In the 6 weeks since Prince's shocking tragic passing, his album sales have increased dramatically. In the first 2 days alone THE VERY BEST OF PRINCE sold over 120,000 copies, and the week after sold over 300,000 copies just in the U.S. alone.

Since then THE VERY BEST OF PRINCE has sold over 2 million copies world wide in just 6 weeks.

In the first few weeks since his death, almost all the in print WB catalouge albums charted and sold, including PHASE 2 which for 3 weeks sold over 50,000 copies worldwide, and even cracked the TOP 30 on Billboard...

Other albums such as, For You, Parade, Lovesexy, D&P, Come, Batman, etc...also all charted for a few weeks...

With the time going by, it seems the only two Prince albums besides THE VERY BEST OF PRINCE, ULTIMATE PRINCE & THE HITS THE B-SIDES that the mass public is actually buying are, PURPLE RAIN and 1999.

So far those are the two non compilation albums that have sold the most.

In the 6th week PURPLE RAIN is at #24 on the world charts selling over 24,000 copies worldwideand 1999 is still in the top #50.

So to the general public audience 1999 and PURPLE RAIN are the two most popular Prince albums since his death. Do you think the public just like to tie Prince to that iconic "Purple trenchcoat" image...

I think the majority of the public just ties Prince to one sound, one iconic image, the PURPLE era. 1982-1984.

feeluupp said:

So to the general public audience 1999 and PURPLE RAIN are the two most popular Prince albums since his death. Do you think the public just like to tie Prince to that iconic "Purple trenchcoat" image...

I think the majority of the public just ties Prince to one sound, one iconic image, the PURPLE era. 1982-1984.

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Well, it certainly seems like it. Frustratingly, the general public - not in the know - just presume they can get what they want out of Prince in those two albums.

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Those 2 albums are classics, for sure, but they obviously don't tell the full story.

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By the time a career-defining set is put together, the boat would've sailed.

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Besides, what kind of 'career-defining' set CAN be released? WB only own what they own, and the rest of the 90s stuff and beyond were owned by Prince, which are now owned by... who?

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Unfortunately, WB are always going to be in a position where they can churn out re-issues of the pre-1995 albums, and that's probably as much as will be on sale for a while.

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But, whatever, if people re-connect with him, or connect with him for the first time it's all good in my eyes.

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Just chronically sad that there'll never be any true new music to look forward to. Everything from now on in are memories and retrospectives. It's pretty hard - still - to get your head around.

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I guess this is partially driven by the albums that were available at the time.

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I understand that many of the later albums aren't even in print anymore and I guess people buying in stores would have just gone with what was there.

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I imagine that WB would always have a decent reserve of the greatest hits albums (since Greatest Hits always tend to sell well to the general public) as well as Purple Rain (being his most obvious, most commercial album which I suspect has always sold a fair stream of units no matter waht the year.

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As Prince fans we love and appreciate every era of his, but I do think the general public tends to have an *image* of what Prince was musically.

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As far as the different album sales, I think alot of it has to do with him releasing so many albums. It takes a real comittment to actually obtain and listen to all his albums. We Prince fans just gobble up everything, but there are many people out there who are "I just like his hits" kind of people.

In the 6 weeks since his death Prince has sold over 4 million albums and songs world wide.

The majority of the world, and as hardcore Prince fans we are not the majority, know Purple Rain and little else. If it wasn't on the radio they've never heard it. But that would be true for any artist.

feeluupp said:

RJOrion said:

feeluupp said:

In the 6 weeks since his death Prince has sold over 4 million albums and songs world wide.

with music so easily available for free now, thats an amazing number...

It really is... More incredible are the first 2 day numbers... Sold more than MJ and Bowies catalouge after their death...

I think as time goes on if many of YT music remains you will see more people seeking out some more of experimental albums. After they wear out their copies of Rain and 1999 they will continue to seek out his other albums. Just look at the comments and views of some of the more obscure vids. There are a lot of new fans just discovering what we always knew.

feeluupp said:

Since then THE VERY BEST OF PRINCE has sold over 2 million copies world wide in just 6

That's completely wrong, TVBO sold about 860.000 ex worldwide since Prince's death, not 2 millions.

[Edited 6/6/16 5:20am]

[Edited 6/6/16 5:20am]

RODSERLING said:

feeluupp said:

Since then THE VERY BEST OF PRINCE has sold over 2 million copies world wide in just 6

That's completely wrong, TVBO sold about 860.000 ex worldwide since Prince's death, not 2 millions.

[Edited 6/6/16 5:20am]

In the first 2 weeks TVBO sold over 400,000 copies in the U.S. ALONE.

It doesn't seem any different to any other artist. People buy a best of or the biggest hit album because they want a sampler experience, it's easy and quick and 98% will lose interest once the headlines die down.

feeluupp said:

RODSERLING said:

That's completely wrong, TVBO sold about 860.000 ex worldwide since Prince's death, not 2 millions.

[Edited 6/6/16 5:20am]

In the first 2 weeks TVBO sold over 400,000 copies in the U.S. ALONE.

Yes...But 90 % of its sales were in the USA + UK + Australia...In the rest of the world, nobody cared. In Frabce, its very best of sold about 25/30.000 ex since its death...

feeluupp said:

In the 6 weeks since his death Prince has sold over 4 million albums and songs world wide.

It's gotta be more than that by this point, no?

Apparently, he had topped 4 million by April 29th, in the US alone:

http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart-beat/7350179/prince-albums-songs-sales-death

This article from Pitchfork suggests 1.3 million albums and 3.9 million songs in the US within 3 weeks:

http://pitchfork.com/thepitch/1146-prince-and-michael-jackson-still-competing-posthumously-on-the-charts/

They are amazing numbers indeed.

Moonbeam said:

feeluupp said:

In the 6 weeks since his death Prince has sold over 4 million albums and songs world wide.

It's gotta be more than that by this point, no?

Apparently, he had topped 4 million by April 29th, in the US alone:

http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart-beat/7350179/prince-albums-songs-sales-death

This article from Pitchfork suggests 1.3 million albums and 3.9 million songs in the US within 3 weeks:

http://pitchfork.com/thepitch/1146-prince-and-michael-jackson-still-competing-posthumously-on-the-charts/

They are amazing numbers indeed.

Yes, when the Prince's album won't be on the top 40 worldide chart anymore, I suggest me and Feeluup make thread about Prince's sales, including post-mortem sales.

RODSERLING said:

Moonbeam said:

It's gotta be more than that by this point, no?

Apparently, he had topped 4 million by April 29th, in the US alone:

http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart-beat/7350179/prince-albums-songs-sales-death

This article from Pitchfork suggests 1.3 million albums and 3.9 million songs in the US within 3 weeks:

http://pitchfork.com/thepitch/1146-prince-and-michael-jackson-still-competing-posthumously-on-the-charts/

They are amazing numbers indeed.

Yes, when the Prince's album won't be on the top 40 worldide chart anymore, I suggest me and Feeluup make thread about Prince's sales, including post-mortem sales.

I'd love that!

RODSERLING said:

Moonbeam said:

It's gotta be more than that by this point, no?

Apparently, he had topped 4 million by April 29th, in the US alone:

http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart-beat/7350179/prince-albums-songs-sales-death

This article from Pitchfork suggests 1.3 million albums and 3.9 million songs in the US within 3 weeks:

http://pitchfork.com/thepitch/1146-prince-and-michael-jackson-still-competing-posthumously-on-the-charts/

They are amazing numbers indeed.

Yes, when the Prince's album won't be on the top 40 worldide chart anymore, I suggest me and Feeluup make thread about Prince's sales, including post-mortem sales.

Would be great, hopefully can get it stickyed as well..