Latest on MJJC

The Michael Jackson Chart Watch

At least there is more actual evidence to support MJ's sales.

Sales from the 1950's and 1960's were very often 'estimated' based on a very small sample of retail outlets. Some of these retail outlets were found to have 'massaged' sales figures/chart positions for decades, in return for various types of record company rewards.

It's true to say the record companies have always been into exaggerating figures for their artists. But, when you look at what went on in the 50's and 60's, it's a wonder you can trust anything related to actual sales and honest chart positions.
 
MJMarty said:
I know tracking global album sales for an act as popular as Michael in so many markets is a hard feat, but I was wondering do the mediatraffic estimates stack up accurately? Here they are:

'Got To Be There' (1971) 1.5 million
'Ben' (1972) 3 million
'Music & Me' (1973) 1 million
'Forever Michael' (1975) 0.5 million
'The Best Of Michael Jackson' (1975) 1.5 million
'Off The Wall' (1979) 20 million
'One Day In Your Life' (1981) 1 million
'Thriller' (1983) 67 million
'18 Greatest Hits' (1984) 1 million
'Farewell My Summer Love' (1984) 1 million
'Bad' (1987) 33 million
'Dangerous' (1991) 30 million
'HIStory' (1995) 20 million
'Blood On The Dancefloor: HIStory In The Mix' (1997) 4 million
'Invincible' (2001) 7 million
'Greatest Hits: HIStory Volume 1' (2001) 3 million
'Number Ones' (2003) 11 million
'The Essential Michael Jackson' (2005) 6 million
'The Motown Years' (2008) 1 million
'The King Of Pop' (2009) 3 million [Supposed to be King Of Pop]
'This Is It' (2009) 5 million
'Michael Jackson' (2010) 2.5 million [Supposed to be Michael]
'Immortal' (2011) 0.7 million
'Xscape' (2014) 1.7 million

Total : 225.4 million

I know Bad and Blood On The Dance Floor are outdated numbers, and I think Thriller and Dangerous may be too low by 1-2M each, but I really never knew how much albums like Number Ones, Essential Michael Jackson, etc. really sold WW. Do these seem correct, and is Michael's total album sales as a solo artist around 230M? As far as I'm aware, Michael is considered the second best-selling albums act ever after The Beatles, and third best-selling total records act ever after The Beatles and Elvis Presley (terrible tracking for Elvis' stats).
Click to expand...

Please source (link to mediatraffic site) for these numbers. Thanks.
 
OnirMJ;4142774 said:
Please source (link to mediatraffic site) for these numbers. Thanks.
Click to expand...

Mediatraffic's site is here:

http://www.mediatraffic.de/

Their All-Time Albums chart is here: http://www.mediatraffic.de/alltime-album-chart.htm

Michael has the most entires for a solo act (his five big-selling solo releases) including having Thriller at #1 and Bad at #10, and second most entries overall behind seven for the Beatles. Elvis has NO entries. Again, I don't get where Elvis' total records tally comes from with such awful tracking.

For Michael's total WW record sales, they posted that update to their Facebook page, here: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1023668867707298&id=299303286810530

For older records like Michael's they say they rely on sources such as MJDangerous (though they have lower estimates than him for Bad (2-3M), Blood On The Dance Floor (1-1.5M) and Dangerous (2M), among others).

By the way, Mediatraffic have done this for several artists. So far, Michael leads their WW album sales:

Michael Jackson
Total: 225.4 million

Madonna
Total: 198.7 million

Celine Dion
Total: 167.5 million

Mariah Carey
Total: 146.8 million

Whitney Houston
Total: 135.1 million

Eminem
Total: 102.6 million

Britney Spears
Total: 83.4 million

Janet Jackson
Total: 73.65 million

Beyoncé
Total: 66.4 million

P!nk
Total: 42.8 million

Taylor Swift
Total: 38.6 million

Christina Aguilera
Total: 37.3 million

Shakira
Total: 36 million

Destinys Child
Total: 35.5 million

Avril Lavigne
Total: 34.95 million

Rihanna
Total: 30.11 million

Lady Gaga
Total: 27.12 million

Katy Perry
Total: 14.1million

Miley Cyrus
Total: 12.35 million
 
Last edited:
respect77 said:
I think all of those artists cases the sales numbers tend to be exaggerated. When they say that Elvis or the Beatles sold 1 billion records there aren't really receipts to back that up either. (Elvis.com even admits that the number is probably exaggerated.) Probably MJ did not sell 750 million records either, but since there are exaggerated numbers thrown around for every other artist, I don't think we should get too nit-picky about MJ's numbers either.

I think probably he IS the third best selling artist of all times, it's only the overall number that may be exaggerated - but that is exaggerated for all other artists as well.
Click to expand...

Definitely agree with this. 1 billion records (even units) seems impossible. Even 750M seems stretched for any act. Sony have given two "official" shipped estimates for big MJ selling albums and neither make sense. Bad got a 45M shipped update for Bad25 in the documentary which seems way too high. Sony insist on Thriller selling 100M+ copies too, which is nuts. The fact that the shipped number is likely north of 70M is such a feat in itself I wish it wasn't so exaggerated. No other album is even remotely close, it's something like 20M ahead of the second-best seller.
 
UK charts, 25/3 - 31/3


Official Album Chart
29 (35) Number Ones, 254 weeks
77 (RE) The Essential, 64 weeks


Album Download Chart
10 (RE) Off The Wall
47 (81) Number Ones
70 (RE) Thriller
74 (RE) The Essential


Album Sales Chart
29 (53) Number Ones
75 (RE) The Essential
81 (RE) Off The Wall


Physical Album Chart
32 (44) Number Ones
51 (RE) Off The Wall
88 (RE) The Essential


Album Streaming Chart
34 (45) Number Ones
44 (58) Bad
46 (63) This Is It
64 (RE) Off The Wall/Thriller




US charts, 9/4


Billboard 200
134 120 102 178 Off The Wall
145 144 143 259 Thriller
157 163 148 153 Bad
171 168 160 162 The Essential


Top 100 Album Sales
67 56 52 9 Off The Wall


Top Catalog Albums
7 6 5 216 Off The Wall
23 20 20 124 Bad
34 32 30 341 Thriller
40 39 34 212 The Essential
43 48 – 303 Number Ones


R&B/Hip-Hop Catalog Albums
1 1 1 205 Off The Wall
7 4 4 315 Bad
9 6 8 745 Thriller
12 10 9 363 The Essential
13 12 13 482 Number Ones


Artist 100
49 52 53 65 Michael Jackson




US Top 200 album sales for week ending 24/3/2016


67 Off The Wall 3843
124 Bad 2683
155 Thriller 2251
169 The Essential 2131
177 Number Ones 2057


Thanks Justtheothernight
 
USA

Best Selling Albums Last 12 Months Top 200

Sales: week 11, 2015 - week 10, 2016

#121 Bad - Michael Jackson 162,000
#178 Thriller - Michael Jackson 130,000
#192 The Essential Michael Jackson 123,000

Source: Oldbloke Ukmix.org
​
 
France best selling albums ever:
Summary 1980-1989

1 – Thriller (1982) : 3 745 000
2 Patrick Bruel – Alors Regarde (1989) : 2 190 000
3 Dire Straits – Brothers In Arms (1985) : 2 010 000
4 Francis Cabrel – Sarbacane (1989) : 1 975 000
5 Bob Marley – Legend (1984) : 1 895 000
6 Michael Jackson – Bad (1987) : 1 785 000
7 Éric Serra – Le Grand Bleu Soundtrack (1988) : 1 760 000
8 Soundtrack – Dirty Dancing (1987) : 1 750 000
9 Jean-Jacques Goldman – Non Homologué (1985) : 1 740 000
10 Jean-Jacques Goldman – Entre Gris Clair Et Gris Foncé (1987) : 1 650 000
11 Francis Cabrel – Cabrel 77-87 (1987) : 1 520 000
12 Patricia Kaas – Mademoiselle Chante… (1988) : 1 490 000
13 Renaud – Morgane De Toi (1983) : 1 480 000
14 Mylène Farmer – Ainsi Soit Je… (1988) : 1 465 000
15 Jacques Brel – 15 Ans D’Amour (1988) : 1 460 000
16 Charles Aznavour – 20 Chansons D’Or (1987) : 1 440 000
17 Roch Voisine – Hélène (1989) : 1 400 000
18 Jean-Jacques Goldman – Positif (1984) : 1 340 000
19 Tracy Chapman – Tracy Chapman (1988) : 1 330 000
20 Renaud – Mistral Gagnant (1985) : 1 315 000
21 Johnny Clegg & Savuka – Third World Child (1987) : 1 310 000
22 Francis Cabrel – Fragile (1980) : 1 300 000
23 Phil Collins – …But Seriously (1989) : 1 300 000
24 Simon & Garfunkel – The Concert In Central Park (1982) : 1 240 000
25 François Feldman – Une Présence (1989) : 1 240 000
26 U2 – The Joshua Tree (1987) : 1 225 000
27 Dire Straits – Money For Nothing (1988) : 1 220 000
28 Daniel Balavoine – Sauver L’Amour (1985) : 1 200 000
29 Michel Sardou – Les Lacs Du Conemara (1981) : 1 130 000
30 Jean-Jacques Goldman – Minoritaire (1982) : 1 130 000
31 Madonna – True Blue (1986) : 1 095 000
32 AC/DC – Back In Black (1980) : 1 065 000
33 France Gall – Babacar (1987) : 1 055 000
34 Julio Iglesias – Sentimental (1980) : 1 030 000

http://chartmasters.org/2016/03/france-best-selling-albums-ever-summary-1980-1989/8/
 
YouTube Top 50 since February 19, 2016 (since YT publishes its weekly charts). The below numbers are cummulated numbers for the past five weeks since then.

1. Justin Bieber 982 million
2. Rihanna 655 million
3. Adele 422,2 million
4. One Direction 408,9 million
5. Coldplay 399,5 million
6. Romeo Santos 365,4 million
7. Taylor Swift 344,5 million
8. Eminem 301,9 million
9. Beyoncé 296,2 million
10. Wiz Khalifa 286,9 million
11. Major Lazer 280,3 million
12. Drake 279,1 million
13. Shakira 273 million
14. Joan Sebastian 272,8 million
15. Katy Perry 268,4 million
16. Linkin Park 266,8 million
17. The Weeknd 254,9 million
18. Banda Sinaloense MS De Sergio Lizárraga 254,3 million
19. Michael Jackson 252,6 million
20. Maroon 5 243,1 million
21. Sia 241,8 million
22. David Guetta 240,7 million
23. Fifth Harmony 239,6 million
24. Ed Sheeran 233,8 million
25. Los Temerarios 233,2 million
26. Nicky Jam 228,1 million
27. Enrique Iglesias 227,9 million
28. Vicente Fernéndez 226,5 million
29. Calvin Harris 224,7 million
30. PSY 224 million
31. Maluma 221,9 million
32. Ana Gabriel 221,8 million
33. Aventura 220,7 million
34. Pitbull 217,7 million
35. Ariana Grande 213,5 million
36. Marco Antonio Solís 210,6 million
37. Bruno Mars 209,5 million
38. twenty one pilots 209,1 million
39. Zayn Malik 205,5 million
40. Maná 200,1 million
41. Shawn Mendes 193 million
42. Chris Brown 192,4 million
43. Metallica 183,5 million
44. Ellie Goulding 183,1 million
45. Arijit Singh 182,4 million
46. Gummibär 181,4 million
47. Future 178,8 million
48. J Balvin 175,7 million
49. Flo Rida 172,9 million
50. Meghan Trainor 172,9 million
 
respect77;4143168 said:
YouTube Top 50 since February 19, 2016 (since YT publishes its weekly charts). The below numbers are cummulated numbers for the past five weeks since then.

1. Justin Bieber 982 million
2. Rihanna 655 million
3. Adele 422,2 million
4. One Direction 408,9 million
5. Coldplay 399,5 million
6. Romeo Santos 365,4 million
7. Taylor Swift 344,5 million
8. Eminem 301,9 million
9. Beyoncé 296,2 million
10. Wiz Khalifa 286,9 million
11. Major Lazer 280,3 million
12. Drake 279,1 million
13. Shakira 273 million
14. Joan Sebastian 272,8 million
15. Katy Perry 268,4 million
16. Linkin Park 266,8 million
17. The Weeknd 254,9 million
18. Banda Sinaloense MS De Sergio Lizárraga 254,3 million
19. Michael Jackson 252,6 million
20. Maroon 5 243,1 million
21. Sia 241,8 million
22. David Guetta 240,7 million
23. Fifth Harmony 239,6 million
24. Ed Sheeran 233,8 million
25. Los Temerarios 233,2 million
26. Nicky Jam 228,1 million
27. Enrique Iglesias 227,9 million
28. Vicente Fernéndez 226,5 million
29. Calvin Harris 224,7 million
30. PSY 224 million
31. Maluma 221,9 million
32. Ana Gabriel 221,8 million
33. Aventura 220,7 million
34. Pitbull 217,7 million
35. Ariana Grande 213,5 million
36. Marco Antonio Solís 210,6 million
37. Bruno Mars 209,5 million
38. twenty one pilots 209,1 million
39. Zayn Malik 205,5 million
40. Maná 200,1 million
41. Shawn Mendes 193 million
42. Chris Brown 192,4 million
43. Metallica 183,5 million
44. Ellie Goulding 183,1 million
45. Arijit Singh 182,4 million
46. Gummibär 181,4 million
47. Future 178,8 million
48. J Balvin 175,7 million
49. Flo Rida 172,9 million
50. Meghan Trainor 172,9 million
Click to expand...

WOW! Look at all of the current artist MJ beat out.
If anyone doubts MJ's popularity and longevity they need to see this.
MJ is the only "old school" act (that I know of) on that list, and in the top 20 at that. :D
 
Princess nishea said:
WOW! Look at all of the current artist MJ beat out.
If anyone doubts MJ's popularity and longevity they need to see this.
MJ is the only "old school" act (that I know of) on that list, and in the top 20 at that. :D
Click to expand...

And Metallica at #43 but they are still active. Not in the Top 50, but in the Top 100 are Queen as well (#75). If Celine Dion counts as old school, she is at #79. AC/DC at #85. Julio Iglesias at #94. These are the "old school" acts in the Top 100. Pink Floyd are on the verge of breaking into the top 100 at #101.

Note: There is an over-representation of Latino acts in the Top 100, probably due to YouTube's popularity in those countries.

MJ's VEVO certified videos (at least 100 million views)

1. Thriller 311,675,214 views
2. They Don't Care About Us (Brazil version) 213,567,290
3. Billie Jean 203,801,992
4. Beat It (Digitally Restored Version) 168,025,011 (the non-restored version also has 69 million views, so counting together Beat It actually would be MJ's second most viewed video)
5. Bad 145,772,639
6. Remember The Time 144,543,535
7. The Way You Make Me Feel 144,286,135
8. Love Never Felt So Good (JT duet) 138,105,468
9. Black or White 112,818,707

Next up

You Are Not Alone - about 92 million views now
Earth Song 90.5 million views
 
Last edited:
respect77 said:
And Metallica at #43 but they are still active. Not in the Top 50, but in the Top 100 are Queen as well (#75). If Celine Dion counts as old school, she is at #79. AC/DC at #85. Julio Iglesias at #94. These are the "old school" acts in the Top 100. Pink Floyd are on the verge of breaking into the top 100 at #101.
Click to expand...

No Elvis or the Beatles in the top 100?
I'm honestly more suprised about the Beatles not being there then Elvis because his music didn't really age that well.
 
Princess nishea said:
No Elvis or the Beatles in the top 100?
I'm honestly more suprised about the Beatles not being there then Elvis because his music didn't really age that well.
Click to expand...

None of them are in the Top 100, but actually Elvis is doing better than the Beatles on YouTube. In the same period as in the above charts (February 19-March 24):

Elvis Presley 73.1 million
Beatles 32.7 million views

It's the other way around on Spotify - there the Beatles are higher (#99) than Elvis (#296). But there too MJ is the highest placed non-current act (#66).

Michael Jackson 8,510,863 monthly plays
The Beatles 6,628,103
Elvis Presley 3,128,902
 
bpi music ?@bpi_music 6 Std.Vor 6 Stunden

'This Is It' - the posthumous album by @michaeljackson has gone 2x Platinum in the UK! #bpiAwards
 
Some streaming stats.

On Spotify MJ is at #66 so far this year based on the number listens. Only current artists are ahead of him. Note: Queen is another "veteran" act that is doing very well, they are a #67. There is no other non-current act in the Top 100. Well, maybe Red Hot Chilli Peppers (#85) who are kind of veterans but they are still active. But Spotify apparently has a mainly young audience because usually it's the current hit makers that are in the Top 100.

YouTube publishes it's weekly Top 100 since February. Since then MJ is at #20 overall. (On YT Queen is #75, Metallica #43 to mention some other "veteran" acts that are in the Top 100. On YT RHCP is not in the Top 100. On the other hand Metallica is not in the Top 100 on Spotify.)

There are only 12 acts that are ahead of MJ on both Spotify and YouTube - all current ones:

Katy Perry
Sia
Drake
Major Lazer
Wiz Khalifa
Beyoncé
Eminem
One Direction
Adele
Coldplay
Rihanna
Justin Bieber
 
respect77;4146171 said:
Some streaming stats.

On Spotify MJ is at #66 so far this year based on the number listens. Only current artists are ahead of him. Note: Queen is another "veteran" act that is doing very well, they are a #67. There is no other non-current act in the Top 100. Well, maybe Red Hot Chilli Peppers (#85) who are kind of veterans but they are still active. But Spotify apparently has a mainly young audience because usually it's the current hit makers that are in the Top 100.

YouTube publishes it's weekly Top 100 since February. Since then MJ is at #20 overall. (On YT Queen is #75, Metallica #43 to mention some other "veteran" acts that are in the Top 100. On YT RHCP is not in the Top 100. On the other hand Metallica is not in the Top 100 on Spotify.)

There are only 12 acts that are ahead of MJ on both Spotify and YouTube - all current ones:

Katy Perry
Sia
Drake
Major Lazer
Wiz Khalifa
Beyoncé
Eminem
One Direction
Adele
Coldplay
Rihanna
Justin Bieber
Click to expand...

This is great!

Michael is just as popular worldwide as any current artist!
It just goes to show how important it is to create music that ages well, and it also shows that Michael will forever be the King of entertainment and of the music industry. :yes:

Additionally, I'm glad to see Queen doing so well (Freddie Mercury is a true legend).
 
The Best of Internet ?@TheBestofMJJ 2 Std.Vor 2 Stunden

The Best of Internet hat The Best of Internet retweetet

Second straight week at ONE

Top 50 Australia Catalogue Album Chart

#1 (last week #1) The Essential Michael Jackson

The Best of Internet @TheBestofMJJ
Australia Top 50 Catalog Album Chart

#1 The Essential Michael Jackson
#48 Thriller

The Best of Internet ?@TheBestofMJJ 2 Std.Vor 2 Stunden
Top 50 Australia Album Chart

#19 (last week #17) The Essential Michael Jackson
 
US charts, May 7th


Billboard 200
152 (RE) 262 Thriller
188 (RE) 164 The Essential
190 (RE) 156 Bad
191 (RE) 180 Off The Wall


Top 200 Album Sales
100 Off The Wall
161 Bad
194 Thriller


Top Catalog Albums
25 (18) 220 Off The Wall
50 (45) 128 Bad


R&B/Hip-Hop Catalog Albums
15 (2) 209 Off The Wall
19 (5) 319 Bad
22 (15) 749 Thriller
23 (14) 367 The Essential


Artist 100
70 (66) 69 Michael Jackson

Thanks thebigham and Justtheothernight
 
http://www.officialcharts.com/chart...gest-hits-collections-revealed__15397/​

Here's the Official Top 10 biggest selling greatest hits albums:

​ TITLE ARTIST YEAR
1 GREATEST HITS QUEEN 1981
2 GOLD - GREATEST HITS ABBA 1992
3 GREATEST HITS II QUEEN 1991
4 THE IMMACULATE COLLECTION MADONNA 1990
5 LEGEND BOB MARLEY & THE WAILERS 1984
6 1 BEATLES 2000
7 GREATEST HITS ABBA 1976
8 LADIES & GENTLEMEN - THE BEST OF GEORGE MICHAEL 1998
9 NEVER FORGET - THE ULTIMATE COLLECTION TAKE THAT 2005
10 NUMBER ONES MICHAEL JACKSON 2003

©2016 Official Charts Company. All rights reserved.
 
The Essential new entry at 56 in UK for some reason?!

A much better compilation than Number Ones. Just needed GITM and Jam and the full versions of Earth Song and WII to make nearly perfect.
 
MJ has four albums among the top selling 200 albums of the year so far.


USA

"BILLBOARD 200" YTD (Week 34)

Rank - Estimated SPS - Title - Artist

#172 (116,000) Bad - Michael Jackson
#179 (110,000) Thriller - Michael Jackson
#196 (100,000) Off The Wall - Michael Jackson
#198 (100,000) The Essential - Michael Jackson

Thanks Oldbloke & Erika23.
 
Number Ones currently sits at 26 on the UK iTunes Pop chart, at full price! Considering the album came out the day the trial BS started in 2003, it's incredible how well it has done.
 
UK:

Number Ones back in 55
Thriller back in at 66
The Essential at 89
 
Michael Jackson, Number Ones – No. 59 — Michael Jackson’s greatest-hits collection Number Ones flies back onto the Billboard 200 at No. 59 with 9,000 equivalent album units (up 523 percent) in the week ending July 21, according to Nielsen Music. Of that sum, 5,000 were traditional album sales (up 263 percent). The gain is owed to a $5.99 sale price in the iTunes Store, which led to a 1,104 percent rise in download sales. With 5.3 million sold, Number Ones is Jackson’s best-selling hits package in the Nielsen era (1991-present), and third-biggest seller overall in that span of time (behind Thriller, with 6.7 million, and Dangerous, with 6.5 million).

http://www.billboard.com/articles/c...-200-chart-moves-twenty-one-pilots-blurryface
 
Bubs;4158596 said:
Michael Jackson, Number Ones – No. 59 — Michael Jackson’s greatest-hits collection Number Ones flies back onto the Billboard 200 at No. 59 with 9,000 equivalent album units (up 523 percent) in the week ending July 21, according to Nielsen Music. Of that sum, 5,000 were traditional album sales (up 263 percent). The gain is owed to a $5.99 sale price in the iTunes Store, which led to a 1,104 percent rise in download sales. With 5.3 million sold, Number Ones is Jackson’s best-selling hits package in the Nielsen era (1991-present), and third-biggest seller overall in that span of time (behind Thriller, with 6.7 million, and Dangerous, with 6.5 million).


http://www.billboard.com/articles/c...-200-chart-moves-twenty-one-pilots-blurryface
Click to expand...

It looks like the Invincible King's reign just ain't going to let up.

eMSdRuGhwGp6o.gif
 
Last edited:
5 albums by MJ among the best selling 200 albums of 2016 in the US so far.

USA
Best selling albums of 2016
(Week 29)


Rank - Estimated 2016 Sales - TITLE - Artist - ( Estimated total Soundscan sales)


#92 - 96,000 - OFF THE WALL - Michael Jackson ( 2,306,000 )


#108 - 81,000 - BAD - Michael Jackson ( 2,099,000 )


#123 - 73,000 - THRILLER - Michael Jackson ( 6,676,000 )


#153 - 64,000 - THE ESSENTIAL - Michael Jackson ( 2,505,000 )


#171 - 59,000 - NUMBER ONES - Michael Jackson ( 5,305,000 )


Source: oldbloke
Thanks Justtheothernight/Erika23.
 
I sure would like to see History on that list. I don't get it why people don't buy it as much others, especially now that TDCAU is basically national anthem when there is protests:scratch:
Maybe when the estate brings out History 25 or even before, more youngsters discover it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top