I won’t lie, I won't tell you she'll return soon. With no album release in 14 years, a comeback for Shania Twain was more than rumoured this year with the Country legend tweeting pictures of recording sessions. However, it didn't happen. Nevertheless, that is no reason to ignore her past discography which features some true stand-out moments.

It all started rather late for the artist who managed to get her first album out at 28, the age Rihanna is today. This late start was also pretty slow as her eponymous debut was unnoticed by everyone. Everyone except Robert John "Mutt" Lange, the legendary producer of AC/DC, Def Leppard, Foreigner and Bryan Adams' biggest records. After hearing her, Lange decided to produce her upcoming albums - and also to marry her, something we can't really blame him for.

Combined, their talents stormed North America and then the world during the second half of the 90s. Among country stars, some have been able to sell a few records elsewhere like Garth Brooks in Ireland and the UK or Willie Nelson in Australasia. None of them got the strength of crossing over most of the world, none that is until Shania Twain.

Often when something unusual happens like such a crossover, the Media overreact and their coverage makes it look much bigger than it really was. What's the truth? Where has the singer been successful and just how successful has she been?

Original Albums Sales

Shania Twain (1993)

• America

  • US - 1,700,000
  • Canada - 325,000
  • Argentina - N/A
  • Brazil - N/A
  • Mexico - N/A

• Asia

  • Japan - N/A

• Oceania

  • Australia - N/A
  • New Zealand - N/A

• Europe - 190,000

  • UK - 90,000
  • France - N/A
  • Germany - N/A
  • Italy - N/A
  • Spain - N/A
  • Sweden - N/A
  • Netherland - N/A
  • Switzerland - N/A
  • Austria - N/A
  • Finland - N/A

• World - 2,300,000

The Woman in Me (1995)

• America

  • US - 12,600,000
  • Canada - 2,200,000
  • Argentina - N/A
  • Brazil - N/A
  • Mexico - N/A

• Asia

  • Japan - N/A

• Oceania

  • Australia - 225,000
  • New Zealand - N/A

• Europe - 860,000

  • UK - 425,000
  • France - N/A
  • Germany - N/A
  • Italy - N/A
  • Spain - N/A
  • Sweden - N/A
  • Netherland - N/A
  • Switzerland - N/A
  • Austria - N/A
  • Finland - N/A

• World - 16,000,000

Come On Over (1997)

• America

  • US - 20,400,000
  • Canada - 2,400,000
  • Argentina - 125,000
  • Brazil - 250,000
  • Mexico - 125,000

• Asia

  • Japan - 150,000

• Oceania

  • Australia - 1,200,000
  • New Zealand - 325,000

• Europe - 7,600,000

  • UK - 3,550,000
  • France - 775,000
  • Germany - 875,000
  • Italy - 125,000
  • Spain - 180,000
  • Sweden - 280,000
  • Netherland - 450,000
  • Switzerland - 190,000
  • Austria - 65,000
  • Finland - 39,000

• World - 33,500,000

Up! (2002)

• America

  • US - 6,100,000
  • Canada - 1,300,000
  • Argentina - N/A
  • Brazil - 100,000
  • Mexico - N/A

• Asia

  • Japan - 225,000

• Oceania

  • Australia - 200,000
  • New Zealand - 50,000

• Europe - 2,930,000

  • UK - 825,000
  • France - 365,000
  • Germany - 725,000
  • Italy - 25,000
  • Spain - 60,000
  • Sweden - 85,000
  • Netherland - 90,000
  • Switzerland - 150,000
  • Austria - 75,000
  • Finland - 10,000

• World - 11,400,000

Original Album Sales - Comments

Now that's a truly unusual trend. Starting so slow - even lower considering nearly all Shania Twain's sales came after the following albums - to climb so high so fast is no doubt impressive. Although a strong drop compared to its immediate predecessor, Up! has been a fairly solid seller too.

With a mere 4 albums, Shania Twain amassed 63,2 million studio album sales, a massive average of 15,8 million copies per album that climbs to 20,3 million when focusing on the last three. Up to a gigantic 33,5 million, Come On Over features among the very top selling albums of all-time.

If on absolute terms those figures are already utterly incredible, what's even more is the breakdown. While the crossover to countries like France, Germany or Mexico is undeniable, Come On Over sales in those territories are limited in comparison to its sales in English-speaking places. In fact, with 27,5 million copies sold in the US, the UK, Australia and Canada, the album is beaten by very, very few albums there. In the other side, its sales in Asia are quite small, even abysmal for such a worldwide juggernaut. Those sales, logically lower in various places, make the artist's cumulative sales within' so few years all the more impressive.

1993 Shania Twain - 2,300,000
1995 The Woman in Me - 16,000,000
1997 Come On Over - 33,500,000
2002 Up! - 11,400,000

Physical Singles Sales

If you get to be an NBA all-star, we will forget you used to be a very good football player at college. Outstanding sales of Shania Twain's album Come On Over overshadowed very much everything else that we missed how well her singles sold at the same time.

Not that far from 10 million physical units have been sold of singles issued from that album. Out of all the artist's albums studied so far, none registered more than 12 million sales of its related singles and this considers the biggest eras from the likes of the Rolling Stones, Madonna or ABBA. This highlights how much the Come On Over era was huge in that field too. Maybe even more impressive is the way distinct singles broke the main audience for her in different countries. In the US, You're Still The One sold a mind-blowing 2 million units. In the UK, the beast was That Don't Impress Me Much at 800,000 copies. In France, the main album traction was Man! I Feel Like A Woman with close to half a million sales.

As a reminder, the weighting is done with a 10 to 3 ratio between one album and one physical single.

Shania Twain (1993) - 30,000 equivalent albums

What Made You Say That - 50,000
Dance With the One That Brought You - 50,000

The Woman in Me (1995) - 390,000 equivalent albums

Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under? / Any Man of Mine - 600,000
The Woman in Me (Needs the Man in You) / I'm Outta Here! - 350,000
You Win My Love - 200,000
God Bless the Child - 150,000

Come On Over (1997) - 2,889,000 equivalent albums

Love Gets Me Every Time - 700,000
Don't Be Stupid (You Know I Love You) - 700,000
You're Still the One - 2,750,000
From This Moment On - 1,000,000
When - 100,000
That Don't Impress Me Much - 2,250,000
Man! I Feel Like a Woman! - 1,700,000
You've Got a Way - 250,000
Come On Over - 100,000
Rock This Country - 30,000
I'm Holdin' On to Love (To Save My Life) - 50,000

Up! (2002) - 540,000 equivalent albums

I'm Gonna Getcha Good! - 650,000
Up! - 100,000
Ka-Ching! - 500,000
Forever and for Always - 300,000
Thank You Baby! (For Makin' Someday Come So Soon) - 150,000
She's Not Just a Pretty Face - 50,000
When You Kiss Me - 50,000

Orphan Album - 90,000 equivalent albums

Party for Two - 200,000
Remaining Singles - 100,000

Digital Singles Sales

Shania Twain is most likely one of the most recent acts that sold more physical singles than downloads. At 10,7 million only, her digital appeal happens to be fairly weak. Up! was big just before the real explosion of downloads while Come On Over singles, while great sellers for such old songs, are nowhere near as strong as they had been at first. Pretty much everything outside that album performs very modestly.

As a reminder, the weighting is done with a 10 to 1,5 ratio between one album and one digital single.

Shania Twain (1993) - 15,000 equivalent albums

Remaining tracks - 100,000

The Woman in Me (1995) - 165,000 equivalent albums

Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under? - 200,000
Any Man of Mine - 500,000
The Woman in Me (Needs the Man in You) - 100,000
(If You're Not in It for Love) I'm Outta Here! - 100,000
No One Needs to Know - 100,000
Remaining tracks - 100,000

Come On Over (1997) - 900,000 equivalent albums

Love Gets Me Every Time - 100,000
Don't Be Stupid (You Know I Love You) - 200,000
You're Still the One - 1,300,000
From This Moment On - 600,000
Honey, I'm Home - 200,000
That Don't Impress Me Much - 1,300,000
Man! I Feel Like a Woman! - 1,800,000
You've Got a Way - 100,000
Come On Over - 100,000
Remaining tracks - 300,000

Up! (2002) - 360,000 equivalent albums

I'm Gonna Getcha Good! - 500,000
Up! - 400,000
Ka-Ching! - 200,000
Forever and for Always - 500,000
Remaining tracks - 800,000

Orphan Album - 165,000 equivalent albums

Party for Two - 400,000
Today Is Your Day - 200,000
White Christmas - 300,000
Remaining tracks - 200,000

Streaming Sales

The below table lists Spotify streaming of all songs from the five albums we are studying. The Comprehensive Streaming is reached by multiplying Spotify figures by 68/26. In fact, https://www.ifpi.org/downloads/GMR2016.pd f" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">as shown in the IFPI 2015 Report, there were 68 million paying subscribers to all streaming platforms by the end of 2015. While the exact count of Spotify paying subscribers by the end of 2015 is unknown, that figure reached 20 million in June 2015 and 30 million in March 2016, thus an estimated 26 million is used as of the end of 2015.

The equivalent album sales is the division of the comprehensive streaming figure by 1500 as is now the norm in the new industry model.

Streaming Part 1 - Up & Up

Let's be honest here, streaming figures of Shania Twain are atrocious. Many times, early albums get a second youth after an artist becomes well-known, it never happened for this album. In some way it really seems that the general public considers her career started with Robert John "Mutt" Lange only.

The Woman In Me results are already a whole lot better, some 10 times better actually. They are still pretty average, even quite low when we consider it is a 16-million selling record. Any Man Of Mine is the only track above 10 million while some album cuts struggle to reach even 200,000 plays. The 47,000 equivalent album sales this represents will add only a tiny fraction to its tally.

Results of Come On Over are similar on a higher scale. Of course, a catalog album having 3 songs over 30 million streams is big. It is just not that big all things considered. Indeed, at 255,000 equivalent album sales, the album is topped by the Rolling Stones album Aftermath, an LP which sold 8 times less than the Shania Twain album in twice as much time. So while Come On Over is definitely not forgotten, it isn't any longer the unreal sales beast it used to be.

Streaming Part 2 - Since Jagger & More

No song from Up! reaches even 10 million, confirming Shania Twain's very average results on streaming. All tracks are over 700,000 plays still so it isn't that bad either.

Among the Orphan Album tracks, there isn't much to highlight except the Michael Bublé collaboration song White Christmas which will become her biggest streaming track within' a few days.

Full Length related record sales

Shania Twain failed to issue a live album when she was at the top - an Unplugged album would have been poised to do wonders - but she still released a large selling compilation with her 2004 Greatest Hits set.

Compilations & Live Albums

How to understand this table? If you check for example the Greatest Hits compilation album line, those figures mean it sold 8,000,000 units worldwide.  The second statistics column means all versions of all songs included on this package add for 192 million streaming plays on Spotify as of December 4th 2016.

The second part on the right of the table shows how many streams are coming from each original album plus the share it represents on the overall package streams. Thus, streaming figures tell us Come On Over songs are responsible for 71% of the Greatest Hits tracklist attractiveness, which means it generated 5,666,000 of its 8,000,000 album sales and so on for the other records.

As shown by this example, Come On Over is expectedly the main driver of the Shania Twain compilation and live albums. The first three low selling albums shown on this table contain some pre-fame recordings from the artist which belong to no album and as such are attributed to the Orphan Album folder.

Music Videos

Here comes a bizarre situation of an artist who issued more music videos than compilations / live albums combined. All in all, Shania Twain got very good sales in this format. Some of those music videos are albums-themed, which explain why 100% of their sales are assigned to the same studio album. Remaining releases which feature songs from the entire artist discography, Come On Over easily dominates.

Shania Twain Career CSPC Results

So, after checking all figures, how many overall equivalent album sales has each Shania Twain album achieved? Well, at this point we don't need to add up all of the figures defined in this article!

[xyz-ips snippet="updatedCSPCalbums"]

At current pace Come On Over cracks the 45 million barrier. As impossible as this may seem, this isn't enough to make it the most successful Canadian album released in November 1997. In fact, the album falls 1 million short of the Celine Dion's blockbuster album Let's Talk About Love.

Still, it is very easily the biggest Country album of all-time and one of the biggest overall. With more than 31,8 million combined, The Woman In Me and Up! are both huge albums too.

In total, she sold 80,5 million album equivalent units through all formats. With a mere three years between her worldwide breakthrough and her retirement, this is a superb result. Considering her low streaming sales and the split with Robert John "Mutt" Lange, things aren't looking good for a possible return. However as Tony Tomjanovich once said, never underestimate the heart of a champion!

As usual, feel free to comment and / or ask a question!

Sources: IFPI, Spotify, Chartmasters.org.

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