Talk:List of best-selling albums/Archive 14

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Shania Twain Come on over album needs to be repositioned

Shania Twain Come on over album should be positioned above Alanis Morisettes Jagged Little Pill album. Certified sales are substantially more. Joshnelson1984 (talk) 03:52, 20 December 2018 (UTC)

 Not done: Per the top of the page: "Albums are listed in order of number of copies sold and thereafter by the artist's first name." They have an equal number of "claimed sales" though you are correct that Shania Twain's certified sales are substantially higher. However it appears that the default sort order is by claimed sales, not by certified sales. —KuyaBriBri^Talk 14:35, 20 December 2018 (UTC)

The Marshall Mathers LP and The Eminem Show

These sold around 36 and 30 Million copies worldwide ( according to Wikipedia page:- https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_albums_of_the_21st_century )

Aniket 863874 (talk) 19:37, 16 January 2019 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 22 March 2019

Aashiqui by Nadeem–Shravan sung in 1990 has sold 150,000,000 copies worldwide!! - Kk999cv (talk) 09:09, 22 March 2019 (UTC)

 Not done: While India may have the world's second-largest population, as of 2005 they only had the 12th largest music market. Selling 150 million copies of an individual release in country where the highest verified sellers rarely reached 20 million is ludicrous. Per WP:EXCEPTIONAL, we would need much more evidence to support such a sales claim. --Mαuri ’96 (talk · cont) 22:47, 22 March 2019 (UTC)

All the Way... A Decade of Song

Hi, could we add All the Way... A Decade of Song to the list? We have sourced IFPI European 5× Platinum certification (5 million), 8.1 million copies sold in the US (SoundScan figure by Billboard), 2× Million certification in Japan (2 million), Diamond certification in Canada (1 million), Platinum in Brazil (250,000), 3× Platinum in Australia (210,000), 5× Platinum in New Zealand (75,000) and Platinum in Argentina (60,000). These numbers alone give us 16.7 million copies sold. The source here says 22 million. So we have sourced 76% of sales for this 1999 album. Max24 (talk) 17:33, 26 March 2019 (UTC)

 Done. --Mαuri ’96 (talk · cont) 03:59, 27 April 2019 (UTC)

Certified unit percentage

Is the certified units required for a claim capped at 80% for albums in 2016 and onwards?

///////////////////////

"Michael Jackson's Thriller, estimated to have sold 66 million copies worldwide, is the best-selling album.[4] Although sales estimates for Thriller have been as high as 120 million copies, these sales figures are unreliable."

Same goes for the "billion" claim for Elvis Presley sales, but no one (not ONE person)seems to have an ounce of bother / curiosity and /or a wish to do an analyses on that claim (even in a wiki article which simply leaves links to authors on EP who have claimed same "billion" - yet, what more do they actually know?) and CERTAINLY not this same rock critic, Bill Wyman. I'd love to see his opinion on the above claim. Question is - where are the certs for that? Any available certs are nowhere near the claim, but again, not ONE person has questioned that ...it's always ...lets analyse, strip down & question Michael Jackson. Typical!

Also, the quote re: Thriller album sales also offers just 1 (Yes, ONE)lonely link to this Rock critic's mere opinion. How much more would this critic really know than those literally in the recording business & the likes? Nothing! He's just doing his own analyzing and then giving his OWN assumption / opinion to round his article off. That's it - nothing more. The above is not just my two cents - everything I've said above is actually factual...but it seems nobody wants to go there / apply the same kind of scrutiny and analysis to another readily accepted sales claim...unless it's about MJ, of course. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.17.221.111 (talk) 00:02, 24 August 2019 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 3 September 2019 re incorrect album sales

I request that the sales for George Michael's Faith be updated from 20 million to 25 million as per the individual Wikipedia page for the album: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faith_(George_Michael_album)

The individual album's Wikipedia page cites a far more recent (2018) and applicable (Billboard) source: https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/magazine-feature/7647467/george-michael-death-new-music

The Wikipedia page for the artist himself also shows 25 million: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Michael

I've checked other albums in the best-selling albums list at around the 25 million sales mark and their individual Wikipedia pages correlate with the list, but Faith doesn't.

Regards.

Jackson Kelly JacksonKelly.wiki (talk) 20:26, 3 September 2019 (UTC)

Done. Richard Hendricks (talk) 23:11, 3 September 2019 (UTC)

Ranked List

I feel as though a ranked list would be a better way to organize the list and capture the attention of our readers/viewers. Below, I will provide a potential template that we could use. This template has all the information necessary for the audience to understand the list, but I also believe that it is more neat, easier to understand, and simply constructed in a manner that is more complex. The numbered ranking allows for everyone to comprehend the entirety of the list, as I believe that sorting it by '40 million copies or more', or '20 million copies or more' is not needed, when a list ranking of perhaps a Top 50 or Top 25 would be better suited for information like this. Look at the List of Highest-grossing movies page and see how they page is neat, complex, and contains similar information in a more classy manner. I also put the album title before the artist because this article isn't exactly about the artist, but rather the album itself.

Rank	Album	Artist	Claimed Sales	Certified Copies	Year
1	Thriller	Michael Jackson	66 Million	47 Million	1982
2	Back in Black	AC/DC	50 Million	26.1 Million	1980
3	Bat Out of Hell	Meat Loaf	50 Million	21.7 Million	1977
4	The Dark Side of the Moon	Pink Floyd	45 Million	24.2 Million	1973
5	The Bodyguard	Whitney Huston	45 Million	28.4 Million	1992
6	Their Greatest Hits	Eagles	42 Million	41.2 Million	1976
7	Saturday Night Fever	Bee Gees / Various Artists	40 Million	21.6 Million	1977
8	Rumors	Fleetwood Mac	40 Million	27.9 Million	1977
9	Come On Over	Shania Twain	40 Million	29.6 Million	1997
10	Grease: The Original Soundtrack from the Motion Picture	Various artists	38 Million	14.8 Million	1978
11	Led Zeppelin IV	Led Zeppelin	37 Million	29.1 Million	1971
12	Bad	Michael Jackson	35 Million	19.3 Million	1987

Editor49 (talk) 02:45, 23 October 2019‎

I like this idea. We need to remember to provide the sources for the claimed and certified sales. Richard Hendricks (talk) 13:48, 23 October 2019 (UTC)

No problem. I was just making this as a rough draft to show. As soon as I have time, I'll begin working. (That is unless someone else wants to be an angel and save me some time :) I'm kidding, of course. It just might be a while for me. Editor49 (talk) 21:02, 23 October 2019 (UTC)

Eminem sales outdated

This article has The Eminem Show and Marshall Mathers LP with much higher sales. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_albums_of_the_21st_century

46.208.6.5 (talk) 13:14, 7 November 2019 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 17 December 2019

Genre for Purple Rain by Prince and The Revolution should include "Minneapolis Sound" 50.202.153.154 (talk) 17:58, 17 December 2019 (UTC)

 Not done. Please provide reliable sources for this. –Deacon Vorbis (carbon • videos) 21:45, 17 December 2019 (UTC)

I messed up and ruined the page plus write down new stuff

Please fix this page, l ruined it:( didnt know how to do it. I want you to write down that HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I by Michael jackson actually sold 30 million copies. HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I. https://www.mjvibe.com/history-past-present-and-future-book-i-20-years-of-the-most-personal-michael-jackson-album/

also according to https://www.quora.com/Why-didnt-Michael-Jacksons-History-album-succeed it is true — Preceding unsigned comment added by Nemrud91 (talk • contribs) 21:32, 17 February 2020 (UTC)

also, ten years ago it sold 25 million copies according to https://michael-jackson.fandom.com/wiki/HIStory:_Past,_Present_and_Future,_Book_I and now it sold 30 million copies. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Nemrud91 (talk • contribs) 21:35, 17 February 2020 (UTC)

Hi again, l fixed the problem. But want you to write this, total certified units shows here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HIStory:_Past,_Present_and_Future,_Book_I

Lets have a nice dicussion

Timeline of the best-selling albums is wrong

First, using this article's own internal 'rules', The Sound of Music's 15 million is inadmissible. Second, it is well-known that Iron Butterfly's In-a-gadda-da-vida became the #1 selling album of all time, in 1969, with sales (at the time) of over 8 million copies. Third, Fleetwood Mac's Rumours wad briefly the biggest album of all time in the late 70's. But then I guess this article is more about telling a story than about telling the truth. 197.87.101.101 (talk) 15:27, 14 March 2020 (UTC)

And do Vaghan Meader and South Pacific pass this article's "rules" either?-197.87.101.101 (talk) 15:29, 14 March 2020 (UTC)

Missing album

Elton john’s “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” has sold over 30 million copies, but it is not on the list? Rasmus Boding (talk) 07:11, 1 April 2020 (UTC)

Eagles takes over Thriller

This article needs updating. Thriller is now in second place, with an Eagles album the number one of all time. Source: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-eagles-greatest-hits-album-beats-michael-jacksons-thriller-as-no-1-all-time-album-today/ — Preceding unsigned comment added by 117.20.69.209 (talk) 09:13, 25 April 2020 (UTC)

Moving Linkin Park's "Hybrid Theory" to 30-39 million list

Hello guys I just wanna say that Linkin Park's "Hybrid Theory" album is sold 30 million copies worldwide and it's already proven in few sources in the internet & even at the "Hybrid Theory" article here in Wikipedia. So I assume it might be a minor mistake & hope it would fixed soon. Moh8213 (talk) 01:49, 6 May 2020 (UTC)

Its certified for shipments of 11 million in the US and 4 million throughout continental Europe. Care to explain where the other 15 million come from? Not to mention the album is from the 2000s. In my opinion, 20 million (and 15 million for Meteora) is a more honest and accurate figure.--PeterGriffin • Talk2Me 05:03, 6 May 2020 (UTC)

Agree with Peter Griffin 9901. Both albums have highly inflated sales. Maybe this is a example of primary source taken from Wikipedia when those figures weren't reverted during years and now have reliable sources. --Apoxyomenus (talk) 16:39, 6 May 2020 (UTC)

Removing Meteora from the List

With shipments of 7m in the US, 3m in Europe and maybe 1m more with Japan, Australia & Canada, I think its safe to say that 27m is absolutely inflated. Even 20m in claimed sales for an album released in the early 2000s (and 11m in certifications) is hard to believe (15m is more likely). Thoughts on the album's removal from the list?--PeterGriffin • Talk2Me 00:07, 7 May 2020 (UTC)

I enthusiastically agree. We really have to keep a constant eye out for inflated sales claims. --Mαuri ’96 (talk · cont) 02:05, 7 May 2020 (UTC)

Agree and just to point out my argument I believe figures of 20, 25 or 27 million for Meteora are thanks to Wikipedia and just a "woozle effect" after Chester's obituaries:

1) If we search in the own article' history, we can find examples in 2014, 2015 or 2016 indicating 20 million sales without any references. A Google advance search shows that virtually, there isn't any "reliable sources" using that amount during that period.

2) During a part of 2016 and 2017 was changed again to 25 million without any reference. Example 1 and 2, respectively.

3) Just a couple of weeks before Chester's die, was changed to 27 million. Like these on May, June or July (just 1 day before).

4) This is the first edition using a "reliable source" suporting the 27 million figure, made on July 26, 2017 and was almost a week after Chester's die. It's curious because websites used the 27 million figure during his obituary and after. Like Rolling Stone or Variety (and seems just a copy+paste of wiki jargon "as of 2013... sold")

With this background and the certifications reached by this album, we can remove Meteora on this list. Also, The Asian Age indicated 16 million, that's more "realistic".

cc @88marcus: since he was involved in a similar discussion for Linkin Park albums in best-selling albums of the 21st century list. What's your 2 cents?.

--Apoxyomenus (talk) 02:49, 7 May 2020 (UTC)

Agree Those inflated sales used to be created here in Wikipedia and spread in the media till it became "true sales", it's what is called Woozle effect as said previously.--88marcus (talk) 02:52, 7 May 2020 (UTC)

I've deleted that album in this list. Consensus it's clear. And I think we should changed sales to 16 million, using references like this in own article or main page of the band. --Apoxyomenus (talk) 20:36, 10 May 2020 (UTC)

Elton John's Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (30 million copies)

According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodbye_Yellow_Brick_Road and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elton_John_discography, this album has sold at least 30 million copies and should, it seems, therefore be included in this list of best-selling albums. It would seem like an omission. Thank you : ) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Shorerob (talk • contribs) 12:37, 17 May 2020 (UTC)

 Not done: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road sold 12.5 million copies and only reaches 31 million sales through album-equivalent streams, downloads, and especially greatest hits/compilation sales. --Mαuri ’96 (talk · cont) 17:02, 18 May 2020 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 7 June 2020

105.235.134.208 (talk) 14:11, 7 June 2020 (UTC)

Bts r the best selling album worldwide in 2019

 Not done: it's not clear what changes you want to be made. Please mention the specific changes in a "change X to Y" format and provide a reliable source if appropriate. ‑‑ElHef (Meep?) 14:57, 7 June 2020 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 24 August 2020

Thriller has a certified certificate of 100 Million sales & Michael has 1 Billion album sales. This needs to be updated <>/https://www.riaa.com/michael-jacksons-thriller-first-ever-30x-multi-platinum-riaa-certification></ 2001:569:BC6E:3200:F5ED:FC10:564E:ABB5 (talk) 21:59, 24 August 2020 (UTC)

 Not done: The article clearly states it is 30x platinum, i.e. 30 million copies sold. So which is it? 30 or 100? As of now, the article clearly states (with ref) that 33 million copies of album sold in the US. 1 billion part is not relevant to this article. Thanks. GreaterPonce665 ^(TALK) 19:42, 13 October 2020 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 4 March 2021

Change "while Whitney Houston, The Beatles and Madonna each have three." to "while Whitney Houston, The Beatles, Madonna and Pink Floyd each have three." (or some rearrangement of those names). Pink Floyd has three albums on the list - The Dark Side of the Moon, The Wall, and Wish You Were Here. Helmjose (talk) 21:05, 4 March 2021 (UTC)

 Done J850NK (talk) 21:19, 4 March 2021 (UTC)

gbyr

FINALLY GOODBYE YELLOW BRICK ROAD GETS IT DUE REWARD.ITS BEEN MISSING OFF THIS LIST FOR FAR TO LONG10:59, 24 April 2021 (UTC)10:59, 24 April 2021 (UTC)10:59, 24 April 2021 (UTC)~

taylor swift

in 2014, taylor swift' album 1989 sold 10.0 million copies worldwide. Both physical and digital album sales are included, while frozen by Various Artists sold only 9.0 millions. i think you missed that. Halaalmia (talk) 22:08, 3 July 2021 (UTC)

History past present and future

this says 40 million[1] can the list please be editted, thanks--2601:58B:8000:9C0:2124:A4BD:32C3:8BBC (talk) 12:00, 1 August 2021 (UTC)

Sales Figures of Norah Jones' "Come Away with Me" Inconsistent

The sales figures of Norah Jones' "Come Away with Me" are mentioned twice in the article. First 27 million copies sold citing source [125]. Then 18 million copies citing [196] and [197]. How should we deal with this discrepancy? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jens SARS (talk • contribs) 22:53, 11 December 2021 (UTC) --Jens SARS (talk) 14:10, 12 December 2021 (UTC)

Combine table?

I think it'll be a better and more consistent display if the "40 million copies or more", "30–39 million copies", "20–29 million copies" are combined in one table. The columns will be sortable across the entire list, and they will be a consistent width.

For example, the article states, "Jackson also currently has the highest number of albums on the list with five" but you have to hunt in three different tables to find out which albums and from what years. If these three tables were one single table, you can sort by artist and be able to view this data easily.

Any objections? // sikander { talk } 🦖 10:19, 5 February 2022 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 13 February 2022

Barbra Streisand's collaboration with Barry Gibb "Guilty" has sold 22,973,000 copies. LucasChermontt (talk) 16:14, 13 February 2022 (UTC)

 Not done: please provide reliable sources that support the change you want to be made. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 16:56, 13 February 2022 (UTC)

Timeline of the best-selling albums

In the timeline of the best-selling albums, there are two separate entries for Oklahoma! -- a 78 rpm album and an LP album. However, is it possible that these are actually two different recordings -- the 78 rpm album, listed under 1945, being the original cast album from the Broadway musical, and the LP album, listed under 1956, being the soundtrack from the 1955 film? The chronology matches up, and the film soundtrack was listed on Billboard′s album chart for years after its release, thus making it a plausible contender to also have been the best-selling album at least until the My Fair Lady original cast album overtook it. Besides, we don't count different album formats separately for other recordings here -- we don't distinguish between Thriller as to whether its sales were on LP, cassette, or CD. If my suggestion is correct, we should display the first three entries as follows:

Timeline of the highest-selling album record

Year record set	Artist	Album	Record-setting sales (millions)	Total sales (millions)	Ref(s)
1945	Various Artists	Oklahoma! (original cast album)	0.5	1.0
After 1946	Al Jolson	The Jolson Story	1
1956	Various Artists	Oklahoma! (soundtrack)	1.75	2.5

--Metropolitan90 (talk) 07:00, 27 February 2022 (UTC)

References

Estimated shipment for 2001 #1

https://books.google.com.sg/books?id=FBAEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA42&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false

According to Billboard Global Top 20, Linkin Park is #2 with 8.5M copies (#1 is Dido at 8.6M). However, IFPI 2001 #1 is Linkin Park. Therefore, its estimated sales for 2001 should be above 8.6M and hence I put it aa 9M Fmfanbama (talk) 00:40, 29 March 2022 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 2 April 2022

Change the sales of Adele's 30 from 4.68 million to 5 million as given in the IFPI article quoted as a source. 2406:3003:2001:C73:844:63FD:BADC:2277 (talk) 13:41, 2 April 2022 (UTC)

 Done Thanks for noticing and happy editing! --Ferien (talk) 16:01, 2 April 2022 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 10 May 2022

Change the sales of Adele's 30 from 4.6 million to 5 million as according to IFPI's list. 2406:3003:2001:C73:F51B:EC70:FC4B:D62D (talk) 12:06, 10 May 2022 (UTC)

IFPI's Global Music Report shows the number as 4.6 million, more specifically 4.68 million. Check the source in the table. - Ïvana (talk) 12:53, 10 May 2022 (UTC)

Backstreet Boys Millennium Sales 40 million

http://www.nme.com/photos/the-50-best-selling-albums-ever http://www.rankings.com/music-albums-worldwide http://www.songfacts.com/blog/writing/best_selling_albums_worldwide http://www.jimsteinman.com/bestalbum1.htm

add Goodbye yellow Brick Road

https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/3bm5/

Ace of Base's Happy Nation/The Sign

Is it possible to include Ace of Base's Happy Nation/The Sign into 30m-list based on this reference?. please advise . thanks

(http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/music/news/a169980/michael-jackson-a-fan-of-ace-of-base.html) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Politsi (talk • contribs)

BSB Millennium sales

It has been claimed for years that Millennium sold 40 million copies. An unknown source has came along and claimed this, just as a random article claimed only 30 million and you published that. All the reliable sources (MTV, BBC, E News, Jive, Universal, CNN etc) had 40 million claimes, lets not forget the bands website.

It reached number 1 all around the world, broke numerous sales records, achieved platinum and diamond status. Looking at ir from a common sense perspective leads to the conclusion of the album selling at least 40 million. It needs changed back to the 40 million list.

http://www.mtv.com/artists/backstreet-boys/biography/

2003 Norah Jones CAWM shipment

Figures from EMI Music Report

◆2002.04∼2003.03：11.8M

◆2003.04∼2004.03：5.7M

◆2004.04∼2005.03：1.8M

Total for 3 years (Apr 2002∼Mar 2005) from EMI Music report：19.3M

Estimated Global shipment by calender year

◇2002 IFPI #11: 5+M

◇2003 IFPI #1：11M

◇2004 IFPI #30：3M

Before Adele "21" shipped 18.1M in 2011. Precious highest record for most copies shipped in a calendar year since 2001 was Eminem's 13.9M in 2002.

https://www.musicweek.com/news/read/...untdown/048435

The XL album finished as the past year's biggest seller after shifting 18.1 million copies worldwide, easily beating the highest previous tally recorded by the IFPI for Eminem's The Eminem Show in 2002. His album sold 13.9 million units that calendar year.

Claimed sales of Bat Out of Hell

Are the claimed sales of Meat Loaf's Bat Out of Hell a bit inflated? The total available certification of this 1977 release is only 21.7M units. Even if the album missed getting certified in many markets, since many markets did not have a certification system in 1977, there are not many sources that say about the sales of this album in those countries except in the Netherland and Iceland. Bee Gees Saturday Night Fever was also released in the same year and has a similar amount of total available certifications. But there are sources for its uncertified sales in countries like Italy, Japan, Mexico, and New Zealand, yet have fewer claimed sales than the Bat Out Hell. Any thoughts? — TheWikiholic (talk) 16:09, 14 May 2022 (UTC)

Your points on valid. The claimed sales are inflated, but what do you suggest they should be? TruthGuardians (talk) 14:47, 17 May 2022 (UTC)

It is time to raise Thriller’s claimed sales to 100m

Without question, and without objection, it is time to raise Thriller’s claimed sales to 100m minimum. For reasons of continuity, I would like to bring this topic up again since the certified sales of thriller has recently passed 50M. According to generally followed rules, related sales of records an album released between 1975 and 1990 are required to have their claimed figure supported by 30-50% of certified units. That is 1.33% for each additional year after 1975. So album released in 1982 only requires to have 39.31% of certified unit. Thriller currently has 50M units certified sales from 21 countries and that is 50% for its 100M claimed sales. There are for more reliable sources that have the 100 million figure than anything less. Here are 7 reliable sources that promote the 100 million claim that range from 2009 up to yesterday (2022):

CNN

RIAA

RollingStones

Broadway World

Billboard

NYT

Telegraph

TruthGuardians (talk) 14:51, 17 May 2022 (UTC)

Albums & other stuffs

• The Lion King (1994 soundtrack) find sources.
• Legend (Bob Marley and the Wailers album), perhaps a minor upgrade wouldn't hurt. --Apoxyomenus (talk) 17:13, 20 June 2022 (UTC)

Maybe now (or in a future), section "Best-selling album by year worldwide" could be remained just at List of best-selling albums of the 21st century#Best-selling album by year --Apoxyomenus (talk) 17:22, 20 June 2022 (UTC)