Michael Jacksons Sales Figures

[KURUPTION-81]

Has anyone got the figures for Michael Jacksons Albums, as i saw these figures which i assume r worldwide posted on another site but there was no link to confirm the figures.

Off The Wall (1979) 20,000,000
Thriller (1982) 60,000,000
Bad (1987) 29,000,000
Dangerous (1991) 29,000,000
Invincible (2001) 8,000,000
MJ's # 1's (2003) 6,500,000
Essentials MJ (2005) 2,000,000

[Sikotic™]

Anyone know how much HIStory sold?

[RECOGNIZE187]

history i think was the best selling double cd ever!

[Trauma-san]

I don't believe Thriller has pushed 60 million, I think it's more like 55 million.

Blood On The Dance floor isn't listed either, but it's the best selling remix album of all time.

[Shallow]

history i think was the best selling double cd ever!

I'm pretty sure that Pink Floyd's The Wall or The Beatles' White Album both sold more than History. In the US, according to the RIAA (a source far more reliable than some of the second rate systems in other countries), History was last credited at 7 platinum in '99. The White Album was last updated in 2001 with 19 million sold, and The Wall was last updated in '99 and it was certified at 23x Platinum.

Blood On The Dance floor isn't listed either, but it's the best selling remix album of all time.

What's the second highest selling remix album?

[$do11a biLL$]

nigga has sold almost 200 million records god damn!

[BizzyR.I.P.]

Who's the highest selling artist of all-time? I'm thinking it's MJ, The Beatles, or Led Zeppelin. Anyone know?

[Trauma-san]

Highest selling is the Beatles.  Also, the Beatles numbers are all low because many of their sales records were lost in a fire.  So they reset all the records sometime in the 70's.  All the sales from the 60's and the height of beatlemania aren't even recorded anymore.

The problem is that there's really no set standard to measure all this shit.  Worldwide sales figures are hard to tally because the only way you can get the info is from the record companies that distributed the record.  They have a lot of reasons to inflate the numbers, too, to make their artists look good.  So you can get pretty accurate 'u.s. sales' records, but that swings wildly depending on who the artist is compared against the rest of the world.  Good example is the Eagles and Michael Jackson.  The Eagle's greatest hits has sold as many or more than Michael Jackson's thriller album in the u.s., but outside of the u.s. it's not even close.  So the U.S. numbers aren't really the big picture, and the world numbers are hard to accurately measure.

Led Zeppelin and AC/DC have sold a shitload of records in America too.  Mariah Carey is the best selling female artist of all time in America, and Destiny's Child have sold more records than the Supremes.  Just a few tidbits I remember hearing.

I don't know what the deal is with Elvis' numbers.  He may just be mainly an American phenomenon, I don't know, because they don't mention him at the top of the best selling lists very often, even though he had dozens of albums.  Surely to god he has moved a ton of albums. 

[Trauma-san]

Here's the U.S. only numbers

The Beatles 168 Million Records Sold
Elvis Presley 116 Million Records Sold
Led Zeppelin 107 Million Records Sold
Garth Brooks 105 Million Records Sold
The Eagles 89 Million Records Sold
Billy Joel 78 Million Records Sold
Pink Floyd 73 Million Records Sold
Barbara Streisand 70 Million Records Sold
Elton John 69 Million Records Sold
AC/DC 66 Million Records Sold
Aerosmith 65 Million Records Sold
The Rolling Stones 64 Million Records Sold
Bruce Springsteen 61 Million Records Sold
Madonna 60 Million Records Sold
George Straight 60 Million Records Sold
Michael Jackson 59 Million Records Sold

Interesting stuff:  A few years ago, Garth Brooks thought he had a run at the #1 spot and could top the Beatles... so he released 3 versions of a live album at the same time, trying to overtake their position.  The Beatles soon after that released "#1's" which has went on to be one of the best sold albums of all time... and Garth retired.  Since then, Elvis and Zeppelin have surpassed him.

George Strait has the most #1 songs of all time on the country charts.  Last year, he released an album called "50 #1's" with 1 bonus song on it.  The bonus song became his 51st #1 hit... so his album called "50 #1's" actually has 51 #1's on it. This year, his latest song "She let herself go" just hit #1 too, so now he has 52 #1 hits and he's still in his 40's. 

In my opinion, Michael's #s are significant because he hasn't had as many albums released as the people above him.  He's released only 6 albums of new material, 1 remix album, and 3 greatest hits albums in the past 30 years. 

[$do11a biLL$]

Damn.. Garth Brooks is almost caught up with Zeppelin? what the fuck have people been smoking? i thought Pink Floyd sold more than that too!

[R-Tistic]

Cot daaaamn I had no idea that all those artists sales were shittin on MJ's....I take it that the Jackson 5 albums don't count with that though do they? Damn though

[hempside]

Did yall no that one of mikes managers, is one of the riches men in the world(arab dude).mike gets paid by the hour.(real talk)...and has sold over 200 and something mill.records world wide....this cats worst single or album still will go 2xplat. or mor...ALWAYS.....cant nobody fuck with mike when it comes to them  lp.numbers,and that $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.

[Shallow]

In my opinion, Michael's #s are significant because he hasn't had as many albums released as the people above him.  He's released only 6 albums of new material, 1 remix album, and 3 greatest hits albums in the past 30 years. 

Don't forget about the 5 or so MJ solo albums on Motown from the 70s. And even if count all the J5 singles and albums, there hasn't been much certification in the states for any Jackson 5 stuff.


And how can you question whether Elvis was just an American phenomenon? If the Colonel was allowed to leave the US you would have concerts all over the world so big it'd be rediculous. Everyone I know who has come from another country, be it Jordan, china, Sri Lanka, or Somalia all know Elvis and all have grandparents that were huge fans. The estimated number of all Elvis sales when you count singles (which was his bread and butter in the early days) comes out to over 1 billion sales. Only the Beatles come close and everyone else is left far behind.

P.S. Didn't they find some of his Albums in Saddam Hussein's house when they raided it?

[Trauma-san]

Everytime they mention biggest sellers in the world, they don't mention Elvis.  I'm just saying maybe he wasn't as big outside as he was in, because over here he's huge.  If he was huge everywhere, he'd be #1 in sales, right? Right.

Lets bitch about this Michael Jackson solo album thing again, because you don't seem to get the picture.

The point is, Michael's albums he made as a child on Motown didn't sell very well.  It was only in the late 70's, when he reinvented himself and turned into a dancing machine that he started selling.  So his 59 million or whatever it is, is almost entirely off of the albums from Off The Wall on, which have been 6 albums of new material, 1 remix album, and 3 greatest hits albums.  Look up the gold and platinum certifications of his teenage albums... and you'll see that they don't exist, because he didn't sell hardly any of them.  Same with the Jackson 5, they were big but didn't sell millions and millions of records.  What you're missing is that we're looking at someone who is one of the biggest selling artists of all time... as a result of only a handful of albums because his earlier material didn't sell much. That's pretty impressive.  It's not that hard to understand, unless you're just a total dumbass, it's common sense and simple addition. 

Of course since you don't like Michael Jackson, nothing is impressive about him to you.  I can understand that.  I think Bruce Springsteen sucks, so I imagine that pissed you off equally.