CSPC: Kelly Clarkson Popularity Analysis
It has now been 15 years since Kelly Clarkson dropped her debut album, Thankful. Of course, she came to fame through the much hyped TV show American Idol. The first winner of the series, the pop star did more than honor her initial record deal. How does she compete against major stars of this millennium though?
While selling well with a first single was a given, confirming that success throughout more than a decade was much harder. So was breaking over the global market. It’s clear that Breakaway did wonders. How much has it sold exactly? Also, how well have performed subsequent records like Stronger and Piece by Piece? Last but not least, where does her most recent effort Meaning of Life rank inside of her discography?
As usual, I’ll be using the Commensurate Sales to Popularity Concept in order to relevantly gauge her results. This concept will not only bring you sales information for all Clarkson‘s albums, physical and download singles, as well as audio and video streaming. In fact, it will also determine their true popularity. If you are not yet familiar with the CSPC method, the next page explains it with a short video. I fully recommend watching the video before getting into the sales figures. Of course, if you are a regular visitor feel free to skip the video and get into the figures.
One of the things that wasn’t discussed is that by the time this article was written, she was the only American Idol to cross 100 #1s worldwide. And even right now, she is STILL the only American Idol to do it. She is far and away the most successful person to come from AI or the shows that followed. Kelly is the back from which all of those artists stand on and that is not a small feat. I get that there is a lot of emphasis put on album sales, but I think there is a lot of additional… Read more »
You forgot the she is the most successful singer to come from an idol contest of all times.
You say she is unknown in relevant markets, but everyone knows who she is.
She is much more well known than Carrie Underwood who has sold nothing outside of North America.
I’m not even from the Western Hemisphere and I’ve known Kelly Clarkson since I was born
I’m not sure she took risks too soon. I mean, take a look at Pink when she released “Try This”. It was also a major drop in sales compared to “Missundaztood”. But when she released “I’m Not Dead” back in 2006, she was able to increase her sales by a great margin compared to “Try This”, and from then on she was able to stabilize her sales and even up her game with “Funhouse”. Of course there wasn’t a smash like her sophomore, but the market was already dropping in sales, so it was a general problem. Anyway, she kept… Read more »
Would you mind breaking down the WW sales of Stronger (WDKY) & Because of You further? Not that I’m complaining but your estimations are millions higher than mine!
Hi Temporal!
Please find below relevant markets for both songs. Most missing ones are calculated with formulas as per the market share / weight of ringtones on their year of exploitation.
Stronger:
4975 US DLs
650k SK DLs
500k UK DLs
450k US RTs
250k CA DLs
215k OZ DLs
150k JP DLs+RTs
100k GE DLs
45k FR DLs
Because of You
2900k SK DLs
2100k US DLs
550k US RTs
325k UK DLs
200k JP DLs+RTs
150k CA DLs
125k GE DLs
45k FR DLs
Thank you for this!!
Kelly is a legend!!
And I’m very surprised with South Korean numbers… do you have more details?
Hi Vitor!
A good share of her total comes from Because of You which stands at 2,9 million in SK. Mr. Know It All, What Doesn’t Kill You (Stronger) and I Forgive You all stand in the 650-800k range. Before Your Love is at 350k. Then, Catch My Breath, My Life Would Suck Without You, Breakaway, Since U Been Gone and Walk Away are all estimated within’ the 150-250k range.