According to my estimations, official charts and sales, Prince sold about 3.2 millions albums after his death worldwide, including 2 millions in the USA only (Prince being an anglosaxon phenomenon only).

.

name of the album / total sales after death WW / sales after death US / sales after death outside the US

.

THE VERY BEST OF : 1.000.026 / 610 k / 416 k

PURPLE RAIN : 605.000 / 451 k / 154 k

ULTIMATE : 262.000 / 127 k / 135 k

THE HITS / B SIDES : 249.000 / 124 k / 125 k

1999 : 204.000 / 152 k / 52 k

[Edited 9/10/16 2:49am]

[Edited 9/10/16 2:50am]

Thanks for doing this. It was a thoughtful thing.
Do you have any idea how many of other albums sold? My guess is the numbers will continue at a pretty decent pace with time - what do you think?

RODSERLING said:

According to my estimations, official charts and sales, Prince sold about 3.2 millions albums after his death worldwide, including 2 millions in the USA only (Prince being an anglosaxon phenomenon only).

.

name of the album / total sales after death WW / sales after death US / sales after death outside the US

.

THE VERY BEST OF : 1.000.026 / 610 k / 416 k

PURPLE RAIN : 605.000 / 451 k / 154 k

ULTIMATE : 262.000 / 127 k / 135 k

THE HITS / B SIDES : 249.000 / 124 k / 125 k

1999 : 204.000 / 152 k / 52 k

[Edited 9/10/16 2:49am]

[Edited 9/10/16 2:50am]

.

What does that mean?

.

QueenofCardboard said:

RODSERLING said:

According to my estimations, official charts and sales, Prince sold about 3.2 millions albums after his death worldwide, including 2 millions in the USA only (Prince being an anglosaxon phenomenon only).

.

name of the album / total sales after death WW / sales after death US / sales after death outside the US

.

THE VERY BEST OF : 1.000.026 / 610 k / 416 k

PURPLE RAIN : 605.000 / 451 k / 154 k

ULTIMATE : 262.000 / 127 k / 135 k

THE HITS / B SIDES : 249.000 / 124 k / 125 k

1999 : 204.000 / 152 k / 52 k

[Edited 9/10/16 2:49am]

[Edited 9/10/16 2:50am]

.

What does that mean?

.

That Europeans already had those albums so they didn't need to catch-up?

RODSERLING said:

According to my estimations, official charts and sales, Prince sold about 3.2 millions albums after his death worldwide, including 2 millions in the USA only (Prince being an anglosaxon phenomenon only).

.

name of the album / total sales after death WW / sales after death US / sales after death outside the US

.

THE VERY BEST OF : 1.000.026 / 610 k / 416 k

PURPLE RAIN : 605.000 / 451 k / 154 k

ULTIMATE : 262.000 / 127 k / 135 k

THE HITS / B SIDES : 249.000 / 124 k / 125 k

1999 : 204.000 / 152 k / 52 k

Your thread title says "real album sales" which implies earlier numbers reported from various more reputable sources than yourself, aren't the real numbers. However you then make it known that your numbers are completely made up based on your own estimations.

The numbers are indeed inaccurate, he sold much more than that.

As reported by BillBoard he sold over 4 million in the first 3 days of his death.

Also not reported was how PHASE ONE and PHASE TWO each sold over 30,000 the following week of his death...

feeluupp said:

The numbers are indeed inaccurate, he sold much more than that.

As reported by BillBoard he sold over 4 million in the first 3 days of his death.

Also not reported was how PHASE ONE and PHASE TWO each sold over 30,000 the following week of his death...

Those numbers are accurate. My sources are Billboard, soundscan, mediatraffic, and various report from sales over the world.

.

Billboard never said Prince sold 4 millions. This is not the first time I explain to you they were talking about "records", that means albums + digital singles.

.

https://www.yahoo.com/music/prince-smashes-billboard-sales-records-following-death-180123648.html

Billboard said the top sellers were three hits collections, Purple Rain, and 1999.

The singer sold 4.4 million albums and songs the week after his death, compared to 19,000 the week before.

.

Prince is a huge seller in the USA, a good seller in the Uk, Australia and Canada, but in the rest of the world it seems that nobody cares.

anangellooksdown said:

Thanks for doing this. It was a thoughtful thing. Do you have any idea how many of other albums sold? My guess is the numbers will continue at a pretty decent pace with time - what do you think?

Yes, I ll do that, but the numbers are abysmal. "Prince" sold 68.000 ex in the USA only (maybe 7.000 others outside the US), SOTT sold about 80.000 worldwide.

feeluupp said:

Also not reported was how PHASE ONE and PHASE TWO each sold over 30,000 the following week of his death...

lol PHASE 2 stayed only one week in the charts worldwide. The maybe 60.000 ex worldwide sold by PHASE 2 is included in the 3.2 millions worldwide.

RODSERLING said:

-- Can you explain were the 4 million number came from. Because it was reported more than once. See Billboard - http://www.billboard.com/...board-200.
[Edited 9/12/16 1:31am]

i am streaming everything tbh. bought what i could from itunes but not a lot available apart from hits albums. So Tidal the whole day every day.

databank said:

That Europeans already had those albums so they didn't need to catch-up?

remko said:

databank said:

That Europeans already had those albums so they didn't need to catch-up?

Prince sales in Europe are rather low. His greatest achievement in Europe was to sell PURPLE RAIN and DIAMONDS AND PEARLS at about 3 millions copies.

laurarichardson said:

RODSERLING said:

Those numbers are accurate. My sources are Billboard, soundscan, mediatraffic, and various report from sales over the world.

.

Billboard never said Prince sold 4 millions. This is not the first time I explain to you they were talking about "records", that means albums + digital singles.

.

https://www.yahoo.com/music/prince-smashes-billboard-sales-records-following-death-180123648.html

Billboard said the top sellers were three hits collections, Purple Rain, and 1999.

The singer sold 4.4 million albums and songs the week after his death, compared to 19,000 the week before.

.

Prince is a huge seller in the USA, a good seller in the Uk, Australia and Canada, but in the rest of the world it seems that nobody cares.

-- Can you explain were the 4 million number came from. Because it was reported more than once. See Billboard - http://www.billboard.com/...board-200. [Edited 9/12/16 1:31am]

Like I said, the 4 million number is made up from albums (he sold 650.000 the first 4 days after his death) and singles (more than 3 millions in 4 days).

.

Prince albums sales are ridiculously low compared to what Bowie sold worldwide after his death. But Prince singles sales are bigger, because the USA, where Prince was strong commercially, is a huge digital market.

.

With only 4 albums (BLACKSTAR 1.9 m, Best Of" David Bowie - 636,000 , Nothing Has Changed (Best Of)" David Bowie - 516,000, ZIGGY STARDUST 220.000 ex ) Bowie outsold worldwide the entire Prince discography, thanks to the european market.

[Edited 9/12/16 12:42pm]

RODSERLING said:

-- What is your point? He sold four million albums after his death per Billboard. You feel that was not enough? You realize that a good chunk of his catalog is not in print and vast amount of is free on the Internet or being bootlegged. Prince is not for everybody you are speaking of a music catalog that crosses many genres of music. Dude was never going to sell music in the billions and I think he was fine with that.

RODSERLING said:

laurarichardson said:

RODSERLING said: -- Can you explain were the 4 million number came from. Because it was reported more than once. See Billboard - http://www.billboard.com/...board-200. [Edited 9/12/16 1:31am]

Like I said, the 4 million number is made up from albums (he sold 650.000 the first 4 days after his death) and singles (more than 3 millions in 4 days).

.

Prince albums sales are ridiculously low compared to what Bowie sold worldwide after his death. But Prince singles sales are bigger, because the USA, where Prince was strong commercially, is a huge digital market.

.

With only 4 albums (BLACKSTAR 1.9 m, Best Of" David Bowie - 636,000 , Nothing Has Changed (Best Of)" David Bowie - 516,000, ZIGGY STARDUST 220.000 ex ) Bowie outsold worldwide the entire Prince discography, thanks to the european market.

[Edited 9/12/16 12:42pm]

I don't doubt the numbers, but about half were attributable to the huge unexpected hit that Blackstar was. Bowie released his most acclaimed album in decades with lots of publicity about it at the time he died. Articles about his death often mentioned how he had just released one of his best ever. No wonder why it did so well. HnF2 was hardly mentioned if at all in the media surrounding Prince's death even though I believe it was finally availabe outside of Tidal right near that time. It was only when I joned the org that I discovered that some people thought it was woth getting. No publicity or anything. While it was not his masterwork by any shot, it certainly an enjoyable and accessible album. I think it just another example of how poorly publicized Prince's material has been since he parted with WB. I guess it just didn't matter to him.

PurpleMaze77 said:

i am streaming everything tbh. bought what i could from itunes but not a lot available apart from hits albums. So Tidal the whole day every day.

Don't forget you can buy some of the unavailable stuff as MP3s or FLACs in the Tidal store, too. My bad if you already knew this.

RODSERLING said:

laurarichardson said:

RODSERLING said: -- Can you explain were the 4 million number came from. Because it was reported more than once. See Billboard - http://www.billboard.com/...board-200. [Edited 9/12/16 1:31am]

Like I said, the 4 million number is made up from albums (he sold 650.000 the first 4 days after his death) and singles (more than 3 millions in 4 days).

.

Prince albums sales are ridiculously low compared to what Bowie sold worldwide after his death. But Prince singles sales are bigger, because the USA, where Prince was strong commercially, is a huge digital market.

.

With only 4 albums (BLACKSTAR 1.9 m, Best Of" David Bowie - 636,000 , Nothing Has Changed (Best Of)" David Bowie - 516,000, ZIGGY STARDUST 220.000 ex ) Bowie outsold worldwide the entire Prince discography, thanks to the european market.

[Edited 9/12/16 12:42pm]

Don't forget.... PRINCE's catalouge outsold BOWIES cataoluge when he was alive.

feeluupp said:

RODSERLING said:

Like I said, the 4 million number is made up from albums (he sold 650.000 the first 4 days after his death) and singles (more than 3 millions in 4 days).

.

Prince albums sales are ridiculously low compared to what Bowie sold worldwide after his death. But Prince singles sales are bigger, because the USA, where Prince was strong commercially, is a huge digital market.

.

With only 4 albums (BLACKSTAR 1.9 m, Best Of" David Bowie - 636,000 , Nothing Has Changed (Best Of)" David Bowie - 516,000, ZIGGY STARDUST 220.000 ex ) Bowie outsold worldwide the entire Prince discography, thanks to the european market.

[Edited 9/12/16 12:42pm]

Don't forget.... PRINCE's catalouge outsold BOWIES cataoluge when he was alive.

The figure seems a little low, since combined sales of Prince's albums in the week following his death counted to no less than 1.5 million units in Germany alone. In fact the German pressing plant had to recruit employees for the weekend after Prince's passing to match demands. The top selling albums of Prince's catalogue from Thrusday, April 21 to Thursday, April 28 were Purple Rain and the two Best Of-Compilations. After that one week, sales slowed down considerably.

Damn. 3.2mil albums in 5mo after death. And that's just so those five albums! That's so nuts.

I already had everything, so I haven't bought anything, but downloaded lots of boots when my interest was rekindled with his passing.

I really hope they do a reissue campaign of those first 10 LPs with tracks from the vault.

If nothing else, a triple live DVD of remastered Syracuse 85, Dortmund 88, and Sign O The Times.

laurarichardson said:

RODSERLING said:

Like I said, the 4 million number is made up from albums (he sold 650.000 the first 4 days after his death) and singles (more than 3 millions in 4 days).

.

Prince albums sales are ridiculously low compared to what Bowie sold worldwide after his death. But Prince singles sales are bigger, because the USA, where Prince was strong commercially, is a huge digital market.

.

With only 4 albums (BLACKSTAR 1.9 m, Best Of" David Bowie - 636,000 , Nothing Has Changed (Best Of)" David Bowie - 516,000, ZIGGY STARDUST 220.000 ex ) Bowie outsold worldwide the entire Prince discography, thanks to the european market.

[Edited 9/12/16 12:42pm]

-- What is your point? He sold four million albums after his death per Billboard. You feel that was not enough? You realize that a good chunk of his catalog is not in print and vast amount of is free on the Internet or being bootlegged. Prince is not for everybody you are speaking of a music catalog that crosses many genres of music. Dude was never going to sell music in the billions and I think he was fine with that.

My point was to correct the mistake you made. To inform the org about the numbers of album sold worldwide. And to make a relevant comparison between the posthumous sales of two recently dead superstars.

.

I wonder if you have some problem of understanding, because you can't get over the fact that Billboard N.E.V.E.R. talked about 4 millions albums sold. You seem to not understand what an album is. A single is definitely not an album, everybody knows that.

.

The situation with half of his albums unavailable to purchase just show how Prince's choices the last 20 years lead to a general annoyance from the audience. This is why nobody bought HNR 2, despite being released just after his death. Even his name doesn't make him sold more than 30.000 copies in the US of his new album.

RODSERLING said:

laurarichardson said:

RODSERLING said: -- What is your point? He sold four million albums after his death per Billboard. You feel that was not enough? You realize that a good chunk of his catalog is not in print and vast amount of is free on the Internet or being bootlegged. Prince is not for everybody you are speaking of a music catalog that crosses many genres of music. Dude was never going to sell music in the billions and I think he was fine with that.

My point was to correct the mistake you made. To inform the org about the numbers of album sold worldwide. And to make a relevant comparison between the posthumous sales of two recently dead superstars.

.

I wonder if you have some problem of understanding, because you can't get over the fact that Billboard N.E.V.E.R. talked about 4 millions albums sold. You seem to not understand what an album is. A single is definitely not an album, everybody knows that.

.

The situation with half of his albums unavailable to purchase just show how Prince's choices the last 20 years lead to a general annoyance from the audience. This is why nobody bought HNR 2, despite being released just after his death. Even his name doesn't make him sold more than 30.000 copies in the US of his new album.

*

I'm interested in your "relevant comparison between the posthumous sales of two recently dead superstars." What's the point of that comparison? Prior to Purple Rain, Prince sold moderately well, much like he did after Purple Rain. Based on sales, Prince was mostly a niche artist whose immense talent (songwriting, instrumentation, and live shows) allowed him to impact the culture and his generation much more than merely his record sales. Anybody who thinks they understand anything about Prince solely based on sales clearly has no understanding about Prince's cultural and generational relevance. So, what is the point of comparing his posthumous sales with anyone else's? I'd really like to know what one can glean from that comparison.

1725topp said:

RODSERLING said:

My point was to correct the mistake you made. To inform the org about the numbers of album sold worldwide. And to make a relevant comparison between the posthumous sales of two recently dead superstars.

.

I wonder if you have some problem of understanding, because you can't get over the fact that Billboard N.E.V.E.R. talked about 4 millions albums sold. You seem to not understand what an album is. A single is definitely not an album, everybody knows that.

.

The situation with half of his albums unavailable to purchase just show how Prince's choices the last 20 years lead to a general annoyance from the audience. This is why nobody bought HNR 2, despite being released just after his death. Even his name doesn't make him sold more than 30.000 copies in the US of his new album.

*

I'm interested in your "relevant comparison between the posthumous sales of two recently dead superstars." What's the point of that comparison? Prior to Purple Rain, Prince sold moderately well, much like he did after Purple Rain. Based on sales, Prince was mostly a niche artist whose immense talent (songwriting, instrumentation, and live shows) allowed him to impact the culture and his generation much more than merely his record sales. Anybody who thinks they understand anything about Prince solely based on sales clearly has no understanding about Prince's cultural and generational relevance. So, what is the point of comparing his posthumous sales with anyone else's? I'd really like to know what one can glean from that comparison.

You seem to ignore that Bowie and Prince sold about the same amount of records during their lifetime, that they both released an album shortly after / before death, and that they died the same year. While Bowie owned the 70's musically, Prince owned the 80's. They were both cultural icons.

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If you can't compare sales in the same era, I don't know what can be.

.Especially on a site where there are numerous topics about "what is your favourite song on this album ? etc." When you chose a favourite song or album, then you make a comparison between other songs or albums that have nothing to do with them.

.

So, you could lose your time and energy to ask these people why they are comparing KISS and DO U LIE.

.

sALES IS NOT everything an artist give to his legacy, but it is a very good and solid argument that only fools could ignore.

ElectricDancer said:

Damn. 3.2mil albums in 5mo after death. And that's just so those five albums! That's so nuts.

The 3.2 millions is NOT from these 5 albums, but from his entire available discography.

RODSERLING said:

1725topp said:

*

I'm interested in your "relevant comparison between the posthumous sales of two recently dead superstars." What's the point of that comparison? Prior to Purple Rain, Prince sold moderately well, much like he did after Purple Rain. Based on sales, Prince was mostly a niche artist whose immense talent (songwriting, instrumentation, and live shows) allowed him to impact the culture and his generation much more than merely his record sales. Anybody who thinks they understand anything about Prince solely based on sales clearly has no understanding about Prince's cultural and generational relevance. So, what is the point of comparing his posthumous sales with anyone else's? I'd really like to know what one can glean from that comparison.

You seem to ignore that Bowie and Prince sold about the same amount of records during their lifetime, that they both released an album shortly after / before death, and that they died the same year. While Bowie owned the 70's musically, Prince owned the 80's. They were both cultural icons.

.

If you can't compare sales in the same era, I don't know what can be.

.Especially on a site where there are numerous topics about "what is your favourite song on this album ? etc." When you chose a favourite song or album, then you make a comparison between other songs or albums that have nothing to do with them.

.

So, you could lose your time and energy to ask these people why they are comparing KISS and DO U LIE.

.

sALES IS NOT everything an artist give to his legacy, but it is a very good and solid argument that only fools could ignore.

*

Actually, only a fool would misconstrue that one's favorite song has anything to do with its sales. As such, most of my favorite Prince songs have never been released as singles so I have no way to discuss them other than artistically, aesthetically, and, of course, subjectively, since there are rarely any sales figures of those songs. As such, comparing "Kiss" to "Do U Lie?" would rarely involve a discussion about sales since "Do U Lie?" was not released as a single, unless it was released as a single, and I missed it.

*

Secondly, reading is fundamental. I didn't say that one can't compare artists. I simply asked why you were comparing them. What's the point of the comparison? I simply wanted you to enlighten me as to why this issue of sales is important. Any intelligent person can explain what they are doing without attacking or name calling the person who asks them to clarify what one is doing or why one is doing it. (I didn’t call you a fool or an idiot when I asked you a question so why are you calling me a fool or an idiot for simply asking you a question?) As such, I ask again. What is the point of the comparison? If it is just for fun, then say that. If it is to discuss some other artistic merits, then say that and then explain how the sales relate to the discussion of artistic merit. But, at least be intelligent enough to explain what you are doing before you attack someone for asking you why you are doing it. Ignorance is a hell of a drug, and you seem to be high as hell.

*

Now, it seems that somehow your point is that Prince became irrelevant during the end of his career based on your other posts regarding his later albums. And, I might be wrong about this, but you are also the person who said, after the release of AOA and Plectrum Electrum, iirc, that if Prince was able to release another album that you would no longer return to this cite. I'm sure you will correct me if I have the particulars of that statement wrong, but I'm wondering why you are still here since Prince did with his release of HitnRun 1 and 2 exactly what you said he would not be able to do. Personally, I think HitnRun 1 is an extraordinarily crappy album, but he still was able to release another album when you said that he would not be able to do so. And, you promised that you would never return to this cite if he did. But, again, I'm sure that you will correct me on that one point.

*

Be all of that as it may, sales only indicate an artist's commercial popularity and legacy to a point because clearly Prince's reach of influencing artists, especially those that come after him, is far greater than most of the people who have sold double or triple the amount of records that Prince has sold. As such, the only real element that limits or limited Prince's reach of influence was his desire not to allow his work disseminated via YouTube, but even with that his reach still seems to be greater than many who sold more records them Prince. This is why I wanted you to clarify the reason for your discussion of his posthumous sales because it seems, based on his reach of influence, that the understanding of Prince’s legacy is much larger than his sales, unless you want to agree that Prince’s first two hits being on black radio and his last two hits being on black radio has some great significance to his legacy as well.

RODSERLING said:

.

Prince is a huge seller in the USA, a good seller in the Uk, Australia and Canada, but in the rest of the world it seems that nobody cares.

I kind of agree, he has sold fuck all in New Zealand, most of the albums that were rush released to stores after his death, are still there now. In all the VBOP and Ultimate re-entered our charts for two weeks and so did Hitnrun phase 2, VBOP hit #10 for one week, the others entered and left in the 30s and 40s (The chart only goes to 50.

.

I would guess that about 5,000 albums in total have sold in New Zealand since he died. It did not help that all of the people who went to the shows (5,000+) were given hit n run phase 2 on the way out. You only need to sell 7,500 copies of an album to go gold here, and 15,000 to go platinum. Also these albums were ineleigible for chart action.

.

In all he has sold about 100,000 albums here, his best sellers Purple Rain and Diamonds and Pearls only just went platinum and VBOP of went Gold. It could not compete with epic albums by Justin Bieber, Katy Perry and local acts.

Prince worldwide sales in 2016 updated :

THE VERY BEST OF : 1.000.037

PURPLE RAIN : 619.000

ULTIMATE : 266.000

THE HITS / B SIDES : 250.000

1999 : 208.000

SIGN O THE TIMES : 85.000

PRINCE : 80.000

Next week, I wll do the singles

It's dangerous for some people to be comparing sales in different territories - pitching one against the other!

.

For example, not all countries speak English, and that drastically effects sales. Secondly, population densities are incredibly different. It's crazy to slate New Zealand with a population of 4.5 million versus the (un)United States with a population of well over 300 million.

.

Europe has a population of over 700 million but only around 13 per cent have English as their first language.

.

This may come as a big shock to some people, but not every person in every country, regardless of language, wants to own a Prince album.

.

RODSERLING said:

Prince worldwide sales in 2016 updated :

THE VERY BEST OF : 1.000.037

PURPLE RAIN : 619.000

ULTIMATE : 266.000

THE HITS / B SIDES : 250.000

1999 : 208.000

SIGN O THE TIMES : 85.000

PRINCE : 80.000

Next week, I wll do the singles

NEI NEI NEIIIIIIIIII

feeluupp said:

NEI NEI NEIIIIIIIIII

.

It is spelled as nein.