In terms of tour money alone Prince doesnt even have to record another song as long as he lives, plus Prince is not paying anything off like MJ is. Prince is also moving on while MJ is standing still selling the same album for the last 25 years. A better question would be who is making the best of their time for their fans.

NDRU said:

That's the only fair answer here.

monk76 said:

i feel sorry for you mj fans. he has not given you a concert or new cd in over a decade, so you have nothing to live by but old youtube videos and celebrated record sales.

someone please give him a number so that he can go back to the empty void mj has left them.

Given that Prince changes his approach 2 "selling" cd's, I don't know how u would compare what ever numbers u come up with. He has given them away with the price of a ticket, he has given them away in newspapers, he has sold some exclusively on line, through itunes, etc.....how would u measure?

I love both MJ and Prince, and it is sad to me to see this "how many has Prince sold compared to Michael?" thing. I know that Michael is definitely NOT a has been, but I don't see the need to try to put down Prince to make yourself feel like a true Mike fan...I'm just sayin....

no one has the numbers then!?!?

Michael sells more records than Prince??! Wow,what a shocking revelation

monk76 said:

Then you wonder why people are hating on you. you are not just wanting numbers you are trying to say someone is better than someone. Hug(e) dissapointment to whom? Michael havent given me anything since 2001.
[Edited 10/7/08 13:07pm]

I wish MJ would get a decent forum of his own. Maybe then we’d stop getting mundane MJ threads every day.

And I don't have a number either. Haven't been into sales figures since I was die-hard MJ fan watching fams buy multiples of the same exact album so he'd have the most sales.

OK, I'll bite.

These figures are approximations, so I can't ascertain their veracity, but let's see.

The answer to this question depends on what you count as sales. The Musicology concert giveaways? The Planet Earth newspaper giveaways? Whether we include those figures or not will have a big impact on the answer.

One source I have is called www.worldwidealbums.net, and it approximates worldwide albums sales for most mainstream studio albums since 2006. It lists the following for Prince:

3121: 1,319,000
Planet Earth: 687,000

So that's about 2 million for those.

The only other Prince album to sell significantly is Musicology, and its numbers are hard to track. I know it scanned over 1 million in the US (not including the concert giveaways). Most online sources I have seen list it at about 3 million worldwide, which I think is a bit generous. Let's go with 2 million.

In 2001, the cheap hits collection The Very Best of Prince was released and has probably sold around 500,000 copies.

Prince released several other albums this decade: The Rainbow Children, One Nite Alone, ONA Live, NEWS, and The Ultimate Collection being the main ones. None of them sold well outside of the core fanbase. Let's put the total sales of all of those at around 500,000.

That brings Prince's totals to around 5 million copies. If you count the concert giveaway for Musicology and the newspaper giveaway for Planet Earth, you can add another 3-4 million, bringing the total to 8-9 million.

By your metric of success, this is a disappointment for Prince, but I think it's pretty good.

What is so annoying about threads like these is that they pit Prince and Michael Jackson against each other. Let's face it: Michael Jackson will always be more famous and sell more albums. Prince will always be more respected by musicians and critics. Both are legends in their own right and will be remembered for decades, if not longer. Both forged their careers with hard work and diligence and became electrifying performers and provided fans with decades of brilliant music and visuals. Why can't we just celebrate both?

What this thread reeks of is the same tired argument that MJ fans have been recycling here for a long time- that Michael's record sales indicate his superior relevance, talent and appeal. It's the same argument every damn time. And if that's what you care about, you win! However, I think it's really cheesy and pointless to blast Prince on a Prince website by clinging to record sales as the Holy Grail of barometers of musical talent/quality/relevance/whatever.

I really like both Prince and MJ, but my appreciation for MJ has been tainted by the rabid, overzealous MJ fans that populate this site and turn every thread into some kind of war of attrition.

JackieBlue said:

Its a useless argument too, two different people and agendas. One is an entertainer/performer and the other is a musician that is constantly changing paths, i respect MJ for his amazing career, but to me he is operating on a path now where its all about the past and re-selling it, its all nostalgia for nostalgia's sake, which is fine, but call it what it is. Prince's day of selling stopped pretty much when the "diamonds and pearls" tour ended and he wrote "slave" on his face, you pretty much are not going to get any kind of "primetime" when you are doing things like that.

I am a fan of Michael and Prince fan. It is sad to me to try to put down Prince's album sales to make yourself feel better as a MJ fan. Michael is DEFINITELY NOT a has been. There is no need to bash Prince's album sales...I'm just sayin....

this is what i could dig up. if someone can fill in the blanks...

rave into the joy fantastic: 500.000 (source wikipedia)
rainbow children: + 500.000 (est)
xenophobia: unknown
one night alone: unknown
one night alone (live): unknown
N.E.W.S: 30.000 (source: wikipedia)
musicology: + 1.600.000 (last number i remember reading in the press)
3121: +500.000 (wikipedia)
planet earth: + 3.000.000 (wikipedia)

monk76 said:

MJ is also a Broke ass ..and PRINCE is?

This thread should be moved to P:M&M.

Moonbeam said:

Thank you very much for the numbers!
[Edited 10/7/08 13:35pm]

kev1n said:

Thanks a lot!

Moonbeam said:

That's REALLY good @ Prince's sales. So, uh, Monk, you were saying?

Timmy84 said:

So around 5 millions and if you count the giveaways(giveaways have nothing to do with sells..thats why its called giveaway..... everybody can giveaway 100 million albums for free if they have the money and will have the biggest album of all time?? what´s the point?) he´s around 8-9 million. Is the question called. Which artist gives away the most albums??
You ask " So,uh, Monk, you were saying?" ..and then you laugh??
Have you read the main topic?? How can you laugh??
[Edited 10/7/08 13:46pm]

lol mj was more successful commercially

as a package though, I would say prince is way more respected this decade, and with all those albums and tours, he deserves it!

And this is coming from an mj fan who's jackson music collection contains over 200 items, so don't start with me.
[Edited 10/7/08 13:49pm]

There, fixed.

I dont understand this thread... Of course Michael Jackson sells more recoreds then Prince. Micael Jackson is the more popular artist. Everyone knows that. But what's your point... I'm just looking for an answer to my question.

He sold 7 million earlier in the decade, and possibly a little bit more, but he has no passion for music right now IMO at all. Look at janet still trying to tour despite having label issues (and putting on a great show!), what did michael do? F.uck up his reputation even more by talking to Martin Bashir and getting involved with con artists instead of focusing on his art and what he was meant to do. I would have liked him to promote Invincible singles on his own without the label support, that alone spoke volumes that music is not his priority right now, and I've come to accept it though I'm still a huge fan.
[Edited 10/7/08 13:58pm]

P2daP said:

Yeah im not getting it, i mean u2 sells more than either of them, and coldplay more than them and Britney just as many, so whats the point? Sales dont dictate anything, just a trend in whats hot, i mean look at any artist with alot of albums, and I GUARANTEE that their biggest selling album is probably the least favorite album among their fans, not all the time, but most of the time this is true, so sales, are nothing more than a good topic for a discussion, but have no weight in the end.

P2daP said:

To start shit, what else?

monk - if you asked prince something like that he'd tear your tail up with one phrase. quit strokin your heros ego. let him do it himself (preferably with some NEW material)

we have respect for mj- it aint that serious

See this is why some of us MJ fans get the bad reputation we get because they think we can't come up with any productive sentence other than:

"MJ sells billions of copies and he sung so good back in 1987 that compared to someone like Prince or George Michael, they ain't shit."

What kind of logic is that?

How about Hannah Montana???

rushing07 said:

Or Rihanna...

alphastreet said:

More respected?? Maybe but Michael is more loved.