Gezza... I'm not sure I get this thread. Is it solely a list of who has been the most dominant in a single calendar year? So for example, if popstar X sold 2 million in one year and nothing else ever again then they would finish higher than a group who sold 1.5 million for five consecutive years?

 

Yeah, I'm not totally getting it either.

Me either :(

 

Despite reading the example entry twice.

169 (130) GIRLS ALOUD (1,848,000) 2008 1.2648

Ok to use the last example here's what the figures mean:

 

169- Their place on this list

130- their place on a sales only equivalent of this list

1,848,000- their sales in their best year (Singles and Albums combined)

2008- Year their market domination was greatest

1.2648- I think this seems to be what is causing the mystery so here's how I arrived at this figure:

 

Singles sold by GA in 2008= 876,000

Albums sold by GA in 2008= 972,000

 

Total single sales in 2008= 116.9 M

Total Album sales in 2008= 188.7 M

 

876,000 divided by 116,900,000 x 100= 0.7494 % of all singles sold in 2008 were by GA

972,000 divided by 188,700,000 x 100= 0.5154 % of all albums sold in 2008 were by GA

 

0.7494 + 0.5154= 1.2648. This is the figure which is used to form the acts place on this list. This takes into account the size of the market in that particular year to try to establish "dominance" rather than looking at pure sales.

 

In some years an act might sell less than another but have a bigger "share" as the market as a whole is smaller, thus though The Stereophonics "sold" more in 1999 the market was bigger so their "performance" in 2001 is the one that forms their basis and place on this list.

 

Yes this list examines acts "at their height" rather than a cumulative total or longevity.

 

I hope that clears it up slightly? :D

 

 

 

 

168 (127) DAFT PUNK (1,870,000) 2013 1.2668

 

http://www.crawlsf.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/coachella_daft_punk.png

 

Post their initial success of 97-01 Daft Punk disappeared into the ether throwing out the occasional album and single which never really did much either chart or sales wise and were absent entirely for eight years prior to 2013 when the group moved from EMI to Sony. “Get Lucky” has to rank as one of the most unexpected comeback in recent years, it spent 4 weeks at No 1 and sold a million in just over 2 months helping propel “Random Access Memories” to become their first album chart topper.

 

167 (147) JOHN LEGEND (1,707,000) 2014 1.2751

 

http://cdn.stupiddope.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/john-legend-all-of-me-2014-tiesto-remix-download.jpg

 

Despite knocking around since 2005 Legend had had at best a mediocre chart career before 2012 when a performance of “Ordinary People” on “The Voice” saw the song back into the charts making No 4 but that seemed like a one off before “All Of Me”. That track gave him a US No 1 and a No 2 here with an amazing 44 weeks consecutively in the top 40 and helped the album “Love In The Future” to become his biggest seller to date.

 

166 (134) CALVIN HARRIS (1,817,000) 2014 1.2794

 

 

BEST SELLING YEAR: 2011

 

Harris is the incredible position of selling over 1.7 million in each year since 2011, and he’s only just put in his best year to date! 2014 was the first year that he managed to grab a duo of chart toppers when “Summer” and “Blame” both helping him to the top of the charts in addition to over 250,000 albums. His best year in terms of pure sales was 2011 when the market was much bigger and his knob twiddling on “We Found Love” gave him the edge over the others.

 

ALSO BIG IN: 2012, 2013

 

Thanks for the additional explanation gezza, I get it now. Will be interesting to see how well really low selling years are represented here as a result.

 

165 (103) CHRIS BROWN (2,071,000) 2011 1.3313

 

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/sites/default/files/2011/03/chris-brown-buzz-2011-a-p.jpg

 

Brown charted no less than 8 tracks throughout 2011 which helps to account for the 1.8 million singles he sold. By far the biggest contributions came from the singles “Yeah X3””Champion” and “Beautiful People”, by comparison his album “F.A.M.E” could only make No 10 just pushing over the 200k mark by year end.

 

164 (97) SNOW PATROL (2,100,000) 2006 BIGGEST ACT 1.3329

 

http://www.kevchino.com/graffix/interviews/SnowPatrol_interview.gif

 

Snow Patrol and 2006 can only mean one thing- yes the everlasting “Chasing Cars” which incredibly only sold around 210,000 copies within 2006 such was the poor state of the market but they more than made up for it on the albums front where with just two albums (in the main) that sold over 1.6 million to become the biggest act of the year. They are easily the only Northern Irish act to appear on this list.

 

163 (138) MAROON 5 (1,780,000) 2004 1.3340

 

http://www.albumbaru.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/maroon5-2.jpg

 

For all the success of “Moves Like Jagger” in 2011 they can’t quite top their 2004 performance when “Songs About Jane” sold almost 1.5 million copies and they managed to combine it with hit singles “This Love” and “She Will Be Loved”. It took another 8 years to finally get a No 1 single (although few would have predicted they would ever get a chart topper by 2008/9) and proved surprisingly resilient to changing chart fads.

 

ALSO BIG IN: 2012

 

162 (72) AVICII (2,294,000) 2013 1.3355

 

http://startrident.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/27September2013-Avicii-True-430x270.jpg

 

What can be said for Avicii in 2013? Tim Bergling had been in the charts since 2010 but it was with “Levels” and a run in with Leona Lewis in 2011 that he really “arrived” and in 2013 the chart toppers started. First “I Could Be The One” made the illustrious spot then of course the million selling “Wake Me Up” became the fastest seller of the year shifting 266k in its first week. All four of his releases made the Y/E top 80 but typically for a dance act his album was a slow seller shifting just 148k by the end of that year.

 

ALSO BIG IN: 2014

 

161 (137) FLORENCE + THE MACHINE (1,791,000) 2010 1.3556

 

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_MlxenrU7KMg/S8QeSx3kMPI/AAAAAAAAAeM/3xgL1iL1KVw/s320/florenceandthe-machines_big.jpg

 

Pushed by Radio 1 Florence + The Machine broke through into mainstream consciousness in 2009 when “Lungs” was released, it took 28 weeks to finally hit No 1 in early 2010 after spending 5 weeks at No 2 when originally released behind Michael Jackson. After being used in the final episode of “Gavin & Stacey” their cover of “You Got The Love” made the top 10 despite being available for the better part of a year by that point and also made the top 10 in mash-up form after they performed the track with Dizzee Rascal at that year’s BRITS during which they collected the award for best album. Selling a million singles didn’t do any harm either.

 

160 (146) SUSAN BOYLE (1,743,000) 2009 1.3799

 

http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/susan-boyle.jpg

 

Plucked from obscurity on “Britain’s Got Talent” Boyle’s debut album “I Dreamed A Dream” sold a record (for a female act) 411,000 in its first week which is also the ninth biggest weekly sale ever. It raced to sales of 1.6 million in 6 weeks as the decade drew to its close and she even scored a top 10 single out of it with her version of “Wild Horses”. She never sold anything like this subsequently but for about a month we were all Boyle crazy!

 

Interesting thread Gezza, amazing to see out of this list so far who's still going strong even beyond their initial bursts of success...is there any chance we'll be meeting anyone else from X Factor during this? *cough*Murs*cough*

I can confirm that some X Factor acts are to come :D

So if an act sold over 1.5 million in both 2000 and 2001, will you add the percentage totals for both years, or just take the largest?

So if an act sold over 1.5 million in both 2000 and 2001, will you add the percentage totals for both years, or just take the largest?

Just take their biggest year. The "other" year gets mentioned as a "Also big in..."

159 (102) CLEAN BANDIT (2,071,000) 2014 1.3853

 

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Music/Pix/pictures/2013/12/23/1387813759707/CLEAN-BANDIT-008.jpg

 

A couple of small hits in 2013 didn’t really prepare us for the Clean Bandit onslaught of 2014 which started when “Rather Be” opened at No 1 with the best sales for a January chart topper in 18 years. It ended up shifting over 1.5 million of this total by the end of the year and augmented by another couple of top 5 hits, only time will tell if it’s the beginning of a long chart career.

 

158 (67) ALANIS MORISSETTE (2,390,000) 1996 1.3946

 

http://rokpool.com/files/artist/b99f17d99e02dfcff4658b4f4500303d.jpg

 

Never dropping out of the top 30 all year and spending 11 weeks at No 1, “Jagged Little Pill” sold over 2 million copies in 1996 enough to even outstrip the mighty “(What’s The Story) Morning Glory” and top the Y/E survey. Whilst there were only 3 singles taken from the album during 1996 they were the biggest hits with “Head Over Feet” proving the most popular at No 7 but she continued to be heavily supported by radio something not shown by the singles runs.