U2 Chart/Sales Statistics

[BigMacPhisto]

Yeah, I have a feeling that they are counting double disc sets as two units in Germany...........same reason why The Wall has sold more units than Dark Side of the Moon in the U.S....

[fitz]

o.k. I try to translate the official statement from ifpi to this content (translated with help from "babelfish"):

A platinum record may be lent: for 200.000 sold Longplay albums and visonal albums (CD, MC, LP, MD, DVD audio, SACD, DVD video, video home system video among other things).
Those sales figures presupposed in each case must with a publication of identical contents up obtained on the home market its. During the addition of different clay/tone data carrier types, picture clay/tone data carrier types and if necessary different versions agreement with the normal products must be present contentwise as far as possible.
This is given with products with same name and/or title, same interpreter and contentwise agreement of at least 50% of the TRACKS (different versions of a TRACK do not impair this identity. By this also live-versionen and videos fall. Also play time differences of individual titles are not as contentwise agreement lacking to rate). Additionable are also publications of different variants, e.g. Special edition, if above-mentioned conditions are fulfilled.

[STING2]

Originally posted by fitz o.k. I try to translate the official statement from ifpi to this content (translated with help from "babelfish"): A platinum record may be lent: for 200.000 sold Longplay albums and visonal albums (CD, MC, LP, MD, DVD audio, SACD, DVD video, video home system video among other things). Those sales figures presupposed in each case must with a publication of identical contents up obtained on the home market its. During the addition of different clay/tone data carrier types, picture clay/tone data carrier types and if necessary different versions agreement with the normal products must be present contentwise as far as possible. This is given with products with same name and/or title, same interpreter and contentwise agreement of at least 50% of the TRACKS (different versions of a TRACK do not impair this identity. By this also live-versionen and videos fall. Also play time differences of individual titles are not as contentwise agreement lacking to rate). Additionable are also publications of different variants, e.g. Special edition, if above-mentioned conditions are fulfilled.

So what does this say about "double albums"? Are both disc counted as one album or two albums for the purposes of certification?

[fitz]

Yes, that's the question. That is only the official statement. But i think, it's different if a double album has a "familiar" album like the U2's Best of have (so they count as one, 50% of the tracks are the same, as one for the charts and the certifications) or if we have a "normal" double album like Pink Floyds's The Wall. This album maybe get's certification for each cd inside. But I'm not sure. Sorry

[Tallarico]

Excuse me guys!
I need an information,please:it's true that in 2001 during Elevation tour in top 10 in Ireland there were 4 or 5 u2's albums?And if it is so,whichs????(sorry for my bad english......)
Thanx!!!!!

[VALE69]

Hello Tallarico, I think you me....

have a look to @u2.com into "u2history" section: it wasn't 4 or 5 albums, but almost!
See you on u2place, bye!

September 6, 2001: Entire U2 catalog on Irish album charts

Less than a week after U2's second hugely successful homecoming concert at Slane Castle, the band's entire 12-album catalog appears within the top 60 spots of the irish album sales chart: 1. All That You Can't Leave Behind 5. The Joshua Tree 10. The Best Of 1980-1990 11. Achtung Baby 17. Rattle and Hum 33. The Unforgettable Fire 35. Zooropa 37. Pop 40. Wa 43. Under A Blood Red Sky 45. Boy 60. October

[STING2]

Bump

[edge3]

Originally posted by Popmartijn Marty P.S. I just got some recent (week ending 11-1-04) SoundScan figures: All That You Can't... = 4,132,538

Originally posted by STING2 Best Of and ATYCLB are right on the money though. A Bit surprising though to see that ATYCLB album sales have risen so little over the past year. A year ago it was at 4,117,000 in the USA, now its only 15,000 copies higher in sales. That makes it seem like the album is only selling 300 copies a week in the USA. I would think it would be selling at least a 1,000 copies a week, but who knows for sure.

I suppose it depends on the exact dates that Soundcsn gives it's figures : the 500 Greatest Albums edition of Rolling Stone magazine from Dec 11th 2003 has ATYCLB's Soundscan figure at 4,112,000. This figure was probably given in Nov 2003 which means it sold 20K from start (?) of Nov 2003 untill start of Jan 2004 (4,132,538). This works out at about 2500 copies per week.

By Nov 2004 I believe it's total, Soundscan, sales in US were 4.2M which means it sold about 68K from Jan 2004 (4,132,538) untill Nov 2004. This works out at just over 1400 copies per week, which seems about right as U2 weren't touring & the album was a year older.

So, this all seems to prove that ATYCLB has been selling at least 1000 copies per week since Nov 2003.

[Popmartijn]

And I just checked the RIAA site and it seems there are 2 updates. First, there is the Beautiful Day single, which has gone gold in the digital category, which -IIRC- equals more than 100,000 paid downloads. The RIAA has also updated its bestselling artists list. U2 is at #21 with 50.5 million records sold in the USA. This is based on certifications, so with The Joshua Tree still being at 10 million copies, etc.

C ya!

[VALE69]

That's incredible!
Mediatraffic has updated his all time chart, after a lot of weeks.
Now HTDAAB is n. 17 with 7.802.000 copies sold in the world.

[jimmmm]

brilliant work absolutely brilliant, doctorwho, and STING

[Zoovation]

Is taht new?

Global Album Charts (mediatraffic):

58 U2 - The Best Of 1990-2000
Island - 3.063.000 copies (cumulative sales since 2002)

[ChargedVT]

That figure for Best Of 1990-2000 CANT be right. Its way too low. I think they might have somehow messed it up due to the fact there were TWO different versions of the album, after all the USA and UK and a few others had them as two different albums in the charts. Consider this, its sold the following in these countries....
USA - 1.1m
UK - 550k
Australia - 200k +
Italy - 350k +
New Zealand - 50k
Japan - 105k

Thats nearly 2.4m not including big markets like France, Germany, Spain, Holland. I estimate a real figure of 4.7 million.

[Zoovation]

I think that sales were only counted when the album was in the Top 40 of the Global Charts.

[STING2]

Originally posted by ChargedVT That figure for Best Of 1990-2000 CANT be right. Its way too low. I think they might have somehow messed it up due to the fact there were TWO different versions of the album, after all the USA and UK and a few others had them as two different albums in the charts. Consider this, its sold the following in these countries.... USA - 1.1m UK - 550k Australia - 200k + Italy - 350k + New Zealand - 50k Japan - 105k Thats nearly 2.4m not including big markets like France, Germany, Spain, Holland. I estimate a real figure of 4.7 million.

The sales figure was from mediatraffic which does not track an albums sales once it drops out of the global top 40.