UK

Here's are the UK's Top 40 best selling catalogue albums of 2005 (Qualification = albums must have been released before Jan 1st 2003).

As you can see, I've highlighted all the superstar artists which I'm the most interested in. And for all you bitches who complain I never post any Prince #'s, read further...

Whitney sold about 90k copies of The Greatest Hits in 2005 making it #40 on the Catalogue Album Chart and #202 on the overall chart for 2005. Elsewhere, Mariah sold about 442k of Greatest Hits in 2005 making it #2 on Catalogue Album Chart and #40 on the overall chart for 2005.

Great standings for both ladies.

No information about Madge's The Immaculate Collection although it appears this is the first time it hasn't made the UK Top 200 EOY chart.

Prince, meanwhile, made two entries with The Very Best Of selling an estimated 70k to rank at #33 on the Catalogue Chart and #236 on the overall chart, and The Hits/The B-Sides selling an approximate 65k to rank at #38 on the Catalogue Chart and #255 on the overall chart. Note: Exact figures for the Prince albums are unavailable. Their sales totals are based on the sales total of the #37 Catalogue album of 2004 (the Beach Boys Pet Sounds) which sold 65,850.

Had MJ's Number Ones been eligible, it would have ranked at #16 on the 2005 Catalogue Chart since it sold 101k for the year and was #176 on the year end chart. The Essential MJ sold 206k in 2005 but was obviously not eligible to chart either.

Information courtesy of the edge3 @ UKMix.

Catalogue position, (Overall position), Artist Title, Sales (where known)

1.(38 ) Jeff Wayne The War Of The World : 448,255
2.(40) (Mariah Carey Greatest Hits : 442,305
3.(52) Damien Rice O : 355,000
4.(101) Coldplay Parachutes : 184,000
5.(103)Coldplay A Rush Of Blood To The Head : 180,000
6.(113) The Carpenters Gold - Greatest Hits : 165,000
7.(118 ) Abba Gold - Greatest Hits : 160,000
8.(123) Elvis Presley Elvis - 30 Number 1 Hits : 155,000
9.(129) Queen Greatest Hits I, II & III : 149,000
10.(130) Rod Stewart The Story So Far - The Very Best Of : 148,000
11.(154) Green Day Dookie : 127,356
12.(156) Pink Floyd Echoes - The Best Of : 122,000
13.(158 ) Fleetwood Mac The Very Best Of : 120,000
14.(160) Nirvana Nevermind : 116,000
15.(162) Pink Floyd Dark Side Of The Moon : 112,000
16.(177) U2 The Best Of 1980-1990 : 100,000
17.(179) Stevie Wonder The Definitve Collection : 99,000
18.(184) Oasis Definitely Maybe : 97,000
19.(185) Gorillaz Gorillaz : 96,000
20.(186) David Gray White Ladder : 96,000
21.(196) Blondie Greatest Hits : 91,000
22.(197) Tony Christie The Best Of : 90,500
23.(202) Whitney Houston The Greatest Hits
24.(209) The Beatles 1
25.(211) Blur The Best Of
26.(215) The Doors The Best Of
27.(218 ) Norah Jones Come Away With Me
28.(220) The Verve Urban Hymns
29.(223) Beach Boys The Very Best Of
30.(230) Jack Johnson Brushfire Fairytales : 77,699
31.(233) Queen Greatest Hits
32.(234) Foo Fighters One By One
33.(236) Prince The very Best Of (Sales Estimate: 70,000)
34.(239) Guns N' Roses Appetite For Destruction
35.(240) Elton John Greatest Hits 1970-2002
36.(241) Bob Dylan The Essential
37.(242) The Stone Roses The Very Best Of
38.(244) Prince The Hits/The B-Sides (Sales Estimate: 65,000)
39.(245) Jeff Buckley Grace
40.(254) Bob Marley & The Wailers Legend

*I believe Oasis' 'What's The Story Morning Glory' should be at # 11 seeing that its ended up with 147,000 (i assume they must have just forgotten).
[Edited 1/12/06 23:17pm]

And not a single thank you.

Very cool! I saw a list of the top 200 in general over on a Kylie forum, and this list is much better. It shows what has stood the test of time!

U have alot of time on your hands, don't ya?

amit1234 said:

I wonder who's still buying 'What's The Story Morning Glory'. Doesn't everyone have it by now?

On second thoughts, I played it so much in 1995/96 that I sold my copy for a bit of extra cash and now I need to get it again

Wow...look at the Carpenters way up there. Way to go Karen & Richard.

What's the Story...I played to death back in 95/96...thought I'd never listen to it again. Just dusted it off a month or so ago. Damn is it great. Now I see why it did so well.

Dope post, amit1234.

It's really interesting to me to see which albums are still huge sellers that ARE NOT GREATEST HIT PACKAGES.


4.(101) Coldplay Parachutes : 184,000
5.(103) Coldplay A Rush Of Blood To The Head : 180,000
11.(154) Green Day Dookie : 127,356
14.(160) Nirvana Nevermind : 116,000
15.(162) Pink Floyd Dark Side Of The Moon : 112,000
18.(184) Oasis Definitely Maybe : 97,000
19.(185) Gorillaz Gorillaz : 96,000
20.(186) David Gray White Ladder : 96,000
27.(218) Norah Jones Come Away With Me
28.(220) The Verve Urban Hymns
34.(239) Guns N' Roses Appetite For Destruction


I'm suprised to see Gorillaz on that list though. I guess it's the same as that Green Day... newer album brings interest to old ones.

It's cool that The Verve is still selling units of Urban Hymns.

CinisterCee said:

That and the fact that they get put at the front of all the shops at discounted prices.

FLASHBACK...

Source: Musicweek, January 1, 2005.

CATALOGUE 2004 by ALAN JONES

Made up in exactly equal measure of regular albums and compilations, the Top 50 catalogue albums of 2004 - titles first released no later than 1 January 2002 - are diverse both in terms of their content and their original chart performance.

It's not a major surprise, for example, to find Abba's perennial Gold compilation winning the title for best-selling catalogue album at a canter, adding a further 376,782 sales to its already enormous tally in the year, and leaving the number two selection, Duran Duran's reactivated Greatest album, trailing 57.7% behind it, though Greatest sold a highly creditable 238,897 copies.

But how to explain the popularity of Rage Against The Machine's self-titled debut? The album failed to impress here when first released in 1993, peaking at number 17. It was even less of a hit in the band's native America, where it climbed no higher than number 45 on the Billboard chart. It has, however, subsequently been lauded as a classic, pioneering album, the first to blend rap and metal into a potent new style which has become much imitated. At its low point in 1997, the album sold 10,420 - a respectable tally for a four year old album which barely scraped into the Top 20 - but it increased sales significantly in each of the next six years, and sold as many as 80,968 copies in 1993. It finally suffered a decline in 2004, but the 53,715 copies it sold are still enough to make it the 50th best-selling catalogue album of the year.

Michael Jackson had most titles in the chart in 2003, and repeats the feat for 2004, with the same three albums in the same order - Thriller improves 9-6, Off The Wall slips 16-17 and Bad stumbles 22-47, with sales of 134,729, 91,675 and 56,209, respectively.

Off The Wall - which dates from 1979 - is one of the oldest titles on the list, being junior only to The Sex Pistols' Never Mind The Bollocks (1977, number 21, 87,195 sales), David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust (1973, number 43, 60,410) and the Beach Boys' 1966 classic Pet Sounds, which finishes in 37th place, with 65,850 sales.

The Beach Boys therefore win a notable victory over their '60s rivals the Beatles, whose top regular studio album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band, just misses this year's list. However, the Beatles' 1 compilation finishes at number 16 on the catalogue list, with 92,689 sales in 2004, while The Very Best Of The Beach Boys is 26th with 80,166 sales.

POSITION IN CATALOGUE CHART OVERALL 2004 POSITION TITLE ARTIST

1 47 GOLD - GREATEST HITS ABBA
2 74 GREATEST DURAN DURAN
3 94 THE STORY SO FAR - THE VERY BEST OF ROD STEWART
4 98 NO ANGEL DIDO
5 100 TEARS ROLL DOWN - GREATEST HITS 82-92 TEARS FOR FEARS
6 135 THRILLER MICHAEL JACKSON
7 144 LEGEND BOB MARLEY & THE WAILERS
8 152 8701 USHER
9 156 THE IMMACULATE COLLECTION MADONNA
10 164 SWING WHEN YOU'RE WINNING ROBBIE WILLIAMS
11 168 SONGBIRD EVA CASSIDY
12 178 LENNON LEGEND - THE VERY BEST OF JOHN LENNON
13 179 THE GREATEST HITS WHITNEY HOUSTON
14 189 WHITE LADDER DAVID GRAY
15 196 SULTANS OF SWING - THE VERY BEST OF DIRE STRAITS
16 202 1 BEATLES
17 206 OFF THE WALL MICHAEL JACKSON
18 208 LADIES & GENTLEMEN - THE BEST OF GEORGE MICHAEL
19 209 APPETITE FOR DESTRUCTION GUNS N' ROSES
20 210 INTERNATIONAL SUPERHITS GREEN DAY
21 215 NEVER MIND THE BOLLOCKS SEX PISTOLS
22 226 DEFINITELY MAYBE OASIS
23 227 MY WAY - THE BEST OF FRANK SINATRA
24 229 SOFTLY WITH THESE SONGS - THE BEST OF ROBERTA FLACK
25 231 CALIFORNICATION RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS
26 232 THE VERY BEST OF BEACH BOYS
27 238 THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON PINK FLOYD
28 239 THE BEST OF BLUR
29 244 NEVERMIND NIRVANA
30 252 STONE ROSES STONE ROSES
31 254 BACK TO FRONT LIONEL RICHIE
32 259 THE BEST OF DOORS
33 260 THE BEST OF 1980-1990 U2
34 263 GOLD - GREATEST HITS CARPENTERS
35 264 COLLECTION TRACY CHAPMAN
36 273 THE ESSENTIAL BOB DYLAN
37 274 PET SOUNDS BEACH BOYS
38 279 PARACHUTES COLDPLAY
39 280 WHAT'S THE STORY MORNING GLORY OASIS
40 282 PERFORMANCE AND COCKTAILS STEREOPHONICS
[....]
47 BAD MICHAEL JACKSON