Um, Chocolate Factory sold more in the US than HIStory did (3 million vs. 2 million). Also Invincible, come to think of it. Yes, HIStory is certified 5x platinum but as it's a double album it has actually shifted only half that amount. In the same way that Shania Twain and OutKast have been "certified" for 10 million, they've only sold 5 million apiece. The US is about the only place where MJ's numbers have been affected by his scandals.

VoicesCarry said:

Invincible didn't do too well in the UK. It debuted at no.1 and got a platinum award but sank pretty quickly for an MJ album, remaining in the top 100 for about six months. In comparison, History has been given six platinum awards (these aren't split over two discs here) and spent over two years in the top 100. Invincible probably would have fared better had there been more singles but I still doubt that it would've done as well as his earlier albums. His sales have been somewhat affected in most places but probably just not as much as in the US.

I fixed some of the sales stats above. Mixed some of 'em up

WildStyle said:

Just some interesting stats:

R (1997) - 8 million
12 Play (1993) - 6 million
R. Kelly (1995) - 5 million
Dangerous (1991) - 7 million
Invincible (2001) - 2 million

We like to think of "MJ numbers" as being what Thriller and Bad shifted, but those are exceptions in a noteworthy career.

Chocolate Factory sold comparably to HIStory (3 million vs. 3.5 million). Also Invincible, come to think of it. Yes, HIStory is certified 7x platinum but as it's a double album it has actually shifted only half that amount. In the same way that Shania Twain and OutKast have been "certified" for 10 million, but have only sold 5 million apiece. The US is about the only place where MJ's numbers have been affected by his scandals.
[This message was edited Fri Apr 16 9:35:09 2004 by VoicesCarry]

VoicesCarry said:

Hmmm... why are we only looking at US sales?

WildStyle said:

Because the original question was "Which other artist could come back from child molestation allegations and sell like HIStory did?", which applies to Michael's situation in the US more than internationally. His sales haven't been affected as much on an international scale but they've decreased quite a bit in the US. R. Kelly has actually become MORE popular on the radio since his molestation charges, and Chocolate Factory was a big hit. His last 4 albums have sold more than Dangerous or Invincible.

VoicesCarry said:

Well, I wasn't refering to his US sales only. Maybe I should have been more clear. The truth is, the whole world knows about Michael's current troubles.

Cloudbuster said:

I fixed some of the sales stats above. Mixed some of 'em up

VoicesCarry said:

Invincible Sold 5 million worldwide 2 million US within 3 monhes
after those 3 monthes promotion stopped sales dropped
throughout out the whole year invincible sold 10 million world wide
4 million in Us
i didn't have a predilection For Invincible
but it sold well
without much promotion 1 video and 2 singles

Luv4oneanotha said:

Invincible's only been certified double platinum in the US so I have to go by that.

And Number Ones was considered a great venture for Michael...everywhere but in the US. The ranch raid bumped it up from the mid twenties to #13 but it quickly retreated again after that.
[This message was edited Fri Apr 16 10:26:25 2004 by VoicesCarry]

Luv4oneanotha said:

Invincible's only been certified double platinum in the US so I have to go by that.

And Number Ones was considered a great venture for Michael...everywhere but in the US. The ranch raid bumped it up from the mid twenties to #13 but it quickly retreated again after that.
[This message was edited Fri Apr 16 10:26:25 2004 by VoicesCarry]

VoicesCarry said:

Actually it was released in the US the exact same day as Neverland was raided. It bumped up to #13 after the "Number Ones" special was televised on CBS.

For the record Invincible according to Soundscan has scanned just over 2 million in the US. It is estimated to be at 8 million worldwide.

I know everybody thinks his first 3 releases are classics, a good portion also feel Dangerous is his best work since Off the Wall, however I think a majority of non-fans agree History is where his quality dropped drastically. This is the true END of MJ the artist, the man who could do no wrong musically.

For one thing this album had a lot of filler tracks unlike his first 4 releases, this album had about half filler tracks!

Also, way too many producers, the album is all over the place. Why did MJ ditch Teddy Riley when Dangerous became his 2nd best selling album of all time? That makes no sense. He cut out all of Teddy's tracks for History and used Jam/Lewis(WTF!).

What are the strong tracks? You are not alone, Scream, Stranger in Moscow, Tabloid Junkie, They Don't Really Care about us, and D.S. Of which YANA, Scream, and Stranger are classics.

The history era sucks, for one thing the videos aside from scream were crap, nothing as fun as remember the time, or ground breaking like black or white, etc. Nada. The less mentioned about that ridiculous You are not alone video the better...

HIs remix album BOTDF's non-remix tracks are entirely comprised of dangerous era tracks like Ghosts, Is it Scary, Blood on the Dancefloor, and Superfly Sister. All are dangerous rejects.

Next, all his songs are angry and pissed, it get's monotonous, one are two tracks like scream are fine, but the WHOLE album?! Give me a break!

The token rock track D.S. which is an enjoyable track is ass compared to classics like Beat it, Dirty Diana, and Give in to me....

Atleast Invincible had some wonderful tracks like Whatever Happens, Break of Dawn,etc that strayed from the forumla. History is by the book, and it's not even good pop, it's just MJ yelling into the mike over some beat....

Then they packaged the album with a greatest hits collection and made it more expensive. It's advertising showed that MJ was king of the world, while that may have been true during Bad and Dangerous, by 1995 that molestation case had hurt his career bad, History was his comeback album, let alone king of the world!

So you have bad music videos, 1 or 2 catchy tracks tops, 1/2 filler, too many producers, nearly all are paranoid/angry tracks, expensive, and not to mention reeking of ego?

A big disappointment. He ought to scrap the whole album, add teddy's tracks and re-release it....
[This message was edited Tue Apr 13 21:21:47 2004 by SylvesterStalloneMJ]

WildStyle said:

impossible last year invincible sold another 1.5 million
do you know what the grace period is?
perhaps that it
i checked sony it says on october 30 2002 invicible reached 10 million in sales

Luv4oneanotha said:

In terms of US sales, it has been certified DOUBLE PLATINUM. Yes, in 2003, Invincible was flying off the shelves, and snuck in another 1.5 million . But somehow, it missed the Billboard 200 entirely! The reality is at most it could have sold about 50000 copies last year in America without charting.

Oh, and how are you "not an MJ fan" again?
[This message was edited Fri Apr 16 11:43:53 2004 by VoicesCarry]

I think his History and Invincible sales are often greatly exaggerated so as to make him appear more successful over the past ten years than he really has been....

But that's just my opinion....

Like I have a hard time believing that Invincible has sold 10 million copies, when Prince's second biggest selling album Diamonds and Pearls has only sold a little over 5 million.

Why does Diamonds and Pearls get dissed so much as a commercial album, I thought it had some great tracks on it. I haven't liked his post-Pearls output much though...except for The Gold Experience....

Sign O the Times is still P's best...

history get's a @@@ rating in my book.