The Michael Jackson Chart Watch

^The Essential Michael Jackson also returns to the UK charts at #98.
 
Chartmasters has now posted the analysis of Elvis Presley the only artist who was able to take Michaels number 2 spot after the Beatles. But Michael remains his number 2 spot.

CSPC: Data Collector - Page 24 of 26 - ChartMasters

https://chartmasters.org/2017/10/cspc-most-successful-artists-ever-data-collector/24/


Artists Ranking – CSPC – Overall sales

Here is the sum of all the value released by each artist. The figures are given in EAS (equivalent album sales).


Please keep in mind that some artists are missing, because their analysis has not been done yet. The complete list is available here. All figures reflect the value as collected at the time of the artist’s respective articles.

1. The Beatles – 405,737,000 (as of Mar 2017)

2. Michael Jackson – 323,741,000 (as of Sep 2017)

3. Elvis Presley – 312,266,000 (as of Sep 2018)

4. Madonna – 241,134,000 (as of Aug 2017)

5. Queen – 238,637,000 (as of Oct 2017)

6. The Rolling Stones – 237,135,000 (as of Dec 2016)

7. Pink Floyd – 229,426,000 (as of Jun 2017)

8. Led Zeppelin – 200,459,000 (as of Aug 2016)

9. Elton John – 196,130,000 (as of Feb 2018)

10. U2 – 194,519,000 (as of Aug 2016)

11. Céline Dion – 193,422,000 (as of Sep 2016)

12. AC/DC – 191,030,000 (as of Feb 2018)

13. Eagles – 171,069,000 (as of Dec 2017)

14. Mariah Carey – 167,149,000 (as of Apr 2017)

15. Bruce Springsteen – 157,024,000 (as of Jul 2017)

16. Bee Gees – 156,874,000 (as of Apr 2017)

17. ABBA – 156,623,000 (as of Nov 2016)

18. Eminem – 154,954,000 (as of Aug 2016)

19. Barbra Streisand – 152,498,000 (as of Mar 2018)

20. Whitney Houston – 151,693,000 (as of May 2017)

21. Phil Collins – 147,408,000 (as of Apr 2018)

22. Billy Joel – 146,695,000 (as of Oct 2016)

23. Fleetwood Mac – 144,842,000 (as of Oct 2016)

24. Bon Jovi – 144,095,000 (as of Nov 2016)

25. Bob Dylan – 142,291,000 (as of Oct 2016)

26. Metallica – 139,406,000 (as of Aug 2016)

27. Bob Marley – 135,464,000 (as of Nov 2017)

28. Aerosmith – 130,011,000 (as of Jun 2018)

29. David Bowie – 125,785,000 (as of Jan 2017)

30. Simon & Garfunkel – 123,913,000 (as of May 2018)

31. Guns N’ Roses – 117,930,000 (as of Mar 2018)

32. Dire Straits – 108,525,000 (as of Mar 2018)

33. George Michael & Wham! – 104,743,000 (as of May 2017)

34. Britney Spears – 100,827,000 (as of Feb 2018)

35. Backstreet Boys – 94,409,000 (as of Feb 2017)

36. Red Hot Chili Peppers – 90,968,000 (as of Mar 2018)

37. Nirvana – 89,182,000 (as of Jul 2017)

38. Rihanna – 86,846,000 (as of Nov 2017)

39. Enya – 86,457,000 (as of Feb 2018)

40. Coldplay – 84,997,000 (as of Jun 2017)

41. Adele – 84,148,000 (as of Mar 2018)

42. Green Day – 81,156,000 (as of Mar 2017)

43. Shania Twain – 80,479,000 (as of Dec 2016)

44. Linkin Park – 78,156,000 (as of Jun 2017)

45. Janet Jackson – 77,131,000 (as of Apr 2017)

46. Johnny Hallyday – 75,403,000 (as of Jan 2018)

47. Beyoncé – 74,052,000 (as of May 2018)

48. Cher – 72,354,000 (as of Aug 2017)

49. Taylor Swift – 68,538,000 (as of Oct 2017)

50. P!nk – 62,872,000 (as of Oct 2017)

51. Michael Bublé – 62,165,000 (as of Dec 2016)

52. Meat Loaf – 61,962,000 (as of Jun 2018)

53. Justin Bieber – 60,877,000 (as of Apr 2018)

54. Usher – 59,493,000 (as of Sep 2017)

55. Oasis – 58,725,000 (as of Dec 2017)

56. Shakira – 58,621,000 (as of Jun 2018)

57. Jackson 5 & The Jacksons – 57,452,000 (as of Sep 2017)

58. Alanis Morissette – 56,955,000 (as of Jun 2018)

59. Drake – 56,880,000 (as of Aug 2017)

60. Lady Gaga – 54,236,000 (as of Mar 2018)

61. Maroon 5 – 53,781,000 (as of Oct 2016)

62. Nickelback – 53,300,000 (as of Jun 2017)

63. Enrique Iglesias – 52,785,000 (as of Sep 2016)

64. Black Eyed Peas – 52,721,000 (as of Aug 2017)

65. Paul Simon – 51,014,000 (as of May 2018)

66. Christina Aguilera – 50,732,000 (as of Mar 2017)

67. Norah Jones – 50,323,000 (as of Nov 2016)

68. Spice Girls – 48,458,000 (as of Mar 2017)

69. Bruno Mars – 47,668,000 (as of Oct 2017)

70. Alicia Keys – 47,321,000 (as of Nov 2016)

71. Destiny’s Child – 46,751,000 (as of May 2018)

72. Justin Timberlake – 46,471,000 (as of Feb 2018)

73. Ed Sheeran – 45,549,000 (as of Jan 2018)

74. Cranberries – 44,501,000 (as of Jan 2018)

75. One Direction – 44,467,000 (as of May 2017)

76. NSYNC – 44,033,000 (as of Feb 2018)

77. Avril Lavigne – 43,428,000 (as of Feb 2018)

78. Katy Perry – 43,292,000 (as of Mar 2018)

79. Jennifer Lopez – 42,910,000 (as of Jun 2018)

80. Foo Fighters – 39,306,000 (as of Oct 2017)

81. Miley Cyrus – 38,969,000 (as of May 2017)

82. Kylie Minogue – 35,753,000 (as of Apr 2018)

83. Kelly Clarkson – 34,863,000 (as of May 2018)

84. Amy Winehouse – 27,270,000 (as of Sep 2016)

85. Renaud – 21,965,000 (as of Nov 2017)

86. Gorillaz – 20,792,000 (as of May 2017)

87. Kendrick Lamar – 20,387,000 (as of Jan 2018)

88. Ariana Grande – 18,359,000 (as of Nov 2017)

89. Aaliyah – 17,933,000 (as of Feb 2017)

90. Selena Gomez – 17,129,000 (as of Nov 2017)

91. Arctic Monkeys – 16,821,000 (as of May 2018)

92. Sam Smith – 16,055,000 (as of Oct 2017)

93. Lana Del Rey – 15,459,000 (as of Aug 2017)

94. The Weeknd – 15,451,000 (as of Dec 2016)

95. Avicii – 13,772,000 (as of Apr 2018)

96. Fergie – 12,981,000 (as of Jul 2017)

97. Macklemore (& Ryan Lewis) – 12,199,000 (as of Nov 2017)

98. Demi Lovato – 11,925,000 (as of May 2017)

99. Will.i.am – 10,903,000 (as of Jul 2017)

100. Lorde – 8,336,000 (as of Jun 2017
 
Interesting. Looking at their analysis for Elvis, it's obvious the reason Elvis sales are so high is because he has put out so many albums, compilations etc. I say that with no disrespect to Elvis, but had he put out the same number of albums as Michael, he would be way behind Michael.
 
The Best of Internet‏ @TheBestofMJJ · 19 Std.vor 19 Stunden


USA

Albums Chart
#31 The Essential michael jackson

Album Sales
#110 The Essential Michael Jackson
#111 Thriller

Top Catalog Albums
#1 The Essential Michael Jackson

Vinyl Albums
#9 Thriller
 
^ The Essential peaks again. 4th time this year. I hope it makes its way in the top 30 soon.
 
MJ VEVO News‏ @MJVEVONews · 5. Sep.

NEWS:
Michael Jackson's 'The Way You Make Me Feel' just surpassed 100 MILLION plays on Spotify!
-It's the 9th MJ song to do so.
 
Next week it will crack the top 30 according to HITS

http://hitsdailydouble.com/sales_plus_streaming

Thanks. Apparently they have this rule now where they are allocating all the streams to one greatest hits album, and I think this is why Essential is doing so well. It has constantly have over 10,000 SPS for the last 3 months. But that means that Thriller is suffering. It has only been on the charts for one week in the last 3 months.
 
Thanks. Apparently they have this rule now where they are allocating all the streams to one greatest hits album, and I think this is why Essential is doing so well. It has constantly have over 10,000 SPS for the last 3 months. But that means that Thriller is suffering. It has only been on the charts for one week in the last 3 months.

Streams are allocated to either Thriller or Essential depending on whichever sells more in pure album sales.
In the last three months Essential has been outselling Thriller in pure sales, although by a small margin
Essential sold 1,607 pure albums last week, while Thriller 1,605.
That's why Thriller is failing to chart lately.
It happened the other way round from January to May, when Thriller had been a constant presence on the BB200 and Essential seldom popped up below #100
Moreover, "Essential" has clearly more chances to chart than Thriller as it contains more songs and the BB200 is becoming more and more streaming-dominated week after week.
 
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Streams are allocated to either Thriller or Essential depending on whichever sells more in pure album sales.
In the last three months Essential has been outselling Thriller in pure sales, although by a small margin
Essential sold 1,607 pure albums last week, while Thriller 1,605.
That's why Thriller is failing to chart lately.
It happened the other way round from January to May, when Thriller had been a constant presence on the BB200
Moreover, "Essential" has clearly more chances to chart than Thriller as it contains more songs and the BB200 is becoming more and more streaming-dominated week after week.

Thanks for explaining how it works. I don't agree with this rule though.
 
Thanks for explaining how it works. I don't agree with this rule though.
You are welcome.

Also, streams from Essential contribute indirectly to Thriller sales (as well to those of the other studio albums) in terms of future RIAA re-certifications,
 
You are welcome.

Also, streams from Essential contribute indirectly to Thriller sales (as well to those of the other studio albums) in terms of future RIAA re-certifications,

Just a question. Thriller returned to the charts last week, presumably due to higher sales than Essential, that dropped all the way down to #94 even though according to the HITS, its SPS was enough for it to be in the top 40. Am I right in saying that some of the streams from Essential were allocated to Thriller, because the Thriller sold more last week?
 
Just a question. Thriller returned to the charts last week, presumably due to higher sales than Essential, that dropped all the way down to #94 even though according to the HITS, its SPS was enough for it to be in the top 40. Am I right in saying that some of the streams from Essential were allocated to Thriller, because the Thriller sold more last week?
Yes, exactly.
In fact, Thriller sold ~2,000 pure copies and Essential 1,4/1,5k copies so streams (and TEA , track equivalent albums) accrued from the compilation by Thriller's songs have been alloted to the studio album.
Hence, Essential dropped significantly and Thriller re-entered. Neverthless, Essential charted higher because had more stream sales coming from the remaining songs of the tracklist.
Thriller sold 7,000 overall (pure sales+SEA+TEA) (#135) and Essential probably 10,000 (#94) roughly according to Nielsen used by Billboard.
HITS, on the other hand, allocated all the streams to Essential, that's why it ranked higher on their chart.

SEA : stream equivalent albums
 
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Yes, exactly.
In fact, Thriller sold ~2,000 pure copies and Essential 1,4/1,5k copies so streams (and TEA , track equivalent albums) accrued from the compilation by Thriller's songs have been alloted to the studio album.
Hence, Essential dropped significantly and Thriller re-entered. Neverthless, Essential charted higher because had more stream sales coming from the remaining songs of the tracklist.
Thriller sold 7,000 overall (pure sales+SEA+TEA) (#135) and Essential probably 10,000 (#94) roughly according to Nielsen used by Billboard.
HITS, on the other hand, allocated all the streams to Essential, that's why it ranked higher on their chart.

SEA : stream equivalent albums

Thanks a lot. I now completely understand how the US chart system works.
 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en-gb"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Best-Selling Album Artists of 21st Century (US):<br>1. Eminem - 44.9m<br>2. The Beatles - 39.3m<br>3. <a href="https://twitter.com/taylorswift13?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@taylorswift13</a> - 32.5m<br>4. Tim McGraw - 30.8m<br>5. Kenny Chesney - 28.3m<br>6. Toby Keith - 28.2m<br>7. Linkin Park - 26.5m<br>8. Jay-Z - 25.3m<br>9. <a href="https://twitter.com/britneyspears?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@britneyspears</a> - 25.2m<br>10. Michael Jackson - 24.9m</p>&mdash; Main Pop Data (@mainpopdata) <a href="https://twitter.com/mainpopdata/status/1040285102293446656?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">13 September 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Pretty impressive sales for Michael, considering he only released one studio album in the 21st century, which didn't even sell that well. His greatest hits and classic albums are still selling extremely well to this day.
 
It's only a matter of time that Michael will get upper on the list, most of the other artist think won't be nearly as relevant in few years from now.
 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="de"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Also climbing the Official Irish Albums Chart this week: <a href="https://twitter.com/michaeljackson?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@michaeljackson</a>, Bob Marley, <a href="https://twitter.com/flo_tweet?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@flo_tweet</a> <a href="https://t.co/0fSu37cbZA">https://t.co/0fSu37cbZA</a> <a href="https://t.co/thbskPdYAG">pic.twitter.com/thbskPdYAG</a></p>&mdash; Official Irish Charts (@irishcharts) <a href="https://twitter.com/irishcharts/status/1041031430908923904?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">15. September 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="de"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The Michael Jackson collection is now sold out</p>&mdash; Diamond Supply Co. (@diamondsupplyco) <a href="https://twitter.com/diamondsupplyco/status/1041017940936544256?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">15. September 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 
pierpinto1;4230650 said:
Michael would be at #2 had Billboard counted the 6 six weeks at #1 for NUMBER ONES in 2009.

Don&#8217;t forget Essential also should have been #1 for a few weeks in 2009.
 
Nite Line;4230665 said:
Don&#8217;t forget Essential also should have been #1 for a few weeks in 2009.
Essential peaked at #2 behind Number Ones
 
I am fairly certain it was only NUMBER ONES that went #1 , for a total of 6 weeks during the summer of 2009. The Essential was #2 right behind it, and Thriller was also in the top 3 at one point.
 
My bad. I didn't know Essential wasn't number 1. But Billboard dumb rules cost MJ a number 1 album in 2009. I also remember when Xscape came out, it was projected to be number 1 by HITS, but Billboard had other ideas. I hate Billboard sometimes. They have cost Michael not one, but two #1 albums.
 
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My bad. I didn't know Essential was number 1. But Billboard dumb rules cost MJ a number 1 album in 2009. I also remember when Xscape came out, it was projected to be number 1 by HITS, but Billboard had other ideas. I hate Billboard sometimes. They have cost Michael not one, but two #1 albums.
I agree.
Xscape ended up debuting at #2, just because 9,000 copies sold at ONE in Las Vegas had not taken into account.
 
Oh my...I didn't know about that. Why wasn't it counted?

This is what Paul Grein (a former columnist for Billboard) wrote at the time.

Michael Jackson loved the charts, so he would have been disappointed by this week's news. Xscape, a collection of previously unreleased tracks which he recorded between 1983 and 1999, just missed becoming his seventh #1 album. The album enters The Billboard 200 at #2, behind The Black Keys's Turn Blue. Jackson's album sold 157K copies. If it had sold just 7K more copies, it would have debuted at #1 and Turn Blue would have had to settle for the runner-up slot.

Turn Blue had a big lead in digital sales (95K, compared to 54K for Xscape), but Jackson's album sold more physical copies (103K, compared to 69K). How to explain this? A lot of Jackson's fans wanted the CD for a keepsake.

At first it looked like Xscape would come out on top, but Nielsen SoundScan and Billboard didn't count nearly 9K copies of CDs that were given away with the purchase of a ticket or T-shirt at Jackson's Cirque Du Soleil show in Las Vegas. (Chart policy is that consumers have to actively choose to buy an album. They can't just get it with bundled with something else.)
 
This is what Paul Grein (a former columnist for Billboard) wrote at the time.

Wow. Okay. Tickets for that show is even more expensive than the album though. Though I think some would've bought the T-shirt just to have the album... Well, that's four years ago.
 
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