CSPC: Madonna Popularity Analysis

Original Album Sales – Comments

1983 Madonna – 9,625,000
1984 Like A Virgin – 21,250,000
1986 True Blue – 22,550,000
1987 Who’s That Girl – 5,400,000
1989 Like A Prayer – 14,275,000
1990 I’m Breathless – 6,700,000
1992 Erotica – 6,825,000
1994 Bedtime Stories – 7,500,000
1996 Evita – 6,525,000
1998 Ray Of Light – 16,000,000
2000 Music – 10,700,000
2003 American Life – 3,375,000
2005 Confessions On  A Dance Floor – 9,325,000
2008 Hard Candy – 3,650,000
2012 MDNA – 1,850,000
2015 Rebel Heart – 900,000

A gran total of 16 albums including three soundtracks, adding for nearly 146,45 million units sold. Ignoring the last couple of albums, the most impressive fact on those figures is the consistency Madonna managed over the curse of 14 albums / 25 years, securing an average of more than 10 million sales per album in spite of the very best seller being at 22 million, barely twice the average. No other diva has such a low top seller / average seller ratio, proving the ability of the American superstar to remain relevant.

While this career total of 146,45 million is already enormous, it is only a part of the overall picture, especially with Madonna. In fact, she has been a huge physical singles seller, a huge music videos seller and a huge compilations seller as well. Her not-so-good streaming results still add additional earnings and sales to the artist, just like the few live albums that came out during the last ten years.