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| | Field Marshal |  |
| | Group: Administrator,
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| | Location: Copenhagen | | Joined: 09.06.06 | | Posted on 31-07-2014 12:59 |
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There are many ways to count album sales (shipments, actual sales, etc.), and many albums are listed with huge sales numbers, but came across this list on Wikipedia today, which I found quite surprising. It tracks the best-selling albums since Nielsen SoundScan came along in march 1991. The SoundScan system tracks actual sales only, with a few requirements:
The requirements for reporting sales to Nielsen SoundScan are that the store has Internet access and a point of sale (POS) inventory system. Submission of sales data to Nielsen SoundScan must be in the form of a text file consisting of all the UPCs sold and the quantities per UPC on a weekly basis. Sales collected from Monday-Sunday or Sunday-Saturday are reported to SoundScan every Monday and made available to SoundScan subscribers every Wednesday.
Still this seems to be the most legit list I've found, it tracks both brick & mortar and online sales, and they are all actual sales - no estimates.
The list itself surprises me somewhat: Particularly the #1 spot, the Hootie & The Blowfish entry, and the general lack of R&B/rap etc., which flooded the airwaves in the last two decades.
1991-May 2013 list
Metallica / Metallica ~ 16,020,000
Come on Over / Shania Twain ~ 15,530,000
Jagged Little Pill / Alanis Morissette ~ 14,820,000
Millennium / Backstreet Boys ~ 12,210,000
1 / The Beatles ~ 12,160,000
The Bodyguard / Soundtrack (Whitney Houston) ~ 12,060,000
Supernatural / Santana ~ 11,731,000
Human Clay / Creed ~ 11,640,000
Legend / Bob Marley & The Wailers ~ 11,260,000
No Strings Attached / 'N Sync ~ 11,140,000
Come Away With Me / Norah Jones ~ 10,885,000
Falling into You / Celine Dion ~ 10,803,000
Marshall Mathers LP / Eminem ~ 10,652,000
...Baby One More Time / Britney Spears ~ 10,586,000
21 / Adele ~ 10,400,000
Cracked Rear View / Hootie & The Blowfish ~ 10,278,000
Titanic (soundtrack) / Soundtrack (Celine Dion) ~ 10,174,000
Backstreet Boys / Backstreet Boys ~ 10,127,000
Eminem Show / Eminem ~ 10,125,000
Confessions / Usher ~ 10,044,000
Hybrid Theory / Linkin Park ~ 10,027,000
Ten / Pearl Jam ~ 10,001,000
Which entry in the 10 million club are you most surprised about?
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) and Usher I can agree with, but still Hootie & the Blowfish?!? and the black album as all time #1?
