I think she could seriously be challenging Sgt. Pepper for the highest selling studio album of all time. I agree she could sell 4mil this year (definitely at least 3mil anyway) and she could pass 5mil at some point next year.

 

The Queen GH figure includes half the sales of one boxset and a third of the sales of another boxset so isn't an accurate representation of the sales of the actual GH. But I'd guess it's probably still easily #1 in the all-time list with these sales removed.

 

EDIT: Ah, the previous post has the added sales in it. So Queen are still well ahead of The Beatles with those controversial sales removed.

 

The list really needs an update though. I don't know if it was published before SPLHCB got back to #5 in 2009 but even if it does include those sales I suspect ABBA's tally at least will have increased quite a bit.

Edited May 9, 201114 yr by Bray

^ yeah, it's still over 5 million with the boxset sales removed - 5,154,000 to mid 2009 using Alan Jones' sales figures from back then.

^ yeah, it's still over 5 million with the boxset sales removed - 5,154,000 to mid 2009 using Alan Jones' sales figures from back then.

 

When was this published? SPLHCB re-entered at #5 when it was re-issued in 2009 so it's possible if those sales aren't included that The Beatles have also passed 5m.

 

EDIT: It re-entered on W/E 19 Sep 2009.

 

ABBA's Gold - GH will also have increased quite a bit, as well as the end of 2009 it charted in the top 100 for 27 weeks of 2010 (probably top 200 for the other 25 weeks) plus 7 more weeks in 2011.

Edited May 9, 201114 yr by Bray

When was this published? SPLHCB re-entered at #5 when it was re-issued in 2009 so it's possible if those sales aren't included that The Beatles have also passed 5m.

 

EDIT: It re-entered on W/E 19 Sep 2009.

 

ABBA's Gold - GH will also have increased quite a bit, as well as the end of 2009 it charted in the top 100 for 27 weeks of 2010 (probably top 200 for the other 25 weeks) plus 7 more weeks in 2011.

It's from Music Week's 50th Anniversary Supplement which was included in the issue dated 19/09/09. Given AJ's comments about the date of the cut-off point I'd imagine sales were to the end of August 2009 at the latest.

 

Ah, thanks for explaining.

 

Does this happen with all of those type of release then? You often get double pack albums these days so do the sales get split 50:50 for them?

Ah, thanks for explaining.

 

Does this happen with all of those type of release then? You often get double pack albums these days so do the sales get split 50:50 for them?

 

I don't think it does which is why the decision to include 50% of I/II and 33% on I/II/III is a bit controversial.

In that case, as a Beatles fan and a Queen hater, I shall take the decision to exclude it from the chart for my purposes. :D

 

Although it's interesting that Virgin appear to have excluded it from the list provided by Suedehead.

edit: no it's not, that's just studio albums isn't it! :blush:

I dont like her she is 2 miserable + whiney no wonder her ex dumped her. Well over-hyped I guess the sales of soppy unlucky in love 30-something female age bracket is a v high demographic in the 2.2 Million sales. She needs to cheer up abit imho ***ducks***.

To be fair I don't think this album deserves to be between the top10 bestsellers of all time here...

Does anyone else believe its sales are just alien? Despite the fact I like Adele much more than Blunt as an artist her album does not even come close to his, not to mention the rest of this list... I mean Adele has a good enough album to be one of the best sellers (or even THE best seller) of the year but the best seller of all time? NO WAY! :o

If it indeed becomes a such success she will hold a huge record she just doesn't deserve... perhaps that will be enough to make people like her less than Blunt and Dido :lol:

I dont like her she is 2 miserable + whiney no wonder her ex dumped her. Well over-hyped I guess the sales of soppy unlucky in love 30-something female age bracket is a v high demographic in the 2.2 Million sales. She needs to cheer up abit imho ***ducks***.

 

 

exactly like Dido and James Blunt then...with a better voice

1

1981

Greatest Hits

Queen

5,678,610

 

Not sure it could sell that many :o

 

But i think she could sell 4 million by 31st Dember 2011, imagine :o Its insane. ADELE :wub: The success is incredible, 21 will be an album in the music history books. She's created a classic, at the age of (well 23 now) 21! Amazing. :heart:

 

ZERO clearly hasnt seen any interviews or seen her live as she is so funny and down to earth, shes so happy! Dont assume or you just make yourself look silly, like you did in that post. If you have a point have some backing to it. :)

Edited May 9, 201114 yr by Karma

I half agree. I liked Adele's album but I wouldn't (and didn't) go anywhere near Blunt - I think Dido did manage to capture the younger audience as a result of the No Angel album following on from Stan so she is a direct comparable for me.

 

4 million seems a big ask but it does look like she'll easily clear 3 million so who knows.

Not to mention that Here With Me was used as the opening theme to the TV show Roswell - which I'm pretty sure was aimed at young teens/adults. So certainly at the start of her career there were at least efforts to appeal her to a younger audience. I think she got more MoR for her second album, seemingly losing the slight hint of trip hop that was in the No Angel album. I agree that there are similarities with Adele in terms of marketing, but I think Adele has managed to keep the young audience interested this time, unlike Dido.

 

I don't see much comparison with James Blunt either. Surely he was more in the ilk of someone like David Gray.

 

As for the sales of 21, I think some people are being a bit optimistic but it does seem to keep defying expectations. I guess its ability to reach 4 million depends on how well it can sell in the vital Christmas market. If they release another single in November-time then that could be enough, I guess, but I think it would be very tight either way.

4 million will likely be next year in my opinion.

I swear Queen's 'Greatest Hits' has always been the best selling album of all time in the UK...!

I swear Queen's 'Greatest Hits' has always been the best selling album of all time in the UK...!

It won't have been the best seller before it was released so it can't always have been the best seller :P

It won't have been the best seller before it was released so it can't always have been the best seller :P

 

lol :D

I'll even stick my neck out and say it'll top 4m even without a reissue. I'm convinced it will be a huge Q4 seller. She's bound to get plenty X Factor plays and performances, she was at the LA auditions yesterday so she's part of that inner circle. Also, the momentum will continue, partly based on the fact she's British but also doing well worldwide. I don't love the album, but statistically, the sales trajectory is very intriguing.

Regarding Queen: I don't know if it's fair to divide the sales equally - I would imagine (with no justification except the popularity of the songs on each disc) that the GH I-III collection sold mostly on the strength of GHI or GHII. Though by that standard GHI would probably be close to 6m sales, which is just ugh.

 

Thing is with any of the pre-CD era albums, a hell of the lot of the sales will be replacements for LPs so the likes of Sgt Pepper, Queen GH, Rumours have probably had a lot of double sales to the same people. Which of course means sod all - otherwise no fanbase mutliple buys would count either - but it diminishes it a little bit, compared to say Dido which is likely to be all CD sales with few few replacement sales. Then again Dido buyers could all have bought 2 copies each and it could've sold to only 1.5m buyers - so I know it's an irrelevant argument!

 

Back to Adele - I don't know if she will sell that much in Q4 (ie not another million) because presumably most of her target demographic would have bought it themselves by then; she's had the Valentines and Mothers Day sales too - I guess the only major Christmas untapped market would be kids who don't buy albums for themselves. I think Adele will sell 3m easily but to do it by the end of Q3 (September) would mean she needs to average 35k?+ every week until then - do-able given her sales but maybe not over the summer (of course she'll probably be above 50k until at least early June).

 

If she releases deluxe, of course, she could easily do 4m this year - certainly next year.

If she does sell between 3-4 million this year, then 21 will certainly be a contender for top 5 best selling album ever within a couple of years and then back sales will depend on how succesful her career is over the years afterwards.

How do you follow up an album as succcesful as 21 though?.

 

 

 

 

Regarding Queen: I don't know if it's fair to divide the sales equally - I would imagine (with no justification except the popularity of the songs on each disc) that the GH I-III collection sold mostly on the strength of GHI or GHII. Though by that standard GHI would probably be close to 6m sales, which is just ugh.

 

Thing is with any of the pre-CD era albums, a hell of the lot of the sales will be replacements for LPs so the likes of Sgt Pepper, Queen GH, Rumours have probably had a lot of double sales to the same people. Which of course means sod all - otherwise no fanbase mutliple buys would count either - but it diminishes it a little bit, compared to say Dido which is likely to be all CD sales with few few replacement sales. Then again Dido buyers could all have bought 2 copies each and it could've sold to only 1.5m buyers - so I know it's an irrelevant argument!

 

I don't think I've ever met an avid Dido fan, her sales seemed to mainly stem from casual buyers which makes it even more impressive.