U2 Chart/Sales Statistics

[doctorwho]

Here is a list of all the U2 statistical information I have gathered over the years. This data discusses sales, charts, tours and films. The data was gathered from numerous websites and library searches of old magazines.

I welcome any additional information. I have tried my best to obtain accurate information. However, if you catch an error, please do not hesitate to inform me. I ask, though, that you provide your source for the information so that it can be added. Comments like, “I thought it reached #1” simply aren't credible. :-)

Clearly the true power of U2 lies in their music. However, music is a business and charts and sales reflect that side of U2. Nonetheless, if you are not interested in this news, I ask that you kindly skip this post.

Enjoy!


********************************************************************
“Achtung Baby,” “Zooroopa,” “POP” and “All That You Can't Leave
Behind” U.S. Billboard Chart Rankings (U2’s SoundScan Era)
********************************************************************

First Week Sales:

In its first week of sales, “POP” sold 347,000 copies in
the U.S. It sold approximately 160,000 copies its second
week taking approximately 2 weeks to go GOLD in the U.S.

“Achtung Baby” (AB) sold 295,000 copies its first week in the U.S.
and “Zooropa” sold 377,000 copies its first week in the U.S.

“All That You Can't Leave Behind” (ATYCLB) bested all of these
albums selling a monster 428,000 copies its first week.


“All That You Can’t Leave Behind:”

Here are U2's U.S. chart positions for ATYLCB as of March, 2001
(first 19 weeks on the charts – each line represents
10 weeks):

3-5-12-22-23-24-20-18-22-16
19-19-25-33-37-35-11-15-25

Sales for those weeks (rounded to nearest thousand):

428,000 + 176,000 + 119,000 + 125,000 + 100,000 + 113,000
+ 154,000 + 259,000 + 108,000 + 66,000 + 59,000 + 57,000
+ 47,000 + 44,000 + 41,000 + 49,000 + 85,000 + 74,000 + 55,000

Approximate SoundScan U.S sales after 19 weeks are: 2,149,000

ATYCLB was certified as Platinum in its 7th week and Double
Platinum in its 12th week.

Here are ATYCLB’s weekly performances around the world
(each line represents 10 weeks):

Global:
1-1-1-2-3-3-4-5-7-7
7-8-10-9-9-7-6

The U.K.:
1-4-10-20-25-26-28(DP)-29-29-23
17-12-12-7-7-8-10-3-6

Canada:
1-1-5-8-11-11-12-8-16-17
14-17-20-25-29-30-12-18

Australia:
1-1-2-3-3-3-3(TP)-3-3-6
9-12-15-13-14-14-9-8-7

Ireland:
1-2-3-3-4-6-x-x-7-6
4-3-3-1-3-2-2-2-2

x = data not obtained that week
P, DP and TP = the week the album went Platinum, Double
Platinum or Triple Platinum in that particular country.


“POP:”

“POP's” first 20 weeks on the U.S. Top 200 BillBoard chart
(each line represents 10 weeks) were:

1-2-8-12-14-13-13-15-15-18
20-29-33-42-49-56-68-89-96-101

After “POP” dropped out of the top 100, I stopped
monitoring. I believe “POP spent a total of 28 weeks
on the U.S. BillBoard Top 200 charts. At the end of
1997, SoundScan reported that “POP sold a total of
1.3 million copies in the U.S. In January, 2001, SonicNet
reported that “POP had sold 1.45 million copies in the
U.S.


“Achtung Baby” (AB):

Here are the chart positions for AB for an entire YEAR
after its debut. It debuted December 7, 1991 on the U.S.
BillBoard charts (each line represents 10 weeks):

1-3-4-4-7-4-7-6-6-6
9-9-8-9-12-12-12-10-7-7
12-13-10-13-11-11-11-17-17-21
18-21-25-30-28-35-39-43-40-26
23(!)-29-30-28-30-34-47-42-37-39
44-45-44-52-50-49-46

The last position above was for the week of December 26, 1992.
AB was certified as Double Platinum (2 million copies sold to stores)
after 9 weeks. In contrast, after 9 weeks, “POP was certified only
Platinum. By the 21st week, AB was certified as Triple Platinum.

After 39 weeks, AB, then at #40, rebounded to #23 (denoted by the (!)).
This was possibly due to two reasons. At that point, the late summer/fall
segment of U2 outside ZOO tour in the U.S. was in full
swing. Also, “Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses” was
now being heard on the radio. After 47 weeks (just under
a year), AB was certified as Quadruple Platinum in the U.S.

After 57 weeks on the charts, AB continued to bounce around between
positions #50-160 for the next year. AB was certified as Quintuple
Platinum (5 million copies sold to stores) in the U.S. in August, 1993.

“Achtung Baby” stayed in the top 13 for 27 weeks.
Most of this success was due to “Mysterious Ways”.
This song, while reaching only #9 on the U.S. Hot 100
Singles chart (see below), was #1 for a whopping 12 weeks
on the U.S. Mainstream Rock Chart and #1 for 9 weeks
on the U.S. Modern Rock Chart! This means that
radio stations LOVED this song. “Mysterious Ways”
was released as a single along with AB. “One”, another
top 10 hit, was released shortly thereafter. While it's debatable
whether “The Fly” helped AB's initial sales/chart success, the
“one-two punch” of “Mysterious Ways” and “One” kept AB in
the top 40 for 38 weeks. And even when it finally fell out for
one week, it only rebounded back in! After 47 weeks when AB was
coincidentally #47 on the charts, the CD single release
of “Who's Gonna Ride...” brought AB back into the top
40 yet again.


“Zooropa:”

Here are the chart positions for “Zooropa” for 33 weeks after
its debut. “Zooropa” debuted July 24, 1993 on the U.S.
BillBoard charts (each line represents 10 weeks):

1-1-2-3-4-6-10-11-13-16
20-22-29-37-40-42-52-62-73-86
81-79-76-65-58(*)-54(!)-60-58-68
82-99-111

The last position above was for the week of February 26,
1994. “Zooropa” reached Double Platinum after
9 weeks. This is the same as AB and again, it is
double that of “POP” for the same time frame. However,
“Zooropa”, not having tour support in the U.S. and no
true CD single release (until “Stay”), dropped much
faster on the charts.

“Zooropa” rebounded from #86 after only 20 weeks
all the way back to #54 (denoted by the (!)) when
“Lemon” reached #1 on the dance charts. This is U2's first #1 dance remix song in the U.S. Also, “Stay” was officially released as a CD single at this time.
The (*) denotes the week that AB reached 5 million
in sales. Although certified as Double Platinum,
“Zooropa” only sold about 2.5 million copies total
in the U.S.

*******************************************************************
WORLD-WIDE sales information for U2 albums.
These figures were reported by the New Zealand
Polygram office on March 8, 1997 when
“POP” was released.
*******************************************************************

“Boy” - 2,490,467
“October” - 2,360,717
“War” - 6,551,395
“Under A Blood Red Sky” - 7,556,582
“The Unforgettable Fire” - 6,255,826
“Wide Awake In America” - 1,743,610
“The Joshua Tree - 14,805,257
“Rattle And Hum” - 9,274,502
“Achtung Baby” - 9,763,275
“Zooropa” - 6,079,158

Total - 66,880,789

Keep in mind, the above sales information was from 1997.
Current information (that I have seen reported on-line) has the
following U.S. and global sales for these albums:

U.S.:
After 19 weeks, “All That You Can't Leave Behind” has sold
Over 2.15 million copies in the U.S. “POP” has sold a total of
1.45 million copies in the U.S. and the “The Best Of” and “Zooropa”
have both sold over 2.4 million copies in the U.S.

Global:
“All That You Can't Leave Behind” at 6-7 million copies (U2.com reported
that ATYCLB sold 6 million copies worldwide in 3 months);
“POP” at 6-7 million copies;
“The Best Of” at 10 million copies;
“The Joshua Tree” at 16 million copies;
“Achtung Baby” at 12 million copies.

Factoring in this information, U2 have sold over 93 million
copies worldwide. Catalog sales, combined with the continued
success of “All That You Can't Leave Behind” may push this
number close to 100 million by the end of 2001.


******************************************************************
SILVER, GOLD, PLATINUM and DIAMOND
Certifications
******************************************************************

After examining the latest certifications for U2’s releases in various
countries, I believe that U2’s entire catalog should be re-audited for
potential re-certifications. Some releases have not been certified since
the mid-80’s in some countries.

In any event, here are the latest certifications for U2’s releases in the
U.S., Canada, the U.K. and Australia (for the titles I could find).


The U.S.:

The RIAA is the only official source in the U.S. that
certifies singles, albums and videos as GOLD, PLATINUM and
MULTI-PLATINUM. Billboard Magazine merely reports these results.
RIAA obtains sales information from music label companies.
All audits are conducted by RIAA's official, independent accounting
firm for a certification fee.

The definition for GOLD, PLATINUM and MULTI-PLATINUM
and DIAMOND varies according to the format (album or video).
Currently, in the U.S., singles and albums are certified as GOLD
with sales of at least 500,000 copies; 1,000,000 for PLATINUM,
2 or more million copies for MULTI-PLATINUM and 10 million or
more for DIAMOND.

Long-form videos are certified at 50,000 for GOLD,
100,000 for PLATINUM and 200,000 for MULTI-PLATINUM status.
Please keep these definitions in mind when examining
the information below.

Here are the latest RIAA certification listings for all U2 releases:

“Boy” was certified as PLATINUM on September 11, 1995.

“October” was certified PLATINUM on September 11, 1995.

“War” was certified as MULTI-PLATINUM with 4 million units sold
on September 11, 1995.

“Under a Blood Red Sky” was certified as MULTI-PLATINUM
with 3 million units sold on May 23, 1994.

“The Unforgettable Fire” was certified as MULTI-PLATINUM
with 3 million units sold on May 23, 1994.

“Wide Awake in America” was certified as PLATINUM on
May 23, 1994.

The Joshua Tree” was certified as MULTI-PLATINUM
(DIAMOND) with 10 million units sold on September 11, 1995.

“Rattle & Hum” was certified as MULTI-PLATINUM
5 million units sold on September 11, 1995.

“Desire” was certified as GOLD on January 10, 1989.

“Achtung Baby” was certified as MULTI-PLATINUM with
8 million units sold on November 15, 1997.

“The Achtung Baby Videos” was certified as PLATINUM
on October 13, 1993.

“Zooropa” was certified as MULTI-PLATINUM with
2 million units sold on September 8, 1993.

“ZOO TV - Live in Sydney” was certified as GOLD on
February 15, 1995.

“Mission: Impossible” by Larry Mullen, Jr. and Adam Clayton
was certified as GOLD in July, 1996.

“Discotheque” was certified as GOLD on April 7, 1997.

“POP” was certified as PLATINUM on May 7, 1997.

“The Best Of” - double CD release was certified as DOUBLE PLATINUM
in December, 1998.

“The Best Of” - single CD release was certified as GOLD in December, 1998.

“All That You Can’t Leave Behind” was certified as DOUBLE PLATINUM
on January 23, 2001.

To Summarize:

All of U2 albums or EPs that have been released in the
U.S. have at least gone PLATINUM with the exception
of U2's single CD release of their “Best Of” album. However,
based on sales information, this album should be re-certified
as PLATINUM.

Total *certified* sales for these 11 albums and EPs is at least
41.5 million units in the U.S. Actual U.S. sales may exceed
this number.

U2 have 2 GOLD singles in the U.S.: “Desire” and
“Discotheque”. Despite better chart successes
of other singles, none have been certified as GOLD or better
by the RIAA. Larry Mullen and Adam Clatyon also had
a GOLD single with their remake of the “Mission: Impossible”
theme.

U2 have released 8 videos that are readily available for sale
in the U.S.: “Under a Blood Red Sky,” “The Unforgettable Fire
Collection,” “Rattle & Hum”, “The Achtung Baby Videos,”
“ZOO TV - Live from Sydney,” “Numb,” “POPMart in Mexico
City” and the “Best Of” video collection. To the best of my
knowledge, only two of these, “The Achtung Baby Videos” and
“ZOO TV - Live from Sydney” are certified - as PLATINUM and
GOLD, respectively. The latter video also won a Grammy Award.
There is no other certified video listed.


Canada:

In Canada, SoundScan has been keeping tabs on sales figures
only since October 1996, thereby excluding many of U2's hits. The concept of
collecting sales statistics via barcode scanning is fairly new in Canada
and is currently less than helpful when data from the 1980's are needed.

Currently, in Canada, singles and albums are certified as GOLD
with sales of at least 50,000 copies; 100,000 for PLATINUM,
200,000 or more for MULTI-PLATINUM and 1 million or
more for DIAMOND.

Here are the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA)
Certifications:

“The Joshua Tree” was certified as DIAMOND in 1987 with sales of over
1,000,000 copies.

“With or Without You” is certified as GOLD

“I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” is certified as GOLD

“Rattle & Hum” was certified as 7x PLATINUM with sales over 700,000
copies.

“Desire” is certified as GOLD

“Achtung Baby” was certified as DIAMOND.

“POP” was certified as 3x PLATINUM with sales of approximately 380,000
units (as reported in 1997).

The “Best Of” was certified as 6x PLATINUM with sales of over 600,000 units.

“All That You Can't Leave Behind” has been certified 2x PLATINUM at present.
“All That You Can't Leave Behind” sold over 100,000 copies to consumers in
just 2 weeks in Canada, already making it a PLATINUM album.

I do not have any information regarding the sales of any of of the singles
from “POP” or “The Best Of” or “All That You Can't Leave Behind”.


The U.K.:

Currently, in the U.K., singles and albums are certified as SILVER
with sales of at least 100,000 copies; 200,000 for GOLD and
300,000 or more for PLATINUM. Anything beyond 300,000 copies
sold is indicated as a factor of PLATINUM – for example, 600,000
copies sold is 2x PLATINUM, 1.2 million copies sold is 4x PLATINUM, etc.

Here are the latest British Phonographic Industry (BPI) certification listings
for all U2 releases:

“Boy” was certified as GOLD on August 1, 1985.

“October” was certified PLATINUM on March 1, 1992.

“War” was certified as 2x PLATINUM on March 1, 1992.

“Under a Blood Red Sky” was certified as 3x PLATINUM on
April 9, 1987.

“The Unforgettable Fire” was certified as 2x PLATINUM
on April 9, 1987.

“Wide Awake in America” was certified as SILVER on
September 4, 1985.

“The Joshua Tree” was certified as 6x PLATINUM on
March 1, 1992.

“Rattle & Hum” was certified as 4x PLATINUM on October 1,
1995.

“Desire” was certified as SILVER on October 1, 1988.

“The Fly” was certified as SILVER on October 1, 1991.

“Achtung Baby” was certified as 3x PLATINUM on May 1,
1993.

“Stay” was certified as SILVER on January 1, 1994.

“Zooropa” was certified as PLATINUM on July 1, 1993.

“Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me” was certified as GOLD on
August 1, 1995.

“Discotheque” was certified as SILVER on February 1, 1997.

“POP” was certified as PLATINUM on March 1, 1997.

“The Sweetest Thing” was certified as SILVER on November 6, 1998.

“The Best Of” (both versions combined) was certified as 2x PLATINUM
on January 8, 1999.

“Beautiful Day” was certified as SILVER in 2000.

“All That You Can’t Leave Behind” was certified as 2x PLATINUM
in 2000.

In Summary: Every U2 album, except “Boy” and “Wide Awake in America,”
went PLATINUM in the U.K. If re-certifications were done, the values for
those releases might change.


Australia:

In Australia, singles and albums are certified as GOLD with sales
of over 35,000 copies. PLATINUM is for over 70,000 copies. To
reach DOUBLE PLATINUM and album or single must sell 140,000
copies, TRIPLE PLATINUM is 210,000 copies, etc.

Here are the latest Australian Recording Association Industry (ARAI)
certification listings for all U2 releases since 1997:

“Discotheque” was certified as PLATINUM in 1997.

“POP” was certified as PLATINUM in 1997.

“The Sweetest Thing” was certified as GOLD in 1998.

“Achtung Baby” was certified as 5x PLATINUM in 1998.

“The Best Of” (both versions combined) was certified as 5x PLATINUM
in 1999.

“Beautiful Day” was certified as PLATINUM in 2000.

“All That You Can’t Leave Behind” was certified as 3x PLATINUM
in 2000.

“Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of” was certified as GOLD in
2001.


******************************************************************
U.K., U.S. and Canadian Highest Chart Rankings for
U2 Songs and Albums
******************************************************************

The list below names the song or album and its U.K., U.S. and
Canadian *highest* chart position. A dash (-) means that the item
was not officially released in the U.K., U.S. or Canada. An “X” means
that while the item was released in either the U.K., U.S. or Canada,
it did not enter in the top 100 on the corresponding chart. A question
mark (?) means that I have no information regarding the release or
chart position of the item in a particular country.

Albums are enclosed by brackets, [ ], and other artists' work
are properly denoted. The U.K. chart positions are from the “Official
U.K. Charts Listings”. The U.S. chart positions for songs and albums
are taken from BillBoard's Hot 100 Singles and Top 200 Album charts,
respectively. Some Canadian chart positions were kindly supplied
by Nanda Lwin at “Jam Music.” If the chart data from Australia
or Ireland is known, it is listed in parentheses. All other chart information
was obtained from various on-line sources. This list is presented
chronologically.

I have tried to group the releases together. For example, all singles
from a particular album are grouped together along with the
album.

I am posting this information in the following format:

Song or Album: U.K. Ranking/U.S. Ranking/Canadian Ranking

U2-3: /-/-/-

Another Day: -/-/-
11 O'Clock Tick Tock: X/-/-

[Boy]: 52/63/?
I Will Follow: X/-/?

Fire: 35/X/?

Gloria: 55/X/?
[October]: 11/X/?

A Celebration: 47/X/?

New Year's Day: 10/53/?
[War]: 1/12/5
Two Hearts Beat as One: 18/X/?

[Snake Charmer] by Jah Wobble with Edge: X/X/?

[Under a Blood Red Sky]: 2/28/40
I Will Follow (live re-release): -/81/-

Pride: 3/33/33
[The Unforgettable Fire]: 1/12/6
The Unforgettable Fire: 6/X/?
[Wide Awake in America]: 11/37*/39

[Macalla] by Clannad with Bono: 33/X/?
In a Lifetime by Clannad with Bono: 20/X/?
[Captive Soundtrack] by the Edge: X/X/?
Heroine by Sinead O'Connor, written by Edge: X/-/?
[Robbie Robertson] by Robbie Robertson with U2: 47/38/?

With or Without You: 4/1/2
[The Joshua Tree]: 1/1/1
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For: 6/1/11
Where the Streets Have No Name: 4/13/14
In God's Country: 48**/44/28
One Tree Hill: -/-/- (New Zealand release only)

[Mystery Girl] by Roy Orbison, features song written by Bono and Edge: 2/5/?
She's a Mystery by Roy Orbison, song written by Bono and Edge: 27/X/?

Desire: 1/3/2
[Rattle & Hum]: 1/1/2
Angel of Harlem: 9/14/15
When Love Comes to Town: 6/68/X
All I Want Is You: 4/83/X

In a Lifetime by Clannad with Bono-recharted in 1989: 17/X/-
[Red, Hot and Blue] features “Night and Day” remake by U2/I did not see this
item listed

The Fly: 1/61/3 (#1 in Australia)
[Achtung Baby]: 2/1/2
Mysterious Ways: 13/9/4
One: 7/10/3
Even Better Than the Real Thing: 12/32/45 (Canadian re-release in 1997)
Even Better Than the Real Thing - remixes: 8/X/?
Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses: 14/35/26 (Canadian re-release in 1997)

[Zooropa]: 1/1/1
Numb: -/-/-
Lemon: -/-/- (this song reached #1 on the Australian charts and hit
#1 on the U.S. dance charts)
Stay: 4/61/X

[In the Name of the Father Soundtrack] with Gavin Friday and Bono: X/X/?
In the Name of the Father by Gavin Friday and Bono: 46/X/?
You Made Me Theif of Your Heart by Sinead O'Connor, written by Bono and
Gavin Friday: 42/X/?

Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me: 2/16/11 (#1 in Australia)
[Batman Returns Soundtrack]/I did not see this item listed

[Original Soundtracks 1] by the Passengers, featuring U2: 12/76/?
Miss Sarajevo: 6/X/?

Goldeneye by Tina Turner, written by Bono and Edge: 10/X/?
Mission Impossible remade by Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr.: 7/7/17

Discotheque: 1/10/1
[POP]: 1/1/1
Staring at the Sun: 3/26/2
Last Night on Earth: 10/57/4
Please: 7/9 (charted on the U.S. Maxi-Single Dance Charts)/10
POPHeart EP: 7 (charted as “Please”)/-/4
If God Will Send His Angels: 12/?/?

[The Best Of]- double CD version: 1/2/1
[The Best Of] - single CD version: 8/45/5
The Sweetest Thing: 3/63 (#9 on Modern Rock charts)/1***

[Million Dollar Hotel Soundtrack]: ?/106(?)/23

Beautiful Day: 1/21/1**** (this song reached #1 on the U.S.
Dance Charts, #1 in Australia and in Ireland)
[All That You Can't Leave Behind]: 1/3/1 (#1 in Australia and Ireland)
Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of: 2/-/- (#3 in Australia, #1 in Ireland)
Walk On: -/#10 (highest to date on Modern Rock charts)/1*****

*”Wide Awake in America” was taken off the U.S. album
charts one week after it's release since it was considered
an “EP” and not an album. The chart value reflects the
position of that week.

** This song charted in the U.K. based on import sales
from the U.S.

*** Two versions of this song were released. Part 1
reached #1 and Part 2 reached #3.

**** Two versions of this song were released. Part 1
reached #1 and Part 2 reached #2.

***** Two versions of this song were released. Part 2
reached #1 and Part 1 reached #2. In the second week of release,
Canada changed their charting system, and the sale of both
CD’s were combined into one, thus keeping the song at #1.


******************************************************************
Recent Tour Grosses
******************************************************************

The ZOO tours (ZOO TV and ZOOROPA) in 1992-93 grossed
$65 million (U.S. dollars). At the time, this was U2's best
grossing tour. However, the extreme cost of production
allowed U2 to come away with “only” a $3 million profit.

The POPMart tour grossed $173,610,864 and drew just under 4 million
people to 95 shows. Part of POPMart’s success can be explained
by the fact that ticket prices were double that of the ZOO tours.
The POPMart tour was promoted by Toronto-based The Next
Adventure (TNA), later acquired by SFX Entertainment; former
TNA president Arthur Fogel now heads SFX Touring and spearheaded
the company's efforts in putting the U2 tour deal together.

Despite the big numbers it generated, there was a perception by
some in the industry that PopMart was something less than totally
successful. Roughly half of the dates sold out, but U2 had gone
clean at virtually every show on previous tours, albeit often at smaller
venues. Regardless, PopMart did extremely well in Europe and most
North American markets and remains one of the top-grossing tours of
all time.

For the entire tour, U2 averaged over 42,000 per concert. U2 set a
single concert attendance record in Italy by drawing 150,000 fans to
the Reggio Emilla stadium. U2 had sell-out or close to sell-out
performances at all sites outside of the U.S.

The first leg in the U.S. averaged over 38,000 fans and $1.9
million in ticket sales per show with sold-out performances
in Las Vegas, L.A., Chicago, Boston, Salt Lake City and New York.
The only part of the entire tour that truly slumped was the third leg
in the U.S., which averaged over a little over 34,000 per show.
Of course, one must keep in mind that by the third leg of the
tour, “POP” had fallen out of the U.S. Top 200 Billboard
charts and U2 were playing in much smaller cities. Even
the Rolling Stones failed to sell out many of these same cities
where U2 had difficulty.


******************************************************************
“Rattle & Hum: The Movie” and “Million Dollar Hotel” Box Office
******************************************************************

According to various on-line sources, U2's “Rattle & Hum: The Movie” (R&H) grossed $8.6 million in North America (U.S. and Canada). The film opened the weekend of November 4-6, 1988 at #2 grossing $3,821,351 in 1,391 theaters. The #1 film that weekend was “They Live,” which grossed $4,827,903 in 1,463 theaters.

In its second weekend (November 11-13, 1998), “Rattle & Hum” slipped to #7, grossing $1,719,319 from the same amount of theaters. The total gross at this point was $7,113,934. In the third weekend (November 18-20, 1988), R&H dropped to #15 grossing $664,941 from 839 theaters. It’s total gross at this point was $8,113,282. In its fourth weekend (November 25-27, 1988), R&H dropped to #27 grossing $248,306 from 461 theaters. Its total gross at this point was $8,443,463.

I am still searching for the worldwide gross for “Rattle & Hum” and its production costs. However, given the type of film it was (“documentary style”), this North American gross is very solid.

In two weeks, and in just 10 theaters maximum in the U.S., the “Million Dollar Hotel” grossed a total of just $52,526 reaching only #56 on the North American Box Office charts in February, 2001. The lack of promotion was due mostly to Mel Gibson, the star of the film, who called it “boring as a dog’s arse.”

******************************************************************

That's it!

[This message has been edited by doctorwho (edited 03-16-2001).]

[This message has been edited by doctorwho (edited 03-16-2001).]

[Bonochick]

Thank You!

------------------
Katherine@U2mail.org
http://Bonochick.tripod.com

[jezebel]

doctorwho, Wow! That was amazing! Do you have blisters on your fingers yet????

BTW, do you have chart news for this week? You've been posting info usually by noon on Wednesday and I always look forward to the latest news. I didn't find anything reported today.......

[christiana]

Wow!!! Thanx Doctorwho!!!

[U2@NYC]

Doctorwho, now that is impressive!

One quick note, though... you mention that "Lemon" has been the only U2 remix to top the U.S. dance charts. If I am not mistaken, the remix of Beautiful Day topped the U.S. Club Play Charts a couple of weeks ago (maybe 4 or 5). Could you please let me know if I am correct?.

[MacFly2]

U2@NYC,

I noticed the samething. But doctorwho added the #1 dance hit info, at the BD chart placing info. Rather than the ATYCLB info.

Yeah this chart info needs to be on a website where it can be constantly updated.

Great work doctorwho!

MacFly2

[doctorwho]

Thanks everyone!

I made the correction to my U.S. Dance charts comment - thanks for the good eyes!

This information was collected over a period of years (as I found it), so it wasn't typed up all at once. So no, my fingers aren't exhausted. And this is also why I made that mistake with the dance charts - I hadn't corrected it from a previous version.

I'll update this chart periodically to reflect additional information. In '97 and '98, I did keep some tabs on the week-to-week performance of "POP" and "The Best Of" in other countries, but I sadly didn't "document" it. Oh well... but if anyone has that info., feel free to post it here.

As for this week's chart news - I'm at the mercy of my source (Melissa). When she gets the SoundScan info. she sends it to me. Sometimes she gets it by Wednesday - the day before the Billboard charts are released. Sometimes she doesn't get it to the following Monday! So far I haven't received the data, but when I do, I'll post it.

Thanks again!

Great post Dr. Who! Another thing to include would be the IPFI figures from Europe. www.IFPI.org/ has sales info for POP, Best of.. and ATYCLB. POP reached 2 million in Europe back in 1997 and Best Of... reached 5 million in 1999. ATYCLB reached 3 million in Europe in December 2000.
Also the RIAA site states that Achtung hit the 5 million mark on August 26, 1993.
The only real corrections I have is for the TOUR totals for gross and attendance. I'll dig those out and post them for you.

I have the POPMART figures for you Dr. Who. These are from Amusement Business. Amusement Business tracks the concert industry worldwide and post the 10 highest concert grosses, with attendance and ticket price every week. They used to post the top 50! They have provided their information to Billboard since 1977. Their like the RIAA of the concert industry. They have a website Amusementbusiness.com, but you'll see their BOXSCORE page on Billboards website as well as in the magazine. I simply printed out the U2 info I would get from POPMART when it became available on the BOXSCORE in addition to comments and other statistics on Amusement Business's website for that particular week.
I have the total for all four legs of the POPMART TOUR, for GROSS, and Attendance.

1ST LEG: 29 shows
GROSS: $53,798,240
AVERAGE GROSS: 1,855,112
ATTENDANCE: 1,096,547
AVERAGE ATTENDANCE: 37,812

2ND LEG: 32 shows
GROSS: $58,697,632
AVERAGE GROSS: $1,834,301
ATTENDANCE: 1,572,721
AVERAGE ATTENDANCE: 49,148

3RD LEG: 17 shows
GROSS: $26,036,837
AVERAGE GROSS: $1,531,579
ATTENDANCE: 575,742
AVERAGE ATTENDANCE: 33,867

4TH LEG: 15 shows
GROSS: $33,144,315
AVERAGE GROSS: $2,209,621
ATTENDANCE: 690,926
AVERAGE ATTENDANCE: 46,062

TOUR TOTALS: 93 shows
GROSS: $171,677,024
AVERAGE GROSS: $1,845,989.5
ATTENDANCE: 3,935,936
AVERAGE ATTENDANCE: 42,322

The Following information comes from Pimm Jal de la Parra's book: U2 LIVE a concert documentary.
The Two legs of the ZOO TV TOUR in the USA, the Arena Leg, then the Stadium leg, consisted of 74 shows. The Totals for these shows are:

GROSS: $67,129,022
AVERAGE GROSS: $907,149
ATTENDANCE: 2,376,734
AVERAGE ATTENDANCE: 32,118

The First leg in the USA, the arena tour, had 32 shows:

GROSS: $13,215,414
AVERAGE GROSS: $412,982
ATTENDANCE: 528,763
AVERAGE ATTENDANCE: 16,524

The Second leg in the USA, the Stadium tour, had 42 shows:

GROSS: $53,913,608
AVERAGE GROSS: $1,283,657
ATTENDANCE: 1,847,971
AVERAGE ATTENDANCE: 43,999

The Hershey show was not included in these totals since it was a surprise special show with tickets costing only $15. All 25,000 tickets to the show were sold in a few hours with all the money going to local charities.

There were 83 other ZOO TV shows outside the USA/Canada. Pimm was only able to obtain estimated figures for attendance for these shows, but no GROSS figures. Still, the average price for the whole tour was about 30$. So with the attendance figures and average ticket price a rough estimate of total GROSS can be obtained for all 157 ZOO TV shows. I'll try putting that together this weekend.

Here is some more information from Pimms book. This is for the JOSHUA TREE TOUR. Only exact figures are given for the USA shows.

1ST LEG: 29 shows: 28 arena's and one stadium
GROSS: $7,501,329
AVERAGE GROSS: $258,667
ATTENDANCE: 465,452
AVERAGE ATTENDANCE: 16,050

3RD LEG: 50 shows: 20 Stadium, 30 Arena
GROSS: $27,255,566
AVERAGE GROSS: $545,111
ATTENDANCE: 1,576,518
AVERAGE ATTENDANCE: 31,530

The Totals for the USA Joshua Tree tour are:
GROSS: $34,756,895
AVERAGE GROSS: $439,961
ATTENDANCE: 2,041,970
AVERAGE ATTENDANCE: 25,848

The second leg of the Joshua Tree tour took place in Europe and was attended by 1,195,000 people at 30 shows. Average attendance was 39,833. The tour was a mix of stadiums and arena's. The Love Town tour that took in Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and parts of Europe is not considered to be part of the Joshua Tree Tour.

[z edge]

Thanks doctorwho and STING for all your research and information. I look forward to the chart news EVERY week!

[doctorwho]

Thanks Sting for all the additional info. I'll ultimately add it to my "personal" stat. pile - but I won't report it here as what you wrote is perfect.


As for AB, while it's true the RIAA reported AB at 5x Platinum in 1993, AB was re-certified in 1997 as 8x Platinum. I am only reporting the last and highest certification. If AB eventually goes Diamond, then I'll only report that value.

Also, thanks for the link about the European values. I may include them as well.

As for the PoPmart tour, the values keep changing! LOL! I had originally read that the tour made a whopping $360 million. Then it was $170-something million. At first, the tour averaged over 42,000 in the U.S., but the final numbers appear to be 37,000. I have Pimm's book too (which is why I didn't bother reporting some earlier tour numbers as I figures all U2 fans have access to that info), but I will use the data you presented as the final figures from now on.

I'm assuming the Elevation tour will have similar numbers, in terms of attendance, to the arena portions of the JT and ZOO tours. But with the higher ticket prices, we should see much larger grosses.

Thanks again!

Remember to look at the BOXSCORE on Billboards site every Thursday/Friday to start getting the numbers for the Elevation Tour after its been going for about a week. I brought AB up because you say it hits 5 times platinum in January 1994 instead of August 1993. I know further down the list you put the current figure of 8 times platinum as of 1997. I guess a lot of people do have Pimms book. Look in Pimms book at the start of the ZOO TV Tour where it says Achtung hits the 7 million mark worldwide before the start of the tour! That would be 7 million copies in 3 months! I know they did 3 million copies in the USA in a little over 3 months according to the RIAA.
I do have access to back issue's of Billboard at the University I graduated from, so I was actually thinking of looking a few things up that might be interesting to include with the growing amount of statistics.

[doctorwho]

STING:

It was from these BoxScore tables that I originally obtained the POPMart data! As such, I wonder if the first reports are more "estimates" than precise numbers. I say this because when I took all of their numbers for the first leg of the POPMart tour, I got 42,000 people per show - but you report 37,000.

Also, the final gross and number of shows that I have reported are directly from Billboard's site. These disagree with your values (basically, you have 2 less shows reported). Can you explain the disparity? Were there some "free" shows or something that your source didn't count but Billboard did?

As for AB, thanks for the correction - I reported Jan., '94 because I was basing it on the Billboard charts. When I did a week by week search of AB's chart positions, that was when *I* noticed AB at 5x Platinum. I stress *I* because if Billboard indicated the new certification earlier, I simply didn't see it. I'll change it to Aug. '93.


[This message has been edited by doctorwho (edited 03-17-2001).]