on Me [Taking Chances] - 250,000
80 1992 I Love You, Goodbye [Celine Dion] - 250,000
80 2003 Je lui dirai [1 Fille & 4 Types] - 250,000
80 1998 Brahms' Lullaby [These Are Special Times] - 250,000
80 1998 Another Year Has Gone By [These Are Special Times] - 250,000
87 2004 The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face [Orphan] - 240,000
87 1991 Le blues du businessman [Dion Chante Plamondon] - 240,000
87 1996 Make You Happy [Falling Into You] - 240,000
90 1996 I Don't Know [Falling Into You] - 230,000
90 1993 Just Walk Away [The Colour Of My Love] - 230,000
90 1997 Treat Her Like a Lady [Let's Talk About Love] - 230,000
90 1998 Adeste Fideles (O Come All Ye Faithful) [These Are Special Times] - 230,000
94 2004 Miracle [Miracle] - 220,000
94 1998 These Are the Special Times [These Are Special Times] - 220,000
94 1998 The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire) [These Are Special Times] - 220,000
97 1997 Us [Let's Talk About Love] - 210,000
97 1998 Terre [S'Il Suffisait D'Aimer] - 210,000
97 1997 Where Is The Love [Let's Talk About Love] - 210,000
100 2002 Nature Boy [A New Day Has Come] - 200,000
100 1998 Blue Christmas [These Are Special Times] - 200,000

wow! thx a lot Anthony!

Hi MJD,

1. Is Celine the best-selling artist in terms of total french album sales?

2. When are you going to update Celine's analysis, especially putting a page of her best-selling singles, update on her Encore Un Soir album and figures for "Recovering" and "HOw Does A Moment Last Forever? Cos I really feel that Celine has already outsold U2 (I hope I'm right) this time. 🙂

3. Is My Heart Will Go On the biggest song of all time?

4. Can you also make a chart analysis on the best-selling theme songs of all time? I'd like to see if Celine has more popular movie theme songs than any other artists.

Thanks in advance.

Hi RLAAMJR!

1) No, Johnny Hallyday sold way more albums than Celine did in French!
2) Celine is not among the very next updates, but all acts will be updated during the next months and it will always be done with the last version of the template!
3) No, Billie Jean is. My Heart Will Go On can claim to be the biggest "single era" ever since it moved more records than any other hit within' a few months, but to be "the biggest song of all time" you need to be a big hit upon release, sell tons of albums, but also remain a blockbuster over the years. MHWGO is still rather big, but Billie Jean is clearly well ahead.
4) On which format / methodology?

1. I see. Where does Celine rank than? Is she second to Johnny Hallyday?

2. I see. It's ok. I can wait. But can you at least just respond to me the number of records sold for the Encore Un Soir single? cos it's currently #45 2016 Encore un soir [Encore Un Soir] – 500,000 and I wanna know if it has moved up a lot. 🙂

3. How many records did "Billie Jean" sold then? Cos MHWGO sold more than 38 million records and is the reason why Celine Dion's Let's Talk About Love" album and Titanic Soundtrack album sold almost more than 30 million albums each. (Can you tell us your calculated album sales for the Titanic Soundtrack album?)

4. Just like how you get the numbers for biggest tracks for each artists, which you usually put on the second to the last page of each artist analysis.

Thank you for being awesome. 🙂

Hello MJD! Great article... I understand your arguments for excluding the Titanic soundtrack from her sales, although I'm not sure I necessarily agree since MHWGO is pretty much the exclusive reason it moved all those units. Historically, have there been any soundtracks with blockbuster sales that weren't driven by the hit single(s) they featured at the end of the day?

I'm not sure what the record for best-selling (entirely) instrumental soundtrack is, but I think it's true that its sales would pale in comparison to the biggest soundtracks which enjoyed the benefit of at least one hit song. Even for the biggest blockbusters in history like Gone With The Wind, The Godfather, Jaws, Star Wars, E.T., and Jurassic Park, if the soundtrack was entirely instrumental, sales did not explode.

If it's not the case that consumers were motivated to buy the soundtrack en masse because they loved James Horner's instrumental score so much (as was never the case for the soundtracks to those huge films with famous/iconic scores that are listed above), then it must have been almost entirely because of Celine's song.

I do understand your point about "double dipping" and why it may be unfair to give her credit for both her own personal studio album as well as the soundtrack when many people almost certainly bought both at one time or another. That being said, I'd be interested to see both your unadjusted and adjusted sales breakdown for the Titanic soundtrack if you might be so kind as to share this? 🙂

Hi RLAAMJR,

1) Most likely #3 as Michel Sardou sold more too.
2) As this figure depends on streams proportions it requires to be fully re-calculated. It may have gone down since additional songs climbed too since which means album sales are divided into more hits.
3) I won't commit on figures before studying the case of Michael Jackson. This being said, Billie Jean was part of records that cumulatively sold way more than 100 million.
4) It is explained at the start of that same page 😉

Hi Geoffrey,

As I shown in comments and the article itself, the Titanic instrumentals have more streams than Let's Talk About Love songs so they can't be overlooked. The soundtrack as a whole is highly popular, it isn't only one song.

There is tons of Soundtracks that sold millions of copies with old hits or with instrumentals. The most obvious examples of each category are Forrest Gump and Tubular Bells. During the 90s, various instrumental albums were selling massive amounts too as Kenny G records.

To be honest, I don't even think there is a debate, quite simply because the song is part of Let's Talk About Love album. If consumers loved the song, they had two choices - the album by Celine or the Soundtrack. They explicitly elected the Soundtrack instead of her, so assigning sales of that LP to her is functionally wrong.

I'll try to work on the Titanic Soundtrack soon, it must be past 30 million though.

Hi MJD,

1. Did you already make an article for the list (like top 100) best selling french singles of all time as well as best selling french albums of all time? I'm just excited to see a lot of Celine french albums and french singles in the list. 🙂

I have more requests.

1. Can you give us a list of the best selling artists in

a. pure album sales only
b. Physical singles only
c. Digital singles only
D. Both physical and digital singles

2. Best selling singles in
A. USA only
B UK only

3. most streamed albums in
A. Itunes
B. Spotify
C. Overall

4. An article if My Heart Will Go On was really a huge hit worldwide and what it has achieved that other songs were not able to achieve?

RLAAMJR, you ask for a lot! The guy does not work for you. LOL!!!

i know but I think MJD already has the information so it's just going to be easy for him to provide what I'm asking. 🙂