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Thread started 06/13/18 7:41am

feeluupp

Batman Second Largest Selling Prince Album?

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."

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Reply #1 posted 06/13/18 12:05pm

PeteSilas

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.

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Reply #2 posted 06/13/18 1:21pm

coldasice

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
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Reply #3 posted 06/13/18 1:45pm

PeteSilas

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.

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Reply #4 posted 06/13/18 2:25pm

feeluupp

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.

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Reply #5 posted 06/13/18 2:28pm

Darshy

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.
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Reply #6 posted 06/13/18 2:41pm

PeteSilas

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.

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Reply #7 posted 06/13/18 3:17pm

EmmaMcG

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.
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Reply #8 posted 06/13/18 3:22pm

feeluupp

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...

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Reply #9 posted 06/13/18 3:30pm

kingricefan

'Why is your organ so small?

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

'Nuff said! biggrin

One of my favorite Prince albums.

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Reply #10 posted 06/13/18 3:32pm

RODSERLING

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.
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Reply #11 posted 06/13/18 3:33pm

LaurenceNoonan

1999 is, followed by Batman...

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

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Reply #12 posted 06/13/18 3:38pm

EmmaMcG

feeluupp 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.



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...



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.
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Reply #13 posted 06/13/18 5:03pm

feeluupp

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.

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Reply #14 posted 06/13/18 5:13pm

feeluupp

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.

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Reply #15 posted 06/13/18 11:34pm

RODSERLING

feeluupp said:



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.



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]
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Reply #16 posted 06/14/18 3:41am

databank

avatar

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? rolleyes

.

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

A COMPREHENSIVE PRINCE DISCOGRAPHY (work in progress ^^): https://sites.google.com/...scography/
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Reply #17 posted 06/14/18 2:22pm

namepeace

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

Good night, sweet Prince | 7 June 1958 - 21 April 2016

Props will be withheld until the showing and proving has commenced. -- Aaron McGruder
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Reply #18 posted 06/14/18 5:38pm

feeluupp

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 twocents 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. lol

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Reply #19 posted 06/14/18 8:06pm

PeteSilas

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.

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Reply #20 posted 06/14/18 8:09pm

PeteSilas

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.

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Reply #21 posted 06/14/18 8:13pm

PeteSilas

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 twocents 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. lol

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.

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Reply #22 posted 06/14/18 10:39pm

kewlschool

avatar

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.

99.9% of everything I say is strictly for my own entertainment
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Reply #23 posted 06/14/18 11:02pm

purplerabbitho
le

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.

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Reply #24 posted 06/15/18 1:00am

PeteSilas

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.

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Reply #25 posted 06/15/18 4:22am

leecaldon

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.

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Reply #26 posted 06/15/18 4:24am

leecaldon

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 twocents 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. lol

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

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Reply #27 posted 06/15/18 4:43am

leecaldon

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

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Reply #28 posted 06/15/18 10:06am

namepeace

leecaldon said:

feeluupp said:

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

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


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.

Good night, sweet Prince | 7 June 1958 - 21 April 2016

Props will be withheld until the showing and proving has commenced. -- Aaron McGruder
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Reply #29 posted 06/15/18 10:52am

feeluupp

namepeace said:

leecaldon said:

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


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.

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