Understanding: Music Clubs #2 – The Eagles, Mariah Carey

MTV Unplugged

Album – Certification – Date – Soundscan – Unsold units – Gap
MTV Unplugged – 3xP (1.5M) – 03/11/1993 –  1,700,000 – 100,000 – 0
MTV Unplugged – 4xP (2M) – 12/13/1994 –  2,100,000 – Irrelevant – 0

As it appears on this listing, MTV Unplugged can’t have sold that many copies at Columbia House as it was under 2.5 million total sales by the end of 1994.  This may not come as a surprise as this EP was sold almost at the same price as full length albums and was counted as one full album on registering offers. Still, even accounting for 10% Club sales – well short of the 20%+ of its two predecessors, this adds some 200,000 units.

A kind of mini greatest hits, the package was a great catalog seller until the release of #1’s.  At 2.8 million Soundscan sales today the album is over 3 million units shipped overall to date.

The specific format of this album explains why it was never updated as it may not come out among Sony albums lists to be audited.