France Album Sales: Daft Punk

Human After All Era

This 2005 year was the year of their comeback album, Human After All. It bombed completely. Entering at #3 thanks to their fanbase, the album failed to interest the public. Ironically, while their label had always been lazy in updating their certifications, this new album went 2xGold, 200,000 units, just after its release. By the end of the year more than 9 months later it had sold a mere 80,099 copies yet. Even more depressing is that the album had sold 72,132 units during the first semester, meaning less 8,000 units in the second part of the year.

Only one year after this album, a first compilation was released, Musique Vol. 1 1993–2005. It is rarely a good sign to see a compilation issued after only three proper studio albums. It often means the label won’t care more about the artist and just drop a cash-in machine. The best of did no miracles considering the drop in popularity of Daft Punk, selling 30,000 units during 2006.

Alive 2007 Era

When nobody was expecting them to do well anymore, their 2007 year was going to fully change the direction of their popularity. A run of successful shows plus the gigantic worldwide hit of Kanye West Stronger, that sampled largely Harder Better Faster Stronger, increased their profile again. At that point, Homework had sold 605,000 units in the US against 584,000 for Discovery and 75,000 for Human After All.

In France, their first two albums also sold well in 2007 shifting 20,000 units each. The release of Alive 2007 in November used this very favorable background to move relevant amounts for such a package, opening at #2 with 31,552 sales. It closed the year with 134,400 copies sold within’ six weeks. The 2 CD set of Homework and Discovery was reactivated thanks to this return to form too, selling 15,000 units. By that time, their cumulative tallies were 580,000 and 650,000 respectively, plus 45,000 copies of the double set.

Their 2008 year concluded with 69,100 copies for Alive 2007, 20,000 for Discovery, 15,000 for Homework and over 5,000 each Human After All and the original 2CD set while each sold roughly 55% of those figures in 2009.

Tron Legacy soundtrack album didn’t impact much charts due to the lack of exposure received by the movie but still sold 85,000 copies to date.

Random Access Memory Era

As everyone know, the duo surprised the world again in 2013 with the mind blowing smash of Get Lucky single and Random Access Memory album. The single sold over 350,000 units in 2013, an unseen figure in France for digital sales, ending as the year top seller. It was 8 weeks #1, 26 weeks Top 10 and 57 weeks Top 50. The album shifted an incredible 509,209 copies during its first weeks, enough , the #2 seller of the year only blocked by Stromaé. It kept being a strong seller in 2014 with 270,000 sales, plus 65,000 since, a total of 845,000 copies registered to date.

Wait, what about their back catalog in recent years? Musique Vol. 1 1993–2005 total increased to 75,000 units. Since 2010, Alive 2007 sold 50,000 copies, Homework did even better at 65,000 copies while Discovery did an incredible 85,000 units. Interestingly, Human After All ended gaining ground with years passing, selling 35,000 units since 2010.