France Album Sales: Celine Dion
Falling Into You (1996) Era
I mentioned earlier how Celine Dion first three English album went up and up, with 1-year US sales climbing from 300,000 to 1 million to 2,5 million. Falling Into You, her fourth English record, did nearly 9 million. With this album the vocalist went from a solid record seller to one of the very best selling artists around.
Although France naturally always preferred her French material, Falling Into You was still a huge #1 album. This is in spite of having a lead single, the title track, that failed to make the Top 10 by peaking at #11 while follow up Because You Loved Me went #19.
The album first debuted at #2 behind D’Eux itself, that was getting its 44th week at #1. Falling Into You climbed to #1 on its first complete week, staying there for five weeks non consecutive weeks. If first week sales weren’t record breaking due to the relative weakness of first two singles, All By Myself was a much stronger #5 hit in November, giving relevant legs to the album that lasted an impressive 39 weeks inside the Top 10 with sales over 700,000 units in 1996 and 150,000 units in 1997.
In October 1996, a new live set titled Live A Paris was released. The album topped charts for an impressive eight weeks selling 420,000 units for the year.
In total, Celine Dion sold 2 million albums in 1996 with Falling Into You over 700,000 units, D’Eux over 600,000, Live A Paris on 420,000 units and all her previous albums selling from 20 to 40% of their 1995 sales.
During the months following Falling Into You era, a lot of packages with her 80s French songs emerged. Most had exactly the same tracklist, just being renamed with different cover. This compilation, for which the most widespread name is likely The Collection 1982-1988, sold an estimated 40,000 units by 1998.
Top 3 Most Streamed Tracks on Spotify
- Because You Loved Me – 28,252,000
- It’s All Coming Back To Me Now – 20,618,000
- All By Myself – 15,454,000