According to the estate website it says Batman is the second largest Prince album with over 11 million world wide...

All the research I did on the chart figures I know it went 2x Platinum in the U.S. and 2x million world wide... Where did the other 7 million come from?

"As with the film Batman, Prince’s soundtrack to the movie was a hit. It remained at number 1 on the Billboard albums chart for six weeks, and sold over 11 million copies worldwide, making it one of his best-selling releases behind Purple Rain. The single “Batdance” was also a runaway hit, going to number 1 in several countries, and making history as one of the five number 1 Billboard hits that Prince enjoyed in his career (along with "When Doves Cry," "Let's Go Crazy," "Kiss," and "Cream"). Although Prince didn’t tour in support of the release, several of the songs from the Batman album made their way into the set list for 1990’s Nude Tour."

feeluupp said:

According to the estate website it says Batman is the second largest Prince album with over 11 million world wide...

All the research I did on the chart figures I know it went 2x Platinum in the U.S. and 2x million world wide... Where did the other 7 million come from?

"As with the film Batman, Prince’s soundtrack to the movie was a hit. It remained at number 1 on the Billboard albums chart for six weeks, and sold over 11 million copies worldwide, making it one of his best-selling releases behind Purple Rain. The single “Batdance” was also a runaway hit, going to number 1 in several countries, and making history as one of the five number 1 Billboard hits that Prince enjoyed in his career (along with "When Doves Cry," "Let's Go Crazy," "Kiss," and "Cream"). Although Prince didn’t tour in support of the release, several of the songs from the Batman album made their way into the set list for 1990’s Nude Tour."

interesting, i never heard that, i always assumed either 1999 or diamonds and pearls would be the second best selling. the batman craze at the time would make me believe that though.

This is true, critical flop...commercial success. I know more people that owned it than I do people who owned Purple Rain. That reminds of the joke about it in Shaun of the Dead

coldasice said:

This is true, critical flop...commercial success. I know more people that owned it than I do people who owned Purple Rain. That reminds of the joke about it in Shaun of the Dead

ya, critical flop, i think it was kurt loder who called it a color by numbers funk album and compared it to bobby brown's album, not in a complimentary fashion. I liked many of the songs though, but ya, you could see that some of the tunes weren't fully fleshed out, i'd only noticed that with his b-sides in those years.

PeteSilas said:

feeluupp said:

According to the estate website it says Batman is the second largest Prince album with over 11 million world wide...

All the research I did on the chart figures I know it went 2x Platinum in the U.S. and 2x million world wide... Where did the other 7 million come from?

"As with the film Batman, Prince’s soundtrack to the movie was a hit. It remained at number 1 on the Billboard albums chart for six weeks, and sold over 11 million copies worldwide, making it one of his best-selling releases behind Purple Rain. The single “Batdance” was also a runaway hit, going to number 1 in several countries, and making history as one of the five number 1 Billboard hits that Prince enjoyed in his career (along with "When Doves Cry," "Let's Go Crazy," "Kiss," and "Cream"). Although Prince didn’t tour in support of the release, several of the songs from the Batman album made their way into the set list for 1990’s Nude Tour."

interesting, i never heard that, i always assumed either 1999 or diamonds and pearls would be the second best selling. the batman craze at the time would make me believe that though.

After going through the world wide sales... It doesn't add up.

From the charts it says Batman estimated sales is over 4.5 million world wide.

Diamonds & Pearls being Prince's 2nd biggest selling album, 1999 being the third, and TVBOP as the fourth.

Why the surprise? Burton's first Batman film was massive, surely one of the most successful films of all time, so surely Prince's soundtrack was gonna be right up there.
That scene in Shaun is so irksome. In fact, I see it as a test of whether u get Prince or not; any muso who compares it to anything by Bobby Brown is an idiot. It's a funky album especially the remixes/ extended versions and ripe for a deluxe update as it's a bit on the short side.
Partyman is Prince's best video after Kiss (the coolest music video of all time), and Batdance has one of his best guitar solos. My favourite though is Trust.
Overall, it's the best example of how perfectly a musician can soundtrack a movie; Prince doesn't just capture it but he actually puts the whizz, bang and colour into that movie. A shame then that Burton didn't use more of Prince's music.
And just compare it to the rest of the Batman soundtracks; turgid, predictable soft rock and ballads, just awful.
Btw, have to say, and I'm probably on my own here, but I really do find Nolan's Batman's dull, miserable and just boring.

Darshy said:

Why the surprise? Burton's first Batman film was massive, surely one of the most successful films of all time, so surely Prince's soundtrack was gonna be right up there. That scene in Shaun is so irksome. In fact, I see it as a test of whether u get Prince or not; any muso who compares it to anything by Bobby Brown is an idiot. It's a funky album especially the remixes/ extended versions and ripe for a deluxe update as it's a bit on the short side. Partyman is Prince's best video after Kiss (the coolest music video of all time), and Batdance has one of his best guitar solos. My favourite though is Trust. Overall, it's the best example of how perfectly a musician can soundtrack a movie; Prince doesn't just capture it but he actually puts the whizz, bang and colour into that movie. A shame then that Burton didn't use more of Prince's music. And just compare it to the rest of the Batman soundtracks; turgid, predictable soft rock and ballads, just awful. Btw, have to say, and I'm probably on my own here, but I really do find Nolan's Batman's dull, miserable and just boring.

it was a prince album, which to me means it wasn't bad. some of my favorite prince lyrics are on that album, i loved the ballads and lemon crush which many of the fans here hate. and ya, partyman and batman are the best vids he ever did.

Darshy said:

I agree with you regarding the Nolan Batman movies. The first one is OK, the second took itself far too seriously and the third one is rubbish. Plus, Jack Nicholson is a far better Joker than Heath Ledger.

Darshy said:

Why the surprise? Burton's first Batman film was massive, surely one of the most successful films of all time, so surely Prince's soundtrack was gonna be right up there. That scene in Shaun is so irksome. In fact, I see it as a test of whether u get Prince or not; any muso who compares it to anything by Bobby Brown is an idiot. It's a funky album especially the remixes/ extended versions and ripe for a deluxe update as it's a bit on the short side. Partyman is Prince's best video after Kiss (the coolest music video of all time), and Batdance has one of his best guitar solos. My favourite though is Trust. Overall, it's the best example of how perfectly a musician can soundtrack a movie; Prince doesn't just capture it but he actually puts the whizz, bang and colour into that movie. A shame then that Burton didn't use more of Prince's music. And just compare it to the rest of the Batman soundtracks; turgid, predictable soft rock and ballads, just awful. Btw, have to say, and I'm probably on my own here, but I really do find Nolan's Batman's dull, miserable and just boring.

Because by sales figures that info is not accurate... Batman DID NOT sell over 11 million copies world wide...

It sold under 5 million world wide according to all the chart statistics...

'Why is your organ so small?

'He replied: I didn't know I was playing in a cathedral!'

'Nuff said!

One of my favorite Prince albums.

feeluupp said:

Batman the album was the best selling album of the 1989 summer worldwide,But in summer, sales are very low, and during its six weeks at #1 it surely didn t sell much more than one million copies.
.
As many pointed out here( without even trying to answer your légimate question) it wouldn t have been incredible for the soundtrack to sell 11 millions, just from the success of the movie. It should have been like that. The numerous broadcasting on tv in the following décades should have increased the numbers dramatically by millions. It didn t at all
.
To answer your question, my theory is that the 11 millions figures comes in fact from the sales of Purple Rain in the Us at the Time. Thèse reported numbers were mistaken in the press for the Batman sales.P R is à soundtrack too.
.
Batman didn t live up to the great sales expectations because :
.
1) it was Prince. If it were anybody else it would have sold more
.

2) the Danny Elfman soundtrack somehow compétited against Prince album.
.

3) For reasons I never understood, Partyman was à worldwide flop and didn t help the album. Maybe because it is So overtly heard in the movie.
.

4) Arms of Orion was a Bad choice of single and didn t call for more sales. WB must have thought that chosing à track unheard in the movie was a better strategy, following Partyman's failure.
.
I think they should have released Vicky' s waiting instead of Orion.

1999 is, followed by Batman...

http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2017/04/20/top-10-best-selling-prince-albums/

feeluupp said:

Chart statistics are not always accurate. Believe me, I know first hand. Although there is not generally THAT much of a discrepancy so I suspect there are other factors at play. Maybe they're counting streaming figures and downloads as well as physical album sales.

RODSERLING said:

feeluupp said:

According to the estate website it says Batman is the second largest Prince album with over 11 million world wide...

All the research I did on the chart figures I know it went 2x Platinum in the U.S. and 2x million world wide... Where did the other 7 million come from?

"As with the film Batman, Prince’s soundtrack to the movie was a hit. It remained at number 1 on the Billboard albums chart for six weeks, and sold over 11 million copies worldwide, making it one of his best-selling releases behind Purple Rain. The single “Batdance” was also a runaway hit, going to number 1 in several countries, and making history as one of the five number 1 Billboard hits that Prince enjoyed in his career (along with "When Doves Cry," "Let's Go Crazy," "Kiss," and "Cream"). Although Prince didn’t tour in support of the release, several of the songs from the Batman album made their way into the set list for 1990’s Nude Tour."

Batman the album was the best selling album of the 1989 summer worldwide,But in summer, sales are very low, and during its six weeks at #1 it surely didn t sell much more than one million copies. . As many pointed out here( without even trying to answer your légimate question) it wouldn t have been incredible for the soundtrack to sell 11 millions, just from the success of the movie. It should have been like that. The numerous broadcasting on tv in the following décades should have increased the numbers dramatically by millions. It didn t at all . To answer your question, my theory is that the 11 millions figures comes in fact from the sales of Purple Rain in the Us at the Time. Thèse reported numbers were mistaken in the press for the Batman sales.P R is à soundtrack too. . Batman didn t live up to the great sales expectations because : . 1) it was Prince. If it were anybody else it would have sold more . 2) the Danny Elfman soundtrack somehow compétited against Prince album. . 3) For reasons I never understood, Partyman was à worldwide flop and didn t help the album. Maybe because it is So overtly heard in the movie. . 4) Arms of Orion was a Bad choice of single and didn t call for more sales. WB must have thought that chosing à track unheard in the movie was a better strategy, following Partyman's failure. . I think they should have released Vicky' s waiting instead of Orion.

Right... That's why I'm confused... Batman has had claims it sold 11 or 7 million. In Alex Han's Possessed book, it said Batman sold 4.4 million albums world wide. We know for a fact Batman sold 2 million in the U.S. as it was certified 2x Platinum... But yes the momentum died very quickly with the Batman soundtrack... Still was a commercial hit for Prince, but it is nowhere near the 11 million plus sales figures as claimed on the estate website.

The 11 million comes from Wikipedia, which as you know anyone can contribute to that page...

Here are the numbers it did world wide, while not all the countries are listed here are the main ones it sold big in:

Australia (ARIA)[25]	Gold	35,000^
Canada (Music Canada)[26]	3× Platinum	300,000^
France (SNEP)[27]	Platinum	488,100 [28]*
Germany (BVMI)[29]	Gold	250,000^
Japan (RIAJ)[30]	Gold	100,000^
Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[31]	Gold	25,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[32]	Platinum	300,000^
United States (RIAA)[33]	2× Platinum	2,000,000^

IF you add just those numbers it comes to 4.1 million total worldwide... Estimate other major countries that are not listed, and the sales since his death I would say its under the 5 million mark.

feeluupp said:

By september 1992, according to Billboard magazine, Batman sold 4.6 millions worldwide.
It sold since then 100.000 with soundscan. It peaked at #61 in 2016 After Prince s passing.
.
I would say 4.8 millions worldwide by now, maybe 4.9 with shipments. Too Bad, really close to the 5 millions mark. Maybe it Will if we add streaming et
[Edited 6/13/18 23:38pm]

Well, since the Estate is "the singular, authoritative source on all things Prince", I guess we don't know shit and they have to be right, aren't they?

.

Another example of why they should ask some help from the most dedicated fans... Just sayin'...

PeteSilas said:

coldasice said:

This is true, critical flop...commercial success. I know more people that owned it than I do people who owned Purple Rain. That reminds of the joke about it in Shaun of the Dead

ya, critical flop, i think it was kurt loder who called it a color by numbers funk album and compared it to bobby brown's album, not in a complimentary fashion. I liked many of the songs though, but ya, you could see that some of the tunes weren't fully fleshed out, i'd only noticed that with his b-sides in those years.

All fair points, but he slapped it together in short order. It was a marked contrast to LoveSexy, which enjoyed a relatively warm critical reception but was the worst commercial flop of his career.

He probably felt like he needed to get up off the mat and get some commercial momentum back.

For my the album had a strong first half (except for "Arms of Orion"), then kind of petered out towards the end (except for "Scandalous").

namepeace said:

PeteSilas said:

ya, critical flop, i think it was kurt loder who called it a color by numbers funk album and compared it to bobby brown's album, not in a complimentary fashion. I liked many of the songs though, but ya, you could see that some of the tunes weren't fully fleshed out, i'd only noticed that with his b-sides in those years.

All fair points, but he slapped it together in short order. It was a marked contrast to LoveSexy, which enjoyed a relatively warm critical reception but was the worst commercial flop of his career.

He probably felt like he needed to get up off the mat and get some commercial momentum back.

For my the album had a strong first half (except for "Arms of Orion"), then kind of petered out towards the end (except for "Scandalous").

Actually that would be... N.E.W.S.

EmmaMcG said:

Darshy said:

Why the surprise? Burton's first Batman film was massive, surely one of the most successful films of all time, so surely Prince's soundtrack was gonna be right up there. That scene in Shaun is so irksome. In fact, I see it as a test of whether u get Prince or not; any muso who compares it to anything by Bobby Brown is an idiot. It's a funky album especially the remixes/ extended versions and ripe for a deluxe update as it's a bit on the short side. Partyman is Prince's best video after Kiss (the coolest music video of all time), and Batdance has one of his best guitar solos. My favourite though is Trust. Overall, it's the best example of how perfectly a musician can soundtrack a movie; Prince doesn't just capture it but he actually puts the whizz, bang and colour into that movie. A shame then that Burton didn't use more of Prince's music. And just compare it to the rest of the Batman soundtracks; turgid, predictable soft rock and ballads, just awful. Btw, have to say, and I'm probably on my own here, but I really do find Nolan's Batman's dull, miserable and just boring.

I agree with you regarding the Nolan Batman movies. The first one is OK, the second took itself far too seriously and the third one is rubbish. Plus, Jack Nicholson is a far better Joker than Heath Ledger.

jack put in a performance for the ages there, amazing how forgotten the whole Batman craze was, it was huge at the time. For years afterwards, actors of all stripes would be playing the half-loveable, funny, crazy villain, deniro did it in cape fear(wouldn't call that guy too loveable though), billy zane did it in tales from the crypt, everyone ripped off jack's character there.

the danny elfman soundtrack was actually pretty darned good, and of course it was actually in the film, Prince's album almost seemed like an excuse to latch a musical superstar onto the film, not one complete song was in the movie and it was completely unneccessary. Of course, batman was a perfect project for Prince though, the gemini, dual sided theme of the film fit prince to a t.

RODSERLING said:

feeluupp said:

According to the estate website it says Batman is the second largest Prince album with over 11 million world wide...

All the research I did on the chart figures I know it went 2x Platinum in the U.S. and 2x million world wide... Where did the other 7 million come from?

"As with the film Batman, Prince’s soundtrack to the movie was a hit. It remained at number 1 on the Billboard albums chart for six weeks, and sold over 11 million copies worldwide, making it one of his best-selling releases behind Purple Rain. The single “Batdance” was also a runaway hit, going to number 1 in several countries, and making history as one of the five number 1 Billboard hits that Prince enjoyed in his career (along with "When Doves Cry," "Let's Go Crazy," "Kiss," and "Cream"). Although Prince didn’t tour in support of the release, several of the songs from the Batman album made their way into the set list for 1990’s Nude Tour."

Batman the album was the best selling album of the 1989 summer worldwide,But in summer, sales are very low, and during its six weeks at #1 it surely didn t sell much more than one million copies. . As many pointed out here( without even trying to answer your légimate question) it wouldn t have been incredible for the soundtrack to sell 11 millions, just from the success of the movie. It should have been like that. The numerous broadcasting on tv in the following décades should have increased the numbers dramatically by millions. It didn t at all . To answer your question, my theory is that the 11 millions figures comes in fact from the sales of Purple Rain in the Us at the Time. Thèse reported numbers were mistaken in the press for the Batman sales.P R is à soundtrack too. . Batman didn t live up to the great sales expectations because : . 1) it was Prince. If it were anybody else it would have sold more . 2) the Danny Elfman soundtrack somehow compétited against Prince album. . 3) For reasons I never understood, Partyman was à worldwide flop and didn t help the album. Maybe because it is So overtly heard in the movie. . 4) Arms of Orion was a Bad choice of single and didn t call for more sales. WB must have thought that chosing à track unheard in the movie was a better strategy, following Partyman's failure. . I think they should have released Vicky' s waiting instead of Orion.

feeluupp said:

namepeace said:

All fair points, but he slapped it together in short order. It was a marked contrast to LoveSexy, which enjoyed a relatively warm critical reception but was the worst commercial flop of his career.

He probably felt like he needed to get up off the mat and get some commercial momentum back.

For my the album had a strong first half (except for "Arms of Orion"), then kind of petered out towards the end (except for "Scandalous").

Actually that would be... N.E.W.S.

i'm sure a few of his albums sold poorly just because he didn't really mean for them to sell that well. ONA probably sold even worse and I loved it from first listen. that xpectation album, news, ona, the rainbow children were all from an era where he seemed to intentionally ditch the pop crowd.

lovesexy left Prince cash poor-Batman paid big cash upfront because WB owns the publishing rights to that album, Prince signed those over in the big cash upfront deal.

I like the songs Trust and Partyman, have mixed feelings about Batman mix, dislike the Orion song, and love Electric Chair, the Future and Vicky's Waiting. Overall, it pales in comparison to Lovesexy in terms of originality and songwriting, but sold much better...Which to me proves that Prince's biggest problems when it came to sales were promotion, hype and accessibility and not music quality. If Lovesexy had not been one continuous song and had no nudity on its cover, I think it would have sold better.

kewlschool said:

lovesexy left Prince cash poor-Batman paid big cash upfront because WB owns the publishing rights to that album, Prince signed those over in the big cash upfront deal.

that's right, only prince could eschew the pop world like that and come back at will, he did it several times, first after the bombed debut album, then after Lovesexy, then after Graffiti Bridge, the last time he really pulled that kind of a rabbit out of his hat was musicology with the clever marketing scheme of selling the album with the ticket price. There had to be times though that he expected better sales and didn't get them, as with emancipation and the gold experience and the symbol album, which showed that he had the misguided faith in his talent that he could sell 5 mill of each and every album per the crazy contract.

Darshy said:

Why the surprise? Burton's first Batman film was massive, surely one of the most successful films of all time, so surely Prince's soundtrack was gonna be right up there. That scene in Shaun is so irksome. In fact, I see it as a test of whether u get Prince or not; any muso who compares it to anything by Bobby Brown is an idiot. It's a funky album especially the remixes/ extended versions and ripe for a deluxe update as it's a bit on the short side. Partyman is Prince's best video after Kiss (the coolest music video of all time), and Batdance has one of his best guitar solos. My favourite though is Trust. Overall, it's the best example of how perfectly a musician can soundtrack a movie; Prince doesn't just capture it but he actually puts the whizz, bang and colour into that movie. A shame then that Burton didn't use more of Prince's music. And just compare it to the rest of the Batman soundtracks; turgid, predictable soft rock and ballads, just awful. Btw, have to say, and I'm probably on my own here, but I really do find Nolan's Batman's dull, miserable and just boring.

That scene is HILARIOUS. It's on point and demonstrates a real love for Prince.

feeluupp said:

namepeace said:

All fair points, but he slapped it together in short order. It was a marked contrast to LoveSexy, which enjoyed a relatively warm critical reception but was the worst commercial flop of his career.

He probably felt like he needed to get up off the mat and get some commercial momentum back.

For my the album had a strong first half (except for "Arms of Orion"), then kind of petered out towards the end (except for "Scandalous").

Actually that would be... N.E.W.S.

I don't think NEWS had quite the same commercial expectation as Lovesexy

I wouldn't call Batman a critical 'flop', even if it didn't get the same notices as his previous albums.

Q 4/5

Guardian 3/5

Village Voice B+

Entertainment Weekly B-

Rolling Stone 3.5/5

Chicago Sun Times 3.5/4

etc etc

And the conceit of all the songs being sung by characters in the movie has been praised for its aspiration.

It works on its own terms, but it was never meant to challenge SOTT, Parade etc

leecaldon said:

feeluupp said:

Actually that would be... N.E.W.S.

I don't think NEWS had quite the same commercial expectation as Lovesexy

Exactly. Prince had worse sellers, but LoveSexy broke the streak of consecutive platinum albums. It flopped on the heels of SOTT, and a lead single that landed in the top 5 only months after a top-10 single from SOTT.

namepeace said:

leecaldon said:

I don't think NEWS had quite the same commercial expectation as Lovesexy

Exactly. Prince had worse sellers, but LoveSexy broke the streak of consecutive platinum albums. It flopped on the heels of SOTT, and a lead single that landed in the top 5 only months after a top-10 single from SOTT.

Yes in the U.S. that's true... From Controversy - SOTT every album went Platinum in the U.S.

Lovesexy went GOLD, however world wide it over a million.