I was watching Prince:The Early Years, and the narrator said it sold 11 Million. So Prince has two Diamond albums?

Diamonds and Pearls went gold

and the Gold Experience went platinum

Crystall Ball went diamond.

(I have no idea if any of this is true but I just wanted to be silly)

11 million? that's nice.

TylerHippie said:

Isn't PurpleRain his only "Diamond" (+10 million sales) album in the US??

right now, i think that

Purple Rain

Batman

Diamonds & Pearls

are his biggest albums of all time worldwide (and in the US), followed by

1999

ATWIAD

am I right?

TylerHippie said:

I was watching Prince:The Early Years, and the narrator said it sold 11 Million. So Prince has two Diamond albums?

Never heard of that number. Batman sold well, but not that well. Probably around 6 million copies worldwide. Usually the total number of Prince records sold is put around 100-120 million worldwide.

[Edited 7/21/11 5:20am]

JoeTyler said:

Isn't PurpleRain his only "Diamond" (+10 million sales) album in the US??

right now, i think that

Purple Rain

Batman

Diamonds & Pearls

are his biggest albums of all time worldwide (and in the US), followed by

1999

ATWIAD

am I right?

this list is often used (not that it would be accurate but it seems to paint a realistic picture):

The 70's + 80's

1978 For You 930,000 = 550,000 + 380,000
1979 Prince 1,950,000 = 1,500,000 + 450,000
1980 Dirty Mind 2,015,000 = 1,085,000 + 930,000
1981 Controversy 2,650,000 = 1,550,000 + 1,100,000
1982 1999 6,075,000 = 4,320,000 + 1,755,000
1984 Purple Rain 19,880,000 = 14,480,000 + 5,400,000
1985 Around The World In A Day 4,585,000 = 2,845,000 + 1,740,000
1986 Parade 4,155,000 = 2,105,000 + 2,050,000
1987 Sign Of The Times 4,025,000 = 1,840,000 + 2,185,000
1988 Lovesexy 2,825,000 = 960,000 + 1,865,000
1989 Batman (Soundtrack) 4,790,000 = 2,500,000 + 2,290,000

Total 70's + 80's estimated worldwide all-time sales:
53,880,000 = 33,735,000 + 20,145,000

The 90's

1990 Graffiti Bridge 2,305,000 = 980,000 + 1,325,000
1991 Diamonds & Pearls 6,450,000 = 2,780,000 + 3,670,000
1992 Symbol 2,700,000 = 1,100,000 + 1,600,000
1993 The Hits/The B-Sides 1,000,000 = 650,000 + 350,000
1993 The Hits 1 2,750,000 = 2,000,000 + 750,000
1993 The Hits 2 2,250,000 = 1,750,000 + 500,000
1994 Come 1,000,000 = 500,000 + 500,000
1994 The Black Album 575,000 = 275,000 + 300,000
1995 The Gold Experience 900,000 = 550,000 + 350,000
1996 Chaos & Disorder 350,000 = 150,000 + 200,000
1996 Emancipation 1,200,000 = 700,000 + 500,000
1998 Crystal Ball 275,000 = 125,000 + 150,000
1998 Newpower Soul 425,000 = 225,000 + 200,000
1999 The Vault 250,000 = 125,000 + 125,000
1999 Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic 750,000 = 500,000 + 250,000

Total 90's estimated worldwide all-time sales:
23,180,000 = 12,410,000 + 10,770,000

The 00's

2001 The Very Best Of Prince 2,000,000 = 1,300,000 + 700,000
2001 The Rainbow Children 300,000 = 175,000 + 125,000
2004 Musicology 1,500,000 = 1,000,000 + 500,000 (concert sales NOT included)

(add 3121, Planet Earth, Lotus, MPLSound, let's say 1,5 / 2 millions)

from this, it seems like you are correct. except for the symbol album. Parade, Lovesexy and SOTT sold more

[Edited 7/21/11 5:34am]

Come outsold Gold ??

jenst said:

Come outsold Gold ??

I didn't make this list lol

But I remember both albums pretty much bombed at the time and Prince was angry that WB promoted Gold too little.

at the UK/ Brit awards in 1995 (Prince won for best international male artist):

the speaker said the Batman album was the fastest selling soundtrack in history.

Something like that...

^ After this Brit awards, Prince was on the front page of New Musical Express:

[img:$uid]http://img94.imageshack.us/img94/8646/nme1995.jpg[/img:$uid]

And there was a review of The Gold Experience (half a year before the final release in sep. 1995),

the tracklist included Days Of Wild in the tracklist, but with a sour comment from the reviewer, he wrote something like Days Of Wild was the worst track on the album.

MAYBE - at least that's what I think - this was the reason Prince decided to remove this funky track from TGE...

Tremolina said:

jenst said:

Come outsold Gold ??

I didn't make this list lol

But I remember both albums pretty much bombed at the time and Prince was angry that WB promoted Gold too little.

Ha - only Prince could appear on every late night talk show, several award shows, take out full print ads, have a live satellite broadcast concert, take over VH-1 - and still claim his album was promoted "too little"

On Topic:

Emancipation sales count as triple... really just a marketing gimmick, but technically it was triple-platinum.

billymeade said:

Tremolina said:

I didn't make this list lol

But I remember both albums pretty much bombed at the time and Prince was angry that WB promoted Gold too little.

Ha - only Prince could appear on every late night talk show, several award shows, take out full print ads, have a live satellite broadcast concert, take over VH-1 - and still claim his album was promoted "too little"

but i think that was all pretty much his doing, i dont think warners did much to back him on any of that though.

thedance said:

^ After this Brit awards, Prince was on the front page of New Musical Express:


And there was a review of The Gold Experience (half a year before the final release in sep. 1995),

the tracklist included Days Of Wild in the tracklist, but with a sour comment from the reviewer, he wrote something like Days Of Wild was the worst track on the album.

MAYBE - at least that's what I think - this was the reason Prince decided to remove this funky track from TGE...

whatever the reason, i think it was wise choice. the song is one of my all time faves from him, but not the studio version. it greatly benefited from the live vibe.

[Edited 7/21/11 8:01am]

thedance said:

Don't believe anything blindly that some "journalist" says.

That soundtrack didn't sell no damn 11 million worldwide. It did decent though.

I think the "Batman" soundtrack was his best sounding album. The mastering was done really well on it & the sound was even all through out it.

KCOOLMUZIQ said:

I think the "Batman" soundtrack was his best sounding album. The mastering was done really well on it & the sound was even all through out it.

but the cd sound sucks... the vinyl is better

or am i wrong

Timmy84 said:

That soundtrack didn't sell no damn 11 million worldwide. It did decent though.