CSPC: Johnny Hallyday Popularity Analysis

Original Album Sales – Comments

1960 Hello Johnny – 60,000
1961 Nous les gars, nous les filles – 190,000
1961 Salut Les Copains! – 180,000
1962 Madison Twist – 80,000
1962 Sings America’s Rockin’ Hits – 240,000
1963 Les bras en croix – 190,000
1963 D’où Viens-tu Johnny ? – 90,000
1964 Johnny, Reviens ! Les Rocks Les Plus Terribles – 220,000
1964 Les Guitares Jouent – 70,000
1964 Le pénitencier – 70,000
1965 Johnny Chante Hallyday – 320,000
1965 Hallelujah – 230,000
1966 La Génération Perdue – 330,000
1967 Johnny 67 – 250,000
1968 Jeune Homme – 270,000
1968 Rêve et Amour – 330,000
1969 Rivière… ouvre ton lit – 330,000
1970 Vie – 380,000
1971 Flagrant Délit – 380,000
1972 Country, Folk, Rock – 280,000
1973 Insolitudes – 370,000
1974 Je T’aime, Je T’aime, Je T’aime – 400,000
1974 Rock’N Slow – 440,000
1975 Rock A Memphis – 540,000
1975 La Terre Promise – 470,000
1976 Derrière L’Amour – 680,000
1976 Hamlet – 350,000
1977 C’est la vie – 610,000
1978 Solitudes À Deux – 640,000
1979 Hollywood – 420,000
1980 A Partir De Maintenant – 260,000
1981 En Pièces Détachées – 300,000
1981 Pas facile – 450,000
1982 Quelque Part Un Aigle… – 250,000
1982 La Peur – 600,000
1983 Entre Violence Et Violon – 430,000
1984 Nashville 84 – 420,000
1984 En V.O. – 100,000
1985 Rock N’ Roll Attitude – 1,450,000
1986 Gang – 1,460,000
1989 Cadillac – 850,000
1991 Ça Ne Change Pas Un Homme – 640,000
1994 Rough Town – 200,000
1995 Lorada – 800,000
1998 Ce Que Je Sais – 750,000
1999 Sang Pour Sang – 2,270,000
2002 A La Vie, A La Mort – 1,970,000
2005 Ma vérité – 980,000
2007 Le Cœur d’un Homme – 640,000
2008 Ca Ne Finira Jamais – 540,000
2011 Jamais Seul – 230,000
2012 L’Attente – 560,000
2014 Rester Vivant – 550,000
2015 De L’Amour – 430,000

Is it possible to sell 26,74 million units of studio albums including over 24 million in France? Well, the rational answer would be of course… no, it isn’t. Johnny did itthough. The irony is that he was never the biggest male album seller in the country. Jacques Brel and Georges Brassens were much bigger than him during the 60s. Maxime Le Forestier dominated the early 70s and then the rest of the decade was all about Michel Sardou. The 80s saw Renaud and Jean-Jacques Goldman come to the top. The latter continued to dominate the 90s along with Francis Cabrel, Florent Pagny and Patrick Bruel until 2002. Then came Calogero and Yannick Noah to crush the 00s, then Christophe Maé and more recently Stromae, Maitre Gims and Kendji Girac.

If we extend to a Top 5 top acts on a rolling 5-years span, he will always be there from 1960 to 2017. This kind of never-ending success story has never been seen in a major market. Johnny is the only such case. Another ironic factor is that his studio album sales are fairly limited because of terrific singles sales and compilations of 2-3-5-8-14 volumes that included most of their tracks, making them useless. Let’s see how much all these releases add for…