Prince albums and songs sales
Doves cried on April 21, 2016 when Prince, one of the biggest icons of the 80s, passed away. A unique artist in many aspects, the star went through multiple ups and downs during his 38-years long career. Are his sales as flashy as his songs and concerts were? Exactly 40 years ago, his debut single Soft and Wet entered Billboard charts. Let’s use this opportunity to answer the question.
Writing, composing and playing nearly in full his first album For You at less than 20, Prince was immediately regarded as a music genius. The success came a year later though, thanks to his early hit I Wanna Be Your Lover, his first US Gold record. The profile of the singer increased in 1983 when the album 1999 along with the song Little Red Corvette became smash discs, quickly followed by the title track and Delirious. A year later, the release of Purple Rain raised him to superstardom in the US while opening the global market.
The story isn’t as well known after that step. He got additional hits like Kiss, Batdance and Cream, but at the same time sales of his post-Purple Rain records are often summarized as disappointing. Where is the truth then?
As usual, I’ll be using the Commensurate Sales to Popularity Concept in order to relevantly gauge his results. This concept will not only bring you sales information for all Prince‘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.
The Commensurate Sales to Popularity Concept (CSPC)
There are two ways to understand this revolutionary concept. In the first place, there is this Scribe video posted below. If you are unaware of the CSPC method, you will get the full idea within just a pair of minutes.
If you are a mathematical person, and want to know the full method as well as formulas, you can read the full introduction article.
Now let’s get into the artist’s sales figures in detail in order to apply this concept and define the act’s true popularity!
Prince’s original albums sales
For You (1978)
- America
- US – 625,000
- Canada – 25,000
- Argentina – N/A
- Brazil – N/A
- Mexico – N/A
- Asia – 60,000
- Japan – 50,000
- Oceania
- Australia – 15,000
- New Zealand – 5,000
- Europe – 210,000
- UK – 40,000
- France – 45,000
- Germany – 50,000
- Italy – 5,000
- Spain – 5,000
- Sweden – N/A
- Netherlands – 7,500
- Switzerland – 5,000
- Austria – 5,000
- Finland – N/A
- World – 950,000
Prince (1979)
- America
- US – 1,475,000
- Canada – 50,000
- Argentina – N/A
- Brazil – N/A
- Mexico – N/A
- Asia – 60,000
- Japan – 50,000
- Oceania
- Australia – 20,000
- New Zealand – 7,500
- Europe – 450,000
- UK – 100,000
- France – 77,500
- Germany – 125,000
- Italy – 7,500
- Spain – 7,500
- Sweden – N/A
- Netherlands – 15,000
- Switzerland – 10,000
- Austria – 10,000
- Finland – N/A
- World – 2,080,000
Dirty Mind (1980)
- America
- US – 1,050,000
- Canada – 40,000
- Argentina – N/A
- Brazil – N/A
- Mexico – N/A
- Asia – 50,000
- Japan – 40,000
- Oceania
- Australia – 20,000
- New Zealand – 7,500
- Europe – 360,000
- UK – 60,000
- France – 72,500
- Germany – 100,000
- Italy – 10,000
- Spain – 7,500
- Sweden – N/A
- Netherlands – 10,000
- Switzerland – 10,000
- Austria – 10,000
- Finland – N/A
- World – 1,540,000
Controversy (1981)
- America
- US – 1,675,000
- Canada – 50,000
- Argentina – N/A
- Brazil – N/A
- Mexico – N/A
- Asia – 90,000
- Japan – 75,000
- Oceania
- Australia – 30,000
- New Zealand – 10,000
- Europe – 450,000
- UK – 100,000
- France – 72,500
- Germany – 125,000
- Italy – 10,000
- Spain – 7,500
- Sweden – N/A
- Netherlands – 15,000
- Switzerland – 10,000
- Austria – 10,000
- Finland – N/A
- World – 2,320,000
1999 (1982)
- America
- US – 5,525,000
- Canada – 200,000
- Argentina – N/A
- Brazil – N/A
- Mexico – N/A
- Asia – 210,000
- Japan – 180,000
- Oceania
- Australia – 70,000
- New Zealand – 25,000
- Europe – 910,000
- UK – 330,000
- France – 125,000
- Germany – 180,000
- Italy – 15,000
- Spain – 10,000
- Sweden – N/A
- Netherlands – 45,000
- Switzerland – 20,000
- Austria – 15,000
- Finland – N/A
- World – 7,010,000
Purple Rain (1984)
- America
- US – 16,600,000
- Canada – 1,075,000
- Argentina – N/A
- Brazil – N/A
- Mexico – N/A
- Asia – 730,000
- Japan – 625,000
- Oceania
- Australia – 300,000
- New Zealand – 85,000
- Europe – 3,940,000
- UK – 1,160,000
- France – 505,000
- Germany – 770,000
- Italy – 170,000
- Spain – 100,000
- Sweden – 120,000
- Netherlands – 240,000
- Switzerland – 90,000
- Austria – 60,000
- Finland – N/A
- World – 23,030,000
Around the World in A Day (1985)
- America
- US – 3,450,000
- Canada – 100,000
- Argentina – N/A
- Brazil – N/A
- Mexico – N/A
- Asia – 285,000
- Japan – 240,000
- Oceania
- Australia – 70,000
- New Zealand – 20,000
- Europe – 1,020,000
- UK – 230,000
- France – 115,000
- Germany – 240,000
- Italy – 35,000
- Spain – 35,000
- Sweden – 55,000
- Netherlands – 60,000
- Switzerland – 25,000
- Austria – 15,000
- Finland – N/A
- World – 5,000,000
Parade (1986)
- America
- US – 2,400,000
- Canada – 120,000
- Argentina – N/A
- Brazil – N/A
- Mexico – N/A
- Asia – 200,000
- Japan – 160,000
- Oceania
- Australia – 55,000
- New Zealand – 15,000
- Europe – 1,690,000
- UK – 415,000
- France – 350,000
- Germany – 290,000
- Italy – 50,000
- Spain – 25,000
- Sweden – 45,000
- Netherlands – 125,000
- Switzerland – 40,000
- Austria – 30,000
- Finland – N/A
- World – 4,560,000
Sign ‘O’ The Times (1987)
- America
- US – 2,550,000
- Canada – 100,000
- Argentina – N/A
- Brazil – N/A
- Mexico – N/A
- Asia – 225,000
- Japan – 175,000
- Oceania
- Australia – 70,000
- New Zealand – 30,000
- Europe – 2,180,000
- UK – 540,000
- France – 330,000
- Germany – 315,000
- Italy – 140,000
- Spain – 45,000
- Sweden – 60,000
- Netherlands – 190,000
- Switzerland – 70,000
- Austria – 70,000
- Finland – N/A
- World – 5,250,000
Lovesexy (1988)
- America
- US – 1,050,000
- Canada – 110,000
- Argentina – N/A
- Brazil – N/A
- Mexico – N/A
- Asia – 120,000
- Japan – 80,000
- Oceania
- Australia – 55,000
- New Zealand – 25,000
- Europe – 1,980,000
- UK – 460,000
- France – 235,000
- Germany – 340,000
- Italy – 145,000
- Spain – 140,000
- Sweden – 65,000
- Netherlands – 120,000
- Switzerland – 40,000
- Austria – 50,000
- Finland – N/A
- World – 3,390,000
Batman (1989)
- America
- US – 3,225,000
- Canada – 250,000
- Argentina – N/A
- Brazil – N/A
- Mexico – N/A
- Asia – 410,000
- Japan – 300,000
- Oceania
- Australia – 75,000
- New Zealand – 20,000
- Europe – 2,520,000
- UK – 505,000
- France – 575,000
- Germany – 400,000
- Italy – 125,000
- Spain – 210,000
- Sweden – 40,000
- Netherlands – 70,000
- Switzerland – 50,000
- Austria – 45,000
- Finland – N/A
- World – 6,680,000
Graffiti Bridge (1990)
- America
- US – 1,275,000
- Canada – 100,000
- Argentina – N/A
- Brazil – N/A
- Mexico – N/A
- Asia – 180,000
- Japan – 130,000
- Oceania
- Australia – 40,000
- New Zealand – 10,000
- Europe – 880,000
- UK – 195,000
- France – 115,000
- Germany – 180,000
- Italy – 40,000
- Spain – 80,000
- Sweden – 15,000
- Netherlands – 45,000
- Switzerland – 25,000
- Austria – 15,000
- Finland – N/A
- World – 2,550,000
Diamonds And Pearls (1991)
- America
- US – 2,950,000
- Canada – 200,000
- Argentina – N/A
- Brazil – N/A
- Mexico – N/A
- Asia – 275,000
- Japan – 175,000
- Oceania
- Australia – 295,000
- New Zealand – 30,000
- Europe – 3,200,000
- UK – 925,000
- France – 570,000
- Germany – 520,000
- Italy – 85,000
- Spain – 190,000
- Sweden – 60,000
- Netherlands – 130,000
- Switzerland – 70,000
- Austria – 70,000
- Finland – N/A
- World – 7,100,000
Love Symbol Album (1992)
- America
- US – 1,300,000
- Canada – 80,000
- Argentina – N/A
- Brazil – N/A
- Mexico – N/A
- Asia – 185,000
- Japan – 130,000
- Oceania
- Australia – 105,000
- New Zealand – 10,000
- Europe – 1,260,000
- UK – 330,000
- France – 200,000
- Germany – 210,000
- Italy – 60,000
- Spain – 90,000
- Sweden – 20,000
- Netherlands – 50,000
- Switzerland – 30,000
- Austria – 35,000
- Finland – N/A
- World – 3,020,000
Come (1994)
- America
- US – 375,000
- Canada – 50,000
- Argentina – N/A
- Brazil – N/A
- Mexico – N/A
- Asia – 175,000
- Japan – 120,000
- Oceania
- Australia – 25,000
- New Zealand – 2,500
- Europe – 630,000
- UK – 110,000
- France – 125,000
- Germany – 110,000
- Italy – 45,000
- Spain – 50,000
- Sweden – 10,000
- Netherlands – 25,000
- Switzerland – 15,000
- Austria – 12,500
- Finland – 2,500
- World – 1,270,000
The Gold Experience (1995)
- America
- US – 550,000
- Canada – 50,000
- Argentina – N/A
- Brazil – N/A
- Mexico – N/A
- Asia – 115,000
- Japan – 80,000
- Oceania
- Australia – 25,000
- New Zealand – 1,500
- Europe – 370,000
- UK – 100,000
- France – 15,000
- Germany – 80,000
- Italy – 30,000
- Spain – 25,000
- Sweden – 7,500
- Netherlands – 20,000
- Switzerland – 15,000
- Austria – 7,500
- Finland – 3,000
- World – 1,130,000
Chaos & Disorder (1996)
- America
- US – 150,000
- Canada – N/A
- Argentina – N/A
- Brazil – N/A
- Mexico – N/A
- Asia – 80,000
- Japan – 60,000
- Oceania
- Australia – 5,000
- New Zealand – N/A
- Europe – 190,000
- UK – 40,000
- France – 20,000
- Germany – 40,000
- Italy – N/A
- Spain – N/A
- Sweden – 2,500
- Netherlands – 15,000
- Switzerland – 7,500
- Austria – 7,500
- Finland – 2,500
- World – 450,000
Emancipation (1996)
- America
- US – 700,000
- Canada – 50,000
- Argentina – N/A
- Brazil – N/A
- Mexico – N/A
- Asia – 190,000
- Japan – 135,000
- Oceania
- Australia – 30,000
- New Zealand – 2,000
- Europe – 430,000
- UK – 110,000
- France – 50,000
- Germany – 85,000
- Italy – 35,000
- Spain – 7,500
- Sweden – 2,500
- Netherlands – 30,000
- Switzerland – 20,000
- Austria – 10,000
- Finland – N/A
- World – 1,420,000
New Power Soul (1998)
- America
- US – 225,000
- Canada – 15,000
- Argentina – N/A
- Brazil – N/A
- Mexico – N/A
- Asia – 15,000
- Japan – 10,000
- Oceania
- Australia – 5,000
- New Zealand – 500
- Europe – 130,000
- UK – 25,000
- France – 20,000
- Germany – 30,000
- Italy – N/A
- Spain – N/A
- Sweden – 2,000
- Netherlands – 10,000
- Switzerland – 5,000
- Austria – 4,000
- Finland – 500
- World – 400,000
The Vault: Old Friends 4 Sale (1999)
- America
- US – 130,000
- Canada – 10,000
- Argentina – N/A
- Brazil – N/A
- Mexico – N/A
- Asia – 35,000
- Japan – 25,000
- Oceania
- Australia – 2,500
- New Zealand – N/A
- Europe – 120,000
- UK – 10,000
- France – 25,000
- Germany – 30,000
- Italy – N/A
- Spain – N/A
- Sweden – 1,000
- Netherlands – 12,500
- Switzerland – 5,000
- Austria – 3,000
- Finland – N/A
- World – 300,000
Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic (1999)
- America
- US -540,000
- Canada – 80,00
- Argentina – N/A
- Brazil – N/A
- Mexico – N/A
- Asia – 60,000
- Japan – 45,000
- Oceania
- Australia – 5,000
- New Zealand – 500
- Europe – 130,000
- UK – 10,000
- France – 25,000
- Germany – 25,000
- Italy – N/A
- Spain – N/A
- Sweden – 2,000
- Netherlands – 15,000
- Switzerland – 10,000
- Austria – 3,000
- Finland – 500
- World – 820,000
The Rainbow Children (2001)
- America
- US – 175,000
- Canada – 10,000
- Argentina – N/A
- Brazil – N/A
- Mexico – N/A
- Asia – 70,000
- Japan – 55,000
- Oceania
- Australia – 2,500
- New Zealand – N/A
- Europe – 60,000
- UK – 5,000
- France – 25,000
- Germany – 10,000
- Italy – N/A
- Spain – N/A
- Sweden – N/A
- Netherlands – N/A
- Switzerland – 3,000
- Austria – N/A
- Finland – N/A
- World – 320,000
Musicology (2004)
- America
- US – 2,075,000
- Canada – 80,000
- Argentina – N/A
- Brazil – 10,000
- Mexico – 5,000
- Asia – 95,000
- Japan – 75,000
- Oceania
- Australia – 20,000
- New Zealand – 2,500
- Europe – 520,000
- UK – 110,000
- France – 80,000
- Germany – 90,000
- Italy – 30,000
- Spain – 7,500
- Sweden – 12,500
- Netherlands – 60,000
- Switzerland – 20,000
- Austria – 10,000
- Finland – 3,000
- World – 2,830,000
3121 (2006)
- America
- US – 560,000
- Canada – 60,000
- Argentina – N/A
- Brazil – 10,000
- Mexico – N/A
- Asia – 70,000
- Japan – 55,000
- Oceania
- Australia – 15,000
- New Zealand – 1,500
- Europe – 340,000
- UK – 85,000
- France – 40,000
- Germany – 65,000
- Italy – 25,000
- Spain – 5,000
- Sweden – 5,000
- Netherlands – 30,000
- Switzerland – 15,000
- Austria – 5,000
- Finland – 2,500
- World – 1,080,000
Planet Earth (2007)
- America
- US – 275,000
- Canada – N/A
- Argentina – N/A
- Brazil – N/A
- Mexico – N/A
- Asia – 55,000
- Japan – 45,000
- Oceania
- Australia – 5,000
- New Zealand – 500
- Europe – 160,000
- UK – 3,000
- France – 20,000
- Germany – 45,000
- Italy – 7,500
- Spain – 5,000
- Sweden – 2,000
- Netherlands – 20,000
- Switzerland – 15,000
- Austria – 5,000
- Finland – 500
- World – 520,000
LotusFlow3r (2009)
- America
- US – 600,000
- Canada – N/A
- Argentina – N/A
- Brazil – N/A
- Mexico – N/A
- Asia – 20,000
- Japan – 15,000
- Oceania
- Australia – N/A
- New Zealand – N/A
- Europe – 60,000
- UK – 3,000
- France – 30,000
- Germany – N/A
- Italy – 5,000
- Spain – N/A
- Sweden – N/A
- Netherlands – 5,000
- Switzerland – N/A
- Austria – N/A
- Finland – N/A
- World – 700,000
Plectrumelectrum (2014)
- America
- US – 95,000
- Canada – 5,000
- Argentina – N/A
- Brazil – N/A
- Mexico – N/A
- Asia – 25,000
- Japan – 20,000
- Oceania
- Australia – 3,000
- New Zealand – 300
- Europe – 60,000
- UK – 20,000
- France – 7,500
- Germany – 12,500
- Italy – 2,000
- Spain – 1,000
- Sweden – 500
- Netherlands – 4,000
- Switzerland – 2,000
- Austria – 2,000
- Finland – N/A
- World – 190,000
Art Official Age (2014)
- America
- US – 190,000
- Canada – 10,000
- Argentina – N/A
- Brazil – N/A
- Mexico – N/A
- Asia – 35,000
- Japan – 30,000
- Oceania
- Australia – 5,000
- New Zealand – 500
- Europe – 110,000
- UK – 32,500
- France – 17,500
- Germany – 22,500
- Italy – 5,000
- Spain – 1,500
- Sweden – 1,000
- Netherlands – 6,000
- Switzerland – 3,000
- Austria – 3,000
- Finland – 300
- World – 350,000
Hit n Run Phase One (2015)
- America
- US – 90,000
- Canada – 5,000
- Argentina – N/A
- Brazil – N/A
- Mexico – N/A
- Asia – 17,500
- Japan – 15,000
- Oceania
- Australia – 5,000
- New Zealand – 500
- Europe – 60,000
- UK – 17,500
- France – 12,500
- Germany – 10,000
- Italy – 2,500
- Spain – 500
- Sweden – 500
- Netherlands – 4,000
- Switzerland – 2,000
- Austria – 1,000
- Finland – N/A
- World – 180,000
Hit n Run Phase Two (2015)
- America
- US – 75,000
- Canada – 5,000
- Argentina – N/A
- Brazil – N/A
- Mexico – N/A
- Asia – 17,500
- Japan – 15,000
- Oceania
- Australia – 2,500
- New Zealand – 300
- Europe – 50,000
- UK – 12,500
- France – 7,500
- Germany – 7,500
- Italy – 2,500
- Spain – 500
- Sweden – 500
- Netherlands – 3,000
- Switzerland – 2,000
- Austria – 1,000
- Finland – N/A
- World – 150,000
Original Album Sales – Comments
Prince‘s improbable trajectory results into atypical results. His last pair of HITnRUN albums were struggling to hit 100,000 sales before his death, a chaotic number for an artist that tops 23 million units moved with his classic Purple Rain.
That 1984 blockbuster’s sales make everything else look weak. But in all fairness, every album from 1999 to Love Symbol Album, his last before his conflict with Warner Music, has shifted very solid numbers.
From that point, the icon remained prolific but without the support of a label and without even the right to use his name his sales collapsed. Most records got special releases from concert ticket bundles to units paired with newspapers going through albums issued only on his website. You may notice many more albums are missing, they are precisely the ones that weren’t issued on traditional outlets. Giving their special nature, they have been added to the orphan section rather than listed here.
In spite of all limitations, these albums add for a sizable 86,7 million units.
1978 For You – 950,000
1979 Prince – 2,080,000
1980 Dirty Mind – 1,540,000
1981 Controversy – 2,320,000
1982 1999 – 7,010,000
1984 Purple Rain – 23,030,000
1985 Around the World in A Day – 5,000,000
1986 Parade – 4,560,000
1987 Sign ‘O’ The Times – 5,250,000
1988 Lovesexy – 3,390,000
1989 Batman – 6,680,000
1990 Graffiti Bridge – 2,550,000
1991 Diamonds And Pearls – 7,100,000
1992 Love Symbol Album – 3,020,000
1994 Come – 1,270,000
1995 The Gold Experience – 1,130,000
1996 Chaos & Disorder – 450,000
1996 Emancipation – 1,420,000
1998 New Power Soul – 400,000
1999 The Vault: Old Friends 4 Sale – 300,000
1999 Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic – 820,000
2001 The Rainbow Children – 320,000
2004 Musicology – 2,830,000
2006 3121 – 1,080,000
2007 Planet Earth – 520,000
2009 LotusFlow3r – 700,000
2014 Plectrumelectrum – 190,000
2014 Art Official Age – 350,000
2015 Hit n Run Phase One – 180,000
2015 Hit n Run Phase Two – 150,000
Prince’s physical singles sales
As a reminder, the weighting is done with a 10 to 3 ratio between one album and one physical single.
1978-84
Although an album like Controversy sold well upon release, I Wanna Be Your Lover was the only true hit that came out from Prince‘s first 4 LPs. This million seller found company during the 1999 era. The title track as well as Little Red Corvette have been strong US hits. Abroad results were still modest with no Top 20 hits in most other markets, including in the UK.
The era Purple Rain brought Top 10 hits from everywhere. Both When Doves Cry and Purple Rain were huge #1 smashes stateside and performed well too in the UK, Germany, Australia, France, among others. These singles plus Let’s Go Crazy shifted over 9 million units combined. The era total of 10,64 million physical singles puts it among the very top albums ever in this format. Only 15 albums among all studied artists so far performed better in a ranking led by Grease‘s singles which sold 24,4 million units combined.
For You (1978) – 72,000 equivalent albums
Soft and Wet – 210,000
Just as Long as We’re Together – 30,000
Prince (1979) – 438,000 equivalent albums
I Wanna Be Your Lover – 1,310,000
Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad? – 90,000
Sexy Dancer – 20,000
Still Waiting – 40,000
Dirty Mind (1980) – 66,000 equivalent albums
Dirty Mind – 60,000
Do It All Night – 10,000
Uptown – 150,000
Controversy (1981) – 180,000 equivalent albums
Controversy – 420,000
Sexuality – 20,000
Do Me, Baby – 30,000
Let’s Work – 130,000
1999 (1982) – 1,317,000 equivalent albums
1999 – 1,640,000
1999 / Little Red Corvette – 710,000
Little Red Corvette – 990,000
Delirious – 780,000
Let’s Pretend We’re Married – 270,000
Purple Rain (1984) – 3,189,000 equivalent albums
Let’s Go Crazy – 2,520,000
Take Me with U – 370,000
When Doves Cry – 3,520,000
I Would Die 4 U – 1,080,000
Purple Rain – 2,970,000
Purple Medley – 180,000
1985-90
If no era equaled the magnitude of Purple Rain‘s success, the remaining 80s records all got at least one hit. Raspberry Beret sold well over a million while Kiss was truly huge at 2,5 million in spite of a fast decreasing market – globally nearly 20% drop from 1984 to 1986.
The era Sign ‘o’ the Times had as many as 3 US Top 10 hits. Its singles add for 4 million singles, the evidence of an artist that was still very successful even if he wasn’t dominant anymore. Albums Lovesexy and Batman each got one sizable hit too, Alphabet St. and Batdance, respectively.
Even Graffiti Bridge, largely seen as a flop album, still produced Thieves in the Temple, a Top 10 hit in most markets. It failed to sell a million mainly because of the lower market that had now dropped 35% since 1984.
Around the World in A Day (1985) – 717,000 equivalent albums
Paisley Park – 130,000
Raspberry Beret – 1,400,000
America – 230,000
Pop Life – 630,000
Parade (1986) – 1,068,000 equivalent albums
Girls & Boys – 280,000
Mountains – 530,000
Kiss – 2,500,000
Anotherloverholenyohead – 250,000
Sign ‘O’ The Times (1987) – 1,206,000 equivalent albums
Sign ‘o’ the Times – 1,330,000
U Got the Look – 1,490,000
If I Was Your Girlfriend – 330,000
I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man – 730,000
Hot Thing – 140,000
Lovesexy (1988) – 552,000 equivalent albums
Alphabet St. – 1,130,000
Glam Slam – 320,000
I Wish U Heaven – 390,000
Batman (1989) – 939,000 equivalent albums
The Future – 50,000
The Arms of Orion – 250,000
Partyman – 590,000
Scandalous – 180,00
Batdance – 2,060,000
Graffiti Bridge (1990) – 300,000 equivalent albums
New Power Generation – 260,000
Thieves in the Temple – 740,000
1991-96
The album Diamonds and Pearls confirmed Prince‘s skills as a hit maker. The title track, Gett Off and Cream all sold over a million. The latter remains the last US #1 of the artist. Singles from Love Symbol Album was performed well although they weren’t as strong.
In 1994, The Most Beautiful Girl in the World completely shadowed the era Come. A #1 UK hit that peaked at 3 in the US during a 10-weeks stay inside the Top 10, the sold came close to 2 million sales before being added to The Gold Experience latter on.
After selling over 40 million physical singles, most of which in a dozen of years only, the clash with Warner ended the career of Prince on that segment. Himself hardly interested by this format and not supported anymore by FM stations, subsequent releases sold irrelevant amounts.
Diamonds And Pearls (1991) – 1,191,000 equivalent albums
Thunder – 20,000
Diamonds and Pearls – 1,280,000
Cream – 1,110,000
Gett Off – 1,140,000
Money Don’t Matter 2 Night – 240,000
Insatiable – 180,000
Love Symbol Album (1992) – 516,000 equivalent albums
My Name Is Prince – 480,000
Sexy MF – 440,000
The Morning Papers – 80,000
Damn U – 90,000
7 – 630,000
Come (1994) – 93,000 equivalent albums
Space – 50,000
Letitgo – 260,000
The Gold Experience (1995) – 723,000 equivalent albums
The Most Beautiful Girl in the World – 1,850,000
I Hate U – 340,000
Gold – 220,000
Chaos & Disorder (1996) – 6,000 equivalent albums
Dinner with Delores – 20,000
Emancipation (1996) – 57,000 equivalent albums
Betcha by Golly Wow! – 130,000
The Holy River – 60,000
1998-2006
The end of Prince as a singles seller is fairly obvious with this list of songs. After scoring 19 Top 10 hits during his stay at Warner, none of these singles reached the Top 50 of the Hot 100.
New Power Soul (1998) – 0 equivalent albums
No single released
The Vault: Old Friends 4 Sale (1999) – 0 equivalent albums
No single released
Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic (1999) – 45,000 equivalent albums
The Greatest Romance Ever Sold – 150,000
The Rainbow Children (2001) – 0 equivalent albums
No single released.
Musicology (2004) – 12,000 equivalent albums
Musicology – 30,000
Cinnamon Girl – 10,000
3121 (2006) – 42,000 equivalent albums
Te Amo Corazón – 50,000
Black Sweat – 80,000
Fury – 10,000
2007 onwards and orphan songs
Logically, recent albums got no physical single issued. In the meantime, Prince issued a few more songs here and there although none of these orphan songs belong to his popular hits.
Planet Earth (2007) – 3,000 equivalent albums
Guitar – 10,000
LotusFlow3r (2009) – 0 equivalent albums
No single released.
Plectrumelectrum (2014) – 0 equivalent albums
No single released.
Art Official Age (2014) – ,000 equivalent albums
No single released.
Hit n Run Phase One (2015) – ,000 equivalent albums
No single released.
Hit n Run Phase Two (2015) – ,000 equivalent albums
No single released.
Orphan – 141,000 equivalent albums
Peach – 160,000
Pink Cashmere – 180,000
Gotta Stop (Messin’ About) – 10,000
Days of Wild – 10,000
Supercute – 10,000
U Make My Sun Shine – 40,000
S.S.T. – 40,000
The Good Life – 10,000
Remaining singles – 10,000
Prince’s digital singles sales
As a reminder, the weighting is done with a 10 to 1,5 ratio between one album and one digital single.
1978-84
Patterns of physical singles are similar for digital singles for these early eras except for Delirious which isn’t as popular nowadays as it once was. A second difference is that some album cuts gained in reputation. That’s especially true for Purple Rain songs which all sold relevant amounts, topped by the cult song Darling Nikki. The title track stands on an impressive 3,4 million digital copies while When Doves Cry is a close runner up.
Impressively, Purple Rain is only the 4th album we met that tops 10 million sales on both physical singles and digital singles. The others are Whitney Houston‘s Bodyguard and Michael Jackson‘s Thriller and Bad, which shows how elitist this club is.
For You (1978) – 21,000 equivalent albums
Soft and Wet – 100,000
Remaining tracks – 40,000
Prince (1979) – 154,000 equivalent albums
I Wanna Be Your Lover – 870,000
Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad? – 40,000
I Feel for You – 60,000
Remaining tracks – 55,000
Dirty Mind (1980) – 44,000 equivalent albums
Dirty Mind – 60,000
When You Were Mine – 110,000
Head – 70,000
Remaining tracks – 55,000
Controversy (1981) – 96,000 equivalent albums
Controversy – 290,000
Do Me, Baby – 300,000
Remaining tracks – 50,000
1999 (1982) – 612,000 equivalent albums
1999 – 1,760,000
Little Red Corvette – 1,720,000
Delirious – 270,000
D.M.S.R. – 100,000
International Lover – 100,000
Remaining tracks – 130,000
Purple Rain (1984) – 1,577,000 equivalent albums
Let’s Go Crazy – 1,630,000
Take Me with U – 300,000
The Beautiful Ones – 380,000
Computer Blue – 80,000
Darling Nikki – 630,000
When Doves Cry – 2,730,000
I Would Die 4 U – 1,010,000
Baby I’m a Star – 360,000
Purple Rain – 3,390,000
1985-90
At close to 1,5 million and 2,5 million, respectively, Raspberry Beret and Kiss sold as much through downloads and ringtones than on physical formats. Sign ‘O’ the Times lacks a true big hit but the critical acclaim of the album is visible through downloads of many of its album cuts.
While back in the day Prince was still getting hits comfortably in late 80s, his 1988-1990 isn’t that much successful right now. Alphabet St. is the only song from the 3 eras of that period that reaches even 200,000 units.
Around the World in A Day (1985) – 288,000 equivalent albums
Paisley Park – 60,000
Raspberry Beret – 1,490,000
Pop Life – 300,000
Remaining tracks – 70,000
Parade (1986) – 421,000 equivalent albums
Girls & Boys – 90,000
Kiss – 2,480,000
Sometimes It Snows In April – 150,000
Remaining tracks – 85,000
Sign ‘O’ The Times (1987) – 357,000 equivalent albums
Sign ‘o’ the Times – 360,000
U Got the Look – 650,000
If I Was Your Girlfriend – 260,000
I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man – 150,000
Housequake – 70,000
Starfish and Coffee – 80,000
Adore – 530,000
Remaining tracks – 280,000
Lovesexy (1988) – 38,000 equivalent albums
Alphabet St. – 210,000
Remaining tracks – 40,000
Batman (1989) – 57,000 equivalent albums
Partyman – 90,000
Scandalous – 120,000
Batdance – 140,000
Remaining tracks – 30,000
Graffiti Bridge (1990) – 27,000 equivalent albums
Thieves in the Temple – 120,000
Remaining tracks – 60,000
1991-96
Multiple singles from Diamonds and Pearls got decent downloads although they aren’t as strong as during their initial release. Later singles struggled much more, with post-Warner eras facing a lot of availability limitations.
Diamonds And Pearls (1991) – 282,000 equivalent albums
Diamonds and Pearls – 620,000
Cream – 600,000
Gett Off – 450,000
Insatiable – 140,000
Remaining tracks – 70,000
Love Symbol Album (1992) – 102,000 equivalent albums
My Name Is Prince – 50,000
Sexy MF – 200,000
7 – 370,000
Remaining tracks – 60,000
Come (1994) – 6,000 equivalent albums
All tracks – 40,000
The Gold Experience (1995) – 9,000 equivalent albums
All tracks – 60,000
Chaos & Disorder (1996) – 2,000 equivalent albums
All tracks – 10,000
Emancipation (1996) – 2,000 equivalent albums
All tracks – 10,000
1998 onwards and orphan songs
Apart from the few orphan songs that have been available ever since as any other catalog tune, new releases from the last 20 years had very different treatments. Many weren’t added to iTunes right away, others have been available on ringtones only. None did that well in any case.
It sums up to a strange situation were Prince sold 25 million out of its near 30 million digital units with 1982-1992 releases in spite of various releases during the iTunes era.
New Power Soul (1998) – 0 equivalent albums
All tracks – 0
The Vault: Old Friends 4 Sale (1999) – 0 equivalent albums
All tracks – 0
Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic (1999) – 2,000 equivalent albums
All tracks – 10,000
The Rainbow Children (2001) – 0 equivalent albums
All tracks – 0
Musicology (2004) – 30,000 equivalent albums
All tracks – 200,000
3121 (2006) – 30,000 equivalent albums
All tracks – 200,000
Planet Earth (2007) – 15,000 equivalent albums
All tracks – 100,000
LotusFlow3r (2009) – 15,000 equivalent albums
All tracks – 100,000
Plectrumelectrum (2014) – 8,000 equivalent albums
All tracks – 50,000
Art Official Age (2014) – 8,000 equivalent albums
All tracks – 50,000
Hit n Run Phase One (2015) – 8,000 equivalent albums
All tracks – 50,000
Hit n Run Phase Two (2015) – 5,000 equivalent albums
All tracks – 30,000
Orphan – 222,000 equivalent albums
How Come U Don’t Call Me Anymore – 100,000
Nothing Compares 2 U – 300,000
Erotic City – 560,000
Our Destiny – 60,000
Remaining tracks – 460,000
Prince’s streaming sales
Streaming is made up of audio and video streams. Our CSPC methodology now includes both to better reflect the real popularity of each track. The main source of data for each avenue is respectively Spotify and YouTube. As detailed in the Fixing Log article, Spotify represents 157 million of the 272 million users of streaming platforms, while YouTube is pretty much the only video platform generating some revenue for the industry. Below is the equivalence set on the aforementioned article:
Audio Stream – 1500 plays equal 1 album unit
Video Stream – 11,750 views equal 1 album unit
Equivalent Albums Sales (EAS) = 272/157 * Spotify streams / 1500 + YouTube views / 11750
Streaming Part 1
Before commenting these figures, it’s key to point out the difficult history of Prince with streaming platforms. The purple star has been furiously refusing free access to his music, removing every video from YouTube and being unavailable on Spotify more often than not. Most of his catalog is available only since February 2017.
With this in mind, we understand the relatively modest results of these songs. I Wanna Be Your Lover even do kind of well with nearly 28 million Spotify streams. The eponymous album is easily the best performer of the pack thanks to this hit, it stands at 46,000 EAS from streams.
Streaming Part 2
The recent availability of these songs explain why even Purple Rain tracks add for only 229 million streams on Spotify. That would be a tremendous result for most 1984 albums, but that one is just much bigger than this tally suggests. For this reason, it is currently pacing much faster than catalog albums with similar totals. The title track is on its way to reach 100 million streams on Spotify. The album still records a fairly solid 280,000 EAS.
Streaming Part 3
The song Kiss manages to be Prince‘s top hit on Spotify, his first to join the 100-million level. Sign ‘O’ the Times suffers the same issue as with remaining singles format, meaning the lack of a true big hit to fuel its total. Its consistency only enable a total of 47,000 EAS, a mere 40% the score of Kiss alone.
Streaming Part 4
Albums Lovesexy, Batman and Graffiti Bridge are really unfashion right now with chaotic streaming results. They all stand around 10,000 EAS and even their former Top 10 hits fail to hit 5 million streams on either Spotify or YouTube.
Streaming Part 5
While not completely forgotten, former hits from Diamonds and Pearls and Love Symbol Album perform poorly. None of them reach 10 million on Spotify. The former album stands on 40,000 EAS from streams while the latter did half that number. Not much remains from Come though.
Streaming Part 6
Albums released from 1995 to 2010 have been made available on Spotify a mere 6 weeks before the writing of this article, in mid-August 2018. Ironically, the only hit from these albums, The Most Beautiful Girl in the World, remains greyed out as of now. As a result, numbers are very low.
Streaming Part 7
The Vault was made available in 2017 which explains the slightly higher numbers. Newpower Soul is still not present on Spotify.
Streaming Part 8
Same as previous albums with numbers reflecting only 6 weeks of streams. Black Sweat is on its way to become a decent performer.
Streaming Part 9
These albums were available in the past. The very consistent numbers show they were streamed almost exclusively by fans, with little to no impact among the general public.
Streaming Part 10
Considering its modest sales in album formats, Art Official Age performs ok on streams with 27,000 EAS. Both HITnRUN albums are still absent from streaming platforms. It must be said that they were among the albums available on TIDAL, although we can’t expect relevant numbers from this application.
Streaming Part 11
Nothing Compares 2 U is up to 12 million streams, obviously benefitting from the popularity of the version of Sinéad O’Connor.
Prince’s full length related record sales
It sounds fairly logical to add together weighted sales of one era – studio album, physical singles, downloads, streams – to get the full picture of an album’s popularity. For older releases though, they also generate sales of various live, music videos and compilation albums.
All those packaging-only records do not create value, they exploit the value originating from the parent studio album of each of its tracks instead. Inevitably, when such compilations are issued, this downgrades catalog sales of the original LP. Thus, to perfectly gauge the worth of these releases, we need to re-assign sales proportionally to its contribution of all the compilations which feature its songs. The following table explains this method.
Part 1 – Compilations 1993-1996
How to understand this table? If you check this example, these figures mean The Hits 1 sold 4,080,000 units worldwide. Then, the second statistics column means streams of all the songs included on this package add for 215,154 EAS.
The second part at the right of the table shows how many streams are coming from each original album as well as the share they represent. Thus, streaming figures tell us Purple Rain songs are responsible for 45% of the Hits 1 tracklist attractiveness. In other words, it generated 1,829,000 of its 4,080,000 album sales. Eventually, we apply this methodology to all compilations.
Sets The Hits 1 and The Hits 2 must be some of the weirdest compilations ever released. They do not follow a specific theme nor the timeline of the artist career. For example, his two biggest hits from Purple Rain, When Doves Cry and the title track, belong to Hits 1 and Hits 2, respectively. A third package which merged both compilations plus a CD of B-Sides also came out at the same time, spreading sales over multiple releases. While their individual numbers do not look impressive for primary compilations of one of the biggest 80s star, they moved well past 10 million copies collectively.
In terms of sales distribution we can see that the appeal of these sets was largely fueled from material issued in albums going from 1999 to Sign ‘O’ The Times, the golden period of the artist.
Part 2 – Compilations 2001-2018
It seemed logical to see songs up to 1993 for compilations released in 1993. It may look more surprising to see songs covering the same era on best of albums from the 00s. Both The Very Best Of, Ultimate, 4Ever contain only songs up to Love Symbol Album, the last proper album issued by Warner.
Expectedly Purple Rain is the main provider of sales for these albums, usually amounting for 40% of their appeal. On its side, Parade‘s contribution is valued around 20% thanks to the Kiss smash.
Part 3 – EPs, Lives, Boxes, Non-traditional Studio albums
Apart from traditional studio albums and compilations, Prince also issued countless records through multiple forms. The most striking example is the Black Album, recorded and aimed to be released in 1987, the singer cancelled it just before the street date. Claimed to be the highest selling bootleg of all-time, the figure of 820,000 units refer to legal sales of the album that was ultimately released in 1994.
Part 4 – Music Videos
Full Length related records Sales – Summary
Here is the most underestimated indicator of an album’s success – the amount of compilation sales of all kinds it generated. Due to the dependency of sales of the original studio albums on these releases, they are a key piece of the jigsaw. We can see that Purple Rain alone boosted more than 9 million sales through various kind of compilations.
BONUS: Compilation Albums Sales
The Hits 1 (1993)
- America
- US – 2,050,000
- Canada – 175,000
- Argentina – N/A
- Brazil – N/A
- Mexico – N/A
- Asia – 235,000
- Japan – 160,000
- Oceania
- Australia – 65,000
- New Zealand – 25,000
- Europe – 1,340,000
- UK – 390,000
- France – 185,000
- Germany – 200,000
- Italy – 80,000
- Spain – 140,000
- Sweden – 20,000
- Netherlands – 30,000
- Switzerland – 20,000
- Austria – 35,000
- Finland – N/A
- World – 4,080,000
The Hits 2 (1993)
- America
- US – 2,100,000
- Canada – 160,000
- Argentina – N/A
- Brazil – N/A
- Mexico – N/A
- Asia – 215,000
- Japan – 140,000
- Oceania
- Australia – 65,000
- New Zealand – 30,000
- Europe – 1,450,000
- UK – 390,000
- France – 200,000
- Germany – 200,000
- Italy – 100,000
- Spain – 170,000
- Sweden – 25,000
- Netherlands – 30,000
- Switzerland – 25,000
- Austria – 40,000
- Finland – N/A
- World – 4,190,000
The Very Best Of Prince (2001)
- America
- US – 2,900,000
- Canada – 145,000
- Argentina – N/A
- Brazil – N/A
- Mexico – N/A
- Asia – 140,000
- Japan – 100,000
- Oceania
- Australia – 225,000
- New Zealand – 25,000
- Europe – 1,630,000
- UK – 780,000
- France – 160,000
- Germany – 175,000
- Italy – 40,000
- Spain – 50,000
- Sweden – 20,000
- Netherlands – 115,000
- Switzerland – 35,000
- Austria – 25,000
- Finland – 5,000
- World – 5,250,000
BONUS: Total Album (all types) Sales per Country
- America
- US – 61,890,000
- Canada – 3,610,000
- Argentina – 255,000
- Brazil – 520,000
- Mexico – 285,000
- Asia – 5,345,000
- Japan – 4,060,000
- Oceania
- Australia – 1,945,000
- New Zealand – 440,000
- Europe – 31,520,000
- UK – 8,585,000
- France – 4,845,000
- Germany – 5,425,000
- Italy – 1,480,000
- Spain – 1,520,000
- Sweden – 685,000
- Netherlands – 1,710,000
- Switzerland – 790,000
- Austria – 650,000
- Finland – 205,000
- World – 106,840,000
PRINCE CAREER CSPC RESULTS
So, after checking all the figures, how many overall equivalent album sales has each album by Prince achieved? Well, at this point we hardly need to add up all of the figures defined in this article!
In the following results table, all categories display figures in equivalent album sales. If different, pure sales are listed between parentheses.
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)
Artist career totals
See where the artist ranks among remaining singers
Conclusions
Purple Rain emerges far and away as Prince‘s most successful album. It registers over 37 million sales on the back of all formats. The album continues to sell well and its streams started off strong since its wide availability from February 2017.
We tend to say that the 80s legend has been strongly inconsistent. While Purple Rain is a one-in-a-lifetime blockbuster, follow ups are numerous and solid. There is as many as 6 albums fighting for the second spot. 1999, Diamonds and Pearls, Parade, Sign ‘O’ The Times, Batman and Around the Word in A Day, in that order, range from 11,5 million to 7,5 million. The average of these 6 albums is over 9 million which shows the singer has been widely popular during many years.
Actually, every album from 1978’s For You to 1994’s The Gold Experience reached at least 1 million equivalent album sales. From 1981’s Controversy to 1992’s Love Symbol Album every era topped 3 million EAS.
The average per release dropped drastically after his departure from Warner. The artist got one more comeback with 2004’s Musicology. Frozen for several years due to the lack of its availability on all formats, the recent arrival of the record on Spotify & cie may push it over the 3 million mark at some point.
Over a career of 38 years plus 2 seasons of posthumous sales, the mastermind amassed 131,92 million equivalent album sales. An incredibly innovative artist that shared new sounds, new formats (he sold downloads virtually before anyone else), new concepts, and new promotion methods, Prince managed to combine all his experiments with highly successful records during his extensive career.
To go deeper…
Thanks to our new ASR (Artist Success Rating) concept, we know that their sales represent 21,81 million times the purchase of his entire discography. Coupled with his total sales, it translates into an ASR score of 304. This puts him ahead of other legends like David Bowie and Bob Dylan.
Additionally, the following sections list their most successful songs as well as their records and achievements.
As usual, feel free to comment and / or ask a question!
Sources: IFPI, Spotify, YouTube, Discogs, Chartmasters.org.
PRINCE’S BIGGEST TRACKS
The list is compiled in album equivalent sales generated by each song. Therefore, these figures are not merged units of singles formats. Instead, it includes weighted sales of the song’s physical single, download, ringtone and streaming as well as its share among sales of all albums on which it is featured.
1. 1984 – Prince and the Revolutions – Purple Rain [Purple Rain] – 15,570,000
2. 1984 – Prince and the Revolutions – When Doves Cry [Purple Rain] – 9,510,000
3. 1986 – Prince and the Revolutions – Kiss [Parade] – 8,660,000
4. 1985 – Prince and the Revolutions – Raspberry Beret [Around the World in a Day] – 6,020,000
5. 1984 – Prince and the Revolutions – Let’s Go Crazy [Purple Rain] – 5,390,000
6. 1982 – Prince and the Revolutions – 1999 [1999] – 5,220,000
7. 1982 – Prince and the Revolutions – Little Red Corvette [1999] – 4,490,000
8. 1984 – Prince and the Revolutions – I Would Die 4 U [Purple Rain] – 3,390,000
9. 1979 – Prince – I Wanna Be Your Lover [Prince] – 3,010,000
10. 1991 – Prince and the New Power Generation – Diamonds and Pearls [Diamonds and Pearls] – 2,820,000
11. 1991 – Prince and the New Power Generation – Cream [Diamonds and Pearls] – 2,770,000
12. 1988 – Prince – Alphabet St. [Lovesexy] – 2,520,000
13. 1989 – Prince – Batdance [Batman] – 2,440,000
14. 1987 – Prince – Sign ‘o’ the Times [Sign ‘o’ the Times] – 2,160,000
15. 1991 – Prince and the New Power Generation – Gett Off [Diamonds and Pearls] – 1,890,000
16. 1989 – Prince – Partyman [Batman] – 1,730,000
17. 1987 – Prince – U Got the Look [Sign ‘o’ the Times] – 1,670,000
18. 1989 – Prince – Scandalous [Batman] – 1,620,000
19. 1981 – Prince – Controversy [Controversy] – 1,490,000
20. 1990 – Prince – Thieves in the Temple [Graffiti Bridge] – 1,470,000
21. 1992 – Prince and the New Power Generation – 7 [Love Symbol Album] – 1,240,000
22. 1992 – Prince and the New Power Generation – Sexy MF [Love Symbol Album] – 1,200,000
23. 1994 – Prince – The Most Beautiful Girl in the World [The Gold Experience] – 1,190,000
24. 1991 – Prince and the New Power Generation – Money Don’t Matter 2 Night [Diamonds and Pearls] – 1,030,000
25. 1985 – Prince and the Revolutions – Pop Life [Around the World in a Day] – 1,000,000
RECORDS & ACHIEVEMENTS
- At 93,150,000 EAS, Prince‘s 80s catalog is the 6th most valuable of the decade.
- At 37,296,000 EAS, Purple Rain is among the Top 20 most successful album from the 80s.
- At 11,587,000 EAS, 1999 is among the Top 10 most successful albums from 1982.
- At 37,296,000 EAS, Purple Rain is the 3rd most successful album from 1984.
- At 7,598,000 EAS, Around the World in a Day is among the Top 20 most successful albums from 1985.
- At 9,542,000 EAS, Parade is among the Top 20 most successful albums from 1986.
- At 15,570,000 EAS, the song Purple Rain is the most successful song from 1984.
- Purple Rain is one of the only 4 albums which produced over 10 million physical singles sales and 10 million digital singles sales.
- Prince registered at least one US Top 10 hit 12 years in a row from 1983 to 1994.
- Prince registered at least one UK Top 10 album 12 years in a row from 1984 to 1995.
- On May 7, 2016, Prince became the first artist ever to own the entire US Top 10 catalog album chart.
- On May 7, 2016, Prince raised to 20 (from 16, the Beatles in 2009) the number of simultaneous albums inside the US Top 50 catalog chart.
- On May 7, 2016, Prince sold over 2,5 million downloads in the US, the second highest weekly sales ever from a single artist.
NB: EAS means Equivalent Album Sales.
We have more for you…
… Prince‘s global heatmap
… a special focus on Prince‘s albums sales in France
… checking out the upcoming artists or even voting for them!
… similar artists
… best-selling artists, albums, and singles
