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BPI: The UK's Bestselling Albums


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http://www.bpi.co.uk/index.asp?Page=stats/..._file_126.shtml

Best Selling UK Albums Of All Time

1 Greatest Hits Queen

2 Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Beatles

3 What's The Story Morning Glory Oasis

4 Brothers In Arms Dire Straits

5 Gold - Greatest Hits Abba

6 The Dark Side Of The Moon Pink Floyd

7 Greatest Hits II Queen

8 Thriller Michael Jackson

9 Bad Michael Jackson

10 The Immaculate Collection Madonna

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1 Greatest Hits Queen :confused:

2 Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Beatles

3 What's The Story Morning Glory Oasis :rolleyes:

4 Brothers In Arms Dire Straits :vomit:

5 Gold - Greatest Hits Abba

6 The Dark Side Of The Moon Pink Floyd :vomit:

7 Greatest Hits II Queen

8 Thriller Michael Jackson :confused:

9 Bad Michael Jackson :rolleyes:

10 The Immaculate Collection Madonna :bow:

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Based on sales from Oct 2006 (where this list was published) and today, I believe TIC will climb to #9 this year, and should take Thriller soon.

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Hey River :boxing: Oasis' album is pure art :horn: Great for TIC, as Hafo said she should take Michael over soon :clap:

Who are them? Dire Straits :confused:

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http://www.bpi.co.uk/index.asp?Page=stats/..._file_126.shtml

Best Selling UK Albums Of All Time

1 Greatest Hits Queen :thumbsup:

2 Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Beatles :bow:

3 What's The Story Morning Glory Oasis :nocomment:

4 Brothers In Arms Dire Straits :nocomment:

5 Gold - Greatest Hits Abba :clap:

6 The Dark Side Of The Moon Pink Floyd :nocomment:

7 Greatest Hits II Queen :bow:

8 Thriller Michael Jackson :asian:

9 Bad Michael Jackson :inlove:

10 The Immaculate Collection Madonna :vogue:

I thought Bad was more successful than Thriller in the UK

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Guest Eternal Flame

I thought Bad was more successful than Thriller in the UK

That's what I thought...Bad went 13x platinum in the UK...Thriller went 11x platinum last I heard.

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The list is based on pure retail sales. No club sales included. The Top 10 list based on certifications would be very different since some albums might be over/undercertified.

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1 Greatest Hits Queen :crazy:

2 Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Beatles :zzz:

3 What's The Story Morning Glory Oasis :gross:

4 Brothers In Arms Dire Straits :gross:

5 Gold - Greatest Hits Abba :gross:

6 The Dark Side Of The Moon Pink Floyd :gross:

7 Greatest Hits II Queen :gross:

8 Thriller Michael Jackson :thumbsup:

9 Bad Michael Jackson :thumbsup:

10 The Immaculate Collection Madonna :vogue:

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Sales are as of October 2006:

1

GREATEST HITS

QUEEN

5,407,587

2

SGT. PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND

BEATLES

4,811,996

3

WHAT'S THE STORY MORNING GLORY

OASIS

4,314,715

4

BROTHERS IN ARMS

DIRE STRAITS

3,956,704

5

GOLD - GREATEST HITS

ABBA

3,943,950

6

THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON

PINK FLOYD

3,781,993

7

GREATEST HITS II

QUEEN

3,644,619

8

THRILLER

MICHAEL JACKSON

3,578,107

9

BAD

MICHAEL JACKSON

3,554,301

10

THE IMMACULATE COLLECTION

MADONNA

3,402,160

---

After that date, TIC has sold around 70-80K.

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Thanks for the sales figures..

Wow - the highest that IC can hope to get to is the number 4 spot - and even that is unlikely. However, I definitely think that IC can overtake both of MJ's albums..

Btw, does anyone know how much her 2nd highest album has sold?

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Peak position and retail sales of Madonna albums in UK as of Jan 2009, as reported by OCC or MusicWeek. Certifications © have been used when retail sales are not available. Club sales are not included.

01..THE IMMACULATE COLLECTION ... 3.558.825*
01..TRUE BLUE ................... 1.961.164
01..RAY OF LIGHT ................ 1.677.925
01..LIKE A VIRGIN ............... 1.626.126
01..MUSIC ....................... 1.594.045
01..CONFESSIONS ON A DANCEFLOOR . 1.300.000*
01..LIKE A PRAYER ............... 1.200.000 C
03..SOMETHING TO REMEMBER ......... 900.000 (C)
06..MADONNA THE FIRST ALBUM ....... 850.000 (1)
02..GHV2 .......................... 804.076
03..EROTICA ....................... 600.000 (C)
01..EVITA ......................... 600.000 (C)
02..BEDTIME STORIES ............... 400.000 (2)
01..AMERICAN LIFE ................. 328.629
01..HARD CANDY..................... 323.113
02..I'M BREATHLESS ................ 300.000 (3)
05..YOU CAN DANCE ................. 300.000 (C)
04..WHO'S THAT GIRL ............... 300.000 (C)
07..THE CONFESSIONS TOUR ........... 51.000*
18..I'M GOING TO TELL YOU A SECRET.. 40.000
-------------------------------------------
................................ 18.724.803

Notes:

* Latest updates.

(1) Madonna the First Album is certified 1xP but apparently it should be 3xP due to hard sales exceeding 1 million, according to reports. 850K seems to be the consensus.

(2) Bedtime Stories is certified 1xP but, according to reports as well, has sold around 400K. We need confirmation on this as well.

(3) I'm Breathless is certified 1xP but sales should be higher.

! Remixed and Revisited peaked at #4 on the mid-price album chart.

More detailed info on http://forums.madonnanation.com/index.php?showtopic=11.

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Peak position and retail sales of Madonna albums in UK as of August 2007, as reported by OCC or MusicWeek. Certifications © have been used when retail sales are not available. Club sales are not included.

01..THE IMMACULATE COLLECTION ... 3.490.000*

01..TRUE BLUE ................... 1.961.164

01..RAY OF LIGHT ................ 1.677.925

01..LIKE A VIRGIN ............... 1.626.126

01..MUSIC ....................... 1.594.045

01..CONFESSIONS ON A DANCEFLOOR . 1.270.000*

01..LIKE A PRAYER ............... 1.200.000 C

:shock: I still find so difficult to believe that Music and COADF sold more than Like a prayer in the UK!

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Guest MusicLife

:shock: I still find so difficult to believe that Music and COADF sold more than Like a prayer in the UK!

Thats such a shock

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Wow! How come Like a Prayer sold only 1.2 million in the UK. Madonna had huge hits from that album in the UK. Didn't she release 5 singles from that album (or was it 6?). Anyway, I am preetty shocked that Like A Prayer sold less than COADF and Music!

Also, I am *slightly* disappointed that COADF didn't even come close to the sales of Music and ROL. I adore COADF!

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The UK saw four singles from Like a Prayer- the title track, Express Yourself," "Cherish" and "Dear Jessie." Six tears later, "Oh Father" was released as a single from Something to Remember. "Keep it Together" wasn't released in the UK.

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I didn't know that Oh Father wasn't released as a UK single.

That's a pity that she did not release more from this classic album. Sometimes, I get annoyed at Madonna - especially when she works hard and comes up with an awesome album, but then releases too few singles (eg Like A Prayer) or makes crappo videos (eg. Jump, Sorry etc). That said, she still has had an unbelievable run throughout most of the world. Its tough to imagine that Rihanna, Beyonce etc are going to be around in 15-20 years in any significant way.

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1. oh father was released and hit the top 20 in 95/96 - like take a bow it was a grea song but peaked lower.

2. since COADF had 2 no1's and 2 top 10 hits AND a tour going on at the same time i am still suprised it sold 300,000 less than Music - which had 1 no1, and 2 more top 10's. on top of that WIFLFAG must not have got much airplay at all while COADF songs got good airplay. i do know that the market is lower and i suppose being a dance album it may have not appealed broadly to all YET kylie's "fever" also a dance album with a strong solid pop anthem sold 1.5 plus

3. like a prayer was huge yet the marketing was probably dismal thats why it may have sold less. on top of that it was released in spring and not the pre-xmas rush time although LAP would have benefitted from xmas sales for sure as dear jessie had a good top 10 run if i remember 9-7-5-5-5 ?

the fact that it had 4 top 5 hits released 3 months apart approximately and each one longer lasting than some of her songs now which enter the top 10 then drop quickly should have been a reason why LAP sold much more. maybe the TIC killed off any catalogue sales? any reason why LAP did nt sell more?

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Guest Eternal Flame

1. oh father was released and hit the top 20 in 95/96 - like take a bow it was a grea song but peaked lower.

2. since COADF had 2 no1's and 2 top 10 hits AND a tour going on at the same time i am still suprised it sold 300,000 less than Music - which had 1 no1, and 2 more top 10's. on top of that WIFLFAG must not have got much airplay at all while COADF songs got good airplay. i do know that the market is lower and i suppose being a dance album it may have not appealed broadly to all YET kylie's "fever" also a dance album with a strong solid pop anthem sold 1.5 plus

3. like a prayer was huge yet the marketing was probably dismal thats why it may have sold less. on top of that it was released in spring and not the pre-xmas rush time although LAP would have benefitted from xmas sales for sure as dear jessie had a good top 10 run if i remember 9-7-5-5-5 ?

the fact that it had 4 top 5 hits released 3 months apart approximately and each one longer lasting than some of her songs now which enter the top 10 then drop quickly should have been a reason why LAP sold much more. maybe the TIC killed off any catalogue sales? any reason why LAP did nt sell more?

Also since LAP was released in 1989 only a year before TIC was released so by the time it became a catalogue album TIC was already out. So people may have bought that instead of LAP. LAV and TB as well as the first album had time to sell as catalogue albums before TIC was released so they're catalogue sales were probably higher cause of TIC not being out. If that made any sense :p

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WHile some like to say "Controversy helps Madonna," I do think that LAP could have turned people off, as well. Even still, though, it could b close to 5m in the USA- we don't know how close it is it 1.5m in the UK, do we? Is the "C" listed next to some titles supposed to mean certification?

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Guest Danny86

2. since COADF had 2 no1's and 2 top 10 hits AND a tour going on at the same time i am still suprised it sold 300,000 less than Music - which had 1 no1, and 2 more top 10's. on top of that WIFLFAG must not have got much airplay at all while COADF songs got good airplay.

I guess you can also blame the singles choices. Even though "WIFLFAG" probably had zero impact, "Don't Tell Me" sounded so much different from "Music" that it probably managed to get a new audience, while releasing "Sorry" after "Hung Up" didn't have that effect. It was a safe choice for a follow-up hit but it sounded a bit like "more of the same", compared to other songs on COADF. By the time "Jump" arrived, the tour was long gone and the album was a year old...

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Music had a re-release (Tour Version) which helped sales after the poor chart performance of WIFLFAG. As a result, Music spent 35 more weeks than COADF in the charts.

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but kylie also reased 4 dance songs of Fever yet it sold 300,000 more than COADF and i guess that was when sales were higher so....i guess kylie is constantly promoting her stuff on the kiddies shows etc. while M hardly ever promotes her stuff like that i guess - although i prefer it like that.

I guess you can also blame the singles choices. Even though "WIFLFAG" probably had zero impact, "Don't Tell Me" sounded so much different from "Music" that it probably managed to get a new audience, while releasing "Sorry" after "Hung Up" didn't have that effect. It was a safe choice for a follow-up hit but it sounded a bit like "more of the same", compared to other songs on COADF. By the time "Jump" arrived, the tour was long gone and the album was a year old...

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would people have bothered about that- esp M fans and potential M fans? LAP was a no1 song and in the top 10 sellers that year. LAP at least sold 3 times as much in the USA - M's albums especially in the 90's and laters sell just around 2 times as muh in the USA than in the UK. i think BS and STR also had higher ratio of US to UK sales...

Maybe the whole video backlash also impacted LAP's sales?

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LAP is probably over 4.5 million and should get to a 5xP certifiaction sometime in the near future. It's disappointing but not too bad considering TB is certified for 7 million and LAV for 10 million. That's a drop of 3 million with each successive studio album.

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I think that the Immaculate Collection really did dampen LAP sales. I mean, prior to IC, if you wanted LAP (the song), EY or Cherish, you would have to buy LAP album. But if the casual consumer had already bought IC, I cannot imagine them buying LAP just to get Oh Father, Deart Jessie etc etc.

At this time I also have to make a confession :nocomment: ! I became a Madge fan in the early nineties. I have the Immaculate Collection, but never bought the Like A Prayer CD!

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