Given that we are at the end of the year / start of a new year I figured that I would take a look back at the year in music by discussing the ten bestselling albums of the year. Note that I have no idea how this list was created nor do I own or could even say that I have listened to any of these albums so this will essentially be snarky comments on things that I have no clue about. Not much difference than the rest of my posts when you think about it.
(By the way, Katy Perry, who has horrible skin, came in at number eleven which just goes to show that even sleeping with a muppet does not guarantee chart success.)
#10: Alicia Keys “The Element of Freedom”: I believe the element of freedom is bismuth. One of the things that you will notice about the top selling artists is that with a few, very minor exceptions, they could have appeared on the bestsellers list in 2000. I’m pretty sure Alicia Keys has been around that long. Basically the only people who still actually buy music are people who were buying music in 2000 and haven’t updated their taste in music since then.
#9: Sade “Soldier of Love”: Or 1990 for that matter. Every time I think of Sade I end up thinking about Chaka Kahn whose only song, hell the only lyric I know, is her going “Chaka Kahn Chaka Kahn”. I have no idea why this sticks in my head the way it does. Anyway, you really can’t talk smack about Sade because she just has way too good of a voice. I’m actually happy to see her on the list.
#8: Michael Buble “Crazy Love”: I’ll hand it to Michael Buble for seeing a niche and exploiting it. There is always going to be a need for Frank Sinatra type music and with Frank gone (barring a Tupac like comeback) he decided to dedicate himself to being the guy still making that big band style music. There will always be a market for it because it is a really timeless brand of music. Plus, it is music that you buy for your parents or grandparents and thus he is much more likely to sell physical copies of his music and get paid as opposed to people just stealing it online.
#7: Susan Boyle “The Gift”: Sigh. For a moment there it was looking like this list would be a reality show free zone. Again, I doubt that anyone bought this for themselves. It is called “The Gift” because everyone bought it as a gift for that person that they kind of know but don’t really want to go through the effort of thinking through an actual present. It is the musical equivalent of a Chili’s gift card. I’m sorry but given the fact that her entire story is “non-attractive people can sing, too!” is too cynical even for someone like me to get behind. The fact that this is her main selling point just makes me disgusted about the music business in general.
#6: Black Eyed Peas “The E.N.D.”: Oh please be the end. I would be overjoyed if this is the end of one of the most annoying bands in existence. Outside of “Let’s Get It Started”, which was overplayed the third time it hit the airwaves, I’ve really had no patience for this band especially given that it features Fergie who hits the trifecta of not being able to sing, dance, or look attractive. It’s basically dance music for people who don’t actually like dance music or hip hop for those unfamiliar with hip hop. If you are listening to the Black Eyed Peas you need to be aware that whatever aspect of their music that you like there are a number of people out there who do that much, much better.
#5: Taylor Swift “Speak Now”: No one is going to believe this but I actually like Taylor Swift. I first heard her three or four years ago (whenever Teardrops on my Guitar originally came out) and I found her to be a perfectly acceptable country artist. Good singer who made it through a lot of hard work as opposed to a reality show victory. I’m really happy that she is making it big though I think she is hitting the overexposure level and is going to have to be a little careful if she wants to have a long career. Still, nice to see her make a strong showing.
#4: Lady Antebellum “Need You Now”: The second country entry on the list, which shows that since music sales have dropped the individual genres are now on a much more even playing field than ever before. Basically my only knowledge of this band is that someone told me I should style my hair like one of the guys in the band for my wedding. I’m not even sure who it is or what his hair looks like but I will just automatically assume that it is a bad idea. I just have a feeling that fifteen years ago someone was told “You should wear your hair like that Billy Ray Cyrus guy at your wedding!” I would like to at least be in my own wedding pictures.
#3: Justin Bieber “My Worlds”: As I’ve been mentioning the fun thing about the music business now is the fact that since most people my age and younger get their music online (often through nefarious methods) the acts that would have been best sellers when I was in college no longer breakthrough on the charts. Mainly the people who are buying music tend to be rather old or tweens. Hence the popularity of Justin Bieber whose market consists entirely of twelve year old girls who have money to buy music but haven’t learned how to use Bit Torrent yet. Again, I know nothing of his actual music and God willing I never will. I think I can live a full and productive life without ever hearing him sing.
#2: Eminem “Recovery”: Eminem is still alive? Good for him. I have actually heard some tracks from this album and it looks as though he is back in serious mode and making some really good music. Eminem has always had this strange tendency of going beyond putting humor into his songs to actually becoming something along the lines of a hip hop Weird Al. Just look at a few of the videos and ask yourself “Could Weird Al star in this?” That is what makes his career so tough to figure out. He can produce some of the darkest, most intense, stuff you’ll ever hear but the next single will be a comedy track.
#1: Lady Gaga “The Fame (Monster)”: Yes, this was the year of Lady Gaga who seems to have entered the realm of being famous for being famous. Now I know that she does make music and I’ve heard some but even someone who is oblivious to the music scene probably knows her as that woman who wears all of the wild outfits. She really did create an image of Madonna for the 21st Century as her fame is more dependent on her than her musical output. In this day and age that is what you need to do to be a superstar. Without MTV or consistent radio play the only way to become famous is to act as though you are famous already and have the internet cover you as someone who is important. It’s fascinating from a cultural perspective at least.
Showing posts with label Best selling albums. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Best selling albums. Show all posts
Monday, January 03, 2011
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
The State of Music: 2008
Figured that I would start my 2008 Year in Review on a musical note this time around. Let’s take a more global view and examine the top ten best selling albums of the year and figure out what that tells us about our pop culture tastes and the music industry in general. Sales volumes are in millions of units
10) Beyonce “I Am….Sasha Fierce” 1.46M
9) Jack Johnson “Sleep Through the Static” 1.49M
8) T. I. “Paper Trail” 1.52 M
7) Metallica “Death Magnetic” 1.57M
6) Taylor Swift “Taylor Swift” 1.6M
5) AC/DC “Black Ice” 1.92M
4) Kid Rock “Rock N Roll Jesus” 2.02M
3) Taylor Swift “Fearless” 2.11M
2) Coldplay “Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends” 2.14M
1) Lil Wayne “Tha Carter III” 2.87M
Source: Nielsen SoundScan via The New York Times
My opinions on all this
Apparently my music tastes are popular again: It surprises me that I own one of these discs and really don’t have a good reason why I don’t own a second. I picked up the Jack Johnson disc the week it came out and while it is rather underwhelming, even for a Jack Johnson record, it is perfectly fine music. Not as good as his earlier work and his fanbase has become filled with Abercrombie and Fitch wearing douchebags but I’m not upset that I bought it or anything. I haven’t picked up the new Coldplay disc mainly because I haven’t heard anything that made me feel like it was a priority but if I saw it at a store for ten bucks I’d probably grab it. Given that I am now a 35 year old male and therefore completely worthless from a marketing perspective I’m surprised that anything I listen to made the list.
People really like Taylor Swift: How she got two albums in the top ten is beyond me. Especially given that her self-titled debut was released in 2006 (and I know this because I was very vaguely involved in the music biz at the time). It is perfectly harmless, vaguely country music in that American Idol / Carrie Underwood vein. Meaning that there is absolutely no talent behind it other than a pretty face and a voice that works well under the influence of ProTools. While not a horrible indictment on the state of our culture it isn’t exactly what I would send on the next probe to outer space.
Old People Sell (and Buy): Two of the top ten acts (AC/DC and Metallica) have careers that span nearly thirty years or even more. While Kid Rock doesn’t have nearly that long of a span of work most would say that he is also well past his expiration date. So what does this tell us? First off, people immediately know what they are going to get with these artists. They are so well established that it is almost a knee jerk reaction to pick up their music. I mean, it’s a new AC/DC record; you know it is going to rock. Kid Rock will put together a rock / rap hybrid that is surprisingly decent.
Second of all, what do you think the average age of a AC/DC or Metallica fan is? Let’s say you got into Metallica when they broke huge in 1991 when you were 16. You’d be 33 now and a huge group of the old school fans would be even older. I would bet good money that the majority of these purchases were made by guys in their thirties and forties trying to prove that they still are hardcore metalheads. Even the Kid Rock stuff probably landed in the late 20’s demographic. Teenagers aren’t buying this music because teenagers don’t buy music. They steal it like petty thiefs (more on that next).
Finally, how the hell did Chinese Democracy not make the Top Ten? If people bought AC/DC out of nostalgia you would think that Guns N Roses would benefit in a similar fashion.
New Artists Can’t Catch a Break: The only debut album on the list is Taylor Swift’s and that is not really a debut given that it is two years old. Everyone on this list is solidly established with bestselling discs already to the credit. In the history of music that is insanely rare. Music is built on fads and one hit wonders and groups that come out of nowhere and catch the cultural zeitgeist and then disappear.
The disappearance of the big, new breakout star is a serious issue. (I’m discounting the whole Miley Cyrus / Jonas Brothers world at the moment.) Since record labels no longer exist in any real form the ability to grab a new artist and market them down our throats has vanished. With no universal cultural outlet like MTV around it is also tougher to get an artist in front of enough people to become a phenomenon. What we now have are a lot of new artists breaking out slowly with few superstars appearing, which makes one wonder what this list will look like 5 years from now.
The Curse of the Long Tail (which will be my sociology master’s thesis if I ever get around to writing it): The top selling album this year sold 2.87 million copies. Here are some other numbers for reference: Jewel’s “Pieces of You” sold 12 million copies as did Pearl Jam’s “Ten” while Hootie and the Blowfish sold an insane 16 million copies of “Cracked Rear View”. Now I know that many people will scream that I am comparing two totally separate timeframes here, which is true. But can you honestly tell me that 14 million people downloaded the new Coldplay album illegally? Are any of the artists on this list a part of the pop culture world like Hootie and the Blowfish were in 1995? Of course not. I truly feel required to explain who Taylor Swift is but I feel no need to explain Jewel even though she has been meaningless for more than a decade.
And this is what I call the curse of the long tail. The idea of the long tail is this: thanks to Amazon and iTunes and the like we now have an almost infinite amount of music at our fingertips. Whereas before all that was available was what you could find at the record store (and that universe could be limited if your only store was in a mall) now any type of music is there for purchase. What happens is that you have less hits (as shown by the stats above) but more of the lesser known artists get purchased. Basically I am no longer forced to buy a Hootie and the Blowfish CD because I find that I can get a greater level of enjoyment by purchasing a techno bluegrass disc. But this has had one huge impact on the music industry that no one discusses, which is that it causes people to buy less music than before and be happier for it.
Take my Hootie purchase (hypothetical as I never did buy the disc). Now if I can buy something else (say the incredible disc by She & Him featuring Zooey Deschanel on vocals) at the same price and be happier (or have higher utility in economic terms) then that is by all effective measures a good thing. Expand that to the idea that I intend to receive so much happiness from buying music over the course of the year. In a long tail world I’ll need fewer new CDs to reach the same level of happiness. This is great for me because I save money but bad for the music industry because they moved less product. But that still doesn’t match the damage caused by the second part.
Because you have to ask yourself the following question: Why did 16 million people decide to buy a Hootie and the Blowfish disc. That is more than 5% of the U.S. population and when you take out the elderly, small children and the Amish it becomes an even greater portion. What drives that purchase decision? I contend that it is not the music itself that drives it but the sheer fact that other people are buying it causes a herd behavior to form. Since everyone you know has a copy you buy one. The people who only own ten or twenty discs just purchase these mega hits and they do so only because there is a cultural imperative to do so. They don’t want to be left out so they make a purchase.
But now that we don’t have hits and nothing is super popular those people have no need to purchase music (or even steal it). Do I feel less a part of popular culture because I do not own the new Coldplay disc? No and I am someone who prides himself on being in touch with the music scene. There is not a single disc on the top ten where I feel that I was left out on a conversation because I did not know about it. When people talk about the long tail they assume that those 15 million copies that Hootie sold but Lil’ Wayne didn’t goes to the techno bluegrass purchases that I make. Except they don’t. Those purchases aren’t made anymore because the people who used to buy those discs don’t even need listen to music anymore because they can be culturally safe without it.
That is why the music industry is stuck in the curse of the long tail at the moment. It is bad enough that people steal music (and yes it is theft. I have too many friends who are musicians for me to think anything else.) but their overall market has shrunk but is happier as a result. I don’t have a solution for it yet but I do worry about whether my favorite new acts will ever get a chance to be heard.
10) Beyonce “I Am….Sasha Fierce” 1.46M
9) Jack Johnson “Sleep Through the Static” 1.49M
8) T. I. “Paper Trail” 1.52 M
7) Metallica “Death Magnetic” 1.57M
6) Taylor Swift “Taylor Swift” 1.6M
5) AC/DC “Black Ice” 1.92M
4) Kid Rock “Rock N Roll Jesus” 2.02M
3) Taylor Swift “Fearless” 2.11M
2) Coldplay “Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends” 2.14M
1) Lil Wayne “Tha Carter III” 2.87M
Source: Nielsen SoundScan via The New York Times
My opinions on all this
Apparently my music tastes are popular again: It surprises me that I own one of these discs and really don’t have a good reason why I don’t own a second. I picked up the Jack Johnson disc the week it came out and while it is rather underwhelming, even for a Jack Johnson record, it is perfectly fine music. Not as good as his earlier work and his fanbase has become filled with Abercrombie and Fitch wearing douchebags but I’m not upset that I bought it or anything. I haven’t picked up the new Coldplay disc mainly because I haven’t heard anything that made me feel like it was a priority but if I saw it at a store for ten bucks I’d probably grab it. Given that I am now a 35 year old male and therefore completely worthless from a marketing perspective I’m surprised that anything I listen to made the list.
People really like Taylor Swift: How she got two albums in the top ten is beyond me. Especially given that her self-titled debut was released in 2006 (and I know this because I was very vaguely involved in the music biz at the time). It is perfectly harmless, vaguely country music in that American Idol / Carrie Underwood vein. Meaning that there is absolutely no talent behind it other than a pretty face and a voice that works well under the influence of ProTools. While not a horrible indictment on the state of our culture it isn’t exactly what I would send on the next probe to outer space.
Old People Sell (and Buy): Two of the top ten acts (AC/DC and Metallica) have careers that span nearly thirty years or even more. While Kid Rock doesn’t have nearly that long of a span of work most would say that he is also well past his expiration date. So what does this tell us? First off, people immediately know what they are going to get with these artists. They are so well established that it is almost a knee jerk reaction to pick up their music. I mean, it’s a new AC/DC record; you know it is going to rock. Kid Rock will put together a rock / rap hybrid that is surprisingly decent.
Second of all, what do you think the average age of a AC/DC or Metallica fan is? Let’s say you got into Metallica when they broke huge in 1991 when you were 16. You’d be 33 now and a huge group of the old school fans would be even older. I would bet good money that the majority of these purchases were made by guys in their thirties and forties trying to prove that they still are hardcore metalheads. Even the Kid Rock stuff probably landed in the late 20’s demographic. Teenagers aren’t buying this music because teenagers don’t buy music. They steal it like petty thiefs (more on that next).
Finally, how the hell did Chinese Democracy not make the Top Ten? If people bought AC/DC out of nostalgia you would think that Guns N Roses would benefit in a similar fashion.
New Artists Can’t Catch a Break: The only debut album on the list is Taylor Swift’s and that is not really a debut given that it is two years old. Everyone on this list is solidly established with bestselling discs already to the credit. In the history of music that is insanely rare. Music is built on fads and one hit wonders and groups that come out of nowhere and catch the cultural zeitgeist and then disappear.
The disappearance of the big, new breakout star is a serious issue. (I’m discounting the whole Miley Cyrus / Jonas Brothers world at the moment.) Since record labels no longer exist in any real form the ability to grab a new artist and market them down our throats has vanished. With no universal cultural outlet like MTV around it is also tougher to get an artist in front of enough people to become a phenomenon. What we now have are a lot of new artists breaking out slowly with few superstars appearing, which makes one wonder what this list will look like 5 years from now.
The Curse of the Long Tail (which will be my sociology master’s thesis if I ever get around to writing it): The top selling album this year sold 2.87 million copies. Here are some other numbers for reference: Jewel’s “Pieces of You” sold 12 million copies as did Pearl Jam’s “Ten” while Hootie and the Blowfish sold an insane 16 million copies of “Cracked Rear View”. Now I know that many people will scream that I am comparing two totally separate timeframes here, which is true. But can you honestly tell me that 14 million people downloaded the new Coldplay album illegally? Are any of the artists on this list a part of the pop culture world like Hootie and the Blowfish were in 1995? Of course not. I truly feel required to explain who Taylor Swift is but I feel no need to explain Jewel even though she has been meaningless for more than a decade.
And this is what I call the curse of the long tail. The idea of the long tail is this: thanks to Amazon and iTunes and the like we now have an almost infinite amount of music at our fingertips. Whereas before all that was available was what you could find at the record store (and that universe could be limited if your only store was in a mall) now any type of music is there for purchase. What happens is that you have less hits (as shown by the stats above) but more of the lesser known artists get purchased. Basically I am no longer forced to buy a Hootie and the Blowfish CD because I find that I can get a greater level of enjoyment by purchasing a techno bluegrass disc. But this has had one huge impact on the music industry that no one discusses, which is that it causes people to buy less music than before and be happier for it.
Take my Hootie purchase (hypothetical as I never did buy the disc). Now if I can buy something else (say the incredible disc by She & Him featuring Zooey Deschanel on vocals) at the same price and be happier (or have higher utility in economic terms) then that is by all effective measures a good thing. Expand that to the idea that I intend to receive so much happiness from buying music over the course of the year. In a long tail world I’ll need fewer new CDs to reach the same level of happiness. This is great for me because I save money but bad for the music industry because they moved less product. But that still doesn’t match the damage caused by the second part.
Because you have to ask yourself the following question: Why did 16 million people decide to buy a Hootie and the Blowfish disc. That is more than 5% of the U.S. population and when you take out the elderly, small children and the Amish it becomes an even greater portion. What drives that purchase decision? I contend that it is not the music itself that drives it but the sheer fact that other people are buying it causes a herd behavior to form. Since everyone you know has a copy you buy one. The people who only own ten or twenty discs just purchase these mega hits and they do so only because there is a cultural imperative to do so. They don’t want to be left out so they make a purchase.
But now that we don’t have hits and nothing is super popular those people have no need to purchase music (or even steal it). Do I feel less a part of popular culture because I do not own the new Coldplay disc? No and I am someone who prides himself on being in touch with the music scene. There is not a single disc on the top ten where I feel that I was left out on a conversation because I did not know about it. When people talk about the long tail they assume that those 15 million copies that Hootie sold but Lil’ Wayne didn’t goes to the techno bluegrass purchases that I make. Except they don’t. Those purchases aren’t made anymore because the people who used to buy those discs don’t even need listen to music anymore because they can be culturally safe without it.
That is why the music industry is stuck in the curse of the long tail at the moment. It is bad enough that people steal music (and yes it is theft. I have too many friends who are musicians for me to think anything else.) but their overall market has shrunk but is happier as a result. I don’t have a solution for it yet but I do worry about whether my favorite new acts will ever get a chance to be heard.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
The Best Selling Albums of All-Time (Part Two)
Continuing the list of best selling albums of all time. (I’ll write about the convention tomorrow. I have much to say.)
15 Million Sold
Journey: “Greatest Hits”, Guns N’ Roses “Appetite for Destruction”, The Beatles “The Beatles 1962 – 1966”, Bee Gees “Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack”, Pink Floyd “The Dark Side of the Moon”, Bruce Springsteen “Born in the USA”
Seriously? 15 million people decided that they must own Journey’s greatest hits? I know a lot of people had their first makeout session to Open Arms but even that isn’t enough to buy the greatest hits collection. G’N’R’ makes an appearance that is deserved given how massive that band was in the late 80’s. Even my mom was aware of them. And, as I said before, the Beatles are the Beatles.
You might make fun of disco but the Bee Gees did well for what they were and they had awesome beards. I am actually surprised that Pink Floyd didn’t sell more given that this album was on the charts for something like twenty years. There are always just enough stoners around to keep that band in the black. No complaints on the Bruce Springsteen front either. Not many complaints at this level.
16 Million Sold
Led Zeppelin “Physical Graffiti”, Alanis Morissette “Jagged Little Pill”, Garth Brooks “No Fences”, The Beatles “The Beatles 1967 – 1970”, The Eagles “Hotel California”, Elton John “Greatest Hits”, Hootie and the Blowfish “Cracked Rear View”
Ok, I want to examine this list as someone twenty years from now. Led Zeppelin will be understandable. I think the band is horrible but I can understand their position on the chart. The Beatles (whose later greatest hits are apparently slightly more popular than their earlier songs), The Eagles, and Elton John are also expected to make appearances. I’m confident that in twenty years people will still remember those acts. You can probably put Garth Brooks in that category as well. It is a bit more of a stretch because even with 15M in sales he always will seem more of a genre act than a mainstream one and the fact that there isn’t much musical legacy to tie him to but people will remember him.
That leaves us with Alanis Morisette and Hootie and the Blowfish. Two acts that are, for all essential purposes, one hit wonders. Now they had more than one hit but they really only had one album that people cared about but wow, can you believe these sales numbers? People really wanted to hear Alanis sing about giving Dave Coulier a hummer and then completely misinterpret the word ironic. Or listen to Hootie discuss the importance of hand holding. A kid today would have no clue who you are referring to when you mention these acts. What is going to be the case twenty years from now.
17 Million Sold
Whitney Houston “The Bodyguard Soundtrack”, Boston “Boston”
Apparently a lot of people wanted to have a copy of “I Will Always Love You”. If you could name any other song on that soundtrack I will be stunned. Boston is essentially the 70’s version of Hootie and the Blowfish. They started off massively popular and are now a pop culture afterthought. I am just old enough to remember some of the songs but most people wouldn’t be able to name a single song by the band. Though I will always give props to bands that use spaceships on their album covers. Super cool.
(And here is the Top 10)
19 Million Sold
The Beatles “The White Album”, Fleetwood Mac “Rumours”
You could argue about whether these are the best discs of either band but there is certainly no argument regarding the musical quality of either act. Incredible talent at this level of sales.
20 Million Sold
Garth Brooks “Garth Double Live”, Shania Twain “Come On Over”
Take everything I said about the last group and reverse it. Exactly how Garth Brooks sold that many records confuses me. I don’t understand how he sold out a week’s worth of shows in KC either. Shania Twain is a wonderful example of the power of marketing. There is some talent there but not enough for 20 million in sales.
21 Million Sold
Billy Joel “Greatest Hits, Volumes 1 and 2 (1973 – 1985)”
Actually, this is a greatest hits set that I could understand owning. Billy Joel had such a massive collection of hits across such a wide range of albums that owning the greatest hits collection actually makes a decent bit of sense. What is funny is that I don’t think anyone would ever consider Billy Joel to be massively popular. He is just an artist that everyone likes and has a few favorite songs so when they are in a record store they see his greatest hits collection and go “that would be a good pickup”. Like there were 21 million spur of the moment purchases.
22 Million Sold
AC/DC “Back in Black”
I’m still stunned by just the sheer number of units sold here. Do you know how insane it is to get 22 million people it is to do anything in the current marketplace? Now get them to buy a heavy metal disc. I’m impressed more than anything.
23 Million Sold
Pink Floyd “The Wall”
I never got Pink Floyd. I know people who have this album. Hell, one of my siblings had it on tape. I just never had any desire to listen to it. Maybe I was just too square or didn’t imbibe in the proper chemical mixtures.
24 Million Sold
Led Zeppelin “Led Zeppelin IV”
Sigh. I hate Led Zeppelin. The fawning over the band always seemed to be completely overblown. I’m very confident that half of these sales are a direct result of Fast Times at Ridgemont High where it was implied that purchasing this disc would help you get laid. For the record, this is one of the two discs that I have ever sold in my life because of the fact that apparently Fast Times lied to me.
27 Million Sold
Michael Jackson “Thriller”
Say what you will about Michael Jackson but this album had all types of hits on it. And incredibly cool videos. “Beat It” had a gang fight, an Eddie Van Halen guitar solo, and a rather confusing choreographed dance all in one. Plus, there is the duet with Paul McCartney that is extremely silly when you listen to it now but as a kid I thought it was awesome.
29 Million Sold
The Eagles “Their Greatest Hits 1971 – 1975”
Yes, the best selling album of all time is a greatest hits collection. One from a band I don’t particularly like as well. Maybe that says something about my view of popular culture.
Here is my biggest thing. Look at this list and you know who is missing? Nirvana and U2. Arguably the two biggest and most influential bands of the past twenty years and neither of them could outsell freaking Jewel. Sleep on that one.
15 Million Sold
Journey: “Greatest Hits”, Guns N’ Roses “Appetite for Destruction”, The Beatles “The Beatles 1962 – 1966”, Bee Gees “Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack”, Pink Floyd “The Dark Side of the Moon”, Bruce Springsteen “Born in the USA”
Seriously? 15 million people decided that they must own Journey’s greatest hits? I know a lot of people had their first makeout session to Open Arms but even that isn’t enough to buy the greatest hits collection. G’N’R’ makes an appearance that is deserved given how massive that band was in the late 80’s. Even my mom was aware of them. And, as I said before, the Beatles are the Beatles.
You might make fun of disco but the Bee Gees did well for what they were and they had awesome beards. I am actually surprised that Pink Floyd didn’t sell more given that this album was on the charts for something like twenty years. There are always just enough stoners around to keep that band in the black. No complaints on the Bruce Springsteen front either. Not many complaints at this level.
16 Million Sold
Led Zeppelin “Physical Graffiti”, Alanis Morissette “Jagged Little Pill”, Garth Brooks “No Fences”, The Beatles “The Beatles 1967 – 1970”, The Eagles “Hotel California”, Elton John “Greatest Hits”, Hootie and the Blowfish “Cracked Rear View”
Ok, I want to examine this list as someone twenty years from now. Led Zeppelin will be understandable. I think the band is horrible but I can understand their position on the chart. The Beatles (whose later greatest hits are apparently slightly more popular than their earlier songs), The Eagles, and Elton John are also expected to make appearances. I’m confident that in twenty years people will still remember those acts. You can probably put Garth Brooks in that category as well. It is a bit more of a stretch because even with 15M in sales he always will seem more of a genre act than a mainstream one and the fact that there isn’t much musical legacy to tie him to but people will remember him.
That leaves us with Alanis Morisette and Hootie and the Blowfish. Two acts that are, for all essential purposes, one hit wonders. Now they had more than one hit but they really only had one album that people cared about but wow, can you believe these sales numbers? People really wanted to hear Alanis sing about giving Dave Coulier a hummer and then completely misinterpret the word ironic. Or listen to Hootie discuss the importance of hand holding. A kid today would have no clue who you are referring to when you mention these acts. What is going to be the case twenty years from now.
17 Million Sold
Whitney Houston “The Bodyguard Soundtrack”, Boston “Boston”
Apparently a lot of people wanted to have a copy of “I Will Always Love You”. If you could name any other song on that soundtrack I will be stunned. Boston is essentially the 70’s version of Hootie and the Blowfish. They started off massively popular and are now a pop culture afterthought. I am just old enough to remember some of the songs but most people wouldn’t be able to name a single song by the band. Though I will always give props to bands that use spaceships on their album covers. Super cool.
(And here is the Top 10)
19 Million Sold
The Beatles “The White Album”, Fleetwood Mac “Rumours”
You could argue about whether these are the best discs of either band but there is certainly no argument regarding the musical quality of either act. Incredible talent at this level of sales.
20 Million Sold
Garth Brooks “Garth Double Live”, Shania Twain “Come On Over”
Take everything I said about the last group and reverse it. Exactly how Garth Brooks sold that many records confuses me. I don’t understand how he sold out a week’s worth of shows in KC either. Shania Twain is a wonderful example of the power of marketing. There is some talent there but not enough for 20 million in sales.
21 Million Sold
Billy Joel “Greatest Hits, Volumes 1 and 2 (1973 – 1985)”
Actually, this is a greatest hits set that I could understand owning. Billy Joel had such a massive collection of hits across such a wide range of albums that owning the greatest hits collection actually makes a decent bit of sense. What is funny is that I don’t think anyone would ever consider Billy Joel to be massively popular. He is just an artist that everyone likes and has a few favorite songs so when they are in a record store they see his greatest hits collection and go “that would be a good pickup”. Like there were 21 million spur of the moment purchases.
22 Million Sold
AC/DC “Back in Black”
I’m still stunned by just the sheer number of units sold here. Do you know how insane it is to get 22 million people it is to do anything in the current marketplace? Now get them to buy a heavy metal disc. I’m impressed more than anything.
23 Million Sold
Pink Floyd “The Wall”
I never got Pink Floyd. I know people who have this album. Hell, one of my siblings had it on tape. I just never had any desire to listen to it. Maybe I was just too square or didn’t imbibe in the proper chemical mixtures.
24 Million Sold
Led Zeppelin “Led Zeppelin IV”
Sigh. I hate Led Zeppelin. The fawning over the band always seemed to be completely overblown. I’m very confident that half of these sales are a direct result of Fast Times at Ridgemont High where it was implied that purchasing this disc would help you get laid. For the record, this is one of the two discs that I have ever sold in my life because of the fact that apparently Fast Times lied to me.
27 Million Sold
Michael Jackson “Thriller”
Say what you will about Michael Jackson but this album had all types of hits on it. And incredibly cool videos. “Beat It” had a gang fight, an Eddie Van Halen guitar solo, and a rather confusing choreographed dance all in one. Plus, there is the duet with Paul McCartney that is extremely silly when you listen to it now but as a kid I thought it was awesome.
29 Million Sold
The Eagles “Their Greatest Hits 1971 – 1975”
Yes, the best selling album of all time is a greatest hits collection. One from a band I don’t particularly like as well. Maybe that says something about my view of popular culture.
Here is my biggest thing. Look at this list and you know who is missing? Nirvana and U2. Arguably the two biggest and most influential bands of the past twenty years and neither of them could outsell freaking Jewel. Sleep on that one.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
The Best Selling Albums of All-Time (Part One)
I came across this last week and have been meaning to do a big post about it. It is a list of the top 52 selling albums of all-time and it is just a fascinating study in buying habits as well as the fact that digital music and piracy has created a world where there will never be a disc that will match these numbers. Remember, Hannah Montana was the best selling disc last year at 3 million. I’ll do one half tonight and the other half tomorrow.
12 million copies sold:
Jewel: “Pieces of You”, Shania Twain “The Woman In Me”, The Rolling Stones: “Hot Rocks 1964 – 1971”, Kenny Rogers: “Greatest Hits”, Various Artists: “Forrest Gump Soundtrack”, Kenny G: “Breathless”, Led Zeppelin: “Led Zeppelin II”, Pearl Jam: “Ten”, The Beatles: “Abbey Road”, Boyz II Men: “II”, Bon Jovi: “Slippery When Wet”, Def Leppard: “Hysteria”, Phil Collins: “No Jacket Required”, Matchbox 20: “Yourself or Someone Like You”, Dixie Chicks: “Wide Open Spaces”
Only one of these that I own is Pearl Jam, which was the epitome of grunge that was commercially successful without losing all of its musical qualities. They were, for a lack of a better term, friendlier than Nirvana. I’m stunned the Dixie Chicks sold that much but I like them so no harm there. And The Beatles are The Beatles. But wow, the rest of the list…
Was Sussudio really that popular? I remember being a Phil Collins fan at the time but I can’t believe that 12 million people decided to purchase that album. I know no one who owns Kenny Rogers Greatest Hits or could name a song other than “The Gambler”. I also don’t know a single song on the Forrest Gump soundtrack. I assume there are a bunch of classic rock songs but I couldn’t name a single one.
But the one that really amazes me is Jewel. 12 million copies of her debut album sold. There were two good singles from that album and it timed in with Lilith Fair but I don’t think it was that big of a hit. Def Leppard and Bon Jovi were massive, arena selling artists in the 80’s. I could not imagine Jewel selling out a venue that size in the mid-90’s.
13 Million Sold
Backstreet Boys: “Millennium”, Whitney Houston: “Whitney Houston”, Prince: “Purple Rain”, Steve Miller Band: “Greatest Hits 1974 – 1978”, Bruce Springsteen: “Live 1975-85”
Well, you knew the Backstreet Boys were going to appear eventually. Notice that they are easily the most recent act on the list so far and they were around seven or eight years ago. It does explain why there was such an abundance of boy bands. That was the only genre that was having super-blockbusters at the time. Outside of that you have an amazing debut album by Whitney Houston and a Prince classic that still holds up today.
There is also the live album / greatest hits collection aspect that needs to be examined throughout the list. Steve Miller’s greatest hits outsells any Steve Miller album. This is due to the people who buy greatest hits packages under the assumption that this disc contains all the songs of the artist that they like. While true, the music fan in me really hates things like this. I grew up on the concept of albums being a cohesive whole and not just a collection of singles. Sadly, thanks to MP3 files that is exactly the direction that music is headed.
14 Million Sold
Britney Spears: “Baby One More Time”, Simon & Garfunkel “Greatest Hits”, Meat Loaf “Bat Out of Hell”, Metallica “Metallica”, Garth Brooks “Ropin’ the Wind”, Backstreet Boys: “Backstreet Boys”
At this level we get Brittney and the Backstreet Boys (who have nearly 30M out of two albums that no one will admit owning). Again, this is why the music industry went bonkers over the teen market in the late 90’s / early 2000’s. Where else were you going to move that type of volume without much effort? Just get some pretty people, add a couple of catchy songs written by a 55 year old man, run the vocals through a computer and sell it to the public.
The whole Meat Loaf thing amazes me. For some reason he always just seems to be one step ahead of Weird Al in terms of public acceptance but with sale numbers like that you probably need to give him a lot more praise. Every metal fan owns that Metallica album, Simon and Garfunkel needs no explanation and Garth Brooks shows that all you need is a cowboy hat to succeed.
Tommorrow, the top half. With a few surprises along the way.
12 million copies sold:
Jewel: “Pieces of You”, Shania Twain “The Woman In Me”, The Rolling Stones: “Hot Rocks 1964 – 1971”, Kenny Rogers: “Greatest Hits”, Various Artists: “Forrest Gump Soundtrack”, Kenny G: “Breathless”, Led Zeppelin: “Led Zeppelin II”, Pearl Jam: “Ten”, The Beatles: “Abbey Road”, Boyz II Men: “II”, Bon Jovi: “Slippery When Wet”, Def Leppard: “Hysteria”, Phil Collins: “No Jacket Required”, Matchbox 20: “Yourself or Someone Like You”, Dixie Chicks: “Wide Open Spaces”
Only one of these that I own is Pearl Jam, which was the epitome of grunge that was commercially successful without losing all of its musical qualities. They were, for a lack of a better term, friendlier than Nirvana. I’m stunned the Dixie Chicks sold that much but I like them so no harm there. And The Beatles are The Beatles. But wow, the rest of the list…
Was Sussudio really that popular? I remember being a Phil Collins fan at the time but I can’t believe that 12 million people decided to purchase that album. I know no one who owns Kenny Rogers Greatest Hits or could name a song other than “The Gambler”. I also don’t know a single song on the Forrest Gump soundtrack. I assume there are a bunch of classic rock songs but I couldn’t name a single one.
But the one that really amazes me is Jewel. 12 million copies of her debut album sold. There were two good singles from that album and it timed in with Lilith Fair but I don’t think it was that big of a hit. Def Leppard and Bon Jovi were massive, arena selling artists in the 80’s. I could not imagine Jewel selling out a venue that size in the mid-90’s.
13 Million Sold
Backstreet Boys: “Millennium”, Whitney Houston: “Whitney Houston”, Prince: “Purple Rain”, Steve Miller Band: “Greatest Hits 1974 – 1978”, Bruce Springsteen: “Live 1975-85”
Well, you knew the Backstreet Boys were going to appear eventually. Notice that they are easily the most recent act on the list so far and they were around seven or eight years ago. It does explain why there was such an abundance of boy bands. That was the only genre that was having super-blockbusters at the time. Outside of that you have an amazing debut album by Whitney Houston and a Prince classic that still holds up today.
There is also the live album / greatest hits collection aspect that needs to be examined throughout the list. Steve Miller’s greatest hits outsells any Steve Miller album. This is due to the people who buy greatest hits packages under the assumption that this disc contains all the songs of the artist that they like. While true, the music fan in me really hates things like this. I grew up on the concept of albums being a cohesive whole and not just a collection of singles. Sadly, thanks to MP3 files that is exactly the direction that music is headed.
14 Million Sold
Britney Spears: “Baby One More Time”, Simon & Garfunkel “Greatest Hits”, Meat Loaf “Bat Out of Hell”, Metallica “Metallica”, Garth Brooks “Ropin’ the Wind”, Backstreet Boys: “Backstreet Boys”
At this level we get Brittney and the Backstreet Boys (who have nearly 30M out of two albums that no one will admit owning). Again, this is why the music industry went bonkers over the teen market in the late 90’s / early 2000’s. Where else were you going to move that type of volume without much effort? Just get some pretty people, add a couple of catchy songs written by a 55 year old man, run the vocals through a computer and sell it to the public.
The whole Meat Loaf thing amazes me. For some reason he always just seems to be one step ahead of Weird Al in terms of public acceptance but with sale numbers like that you probably need to give him a lot more praise. Every metal fan owns that Metallica album, Simon and Garfunkel needs no explanation and Garth Brooks shows that all you need is a cowboy hat to succeed.
Tommorrow, the top half. With a few surprises along the way.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)