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Because of the type of artist he was. He was different, went his own way. Yet he still found a way to be popular. A black artist, musician, producer, songwriter, composer etc. doing rock, pop.dance, rand b, jazz, blues... so many different hats. His genius was legend, but still being able to sell and be popular as well as being acclaimed is impressive. Especially back then, when you had to buy music.
Blake,
Sure those numbers are not MJ, Elvis, Madonna, Mariah, Celine, Whitney like number. But lets not act like having a 138 million CSPC results is a daily occurrence. His sales is impressive, no need to throw shades here. And I also agree with Stephon Jackson. I was expecting him to sell way less than that. I was really surprised that he would sell that far.
Im impressed. Prince was never as commercially-huge as his peers, especially those we began in the 80s alongside him. He managed to sell 180 million pure sales and accumulate 138 million CSPC is absolutely great
It's impressive considering his war with the internet and mainstream record labels. By the mid 90s Prince's mainstream appeal took a dive and it was mostly on his own initiative. When he wanted to release a mainstream record along with a big tour like Musicology, he could, he often didn't in the last 15+ years of his life and career.
Wow, his streaming numbers show that he is an artist who was once big but hasn't transitioned to the new age. The 280k in equivalent streams from Purple Rain isn't bad but the rest of his discography makes him look like a one-album wonder. Terrible numbers. His case kinda reminds me of Janet Jackson; both are terrible streamers.
Hi Kris!
Well, keep in mind that:
- his Warner albums were left out streaming platforms until 1 year ago
- his self published albums were left out streaming platforms until 6 weeks prior the article
Thus the raw numbers hardly reflect his streaming impact right now. Kiss for example is now over 100 million which through such a short time is pretty amazing. We may wait for a 3 years or so to see how high his hits get in comparison to the big ones of their era.
I didn't expect him to sell more than 100 pure album sales. That's impressive however I still think he is overrated.
There are MORE MALE ARTISTS who haven't been studied yet but who have sold better than Prince.
Just like there is many that sold less than him that were studied before him RLAAMJR 😉
Also I don't really see how we can say an artist who did everything by himself overrated. You can like his music or not, he is the most complete artist that has ever been.
He is overrated because a lot of people is saying he is a legend. I know we have different standards but using the word "legend" must be applicable at least worldwide. I mean in terms of album sales, he has it but did he really have a popular worldwide hit single? I believe "Purple Rain" is unheard in most places in Asia.
Also, do a lot of people around the world know him?
That's my opinion with Aretha Franklin too. People are telling she is the greatest female singer without any basis and that she is a legend which is questionable too since she was mostly heard in the USA only. And she's not even the most popular female music artist in the USA. nor the best-selling female artist in the USA.
So for me, the first requirement to be considered a "(music) legend" is being unquestionably known worldwide. Not just by name because it's easy for the US media to make a name of an american individual to be known worldwide. Not necessarily being popular on every country but at least, being able to make hit albumS or hit singleS on different parts of the world.
I want to stress my comment about Prince having an impressive pure album sales. Impressive in a sense that I did not expect him to reach the 100 million pure album sales figure. But comparing his figures (even his total EAS) to other music artists, especially his fellow solo male music artists, it's not really an impressive, and most especially not an extraordinary feat.
Billy Joel, Bob Dylan, Bob Marley, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel and Phil Collins have done better than him either in pure album sales or total eas. And prolly more male music artists to come.
If Prince could at least have been one of the top 3 top-selling music artists among solo males, then I could say consider him a legend. But he's not. He's currently ranked #10 among solo male music artists (based on total eas), but I'm sure there are maybe like two more (or more) male music artists who has done better than him which this site hasn't posted yet, so that will put him out of the top 10.
What is actually his extraordinary feat? Does he actually have one? His top-selling single isn't currently even in the top 50 top selling singles. His top-selling album is currently ranked 29 which is pretty far as well. His record in the us billboard isn't even impressive. So he really has no extraordinary feat.
Even him being able to sell more than 100 million pure album sales didn't make him place inside the top 20. Even his total eas just put him on #28 top-selling artists of all time (total eas)
Hi RLAAMJR!
I’m sorry but you are seriously embarrassing yourself. There is just so much nonsense on your message that I don’t know where to start if I want to address them, but honestly that would be a waste of time. All your messages implicitly say “anyone who hasn’t done as well as my Céline is a nobody”, these comments are childish and irrelevant. The “he isn’t even top-3 all-time!” is just pure madness. The funny part is that Celine wouldn’t be Top 3 either if she was among males, how convenient is it that she belongs to a lower selling group, isn’t it? Why don’t you argue that anyone that isn’t Top 10 all-time is a nobody, without these silly but so convenient gender-filters?
It's funny how you discredited basically a major artists but at the same time try so hard to convince all of us that Celine Dion is the best thing on earth. Stop, buddy... Just stop!!!
As already was said, Prince is a icon. He worked in a different way of the Pop icons and managed to sell a lot. He was a genius, a great performer, songwriter, producer, played several instruments and made albums by himself. And he influenced uncountable artists.
We could do the same that you always do and desvalue Celine Dion's career. Starting with the fact she NEVER write a single word in her discography and lipsynced about 70% of her career.... but we don't.
We know you can let your comments witouth so biased thoughs. XOXO
