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Appetict for destruction has higher numbers both in Canada and especially in the United States where it has well over 1,700,000 copies. The total copies of the two albums cannot be those if you add America + Europe + Australia + Asia.
The Greatest Hits counts relatively since it came out precisely because at that time catalog sales were down sharply, then it contains only 3 tracks, 5 covers and missing famous pieces like It's so easy or Nightrain. The Greatest Hits can often be used to rediscover a band and increase not to decrease sales.
You're average listener, consumer etc is more likely to go for an album that contains all of their hits. While It's So Easy and Nighttrain are certainly still popular tracks, they are not that famous. Most general listeners, who are not really fans, I'd imagine, would not know these two tracks and I'd also imagine, they would probably pick an album with the three Appetite blockbusters and other more famous tracks such as November Rain, You Could Be Mine, Patience, Knocking On Heavens Door etc, things they are more likely to have heard, know or like.
I agree though, I think it's a terrible Greatest Hits. Too many covers and too much from Appetite and G N' R Lies left off. It should have been a "Best Off" and included stuff like Used To Love Her, One In A Million, Mr Brownstone, Rocket Queen etc.
Maybe, but not necessarily, a greatest hits can also make an artist known and make the young man want to buy old albums, see the case of Queen, Rolling Stones or Led Zeppelin. There are also albums that sell well in the early years and then drop dramatically in the long run. In the 80s, the average listener (or the occasional listener) used virgin cassette tapes to get to know an artist, perhaps because he liked only 3 or 4 pieces.
With this theory Metallica with only one Greatest Hits would pass from 133 million albums sold to sell less than half 🙂
However, Appeticte for destruction between the USA and Canada has a total of 20,700,000 copies, the black album 18,950,000 copies, so I say that the total copies in the world between America + Europe + Asia + Oceania cannot be in favor of Metallica.
Greatest Hits etc do eat into studio album sales, it's a fact. Obviously some albums and artists, hold up better than others but even things like Pink Floyds Dark Side Of The Moon will have been affected by their compilation releases. If no compilation existed, a studio album would have to be bought, the fact they do, means a potential studio sale could be and probably is, in the case of most artists, replaced by a compilation sale.
The point you make about GH, being a conduit to an artists studio albums, is valid and will be true in some cases and not in others but that's secondary to the fact that, having a compilation album does ultimately stifle studio album sales.
I don't think Queen or The Stones are great examples, as I think most of their albums are not that listened to or appreciated as a whole. People absolutely love their hits but a lot of their albums have quite a few tracks that seem pretty neglected. As hugely popular as say, Another One Bites The Dust or Crazy Little Thing called Love are, they are not really making that many people go and check The Game out in full. Even more so with something like Paint It Black and Aftermath.
Yes, I was one of those teenagers in the 80's that used to tape my friends LPs and listen to them in my Walkman. I'd then try and pick up second hand LPs by acts I liked and wanted to delve much deeper into.
Yes, if you're theory was true but for the most part it isn't. If Metallica had a Greatest Hits out, sales of Metallica, Ride The Lightning, Kill Em All etc would have been lessened, not increased.
If a potential studio sale is almost always replaced by a compilation sale then the artists are fools. Reasoning on a commercial level it is more profitable to sell more studio albums (having no other purchase option) than a single compilation.
Metallica for the genre they make is not a single band regardless. I don't understand why Metallica is not a very successful band at the moment: thanks to the lack of compilation catalog sales of their first 5 albums continue to increase, their last tour has grossed an enormity, with your reasoning if in the middle of the years 90 had published only one "best of" their material, at this time the studio albums sold would be decidedly less and therefore less public would have appreciated them in their entirety.
Aerosmith with Big Ones or Red Hot Chili Peppers with the 2003 Greatest Hits are more famous having sold far fewer studio albums ????
What is the point for Bon Jovi to publish Cross Road two years after Keep the faith and one year before These days ? Hugely reduce the sum of sales of at least three albums ? Or maybe they had noticed how their successful 80's albums had sold very well in the short run but were fading in the long run.
Not really, look at the value Queens Greatest Hits, ABBAs Gold and Bob Marleys Legend have added to their respective careers. Even The Beatles, no slouches in the studio albums department, have a lot to thank 1 for.
It's not that straight forward. Sometimes the artist might have no say, as a Greatest Hits package might be part of a contract with their label. Some acts/genres quite clearly do not really shift studio albums beyond their initial release but a Greatest Hits can keep doing great business for them, because it conveniently compiles the tracks most people are likely to know.
I'm not saying Metallicas studio album sales would have been poor had they released a Best Of, just that they would clearly have been affected. I think as can be seen from streaming figures, they are one of a few acts, who have a number of studio albums, that remain hugely popular across all their tracks.
Being famous and being successful, are two separate things. U2, David Bowie. ABBA, Prince, Bob Marley, The Bee Gees and Whitney Houston are all more famous than the likes of Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin but...
So for you Aerosmith, Red Hot Chili Peppers or Bon Jovi are a genre that does not move sales of studio albums beyond their initial release, despite the aforementioned collections ? Or with their label they put us back in the medium / long term?
I have the impression that Metallica with a best of their first 5 albums would have been hugely penalized by the sales of the catalog in the studio (also because the first four albums more than 8/9 tracks do not have). The black album without Enter Sandman, The Unforgiven and Nothing else matters is enormously weakened, on ... And Justice for all they stand Blackened and One, the rest I don't think is so fundamental for the listener not fan, idem MOP con Battery, the homonymous track and Sanitarium, Ride the Lightning with FWTBT, Fade to black and Creeping death, Kill 'em all with Hit the light, The four horsemen and Seek&Destroy.
It seems to me that Legend has taken 84 million sales to Marley with your reasoning, an enormity... https://chartmasters.org/2018/04/extreme-cspc-introducing-the-asr-artist-success-rating/2/?fbclid=IwAR140FJ-DEiW7Nb2pOCLkO5339Qul8X_CqaIPhnC2cgh80cN5FRMZtQ9QSY
Madonna's The Immaculate Collection only 123k by 1992? Really? I'ts her best selling album in Brazil. I would think in too much more sales in the promotional period.
The youtube stats for November Rain are just insane. 2 billion views? There are popular acts now that would kill for those kind of views. I wonder how many of them will still be getting these kind of stats in 30 years? I have always been curious though on why November Rain does even better than Sweet Child O Mine on youtube. Sweet Child was much bigger in it's initial release and does much better than November Rain on Spotify.
I remember there being a bit of a furore about the track back in 91/92. I recall it being referred to as their Stairway to Heaven, due to it's length, epic nature and extended guitar solo. The video was quite talked about too, which I think they spent a preposterous amount on.
As to it's Youtube popularity, maybe the actual video has it's own popularity. While not exactly the same or on the same scale, I'd imagine a lot views for The Prodigys Smack My Bitch Up is to see the video, not so much to hear the song. Maybe NR also experiences this, only to a far greater extent.
That's true, it's still referred to in those terms to this day. But it's popularity endures (just like Stairway).
There's plenty of similar cases, Aerosmith's Crazy being their most viewed video while it's only their 5th most streamed song...etc., music videos aren't just about music.
