i find it impossible that Purple Rain hasnt reached 14 million in 8 years..every few years it would sell a couple of million and then it cant sell another million in the next 8? i dont know how these things work but somebody needs to update this

PRINCE & THE REVOLUTION PURPLE RAIN (SOUNDTRACK) 08/29/84 WARNER BROS. P ALBUM SOLO Std
PRINCE & THE REVOLUTION PURPLE RAIN (SOUNDTRACK) 08/29/84 WARNER BROS. G ALBUM SOLO Std
PRINCE & THE REVOLUTION PURPLE RAIN (SOUNDTRACK) 11/13/84 WARNER BROS. M (8) ALBUM SOLO Std
PRINCE & THE REVOLUTION PURPLE RAIN 12/05/84 WARNER BROS. G SINGLE SOLO Std
PRINCE & THE REVOLUTION PURPLE RAIN (SOUNDTRACK) 01/16/85 WARNER BROS. M (9) ALBUM SOLO Std
PRINCE & THE REVOLUTION PURPLE RAIN (SOUNDTRACK) 02/22/89 WARNER BROS. M (10) ALBUM SOLO Std
PRINCE & THE REVOLUTION PURPLE RAIN (SOUNDTRACK) 07/11/94 WARNER BROS. M (11) ALBUM SOLO Std
PRINCE & THE REVOLUTION PURPLE RAIN (SOUNDTRACK) 05/16/96 WARNER BROS. M (13) ALBUM SOLO Std
1

okay i agree entirly i personly have the soundrack and the dvd of the film

whats amazing is the album sold 8 million in the first 2 and a half months!

With gold and platinum certifications the record company has to apply with the RIAA. I'm sure Purple Rain has sold another million in the last 8 years , but probably Warners figure its not worth their money and effort to get it certified further.

Mazerati said:

it wont have sold anywhere near that figure, remember, these arent sales figures they are figures shipped. once they knew how big this album was gonna be it would have shipped 8 milion in 2.5 months, but if it sold that many, it would have been selling a million a week for 8 weeks! i really honestly dont think that happened, plus, as these are RIAA figures, it would mean the figure we're talking about would be much higher, cos there would still have to be copies still in the shops!

PR seems to sell about 5/6k a week at most, and these are from figures this year where prince is at a level of popularity he hasn't had since D&P, so it may normally be less than that. 5k x 52 = 260k, so at most its doing 300k a year (still pretty good), but the figures wont need updating for abit i'd imagine, cos if they did two million 8 years ago...actually, it could need updating provided its been selling at 5k a week since then!

but probably only by a million. hope that wasn't too confusing!!!!!

You people do realize there is a world outside USA as well?

Ive always thought this 2. I remember back in 1990 I watched the American top ten with Casey Kasem and they were doing the biggest soundtracks of all time chart Purple Rain was 2nd with 24 million sold behind Saturday Night Fever. But whenever I see charts Purple Rain is always said 2 have sold between 10-14 million copies thats bullshi*. The same can bee said 4 Thriller by Michael Jackson that is an album that sold 40 million copies by 1985 alone, but whenever u see figures they still say 40 million sold. Those two albums must sell at least 1 million copies a year worldwide.

I hate 2 think that it might be racially motivated.

"Thriller" has sold way over 50 copies worlwide now. I believe "Purple Rain" 's sales figure by the begining of the 90s were about 16 million.

YODAHENDRIX said:

I doubt it is.

Novabreaker said:

I'm pretty sure they dont.

bkw said:

It's definately certified DIAMOND by RIAA 4 $ales of over 10 million.

WORLDWIDE is harder 2 determine, 2gether with U.S. total somewhere around 15 - 16 mil...
[Edited 10/7/04 5:52am]

bkw said:

OK, but you do realize that the question was specifically regarding US sales? So why discuss international sales when you're talking about it's US certification? It's not a matter of 'American ignorance;' there is no one agency like the RIAA that calculates worldwide sales figures. We can't discuss it's international certification because there isn't one. Besides, Purple Rain wasn't as big a seller in other countries as it was in the US. Later 80s albums like Sign O' The Times and Lovesexy performed better in the European market than PR did. I know Prince's commercial peak in the UK actually happened after Purple Rain. So relax, not every statement made by an American is meant as some sort of slight towards people in the rest of the world. You give me some sales figures for your country and I for one would be happy to discuss them.

Well, internationaly (outside USA) we know something:

according to Billboard magazine in 1992, being Warner the source, "Purple Rain" had sold 4.5 million outside USA by that time. So this is a minimum number internationaly speaking. Certifications outside USA that are public:

Canada 6xPlatinum in 1984 = 600,000
Germany Platinum in 1994 = 500,000
UK 2xPlatinum in 1992 = 600,000
Australia 2xPlatinum = 140,000
Japan = 130,000

According to Minneapolis Star Tribune journalist Jon Bream, sales of Prince albums worldwide by 1992 were

For You = 800,000
Prince = 1.75 million
Dirty Mind = 1.8 m
Controversy = 2.3 m
1999 = 5 m (when "Purple Rain" was released its US sales were 2.3 m)
Purple Rain = 14.7 m
Around The World In A Day = 4.35 m
Parade = 3.5 m (1.8 m in US)
Sign Of The Times = 3.75 m (1.8 m in US)
Lovesexy = 2.65 m (990,000 in US)
Batman (Soundtrack) = 4.6 m
Graffiti Bridge = 2 m
Diamonds And Pearls = 5.8 m (with 3.3 outside US including 450,000 in France; 300,000 in UK; 250,000 in Germany and 280,000 in Australia)

According to Warner on a Time magazine article:

Symbol = 3.45 m

Also somebody on these forums told that according to Soundscan, since 1991 "Purple Rain" sold 2.1 m in US, so i would say sales of "Purple Rain" in the 90's are between 2.5 m and 3 m...so the upgrade if it happens will be to 14 m and not more in principle....

Only for curiosity, according to the official Michael Jackson site its sales are (worldwide) :

Off The Wall = 19 m
Thriller = 59 m
Bad = 28 m
Dangerous = 29 m
HIStory = 18 m

newpower99 said:

BINGO! Same for Batman as well...hasn't been updated since late '89 from memory

BINGO! Same for Batman as well...hasn't been updated since late '89 from memory[/quote]

yeah there are a few prince albums that need updating, it would be nice to see em updating cos his riaa sales would leap up quite nicely.
from what i remember

around the world in a day has done 3 million at the time, yet it only 2 times plat, so could need to go 3/4 plat.

im always confused about 1999, is that only counted as a single disc now?

sign did 1.3 at the time, so should be 2/3 plat, and could be more now.

batman as you say.

D&P did 2.4 so that might need updating, but i cant think catalogue sales are that great for that album!

i imagine theres a couple of others at least too, lovesexy?

Edu said:

u r correct and so accurate i think most of the prince stuff is inb the archives at billboard.com ill check that stuff later and michael seems to re-release every album so he gets a million or 2 every year if u check his site out

Looking to the sales of Prince albums in the 90's, especially the ones which sold less, i would say that are between 100,000 and 200,000 people that would have bought the Prince catalogue in CD to replace the vinyl collection. The RIAA certifications were given almost all of them in the vinyl days. So looking to the Prince LP's sales at the time of latest certifications i would say that if one day happens one upgrade of Prince catalogue will be the following:

Purple Rain = 14xPlatinum (it shipped 1.3 million in first week back in 1984)
Around The World In A Day = 3xPlatinum (shipped 2.7 million on first week in 1985)
Parade = 2xPlatinum
Sign Of Times = 2xPlatinum (its running time is less than 100 minutes, so will never be considered a multi-disc set, otherwise it's recertification would be 4xP)
Lovesexy = Platinum ( Warner waited back in '88 several months to certified this album because it was very close to the million shipped, including 750,000 in the release week, but it never reached the 1m, that's why it was finally certified Gold in December '88, seven months after release date)
The Very Best Of Prince = Platinum

and maybe both the "Hits" 2xPlatinum, but just maybe...
[Edited 10/8/04 8:19am]

so if Lovesexy sold 990,000 copies by 1992 then it has to be platinum by now...im sure its sold 10,000 copies in 12 years

Mazerati said:

that could and it is possible it probably did between here and now

renfield said:

I'm totally relaxed. No worries. I was just pointing out that sales happen elsewhere as well - it's surprising how many people don't automatically take this into account.

And hmmm, I'd estimate "Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic" has sold an estimated 500 copies where I live. Maybe even less.