Artists who are lot more successful than you might think

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egb_hibs

egb_hibs

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Jul 2, 2002
This was brought to mind by excitement over Tracy Chapman coming out of isolation to do a live show the other day. Now to me the bold Tracy came and went with Fast Car, an apparent one hit wonder. Well Tracy has sold over 32m albums, including 20m of her debut on which it featured.

Sade, similar to me is / are ‘your love is king’ and some other one my missus plays relentlessly. 75 million records sold.

Jamiroquai - novelty hatted no mark: 40 million records sold

Depeche mode - great band, but I’m not sure it’s recognised in Britain just how massive they became elsewhere. 100m records sold


Any more for any more ?
 
Sancho Panza said:
Apparently Garth Brooks is the second biggest selling artist of all time. Let that sink in. 157 million albums sales. 😳
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One thing I noticed when googling some of the above, there doesn’t seem to be a standard list or way of counting. The Beatles for instance are anywhere from 183m to 700m!
 
egb_hibs said:
One thing I noticed when googling some of the above, there doesn’t seem to be a standard list or way of counting. The Beatles for instance are anywhere from 183m to 700m!
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The one I saw had several US artists I've never heard of. Possibly Country artists like GB. 🤷‍♂️
 
Sancho Panza said:
AC/DC have phenomenal album sales. Probably due to Back in Black which I believe is the second biggest selling album of all time. Or at least it used to be.
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Even I have a copy, which I guess shows its reach as I’m not a metal head at all. Among hundreds of cds it’s probably only that and Motörhead and I think the latter is a compilation rather than album proper.
 
egb_hibs said:
This was brought to mind by excitement over Tracy Chapman coming out of isolation to do a live show the other day. Now to me the bold Tracy came and went with Fast Car, an apparent one hit wonder. Well Tracy has sold over 32m albums, including 20m of her debut on which it featured.

Sade, similar to me is / are ‘your love is king’ and some other one my missus plays relentlessly. 75 million records sold.

Jamiroquai - novelty hatted no mark: 40 million records sold

Depeche mode - great band, but I’m not sure it’s recognised in Britain just how massive they became elsewhere. 100m records sold


Any more for any more ?
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Na mate, Tracey Chapman, Sade and Depeche mode were huge back in the day. No surprise at all with that. Jamiroquai however, who the fuck was buying their tat?
 
sockyboy said:
Na mate, Tracey Chapman, Sade and Depeche mode were huge back in the day. No surprise at all with that. Jamiroquai however, who the fuck was buying their tat?
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Well TC and Sade passed me by. I really can’t remember many hits other than the obvious ones I named.

DM are definitely different, but maybe it’s just me, but I don’t think I have taken in how gigantic they became in the US. I mean I know it as a matter of fact, but its just not properly sunk in or something.
 
egb_hibs said:
Even I have a copy, which I guess shows its reach as I’m not a metal head at all. Among hundreds of cds it’s probably only that and Motörhead and I think the latter is a compilation rather than album proper.
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Deary me.
Neither Acdc or Motorhead are metal bands,both play basically '50s rock n roll very loudly.
 
egb_hibs said:
This was brought to mind by excitement over Tracy Chapman coming out of isolation to do a live show the other day. Now to me the bold Tracy came and went with Fast Car, an apparent one hit wonder. Well Tracy has sold over 32m albums, including 20m of her debut on which it featured.

Sade, similar to me is / are ‘your love is king’ and some other one my missus plays relentlessly. 75 million records sold.

Jamiroquai - novelty hatted no mark: 40 million records sold

Depeche mode - great band, but I’m not sure it’s recognised in Britain just how massive they became elsewhere. 100m records sold


Any more for any more ?
Click to expand...
Tracy Chapman was massive worldwide with her first album. As you say that sold 20 million copies. The second album would have sold big on the back of that and I would imagine sales dropped through the floor after that as Jenny and Jimmy Public got off the bus and looked for the next flavour of the month. Chapman hasn't released an album for 16 years.
P.S. you forgot about "Talkin' About A Revolution" in addition to "Fast Car"

Sade sold massive amounts of her first 3 albums worldwide and the two after that sold pretty well. Popular with Jimmy and Jenny Public. Sade has only released 1 studio album in almost a quarter of a century.

Depeche Mode was a strange one, I remember them as a tinny and slightly wimpy synth pop band at the time of their first album "Speak and Spell" in 1981. Their main songwriter Vince Clark left after that and I thought they would struggle. To their credit they fought hard for a few albums then all of a sudden they hit struck a chord with the kids in the US of A and by the release of "Violator" in 1990 they were massive. Vast album sales and stadium rock gigs.

Jamiroquai is the strange one on your list. 40 million records sold is a raj surprise. Stevie Wonder lite with a touch of Gil Scott Heron. I bought a best of compilation. Played once and filed it. Couldn't tell you if his albums are good. Suspect they are decent but I wasn't paying attention.
His albums are now found in charity shops, next to Texas, Coldplay etc albums and anything else that Jenny and Jimmy Public bought in large numbers and moved on when they got spotify and smart speakers around their house.
 
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moathibby said:
How does LisaStansfield do?Or does she cut hair in somewhere like Oldham?
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Good shout Moaty , 20m.

This is why some of these unlikely lads and lasses are minted where more prominent names are less so.

Anyone wondering at Jamiroquai’s fleet of top end cars on top gear years ago, here’s why.
 
Sancho Panza said:
Apparently Garth Brooks is the second biggest selling artist of all time. Let that sink in. 157 million albums sales. 😳
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Blandness and showbiz sells to the masses.
Saying that I have never heard any of his albums although I did think about buying his break out 2nd album "No Fences" back in 1990.
 
Jack K said:
Tracy Chapman was massive worldwide with her first album. As you say that sold 20 million copies. The second album would have sold big on the back of that and I would imagine sales dropped through the floor after that as Jenny and Jimmy Public got of the bus and looked for the next flavour of the month. Chapman hasn't released an album for 16 years.

Sade sold massive amounts of her first 3 albums worldwide and the two after that sold pretty well. Popular with Jimmy and Jenny Public. Sade has only released 1 studio album in almost a quarter of a century.

Depeche Mode was a strange one, I remember them as a tinny and slightly wimpy synth pop band at the time of their first album "Speak and Spell" in 1981. Their main songwriter Vince Clark left after that and I thought they would struggle. To their credit they fought hard for a few albums then all of a sudden they hit struck a chord with the kids in the US of A and by the release of "Violator" in 1990 they were massive. Vast album sales and stadium rock gigs.

Jamiroquai is the strange one on your list. 40 million records sold is a raj surprise. Stevie Wonder lite. I bought a best of compilation. Played once and filed it. Couldn't tell you if his albums are good. Suspect they are decent but I wasn't paying attention.
His albums are now found in charity shops, next to Texas, Coldplay etc albums and anything else that Jenny and Jimmy Public bought in large numbers and moved on when they got spotify and smart speakers around their house.
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Jamiroquai (thank feck my iPad now has that remembered) is a stand out here.

Your stevie wonder lite observation I think is telling. I think many of these cases are:

A) white people doing ‘black music’

B) targeting Audi driving album buyers rather than the singles charts - this now hopelessly outmoded, but applying to the eras artists referenced so far come from
 
Plenty of anomalies in the list I looked at. Robbie Williams apparently sold more albums than bob Marley, kiss and Aretha franklyn.
 
Braehead Cabbage said:
Deary me.
Neither Acdc or Motorhead are metal bands,both play basically '50s rock n roll very loudly.
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Well maybe that’s why I liked them when I don’t like metal. I’m too old for a genre war so will just accept your point and be done. Especially when it comes to heavy / thrash / death / black / a million others, metal !
 
hibadelic said:
Plenty of anomalies in the list I looked at. Robbie Williams apparently sold more albums than bob Marley, kiss and Aretha franklyn.
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Some have Rihanna on course to, or already surpassed the Beatles !
 
egb_hibs said:
Good shout Moaty , 20m.

This is why some of these unlikely lads and lasses are minted where more prominent names are less so.

Anyone wondering at Jamiroquai’s fleet of top end cars on top gear years ago, here’s why.
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I actually thought she might be on the revival circuit with Kym Wilde and Alison Moyet.
 
A)Where’s the list? AndB) I thought this was going to be about Gilbert and George and Tracy Emin.
 
moathibby said:
A)Where’s the list? AndB) I thought this was going to be about Gilbert and George and Tracy Emin.
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There’s so many lists it’s almost pointless quoting one Moaty. Google artists with most record sales, or anything approximating that, and you’ll see what I mean.
 
The enduring career of Lenny Kravitz has always baffled me. Festivals, arena shows, 40m albums sold...

I could name you three of his songs and name fewer people I've met who are fans.
 
egb_hibs said:
This was brought to mind by excitement over Tracy Chapman coming out of isolation to do a live show the other day. Now to me the bold Tracy came and went with Fast Car, an apparent one hit wonder. Well Tracy has sold over 32m albums, including 20m of her debut on which it featured.

Sade, similar to me is / are ‘your love is king’ and some other one my missus plays relentlessly. 75 million records sold.

Jamiroquai - novelty hatted no mark: 40 million records sold

Depeche mode - great band, but I’m not sure it’s recognised in Britain just how massive they became elsewhere. 100m records sold


Any more for any more ?
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Enya 82 Million Records sold

Surprised it’s not more.
 
Two Headed Boy said:
The enduring career of Lenny Kravitz has always baffled me. Festivals, arena shows, 40m albums sold...

I could name you three of his songs and name fewer people I've met who are fans.
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That’s another peach. In my mind a total failed hype bomb but there we are…

Which reminds me to google…
 
Terence Trent D’Arby…one of the biggest hype fails going one might think.

14m records sold might suggest, in fact, that the wolves aren’t quite at the door.

Todays artists, pumped by YouTube and spotify, must weep at this.
 
Phil Collins over 100m, Simply Red over 50m, UB40 70m

Conversely, New Order have sold a piddly 4m. Primal Scream a couple of million max, public Enemy 5m.
 
hibadelic said:
Phil Collins over 100m, Simply Red over 50m, UB40 70m

Conversely, New Order have sold a piddly 4m. Primal Scream a couple of million max, public Enemy 5m.
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Great juxtaposition. simply red are a great example. Jowly white boy soul, socialist trumpeter effortlessly turned conspicuous consumer.

And outselling people most of us would consider more significant by an order of magnitude.

If that is accurate re new order - not doubting you but as above, so many lists and ways of counting - they’re almost the perfect anti-thesis.

Decades of output, highly influential, decent name recognition: 10% of Jamiroquai’s sales.
 
egb_hibs said:
Great juxtaposition. simply red are a great example. Jowly white boy soul, socialist trumpeter effortlessly turned conspicuous consumer.

And outselling people most of us would consider more significant by an order of magnitude.

If that is accurate re new order - not doubting you but as above, so many lists and ways of counting - they’re almost the perfect anti-thesis.

Decades of output, highly influential, decent name recognition: 10% of Jamiroquai’s sales.
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Public Enemy, not even reaching the heights of M People.
 
egb_hibs said:
This was brought to mind by excitement over Tracy Chapman coming out of isolation to do a live show the other day. Now to me the bold Tracy came and went with Fast Car, an apparent one hit wonder. Well Tracy has sold over 32m albums, including 20m of her debut on which it featured.

Sade, similar to me is / are ‘your love is king’ and some other one my missus plays relentlessly. 75 million records sold.

Jamiroquai - novelty hatted no mark: 40 million records sold

Depeche mode - great band, but I’m not sure it’s recognised in Britain just how massive they became elsewhere. 100m records sold


Any more for any more ?
Click to expand...
Depeche Mode achieved much much more than their 80s contemporaries over the pond. They're absolutely huge! In the UK they've never been given the credit they deserve. They're an absolutely superb band. Love them.
 
Smurf said:
Incredible if true!
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I’m seeing what he is seeing.

And also that blue Monday alone sold 10m.

Why is something you would assume so straightforward to measure (before streaming) so all over the shop!

I can believe, btw, that Blue Monday trounced their album sales. Iirc they didn’t put songs issued as singles, on albums. I can see the intended integrity but it’s a bit short sighted given the comparative lifespans of albums and singles. Not just commercially but ‘artistically’.
 
egb_hibs said:
Jamiroquai (thank feck my iPad now has that remembered) is a stand out here.

Your stevie wonder lite observation I think is telling. I think many of these cases are:

A) white people doing ‘black music’

B) targeting Audi driving album buyers rather than the singles charts - this now hopelessly outmoded, but applying to the eras artists referenced so far come from
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Had a watch and listen to him for the last hour on youtube and the most interesting track/video I found was the following, top stuff it is

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At least with the initial press, which I had, they lost money on every copy of blue Monday sold! It had a fancy cut out sleeve resembling a floppy disk (very modern at the time) that was so costly to manufacture that it screwed them.

Art, baby.
 
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