CSPC: Wham! & George Michael Popularity Analysis

Wham! and George Michael CSPC Results

So, after checking all the figures, how many overall equivalent album sales do all Wham! & George Michael albums achieve? Well, at this point we don’t need to combine all the figures found in this article.

In the following results table, all categories display figures in equivalent album sales. If different, pure sales are listed between parentheses.

artist_spotify_id	#	Cover	Album	Studio albums (EAS)	sales_update_date	Other LPs (EAS)	Physical singles (units sold)	Digital singles (units sold)	Streams	Streams increase	Total EAS	valid_as_of	streams_updated_value	album_id
19ra5tSw0tWufvUp8GotLo	1		Fantastic	3,750,000	06.05.17	415,000	818,000 (1,860,000)	63,000 (420,000)	184,000 (05/29/23)	Av.: 70 LD: 110	5,230,000	20,230,529	184,000	1,269
19ra5tSw0tWufvUp8GotLo	2		Make It Big	14,000,000	06.05.17	8,104,000	4,182,000 (13,890,000)	495,000 (3,300,000)	2,049,000 (05/29/23)	Av.: 800 LD: 1,200	28,830,000	20,230,529	2,049,000	1,270
19ra5tSw0tWufvUp8GotLo	3		Music from the Edge of Heaven	1,700,000	06.05.17	4,340,000	3,051,000 (9,880,000)	497,000 (3,310,000)	1,515,000 (05/29/23)	Av.: 600 LD: 160	11,103,000	20,230,529	1,515,000	1,271
19ra5tSw0tWufvUp8GotLo	4		Faith	18,850,000	06.05.17	4,578,000	2,733,000 (9,060,000)	465,000 (3,100,000)	883,000 (05/29/23)	Av.: 340 LD: 510	27,509,000	20,230,529	883,000	1,272
19ra5tSw0tWufvUp8GotLo	5		Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1	7,800,000	06.05.17	2,014,000	903,000 (2,830,000)	195,000 (1,300,000)	518,000 (05/29/23)	Av.: 210 LD: 230	11,430,000	20,230,529	518,000	1,273
19ra5tSw0tWufvUp8GotLo	6		Older	8,650,000	06.05.17	1,440,000	1,167,000 (3,840,000)	188,000 (1,250,000)	310,000 (05/29/23)	Av.: 110 LD: 130	11,755,000	20,230,529	310,000	1,274
19ra5tSw0tWufvUp8GotLo	7		Songs from the Last Century	2,750,000	06.05.17	152,000	0 (0)	23,000 (150,000)	87,000 (05/29/23)	Av.: 30 LD: 40	3,049,000	20,230,529	87,000	1,275
19ra5tSw0tWufvUp8GotLo	8		Patience	2,700,000	06.05.17	147,000	187,000 (230,000)	38,000 (250,000)	119,000 (05/29/23)	Av.: 40 LD: 50	3,190,000	20,230,529	119,000	1,276
19ra5tSw0tWufvUp8GotLo	9		Orphan	0	06.05.17	4,960,000	2,221,000 (5,220,000)	218,000 (1,450,000)	122,000 (05/06/17)	N/A	7,520,000	20,230,529	122,000	1,669

As a reminder:

• Studio Album: sales of the original album
• Other Releases: sales of compilations generated thanks to the album
• Physical Singles: sales of physical singles from the album (ratio 3/10)
• Download Singles: sales of digital singles from the album (ratio 1,5/10)
• Streaming: equivalent album sales of all the album tracks (ratio 1/1500 for Audio stream and 1/6750 for Video stream)

See where the artist ranks among remaining singers

Never mentioned anywhere among top sellers or the most successful albums, the terribly underrated Make It Big concludes on a gigantic 27 million equivalent album sales overall. An incredible all around performer, it generated solid numbers from every avenue.

Faith is a very close second at 26,8 million. That result makes George Michael the 9th artist only with multiple albums over 25 million out of the 50 studied so far, joining Madonna, the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Celine Dion, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Backstreet Boys and Eminem.

He is not only about two albums though as he recorded five consecutive albums close or over 10 million.

Cumulatively, Wham! and George Michael sold 104,7 million equivalent albums. This may not sound like too much for such a legendary singer but one needs to consider his catalog features only 124 songs, while someone like Beyoncé already has 162 tracks without counting songs from Destiny’s Child. Speaking of them, you may wonder why I mentioned their numbers individually – solo and group – while I put the combined number for Wham! and George Michael. The fact is that there is really no such thing as “Wham! sales” as even their albums include various George Michael solo songs, among which some of their biggest hits like Careless Whisper and A Different Corner.

The following page lists his most successful songs . Do not forget to check our amazing cross-artists lists posted inside the CSPC: Data Collector which includes the full listing of all CSPC results compiled so far to better gauge his position in the history of the music industry.

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

Sources: IFPI, Spotify, Chartmasters.org.