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Hello MJD ! Nice job on Elvis ! Can you tell us how many albums (all types) The Beatles and Elvis sold from their beginnings until 1980 to see how much they actually sold in the long run ? Can you make an estimation worldwide or at least in the US ?
Thanks !
Can you tell us how many albums (all types) The Beatles and Elvis sold from their beginnings until 1980 to see how much they actually sold during in the long run ? Can you make an estimation worldwide or at least in the US ?
Hi Max!
The Beatles sold 72-73m albums in the US up to 1980. It is harder to tell for Elvis, his albums up to 1980 included add for 105 million in the US with 10 million coming from Soundscan sales. We then need to remove sales from 1981 to 1990 and unscanned units since 1991 of pre-1980 albums. That puts him in the 80-85 million range up to 1980.
Totally agree, also need to consider the limited disposable income of folks in the 50's, and the affordability of buying records during that time
Listen, what elvis and bing done is rhe greatest in music history, listen there was no streams, downloads, what ever, to buy a record back in there day was hard, everybody didnt have a credit card, a cell phone, and ither things that kids and adults have today, man i live elvis music and if i gad the money and ways to buy records like today , it woyld be a lor easier, so what elvis and bing done is unbelievable back then!
The system has given a breakdown of popularity which includes videos. With that in mind, Michael was smart. Those videos have and will continue to be viewed even though he’s gone.
But if we’re talking about music only and excluding certain types of sales, Michael beats everyone in terms of studio album sales. A feat considering he released far less albums than either act. Elvis and the Beatles exceed him when you add in compilations.
The Beatles released 13 albums to Michael's 12 (though only 10 in his lifetime) so it's not that much of a difference.
Either way, it doesn't make sense to count compilation sales separately from studio albums, since the sales of their parent albums would have been higher if the compilations weren't released. The same applies to digital sales, streaming, or videos. The work of the artist(s) is being consumed regardless.
Hi Orange!
I suppose MusicFan has 6 albums in mind. Jackson's fans tend to be fans of 'his' albums, the ones he had an artistic input in, so starting with Off The Wall. Previous albums were from the same "person" but not really from the same "artist".
I fully agree though on your comment, we can't focus on studio album sales only. Especially with the Beatles (or Elvis for that matter) who released tons of major hits with songs that weren't on their studio albums so it's really unfair to simply ignore them!
MJD and Orange,
I actually agree with both of you. I don’t necessarily think studio and compilation albums need to be separated. Although it’s cool to see the numbers for studio albums. I would love to see a ranking for that just like singles and the other categories because I think it’s interesting just like all the other data. It’s already presented as part of CSPC, it’s just not in a list—at least not one that I saw. However, CSPC is a cool concept because you can compare across different eras and get an idea of an artist’s global reach/popularity—I understand how it works.
My response was for RLAAM Jr who stated that Elvis leads the pack if streaming and videos aren’t counted. My counterpoint is that you could make the same argument for compilations if the rationale is “X person is leader of you remove y from the equation.” I hope that makes sense.
And to the other point, I am an MJ fan, but I’m objective. I like reading about many of the artists, even though he’s my favorite. When discussing his studio albums, I’m aware of how many he has but was considering the 10 albums released when he was alive. His situation is unique though, because emphasis is always going to be on Off the Wall through Invincible since that’s his adult work and the biggest generator of his sales. If I read the report correctly, he loses less than 10 million in pure sales if you don’t count his childhood and posthumous projects. Basically, I was saying his albums were massive. No one can argue with that.
Hi MusicFan, I agree with you, we definitely should not exclude any format simply to elevate the profile of one artist or another. My comment was also directed at both RLAAMJR and you (but we can only reply directly to one comment at a time, haha.)
And you're undoubtedly right that Michael's 1979-2001 material was titanically huge which we see reflected in his ASR lead over the Beatles despite their 75 million lead in CSPC. Obviously many fans (including me!) see them as constituting his "true" discography as an artist as well. I just wanted to point out that his other albums do exist and sold relevant amounts, though I'd bet that his 6 adult albums alone constitute enough value for him to hold the highest ASR score.
Thanks for clarifying. I like this site because it’s data driven. So many conversations about an artist’s success or impact devolve into a battle about “favs” and musical preference. Of course there are social factors that affect sales: it’s inherently more difficult for black artists and other artists of color and women to reach the levels of success we’ve seen from white male musicians regardless of genre. And it can be difficult, not impossible, for R&B and Hip Hop artists to achieve crossover success. I think keeping that in mind is helpful for analysis, but shouldn’t be used as a way to discredit anyone’s accomplishments.
