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Thread started 10/10/14 6:55pm

feeluupp

Prince Total Album Sales

Updated 2014 list of Prince's total world wide album sales.

1978 For You: 950,000

1979 Prince: 2,000,000
1980 Dirty Mind: 2,035,000
1981 Controversy: 2,680,000
1982 1999: 6,400,000
1984 Purple Rain: 21,000,000 (Highest selling Prince album)
1985 Around The World In A Day: 4,600,000
1986 Parade: 4,210,000
1987 Sign Of The Times: 4,225,000
1988 Lovesexy: 2,895,000
1989 Batman: 7,000,000

1990 Graffiti Bridge: 2,500,000
1991 Diamonds & Pearls: 6,750,000
1992 Symbol: 4,800,000
1993 The Hits 1,2/The B-Sides: 5,200,000
1994 Come: 1,300,000
1994 The Black Album: 590,000
1995 The Gold Experience: 920,000
1996 Chaos & Disorder: 360,000
1996 Emancipation: 1,250,000 (Certified 2x Platinum by RIAA for 3 disc set)
1998 Crystal Ball: 277,000
1998 Newpower Soul: 435,000
1999 The Vault: 265,000
1999 Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic: 765,000

2001 The Very Best Of Prince: 2,300,000
2001 The Rainbow Children: 320,000

2002 One Night Alone Live: N/A

2003 N.E.W.S.: 40,000 (Lowest selling Prince album)
2004 Musicology: 2,500,000
2006 3121: 1,000,000

2006 Ultimate Prince: 500,000

2007 Planet Earth: 300,000 (U.S. Sales only)

2009 LotusFlow3r: 544,700

2010 20Ten: (N/A)

2014 Art Official Age: 51,003 (U.S. 1st week sales)

2014 Plectrum Electrum: 26,360 (U.S. 1st week sales)

[Edited 10/10/14 19:48pm]

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Reply #1 posted 10/10/14 7:47pm

feeluupp

Diamond Album (1)

Purple Rain

Platinum Albums: (18)

Prince

Dirty Mind

Controversy

1999

Around The World In A Day

Parade

Sign "O" The Times

Lovesexy

Batman

Graffiti Bridge

Diamonds & Pearls

Love Symbol

The Hits 1,2/The B-Sides

Come

Emancipation

The Very Best of Prince

Musicology

3121

Gold Albums: (6)

For You

The Black Album

The Gold Experience

Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic

Ultimate Prince

Lotus Flow3r

Uncertified: (9)

Chaos & Disorder

Crystal Ball

New Power Soul

The Vault

The Rainbow Children

One Night Alone Live

N.E.W.S.

Planet Earth

20Ten

[Edited 10/10/14 19:49pm]

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Reply #2 posted 10/10/14 8:33pm

controversy99

avatar

Interesting. Thanks for putting that together. Btw, what's your source?

And something is very strange about the listening public here:
1998 Crystal Ball: 277,000
1998 Newpower Soul: 435,000
1999 The Vault: 265,000

How can the terrible NpS outsell the excellent albums before and after it?!
"Love & honesty, peace & harmony"
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Reply #3 posted 10/11/14 1:26am

SuperSoulFight
er

Because CB was a 5 cd-set and Vault was a throwaway record. Plus he actually did some promotion for NPS. There were videos, radio airplay.
[Edited 10/11/14 1:26am]
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Reply #4 posted 10/11/14 2:33am

databank

avatar

controversy99 said:

Interesting. Thanks for putting that together. Btw, what's your source? And something is very strange about the listening public here: 1998 Crystal Ball: 277,000 1998 Newpower Soul: 435,000 1999 The Vault: 265,000 How can the terrible NpS outsell the excellent albums before and after it?!

Maybe because it was all but terrible? It's one of my favorite prince albums. All my musician friends who were deep into funk but moderatly into prince at the time were totally crazy about this album, too.

A COMPREHENSIVE PRINCE DISCOGRAPHY (work in progress ^^): https://sites.google.com/...scography/
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Reply #5 posted 10/11/14 2:34am

databank

avatar

feeluupp said:

Updated 2014 list of Prince's total world wide album sales.

1978 For You: 950,000

1979 Prince: 2,000,000
1980 Dirty Mind: 2,035,000
1981 Controversy: 2,680,000
1982 1999: 6,400,000
1984 Purple Rain: 21,000,000 (Highest selling Prince album)
1985 Around The World In A Day: 4,600,000
1986 Parade: 4,210,000
1987 Sign Of The Times: 4,225,000
1988 Lovesexy: 2,895,000
1989 Batman: 7,000,000

1990 Graffiti Bridge: 2,500,000
1991 Diamonds & Pearls: 6,750,000
1992 Symbol: 4,800,000
1993 The Hits 1,2/The B-Sides: 5,200,000
1994 Come: 1,300,000
1994 The Black Album: 590,000
1995 The Gold Experience: 920,000
1996 Chaos & Disorder: 360,000
1996 Emancipation: 1,250,000 (Certified 2x Platinum by RIAA for 3 disc set)
1998 Crystal Ball: 277,000
1998 Newpower Soul: 435,000
1999 The Vault: 265,000
1999 Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic: 765,000

2001 The Very Best Of Prince: 2,300,000
2001 The Rainbow Children: 320,000

2002 One Night Alone Live: N/A

2003 N.E.W.S.: 40,000 (Lowest selling Prince album)
2004 Musicology: 2,500,000
2006 3121: 1,000,000

2006 Ultimate Prince: 500,000

2007 Planet Earth: 300,000 (U.S. Sales only)

2009 LotusFlow3r: 544,700

2010 20Ten: (N/A)

2014 Art Official Age: 51,003 (U.S. 1st week sales)

2014 Plectrum Electrum: 26,360 (U.S. 1st week sales)

[Edited 10/10/14 19:48pm]

Great job! Thanks a lot biggrin biggrin biggrin

A COMPREHENSIVE PRINCE DISCOGRAPHY (work in progress ^^): https://sites.google.com/...scography/
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Reply #6 posted 10/11/14 5:39am

SuperSoulFight
er

databank said:



controversy99 said:


Interesting. Thanks for putting that together. Btw, what's your source? And something is very strange about the listening public here: 1998 Crystal Ball: 277,000 1998 Newpower Soul: 435,000 1999 The Vault: 265,000 How can the terrible NpS outsell the excellent albums before and after it?!

Maybe because it was all but terrible? It's one of my favorite prince albums. All my musician friends who were deep into funk but moderatly into prince at the time were totally crazy about this album, too.


Yeah, I noticed that too! P funk fans liked it better than Prince fans.
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Reply #7 posted 10/11/14 6:08am

one2vibe

avatar

Notice how All (except For You) the WB album years are pretty much platinum or multiplatinum, with the exception of hit compilations , and musicology / 3121 and emancipation. Hmmm I don't really count gold exp, chaos and disorder, the vault, or black album WB years since that was during the whole SLAVE period and the relationship was ruined by then.

[Edited 10/11/14 6:10am]

[Edited 10/11/14 6:12am]

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Reply #8 posted 10/11/14 8:21am

Dandroppedadim
e

yes there are 'background' reasons why some didn't sell aswell - for instance NEWS was only sold thru Prince's NPGclub, so would of had limited exposure. Also if an album has been in print and available since it's release then it would continue to sell (a lot of the post WB albums are not available, thus reducing there chance to sell more). Also Black Album was a limited printing probably 600,000 total units manufactured so that one did quite well relatively.

can anyone be bothered to do a grand total?

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Reply #9 posted 10/11/14 8:32am

JasonW

90989063! I thought h was meant 2 be over the 100m?!
FUNK & PEACE
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Reply #10 posted 10/11/14 9:16am

68686

Cool! What do all these numbers mean? What's going to happen?

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Reply #11 posted 10/11/14 9:30am

Daveoooo

Dandroppedadime said:

yes there are 'background' reasons why some didn't sell aswell - for instance NEWS was only sold thru Prince's NPGclub, so would of had limited exposure. Also if an album has been in print and available since it's release then it would continue to sell (a lot of the post WB albums are not available, thus reducing there chance to sell more). Also Black Album was a limited printing probably 600,000 total units manufactured so that one did quite well relatively.



can anyone be bothered to do a grand total?



NEWS was commercially avalible - well I bought in inv in Plymouth, UK (as well as all CD releases including Crystal Ball between '98 and '04 for that matter)
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Reply #12 posted 10/11/14 9:33am

JoeTyler

VERY INTERESTING THREA

total world wide album sales.

1978 For You: 950,000 eek

1979 Prince: 2,000,000 eek
1980 Dirty Mind: 2,035,000 it should have been higher
1981 Controversy: 2,680,000 smile
1982 1999: 6,400,000 biggrin that's my boy biggrin the beginning of the golden age
1984 Purple Rain: 21,000,000 (Highest selling Prince album) HISTORY cool
1985 Around The World In A Day: 4,600,000 amazing considering the low promo
1986 Parade: 4,210,000 I guess Kiss is the one to "blame" here smile
1987 Sign Of The Times: 4,225,000 not bad at all, considering that it hadn't many hits
1988 Lovesexy: 2,895,000 still high nonetheless
1989 Batman: 7,000,000 thanks to the movie

1990 Graffiti Bridge: 2,500,000 eek and some people still call this whole project a failure...
1991 Diamonds & Pearls: 6,750,000 smile Prince still had it
1992 Symbol: 4,800,000 biggrin biggrin well done NPG!
1993 The Hits 1,2/The B-Sides: 5,200,000 cool cool cool
1994 Come: 1,300,000 not bad at all
1994 The Black Album: 590,000 not surprising
1995 The Gold Experience: 920,000 disbelief that album could and should have been a mega-hit neutral
1996 Chaos & Disorder: 360,000 the beginning of the end, people already tired of his antics and viewing him as the villian of the story (not just Warners)


1996 Emancipation: 1,250,000 (Certified 2x Platinum by RIAA for 3 disc set) lol had it been a single album, the sales would have been 600.000 aprox...
1998 Crystal Ball: 277,000 ugh
1998 Newpower Soul: 435,000 bored2
1999 The Vault: 265,000 bored
1999 Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic: 765,000 not bad for a total failure of a project, disappointing that it didn't reach the million, but THE END nonetheless

2001 The Very Best Of Prince: 2,300,000 eek eek
2001 The Rainbow Children: 320,000 pfff

2002 One Night Alone Live: N/A dead

2003 N.E.W.S.: 40,000 (Lowest selling Prince album) dead


2004 Musicology: 2,500,000 eek eek eek eek didn't know that
2006 3121: 1,000,000 kind of low... confused

2006 Ultimate Prince: 500,000 only that?

2007 Planet Earth: 300,000 (U.S. Sales only) bad promotion/distribution

2009 LotusFlow3r: 544,700 bad promotion/distribution

2010 20Ten: (N/A) AWFUL promotion/distribution

2014 Art Official Age: 51,003 (U.S. 1st week sales) bad promotion, lack of a real single with hit potential...and worst era of all time for the industry in term of sales

2014 Plectrum Electrum: 26,360 (U.S. 1st week sales) not surprising

[Edited 10/11/14 9:36am]

[Edited 10/11/14 9:37am]

tinkerbell
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Reply #13 posted 10/11/14 9:33am

Noodled24

Where are these numbers coming from? I only ask because Wikipedia says "Prince" (the album) has sold closer to 3m copies.

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Reply #14 posted 10/11/14 9:38am

feeluupp

BATMAN is reported to sell 4.7 million from 1989-1992 making it the fastest selling soundrack in history with a 2014 total of 7 million.

But Wikipedia states Batman has sold over 11 million world wide...

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Reply #15 posted 10/11/14 9:57am

feeluupp

According to Wikipedia:

Prince - 3m

Around The World In A Day -4m (U.S. sales)

Batman -11m

Love Symbol - 5m

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Reply #16 posted 10/11/14 10:16am

CharismaDove

I've previously seen some higher sales

such as Around the World in a Day sold 7 million (I know it was said it outsold 1999 due to this album following the PR hype)... Batman sold 11 million... SOTT sold 5 million, D&P sold 9 million, etc.. etc...

Wish I could find those links!

Maybe eye do, just not like eye did before pimp2
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Reply #17 posted 10/11/14 10:17am

CharismaDove

feeluupp said:

According to Wikipedia:

Prince - 3m

Around The World In A Day -4m (U.S. sales)

Batman -11m

Love Symbol - 5m

it's possible ATWIAD sold an additional 2 or 3 million worldwide. Afterall, it charted higher in the UK than Purple Rain did

Maybe eye do, just not like eye did before pimp2
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Reply #18 posted 10/11/14 11:19am

controversy99

avatar

Noodled24 said:

Where are these numbers coming from? I only ask because Wikipedia says "Prince" (the album) has sold closer to 3m copies.



Hello, OP, could you please answer this question?

Thanks,
"Love & honesty, peace & harmony"
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Reply #19 posted 10/11/14 11:49am

feeluupp

World Sales of AOA so far: 108,000 + 51,003 (U.S. first week sales) = 159,003 total first week world wide sales.

World Sales of PE so far: 63,000 + 26,360 (U.S. first week sales) = 89,360 total first week world wide sales.

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Reply #20 posted 10/11/14 5:58pm

redflag

Daveoooo said:

Dandroppedadime said:

yes there are 'background' reasons why some didn't sell aswell - for instance NEWS was only sold thru Prince's NPGclub, so would of had limited exposure. Also if an album has been in print and available since it's release then it would continue to sell (a lot of the post WB albums are not available, thus reducing there chance to sell more). Also Black Album was a limited printing probably 600,000 total units manufactured so that one did quite well relatively.

can anyone be bothered to do a grand total?

NEWS was commercially avalible - well I bought in inv in Plymouth, UK (as well as all CD releases including Crystal Ball between '98 and '04 for that matter)

Yeah, NEWS was distributed to the general market by the now-defunct Big Daddy Music Distribution, the same company that distributed the ONA box set.

[Edited 10/11/14 17:59pm]

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Reply #21 posted 10/12/14 10:17am

databank

avatar

redflag said:

Daveoooo said:

Dandroppedadime said: NEWS was commercially avalible - well I bought in inv in Plymouth, UK (as well as all CD releases including Crystal Ball between '98 and '04 for that matter)

Yeah, NEWS was distributed to the general market by the now-defunct Big Daddy Music Distribution, the same company that distributed the ONA box set.

[Edited 10/11/14 17:59pm]

Yeah I wish some people would cut the nonsense. Thx u guys for clarifying wink

A COMPREHENSIVE PRINCE DISCOGRAPHY (work in progress ^^): https://sites.google.com/...scography/
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Reply #22 posted 10/12/14 11:11am

Noodled24

feeluupp said:


1993 The Hits 1,2/The B-Sides: 5,200,000

These were 3 seperate albums, so not sure why all the sales are lumped together?

The Hits1 #5 UK Charts (spending 27 weeks in the charts)

The Hits2 #5 UK Charts (28 weeks in the charts)

The Hits/B-sides #4 UK Charts (14 weeks - and not bad given this cost about £30/$60 at the time)

According the the official Charts all 3 albums were released on the same day. Having 3 greatest hits CDs in the charts is nothing to be sniffed at. 5 discs occupying 3 of the top 10 spots in the same week(s) on a chart compiled by sales.

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