France Best Selling Albums Ever:
Update Part 3

00s STRUGGLING Records

Garou – Seul (2000) : 1 970 000

Thanks to back-to-back record breaking eras, Notre-Dame de Paris and his own Seul period, Garou was at the top of the game in 2000. This era was so big that not only the album itself but also the accompanying live set re-entered charts more often than not up to 2007. The Pop singer converted gentlemen crooner started to struggle from that point. When he ultimately got back to shiny years from 2012, a first compilation released to very little fanfare came out in 2014, Le Meilleur, limiting hopes of a possible return to solid sales for Seul.

Yannick Noah – Yannick Noah (2000) : 1 650 000

Performing better than the two remaining Yannick Noah million sellers published on previous article, the eponymous popular debut of former Tennis star isn’t doing wonders either. Peaking at #4 or better every year until 2006 inside the Catalog Chart, this album used to be an absolute sales beast. Things changed though as since the introduction of the Comprehensive ranking in 2011, it never managed to get into the Top 200.

Manu Chao – Proxima Estacion Esperanza (2001) : 1 065 000

The underground turned superstar latin singer Manu Chao achieved the feat to get two consecutive million sellers, a rare feat among rock acts in France. The long and ongoing absence of the artist, who hasn’t dropped a thing since his last 2009 album, is damaging his catalog sales. As no compilation exists and considering how much critically acclaimed Manu Chao is, Proxima Estacion Esperanza keeps on selling a bit every year.