Very good work Thomas keeping us updated with these truly interesting stats! Some real massive albums there!

Were ringtones included in the stats for MJ's digital single sales? They've made big adjustments to younger artists, and while MJ is obviously of a different generation, I thought he would still do well in the format as his music seems to bizarrely do fantastic in pretty much all formats! It may increase Billie Jean's immense total even further.

Hi RyanS!

Yes, they were included. New formulas could give him a boost but not as much as big hits from years 2007-2009.

Thanks for the reply. One last thing, I've seen from UKMIX posters that MJ is currently the biggest-selling solo artist in terms of albums in the UK, and based on their estimates is almost identical in sales to Queen (23.5M-24M range) and therefore only behind The Beatles overall (31.5M) in terms of pure albums range. Is this true?

Hi RyanS!

Most lists online about UK sales are inaccurate mostly because they act as if OCC figures are the bible while they are incomplete and inaccurate. All artists sold more than their suggested retail sales for several reasons, starting with Music Clubs.

The Beatles are over 33m with identified releases only, MJ is on 26,3m. This latter figure includes compilations credited to MJ and J5/Jacksons, but not releases of the J5/Jacksons only. Queen are at 26,7m.

Among the Top 4 male artists in the UK, 3 are missing: Elvis, Rod and Robbie. The last 2 sold close or over 20m. The former is at least as high as MJ, I would say most likely ahead. Madonna is at 23m.

That Bad sold over 15 million in Europe - Wow.

Hi MJD,
I was just wondering, isn't likely that Bad already crossed the 10 million threshold even before the adjustment was made to incorporate digital streams ? Most of the sources I've seen that puts its total at around 9,900,000+ date from 2013, and given that he would be less than 100,000 units away, isn't it possible he would have shifted enough physical units between that 5 year period ?

I had the same question with Dangerous, as I've seen other sources list its total sales at around or over 30 million, and wasn't sure if possibly they had more updated data, or had were incorporating worldwide data from countries which hadn't been included before.

Thank you !

Hi Jean!

All your answers (and more) are detailed on this article 😉

Thank you MJD !

I had read that article prior to commenting, so I think what I was trying to say is do you think its possible for BAD to sell enough physical unit in the near future to be certified for 10 million in pure sales even before taking into account EAS ? I just that the gap was so narrow that it was inevitable that he might be able to push enough albums to cover that >100,000 shortfall in time. I apologize for not articulating that clearly.

Also, I was wondering, if Dangerous does manage to reach 8 million domestically, would that make Michael Jackson the only artist (or solo artist ) to have 4 albums in a row sell 8 million in the United States ? Or at the current moment the is he the only artist to have 4 albums in a row to be certified for 7 million in pure sales / have 5 albums with a 7X Platinum certification ? I've yet to see any other artist equal these figures, and was curious as to whether he might have set a record in terms of the last two ?

Thanks, I find your commentary very insightful.

Hi Jean!

Undoubtedly, yes! The article detailed with MJ's US sales is 8 months old. By then, Bad was on 9,85m pure units sold. Since then, it already added 60,000 more units! As you can see, it should be over that 10m mark in 2 years at most.

As for consecutive albums, I can think of Led Zeppelin who sold 7m+ with each of their first 6 albums! One of them remains 6xP but it's only a matter of time before it gets updated. In the same way, although that's subject to some controversy, all Garth Brooks' first 7 albums are at least 7xP, 4 of which are past Diamond!

Gwen Stefani + No doubt would be interesting.
Tragic kingdom is one of the biggest era's you didn't include in your biggest CSPC of the 90s article so i'm interested to see its results.
Also on your old website Fan of music you said said L.A.M.B sold 7,500,000 pure in 2009.
I assume L.A.M.B would be over 10,000,000 CSPC and Tragic Kingdom 20,000,000?

How many albums has MJ sold in Latin America?How Dangerous sold 1.995 million units in Southeast Asia while sales in Thailand,Malaysia and Singapore combined only up to 870k?There are only two markets left in Southeast Asia.

Maybe I missed it, but why is "We are the World" counted in digital singles but not physical singles?

Hi Nathan!

It's a situation similar to some singles that are released as Orphan physically but then get downloads / streams as part of an album. We are the World was a charity single with plenty of artists, so it's normal that it isn't counted as part of Jackson's total. Then, his solo version enjoys large downloads / streams and has been hotter after his passing, so it got added since it is no more a charity thing but instead one more song from his catalog.

BC, any act with an RIAA diamond album (like Tragic Kingdom) is going to be interesting. I figure another 50 or so acts and chartmasters will have covered most of the US and UK superstars and monster albums.

The gap between releasing one album to another is just way too long. If he had shorten the gap and release an album every 2 years, instead of every 4-5 years. He would've probably outsold the beatles.