CSPC: Billy Joel Popularity Analysis
Digital Singles Sales
Apart from looking at the old physical singles sales, in order to have a more complete perspective of what those songs’ appeal is, we also need to further inspect in his digital downloads sales, a format now in decline but which was significant from about 2006 to 2013 and is worth getting into.
This isn’t one of his biggest avenues. But he still sold around 21 million units worldwide.
As a reminder, the weighting is done with a 10 to 1 ratio between one album and one digital single.
Cold Spring Harbor (1972) – 60,000 equivalent albums
Total tracks – 400,000
Piano Man (1973) – 600,000 equivalent albums
Piano Man – 3,200,000
Remaining tracks – 800,000
Streetlife Serenade (1974) – 135,000 equivalent albums
Total tracks – 900,000
Turnstiles (1976) – 150,000 equivalent albums
Total tracks – 1,000,000
The Stranger (1977) – 675,000 equivalent albums
Total tracks – 4,500,000
52nd Street (1978) – 150,000 equivalent albums
Total tracks – 1,000,000
Glass Houses (1980) – 180,000 equivalent albums
Total tracks – 1,200,000
The Nylon Curtain (1982) – 75,000 equivalent albums
Total tracks – 500,000
An Innocent Man (1983) – 510,000 equivalent albums
Uptown Girl – 2,000,000
Remaining tracks – 1,400,000
The Bridge (1986) – 45,000 equivalent albums
Total tracks – 300,000
Storm Front (1989) – 360,000 equivalent albums
We Didn’t Start The Fire – 1,750,000
Remaining tracks – 650,000
River Of Dreams (1993) – 135,000 equivalent albums
Total tracks – 900,000
Orphan Album – 75,000 equivalent albums
Total tracks – 500,000