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I was trying to think of a similar band and the closest I could find is The Smiths/Morrissey, who haven't had much success in France, so maybe there's something about that jangly alt-rock stuff that French people don't care too much about.
TBH, I wasn't exactly sure what you were meaning, given that I wouldn't class a lot of the US artists you mention, as being much more successful in the UK. I'm not sure I would even say some of them were more successful in the UK, The Carpenters IMO were far bigger and more successful in the US, than the UK.
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They all had much more success in the UK than in the US, how could you possibly argue against that ?
The Smiths/Morrissey are not comparable to the R.E.M. in terms of success and sales, they are much lower.
Of course, my point was that, like R.E.M., they had much less success in France than in other countries.
Well, it's a bit arbitrary to say much more success, when MJ sold 26 million (4th artist ever) albums in the UK and 83 million (10th) in the US, and Madonna 23 (6th) vs. 73 (13th). How do you measure much more?
It's not a question of "more" or "much more", the whole point is that they had more success in the UK than in the US.
Now if you ask me, yes they all had much more success in the UK, but again it's not the point.
I don't actually know what your judgement is based on. The Carpenters singles performed far better in the US, their studio albums done similarly well in each country (better certs in US} and their comps done well in both, but better in UK.
They sold 12m albums in the UK and 35m in the US, according to MJD's last estimates. You don't think 12m in the UK is better than 35m in the US ?
Hi all!
I feel like all of you are right. It's true that overall artists like R.E.M., Michael Jackson and Madonna sold relatively better in the UK than in the US, all of them starting kind of bigger in the US, but holding better/longer in the UK to ultimately get more impressive figures, so Analord point is true.
Martin and Clockingbell are correct too as the top 5 posted feels very arbitrary. Analord, you can't rule out the Killers because "they sold only 8 million" (which is a tremendous figure for a group which started in 2004), when their UK sales are on par with their US sales, and then claim R.E.M. eligible for that list with UK sales 3 times lower than the US, and with 'only' 12 million UK sales, a weaker figure once we consider the discography size and the career duration. Or you use absolute figures, or relative ones, but you can't use both randomly depending on the artist.
The Killers are definitely part of every credible lists of "American artists bigger in the UK than in their homeland". And there are many more. Kings of Leon are similar to the Killers. The Scissor Sisters sold 2.7m+ and topped the annual charts in the UK with an album that failed the top 100 in the US. Or Anastacia, who sold about a million with each of her first 3 albums in the UK while selling next to nothing in the US. Tina Turner is similar to the others previously mentioned, off a bigger start in the US but quickly she got much stronger in the UK and it remained that way. Also Blondie. There are many really.
"Or you use absolute figures, or relative ones, but you can’t use both randomly depending on the artist."
What ? I'm only using absolute figures, again the most successful American artists who had more success in the UK than in the US :
1. MJ
2. Madonna
3. R.E.M.
4. Meat Loaf
5. Carpenters
Apparently, Martin is not sure that "even some of them are more successful in the UK", and you think he's "correct" ?
But it's not just about total sales. Elton John was more successful than Led Zeppelin in the 70s, in the US, more #1 albums, more weeks at #1, obviously more hit singles and he probably sold more.
I feel it's similar for the Carpenters, their chart positions for singles
(US: 3 #1s, 5 #2s, 11 Top 5s)
(UK: 0 #1s, 2 #2s, 2 Top 5s)
and studio albums
(US: 0 #1s, 3 #2s, 1 #4, 4 Top 5s)
(UK: 1 #1, 1 #2, 1 #3, 3 Top 5s)
would attest that they were more successful and popular at their height, in the US. I'd say they've proved to be more enduringly popular in the UK, certainly going by their post break up compilation sales.
Which song off Document appears on In Time 1988-2003? It appears to be The One I Love, but it's not on my copy.
