CSPC: Usher Popularity Analysis

Digital Singles Sales – Part 1

As a reminder, the weighting is done with a 10 to 1,5 ratio between albums and digital singles.

Usher (1994) – 15,000 equivalent albums

All tracks – 100,000

My Way (1997) – 398,000 equivalent albums

You Make Me Wanna… – 1,500,000
Nice & Slow – 750,000
My Way – 250,000
Remaining tracks – 150,000

8701 (2001) – 855,000 equivalent albums

U Remind Me – 2,500,000
U Got It Bad – 2,300,000
U Don’t Have to Call – 400,000
Remaining tracks – 500,000

Confessions (2004) – 2,633,000 equivalent albums

Yeah! – 7,600,000
Confessions Part II – 1,800,000
Burn – 3,550,000
Caught Up – 650,000
My Boo – 1,950,000
Remaining tracks – 2,000,000

Although the Billboard started compiling a list of best selling downloads as early as in 2003, sales were awfully low when Confessions came out. In the US, a mere 141 million downloads were sold during 2004, way less than the billion plus sales reached every year during the 2008-2014 period.

This background highlights the extraordinary sales of Yeah!. One of the biggest catalog hits of the 00s along with Lose Yourself by Eminem, this track went on to sell 7,6 million units. This stunning catalog appeal isn’t limited to this unique single. In fact, all Usher hits perform truly well. Burn, My Boo, Confessions Part II, U Got It Bad, U Remind Me and You Make Me Wanna… all sold from 1,5 to 3,5 million units. Songs from Confessions sold a huge 17,5 million units, worth 2,6 million equivalent album sales.