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Didn't most of Madonna albums flop in the 90s? She just had one successful album with Ray of Light!
I don’t think an average of 10.3 million in the 90’s (without Ray of Light) is a flop 😗. Don’t confuse a flop with not being as ridiculously huge she was in the 80’s.
Digital sales are currently HUGE in China, but the songs and albums that sell well are overwhelmingly new local artists and the occasional K-pop superstar, with the only Western artist to reach 1 million download albums being Taylor Swift.
You need to consider these releases sell so well cause they're download exclusives there for a long time. They get close to 0 streams in China due to this. It's similar to what Adele and Taylor did in western markets a couple of years ago.
Can't say too much about MJ since we haven't updated his sales.
Digital single sales are definitely not as big as they used to be with the exception of China for a few acts that are capable of selling over 10m with a song. A big hit can still pull off 500k+ in the US or Japan though. Ringtones on the other hand are basicly dead everywhere except in a few developing markets like India, Indonesia and possibly Nigeria. Although sales there are very limited to local acts.
Elvis is referred to as The King, not Michael Jackson. Not that any of that "King", Queen" or "Princess" of pop shit matters a jot, just silly terminology, that means absolutely nothing!
His sales in Japan seem relatively weak for his overall Asai sales ..any reason?
It's not that they're weak there, he's among the very top international sellers in Japan. It's just that his sales in places like China, India, Taiwan and South Korea were utter massive and unmatched by any other western act at his time. You could argue he was the first western artist to ever break into the mainstream in some of these countries.
"Beat It" is the 2nd track from "Thriller" to pass 500M streams on Spotify!
It's the 6th pre-2000 album to achieve this. Here are the top 5 albums based on their 2nd biggest track, all 5 are Hard Rock albums btw.
Biggest 2nd track race:
1. Nirvana “Come As You Are” (“Nevermind” – 1991) – 617.2M
2. Metallica “Nothing Else Matters” (“Metallica” – 1991) – 595.2M
3. Guns ‘N Roses “Welcome to the Jungle” (“Appetite for Destruction” – 1987) – 578.6M
4. Bon Jovi “You Give Love A Bad Name” (“Slippery When Wet” – 1986) – 509.9M
5. AC/DC “You Shook Me All Night Long” (“Back in Black” – 1980) – 507.2M
(6. Michael Jackson “Beat It” (“Thriller” – 1982) – 500.6M)
"Thriller" does make the top 5 in the "Hat-trick" department though.
Biggest 3rd track race:
1. Guns ‘N Roses “Paradise City” (“Appetite for Destruction” – 1987) – 539.0M
2. Fleetwood Mac “The Chain” (“Rumours” – 1977) – 478.0M
3. Red Hot Chili Peppers “Scar Tissue” (“Californication” – 1999) – 382.3M
4. Dr. Dre “Forgot About Dre” (“2001” – 1999) – 379.4M
5. Michael Jackson “Thriller” (“Thriller” – 1982) – 374.9M
And based on the 4th biggest track "Thriller" RULES! So far the only album with four 200M+ tracks, although 3 other albums are closing in on that threshold.
Dr. Dre may seem to be next in line, but he has lost momentum. 8 months ago he was leading Pearl Jam by 7.8M (now just 0.6M) and AC/DC by a whooping 21.3M (now just 4.9M)!!!
"Bad" is just outside the top 5 btw.
Biggest 4th track race:
1. Michael Jackson “P.Y.T.” (“Thriller” – 1982) – 217.5M
2. Dr. Dre “What’s the Difference” (“2001” – 1999) – 196.0M
3. Pearl Jam “Jeremy” (“Ten” – 1992) – 195.4M
4. AC/DC “Hells Bells” (“Back in Black” – 1980) – 191.1M
5. Bob Marley “Waitin’ in Vain” (“Exodus” – 1977) – 172.7M
(6. Michael Jackson “Bad” (“Bad” – 1987) – 160.0M)
Speaking of "Bad". It's #3 in the race of 5 biggies! A race now led by "Rumours". In my last update 8 months ago Fleetwood Mac was trailing Dr. Dre. Seems the TikTok effect has gone beyond hit song "Dreams". Or maybe Dr. Dre is losing momentum here also.
I MUST BE MISSING A VERSION OF "2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted" though. Because I actually had that one at 108.7M the last time around..... (now it's behind "Only God Can Judge Me" at 114.3M)
Biggest 5th track race:
1. Fleetwood Mac “Never Going Back Again” (“Rumours” – 1977) – 128.9M
2. Dr. Dre “Xxplosive” (“2001” – 1999) – 126.2M
3. Michael Jackson “Dirty Diana” (“Bad” – 1987) – 118.9M
4. Michael Jackson “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin'” (“Thriller” – 1982) – 112.9M
5. 2Pac “2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted” (“All Eyez On Me” – 1996) – 107.8M - MISSING???
"Thriller" is also on top in the biggest 6 race, one of just two albums with SIX 100M+ songs, the other is Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon", an album not in the 4 lists above. That's probably because DSOTM is not an album full of hits, but rather a hit album.
Biggest 6th track race:
1. Michael Jackson “Human Nature” (“Thriller” – 1982) – 104.1M
2. Pink Floyd “Brain Damage” (“Dark Side of the Moon” – 1973) – 101.6M
3. Nirvana “Something in the Way” (“Nevermind” – 1991) – 93.5M
4. Michael Jackson “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You” (“Bad” – 1987) – 90.5M
5. 2Pac “How Do You Want It” (“All Eyez On Me” – 1996) – 89.7M
Lastly a follow up on my comments about Dr. Dre. Here are the biggest 5 tracks on "2001" and how they rank now and (8 months ago)
1 Still D.R.E. #29 (#28)
2 The Next Episode #8 (#5)
3 Forgot About Dre #4 (#3)
4 What's the Difference #2 (#2) - likely #4 before long!
5 Xxplosive #2 (#1)
Three years ago "Still D.R.E." was #17. "The Next Episode" was #1. "Forgot about Dre" was #2. So this 1999 album was streaming much better in the early ages of Spotify.
Maybe you're wondering why Queen are missing from these lists, after all they are arguably the true streaming masters among 20th century artists. But the reason is that their top SEVEN tracks on Spotify are from seven different albums! Amazing actually.
Their #8 track "We are the Champions" is the 2nd biggest track on "News of the World" with 480.7M, and rank #9 in the "Biggest 2nd track race".
And what about other 20th century artists with huge Spotify tracks, like Oasis, Mariah Carey, Journey, Toto, A-ha, the Eagles, Earth Wind & Fire and the Police? Well, while hardly one-hit-wonders, in this regard they are actually one-GiantOnSpotify-wonders.
(To be fair, Oasis "Don't Look Back in Anger" rank #11 with 414M in the "Biggest 2nd track race")
