CSPC: Jackson 5 & The Jacksons Popularity Analysis

Physical Singles Sales – Part 1

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

Diana Ross Presents The Jackson 5 (1969) – 876,000 equivalent albums

I Want You Back – 2,920,000

ABC (1970) – 1,224,000 equivalent albums

The Love You Save – 1,840,000
ABC – 2,240,000

Third Album (1970) – 1,365,000 equivalent albums

I’ll Be There – 2,870,000
Mama’s Pearl – 1,670,000
Remaining Singles – 10,000

Jackson 5 Christmas Album (1970) – 108,000 equivalent albums

Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town – 360,000

Maybe Tomorrow (1971) – 714,000 equivalent albums

Never Can Say Goodbye – 1,560,000
Maybe Tomorrow – 820,000

In spite of selling mostly in the US in their early days, the Jackson 5 had no problem hitting 1 million sales per single. In fact, their first five hits combine for an outstanding 11,5 million units sold. From them, Mama’s Pearl was the worst performer and yet it still was a #2 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on Cashbox. Never Can Say Goodbye replicated exactly the same peaks and similar sales too.

This insane string of smashes couldn’t last forever. From their #1/2 standards, the group dropped one level to hit #20 with Maybe Tomorrow, which was still a solid seller in spite of dreadful airplay figures. The norm for teen acts is that after the hype slows down the act falls more and more until disappearing from the map. How have the Jackson 5 sustained their sales during the following years?