Hello, Greg. Going by your logic of comparing an album to "4" to know if it flopped:

-ANTi by Rihanna, the most successful female release of 2016, flopped, since it did 3M less than "4"
-Beyoncé's own albums released in 2013 and 2016, Sefl-Titled and Lemonade, flopped
-Bangerz by Miley Cyrus and Pure Heroin by Lorde flopped
-24k Magic by Bruno flopped

I hope you realize how absurd it is to claim "Circus" flopped because it did less CSPC than "4". Both albums ARE successful (4 was saved by its fantastic recurrent streams and sales), but what makes "Circus" the bigger success is that it was a 55% increase from Britney's previous album, while "4" is a 53% decrease. Context matters a lot.

thank you

Circus is ok. Not a flop or sucess. Just it did weaker than other releases of the same period. But for example did better than Rated R when Rihanna was on her peak.

CSPC
Prism - 10,571,000
Witness - 1,911,000
Decline: 82%

Artpop - 3,953,000
Joanne -2,253,000
Decline: 43%

Sales
Prism - 4,230,000
Witness - 600,000
Decline: 86%

Artpop - 2,110,000
Joanne -1,330,000
Decline: 47%

Do you really need more explanation as of why Witness is considered such a big flop for Katy?

MJD, calling people 'delusional' or that their opinions 'they pull out their ass' is childish and offensive as well. If you're going to moderate, do it with everybody, not having double standards ignoring offensive comments like this, or those clearly shady, just because they praise your work.

Circus wasn't a TF-sized smash but it's a certified success. From MJD himself:

"Putting this into her own perspective, this means out of 8 albums there is 2 huge smashes, 3 clear flops, 2 good+ successes (ITZ / Circus) and one good-ok success (Britney), which is definitely an “irregular” trajectory."

http://chartmasters.org/2017/06/cspc-britney-spears-popularity-analysis-new/

No worries Stephen, I for sure agree with that. I always let it go once to give the benefit of the doubt but keep in mind this kind of comments!

Circus's pure album sales and digital single sales alone put it at 2,750,000 in the US. Once you add streaming, it's over or at least really close to 3x Platinum.

OT: Wonderful job as usual! 😉

Huge jumps for some of Gaga's singles here, Bad Romance and Poker Face were absolute juggernauts.

What an absolutely amazing debut era. The numbers truly reflect the craze that surrounded her for those few years. My aunt is in her late 60s and would request "poker face" be played at family parties. And my mom loved it too. It reminds me of the early 2000s when my mom asked me to burn her workout cds with Britney's big hits on them. Certain songs like Poker Face/Bad Romance, and Britney's Baby One More Time and Oops were so big they ended up being loved by everyone, young and old. And that's how you get these huge 30M+ eras.

I personally haven't been interested in any of lady gaga's music since her debut era until her latest single "the cure". I'm wondering if she can stage a comeback era or if she will end up stuck around 2M CSPC for the rest of her releases. I'm thinking she can pull off a comeback.

Thanks for all the hard work and the explanations MJD, much appreciated.

How did you find pure sales worldwide? thanks

I didn't really have a favorite song from Lady Gaga until I get to dance to one of her songs in just dance.

And poof!

Applause is my favorite Lady Gaga song! 🙂

Hi Taylor!

I would love to help but the question is too vague! There is plenty of sources for all countries, if you have one more specific question I would love to help!

OMG, why Poker Face is at 20M?

Hi Jorge Suárez!

As previously explained, the track did well everything - in all countries and in all formats. With ringtones, it sold nearly 15 million units in the US, the UK, South Korea and Japan alone!