BPI: The UK's Bestselling Albums

[HolidayGuy]

And you haven't got it to this day? Are you MAD?

WIFLFAG peaked at No. 7- I don't think that's a "poor" performance, unless we're talkin' about how it dropped down the chart. It also was a top 10 UK airplay hit.

[loomer]

I was sooo looking forward to that VH1 Top 100 Selling UK Albums Of All Time list and it was an utter distater.

That Queen GH being #1 makes a complete mockery of it since they added sales from the repackaged platinum collection which had their three GH's bundled together in a box set. Bag of shite!

[loomer]

Wow! How come Like a Prayer sold only 1.2 million in the UK

It's really not THAT much of a surprise.. LAP was a much less commercial album than her previous bubblegum pure pop offerings, much more mature and artistic and thus gave her real legitimacy as an artist and proper credibility for the first time.

Just look at the title track, sure since it was the lead-off single and her big comeback and was guaranteed a #1, but it was a lot more complex in terms of song structure etc than anything she'd done.. even EY, while still poppy was a bit different to her old stuff, only "Cherish" reverted to the classic bubblegum sound of yore and was thus an obvious single on an album which otherwise lacked all the obvious big hits of "True Blue" and was full of autobiographical, confessional singer-songwritery message songs.

Plus in her year off in 1988 a whole new breed of wannabes capitalised on her absence and the charts were suddenly full of Madonna-esque pop divas. So much so, that by the time she came back she had real competition this time and was being outsold in the US by Paula Abdul and in the UK by Kylie Minogue who did an inferior take on her old sound, simplified it and made it more commercial. But then 1990 was just around the corner and the biggest year of her career where she truly became an icon. :vanitybonet:

[loomer]

Don't forget that LAV's 6 platinum cert is floating somewhere in space- that site only shows 3P.

Which was made up by a wishful thinking fan. I saw the certification in Record Mirror in 1990 when it re-entered the chart after Blond Ambition, it was certified for 3 times platinum and never updated.

[loomer]

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

Really? Seems a little much.. I'd love to know how much those remasters sold.

Here's some useful info from a thread on UKMix - http://www.ukmix.org/forums/viewtopic.php?...c&start=150

This appeared in Alan Jones' Charffile feature in Record Mirror 25th July

1987. Essentially, he was commenting on U2's The Joshua Tree, which

had just just turned sales of a million units - he goes on to say it's only the

8th album of the last 5 years to sell more than a million within a calendar

year. The others he listed were:

Michael Jackson's Thriller - sold 1,525,000 in 1983

In 1984

Lionel Richie's Can't Slow Down - sales 1,150,000

The Hits Album compilation - sales 1,125,000

Bob Marley's Legend - sales 1,100,000

In 1985

Dire Straits' Brothers In Arms - sales 1,200,000

Phil Collins' No Jacket Required - sales 1,075,000

Madonna's Like A Virgin - sales 1,000,000

In 1986

Madonna's True Blue - sales 1,275,000

Dire Straits' Brothers In Arms - doesn't quote a number, just that True

Blue's sales were "slightly more"

Further down in the article, he mentions Paul Simon's Graceland had

sold 775,000 in 1986, plus a further 525,000 to that point in 1987.

Very round numbers, seems to be working to the nearest 25,000 units.

In a later issue of Record Mirror, this time 5th September 1987, Alan

Jones' Chartfile page presented cumulative sales of Madonna singles and

albums. The albums figures were…

True Blue - 1,675,000

Like A Virgin - 1,440,000

Madonna/The First Album - 535,000

Also from that same thread, LAP sold 790,000 in 1989, but sold quite a lot in 1990 as well to add to its total

UK Top Selling Artist Albums 1989

1. TEN GOOD REASONS Jason Donovan 1.45

2. A NEW FLAME Simply Red 1.41

3. ...BUT SERIOUSLY Phil Collins 1.17

4. ANYTHING FOR YOU Gloria Estefan & Miami Sound Machine 1.05

5. CUTS BOTH WAYS Gloria Estefan 0.88

6. ENJOY YOURSELF Kylie Minogue 0.87

7. THE RAW AND THE COOKED Fine Young Cannibals 0.85

8. FOREIGN AFFAIR Tina Turner 0.83

9. LIKE A PRAYER Madonna 0.79

10. CLUB CLASSICS VOL 1 Soul II Soul 0.74

So the latest official figures show that TB has since sold nearly 300K and LAV has sold about 200K in the past 20 years. Dunno how much The First Album did. Unlike those two, it never recharted.. think it was outside the top 75 and in the top 100 at the time of Blond Ambition.

[HolidayGuy]

LAV has sales of 1.5 million or more in the UK- so something got fucked up along the way, whether record label laxness or whatver the case may be.

[mtzlplk]

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

So any latest Hafo dear... uhm are those MJ albums selling like what TIC is selling?

[air1975]

I know.. I know I definitely have to buy it one of these days!

And you haven't got it to this day? Are you MAD?

[Guest Hafo]

Keep in mind also that album sales are, in average, 20% less now than when Music was released.

Mtzplk: There is updated info in this same thread about TIC.

[promise to try]

I still think that the fact that Express yourself was so different on the single and on the album it´s related to that "lack of sales" (of course, selling more than a million it´s never a failure.And both Virgin (pre-Into teh groove and post Into the groove, and Blue sales, we have to keep in mind that when these album appeared the CD wasn´t popular, so I guess a lot o people like me, who had these albums in casette-vinyl, they change it to CD, adding more sales to the total. An that didn´t happen with LAP, or not that much.And of course, TIC killed the album).Anyway, Enjoy yourself selling more than LAP???????????? I like EY, it´s a fun album, but...

[fak]

Enjoy Yourself probably did not sell as much in 1990. LAP probably got boots from Vogue, BAT, even the TIC possibly.

[Guest Eternal Flame]

I still think that the fact that Express yourself was so different on the single and on the album it´s related to that "lack of sales" (of course, selling more than a million it´s never a failure.And both Virgin (pre-Into teh groove and post Into the groove, and Blue sales, we have to keep in mind that when these album appeared the CD wasn´t popular, so I guess a lot o people like me, who had these albums in casette-vinyl, they change it to CD, adding more sales to the total. An that didn´t happen with LAP, or not that much.And of course, TIC killed the album).Anyway, Enjoy yourself selling more than LAP???????????? I like EY, it´s a fun album, but...

Enjoy Yourself was double platinum by the day it came out, cause of preorders.

[Guest northernlad]

Music is now 1,608,000

[promise to try]

Music is now 1,608,000

that´s a lot, and only with porper singles!!!!! imagine if she had released four songs from the album...wait! I forgot American Pie!!!! one of her more recent number ones!!!!I´m starting to understand now

[HolidayGuy]

I can't see how AP helped sales of Music all that much- it already had been a single months prior to the album release. Music and DTM were the main catalysts behind the album's sales- plus, in a weird way, she may have benefited from all the press regarding the wedding in late 2000 (it had some great sales during December of that year- holida sales helped, as well).

[seanster]

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 ?

In the UK singles chart Dec 89 - Dear Jessie was indeed top 5 - but LAP was not even Top 20 for the same period and went back into the top 10 [for a third time] in the first 2 weeks of 1990, plus when sales are generally a lot lower?

LAP UK chart run:

LIKE A PRAYER # 1 [2] - 70wks [51 cons]

01/04/89 - 1-1-2-6-6-8-11-18-21-19-16-16-17-17-22-13-16-17-23-28-25-34-32-30-30-26-9-5-7-10-20-28-38-49-62-64-63-60-46-26-

[06/01/90] 10-10-13-17-20-30-39-49-52-67-67-xx-xx-72-xx-60-57-59-66-71-xx-72

21/07/90 - 72-57-46-55-51-59-75

02/04/94 - 71-58

04/03/95 - 43-32-63

Total # of weeks: 70-51c (Top 10: 12-10c, Top 20: 26)

[loomer]

Anyway, Enjoy yourself selling more than LAP???????????? I like EY, it´s a fun album, but...

It does seem strange.. but she was coming off a follow-up to a HUGE selling debut, this just repeated the formula and was therefore guaranteed to sell like hot cakes, plus as I said LAP was less commercial.

Kylie's sales plummeted after that with her third album when she had a more mature, sexier and less kiddy-friendly image. I think Rhythm Of Love entered the charts the same week as The Immaculate Collection at a lowly and shocking no 9, with TIC being an instant very strong selling no 1.

[Guest Eternal Flame]

It does seem strange.. but she was coming off a follow-up to a HUGE selling debut, this just repeated the formula and was therefore guaranteed to sell like hot cakes, plus as I said LAP was less commercial.

Kylie's sales plummeted after that with her third album when she had a more mature, sexier and less kiddy-friendly image. I think Rhythm Of Love entered the charts the same week as The Immaculate Collection at a lowly and shocking no 9, with TIC being an instant very strong selling no 1.

Rhythm of Love only went Platinum

But I think it's odd cause when I see the chart stats they're all so high...you'd think it would be like 3x platinum..

Better the Devil You Know #2

Step Back In Time #4

What Do I Have To Do #6

Shocked #6

Same with Body Language, it was only Platinum.

Slow #1

Red Blooded Woman #5

Chocolate #6

Are these albums close to 2x platinum or something?

[HolidayGuy]

Wonder what made LAP jump 26-9 when it re-entered the top 10 for a second time. I imagine the BAT impacted it re-entering the top 75 in July 1990.

[Guest Eternal Flame]

Wonder what made LAP jump 26-9 when it re-entered the top 10 for a second time. I imagine the BAT impacted it re-entering the top 75 in July 1990.

Was July 1990 when she was in the UK for BAT? That probably helped a lot. Or Hanky Panky being such a big hit over there.

[loomer]

Enjoy Yourself probably did not sell as much in 1990

It did, it sold more than LAP in 1990. In that UKMix thread, EY was at no 90 in the year-end album chart of 1990 - her follow-up album Rhythm Of Love was at a very lowly no 82. Like A Prayer wasn't in the top 100, TIC was no 2.. just behind Phil Collins, a great achievement for an album released at the end of the year.

I do remember LAP being advertised on TV over the Xmas period when Dear Jessie was out.. like seanyboy said it returned to the top 10 in the post-Xmas period when some people bought it with their record tokens they got for Chrimbo.

A lot of people don't know this, but LAP wasn't even the best selling album on the week it was released - a Now That's What I Call Music album actually outsold it, this was just the time after they changed the chart rules to exclude compilations from the main album chart, and this was the first time the real #1 selling album wasn't properly listed. How shit would that have been had they not changed the rules.

[loomer]

Was July 1990 when she was in the UK for BAT? That probably helped a lot. Or Hanky Panky being such a big hit over there.

Yup. It sure did.. I had the Record Mirror at that time and LAV and TB also re-entered the chart.

[Ciccone's Cheeks]

most def TIC "will" detrone that "Bad", well shitty lol MJ album to #9 within a few yrs thats for sure.Bad sold 99% of what it did many yrs ago, while TIC will keep selling, selling and selling. Aside from Bad, the only other semi fluke within the top 10 (but not as much as Bad lol), would be Oasis, as they never came close to duplicating that brilliance of that one album (not a fan here of any of their music or albums), but I clearly remember the uproar worldwide esp. the UK over that WTSMG album. It was massive.

[promise to try]

A lot of people don't know this, but LAP wasn't even the best selling album on the week it was released - a Now That's What I Call Music album actually outsold it, this was just the time after they changed the chart rules to exclude compilations from the main album chart, and this was the first time the real #1 selling album wasn't properly listed. How shit would that have been had they not changed the rules.

I didn´t know that: but LAP was "number 1" for more than one week in the UK, wasn´t it? so maybe the second week it was the real number 1

[promise to try]

Was July 1990 when she was in the UK for BAT? That probably helped a lot. Or Hanky Panky being such a big hit over there.

well, Hanky Panky peak at number 2, so it was quite a hit

[loomer]

I didn´t know that: but LAP was "number 1" for more than one week in the UK, wasn´t it? so maybe the second week it was the real number 1

It wasn't. Now outsold it both weeks. It was a huge brand in those days, hardly anything outsold it in the album charts - only 1 series of it never made it to #1 in the main album chart in the 80s before they changed the rules and that was one of the rival "Hits" album series.

Also, LAP got its certification for 3x platinum the same day in January 1990 that Enjoy Yourself got its 4x platinum certfication. LAP didn't get a certification for 4x platinum till 1995. I think in the end LAP may have outsold it, EY didn't have the staying power of its predecessor and was out the charts pretty quickly after it sold hugely in a concentrated period of time and LAP had more weeks on the chart (70 weeks). It definitely would have sold more as a back catalogue item, whereas Kylie's early work has been written out of history almost. I don't think the difference in sales between them would be that big though.

[loomer]

most def TIC "will" detrone that "Bad", well shitty lol MJ album to #9 within a few yrs thats for sure.Bad sold 99% of what it did many yrs ago, while TIC will keep selling, selling and selling

That was one of the nice surprises of that all time selling chart list, Thriller outselling Bad. For a long time, the UK was one of the few countries in the world where Bad outsold Thriller, quite weird.

[loomer]

Music is now 1,608,000

Shocking that it sold nearly as much as ROL. I thought ROL was way ahead.

[loomer]

Rhythm of Love only went Platinum

But I think it's odd cause when I see the chart stats they're all so high...you'd think it would be like 3x platinum..

Better the Devil You Know #2

Step Back In Time #4

What Do I Have To Do #6

Shocked #6

Are these albums close to 2x platinum or something?

That's when Kylie started to have a drop-off in sales, before WDIHTD ALL of her singles were top 5 (top 4 in fact, with nearly all top 2 - she had the best start to a chart career back then, till Boyzone and Westlife overtook her). In general, apart from early on and with "Fever" she's not really an albums chart act or strong album seller. Strong singles seller certainly. I think people tend to underestimate Kylie's impact now and forget how big she was, but at the time she was a phenomenon (in cold sales anyway).

She had great help by being on Neighbours of course, which was absolutely huge in the UK with viewing figures of 20 million, and she happened to be a big factor in that with her character Charlene, who with Scott was the golden couple and at the time of her wedding the top 3 was full of songs related to it - including that wretched power ballad wedding theme "Suddenly" by Angry Anderson and of course SAW capitalised on it by pairing her with Neighbours co-star Jason Donovan to recreate the romance on "Especially For You".

She was the best-selling female artist in the UK of the late-80s, she even won Woman Of The 80s on that special end of the 80s show which angered me no end since they seemed to only take into account the last 2 years.

I started following the charts in 1988 and I remember all of her singles then were top 2, some debuting there which was a record at the time (Hand In Your Heart would have been the first single by a female to debut at no 1 if cassette single sales had been took into consideration and were part of the chart rules then, Mariah later became the first with "Without You") and if they didn't go to no 1 they spent 4 weeks at no 2.

She does have some impressive chart stats - look at everyhit.com and you'll see:

There can be few things more frustrating for an artist than seeing their single just miss out on no. 1. Madonna knows this better than anyone as she has witnessed 12 of her hits have peak at no. 2. (Kylie Minogue is catching up, reaching 11 no. 2s in Dec 2004).

Cliff Richard has spent most weeks at no. 2 (23 weeks, Dec 2006) followed by Kylie Minogue (20) (Madonna is way behind at 14 weeks!)

Also, Kylie was the 5th best selling album of the 80's and the biggest one by a female artist (Whitney was just behind at no 6 and True Blue was at no 9). A Kylie loon harped on once that "Kylie has outsold all of Madonna's studio albums" and yes turns out he was right with the figures on that album poll. Thought TB might have sold more in the end with catalogue sales, though Whitney did overtake it.

The La La La song also sold more than a million and Especially For You almost did a million too, more than any Madge single. Then the big shock was that Fever also made that all time 100 best sellers and outsold ROL. Surprised at that. But Madonna is way, way ahead overall.. nobody comes close.. you'd have to take into consideration the album chart to determine the distant no 2 female.

[Guest Eternal Flame]

That's when Kylie started to have a drop-off in sales, before WDIHTD ALL of her singles were top 5 (top 4 in fact, with nearly all top 2 - she had the best start to a chart career back then, till Boyzone and Westlife overtook her). In general, apart from early on and with "Fever" she's not really an albums chart act or strong album seller. Strong singles seller certainly. I think people tend to underestimate Kylie's impact now and forget how big she was, but at the time she was a phenomenon (in cold sales anyway).

She had great help by being on Neighbours of course, which was absolutely huge in the UK with viewing figures of 20 million, and she happened to be a big factor in that with her character Charlene, who with Scott was the golden couple and at the time of her wedding the top 3 was full of songs related to it - including that wretched power ballad wedding theme "Suddenly" by Angry Anderson and of course SAW capitalised on it by pairing her with Neighbours co-star Jason Donovan to recreate the romance on "Especially For You".

She was the best-selling female artist in the UK of the late-80s, she even won Woman Of The 80s on that special end of the 80s show which angered me no end since they seemed to only take into account the last 2 years.

I started following the charts in 1988 and I remember all of her singles then were top 2, some debuting there which was a record at the time (Hand In Your Heart would have been the first single by a female to debut at no 1 if cassette single sales had been took into consideration and were part of the chart rules then, Mariah later became the first with "Without You") and if they didn't go to no 1 they spent 4 weeks at no 2.

She does have some impressive chart stats - look at everyhit.com and you'll see:

Also, Kylie was the 5th best selling album of the 80's (Whitney was just behind at no 6 and True Blue was at no 9). A Kylie loon harped on once said "Kylie has outsold all of Madonna's studio albums" and yes turns out he was right with the figures on that album poll. Thought TB might have sold in the end with catalogue sales, though Whitney did overtake it.

The La La La song also sold more than a million and Especially For You almost did a million too, more than any Madge single. Then the big shock was that Fever also made that all time 100 best sellers and outsold ROL. Surprised at that. But Madonna is way, way ahead overall.. nobody comes close.. you'd have to take into consideration the album chart to determine the distant no 2 female.

Do you happen to have Kylie's UK sales for her albums?