Albums sold list

[Greeno]

Found this interesting. Basically it's how many albums they've sold SINCE 1991. I would have thought Maiden to be way higher on the list.....

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Updated: Top-Selling Hard Rock Artists According To NIELSEN SOUNDSCAN - Jan. 30, 2004

Metal Sludge has posted an updated list of total sales figures for a variety of their favorite artists, according to Nielsen SoundScan (13 more bands have been added since the original list was published).

Although the SoundScan numbers are generally indicative of the bands' overall popularity, they are misleading in the sense that many of the veteran hard rock groups' early efforts were issued prior to the start of the SoundScan era (May 25, 1991).

Metal Sludge's list is as follows:

01. METALLICA: 44,339,994
02. AEROSMITH: 25,302,355
03. AC/DC: 20,095,641
04. GUNS N' ROSES: 18,692,707
05. VAN HALEN: 15,840,646
06. OZZY OSBOURNE: 13,810,371
07. DEF LEPPARD: 13,384,607
08. BON JOVI: 12,799,851
09. KISS: 7,716,667
10. BLACK CROWES: 7,421,978
11. MÖTLEY CRÜE: 6,894,092
12. MEGADETH: 6,873,227
13. PANTERA: 6,761,604
14. QUEENSRŸCHE: 6,657,841
15. POISON: 4,541,197
16. TESLA: 4,295,019
17. IRON MAIDEN: 4,139,402
18. SLAYER: 3,528,005
19. SKID ROW: 3,098,218
20. FIREHOUSE: 2,881,561
21. ALICE COOPER: 2,745,300
22. ANTHRAX: 2,476,577
23. WARRANT: 2,196,518
24. SLAUGHTER: 2,020,418
25. CINDERELLA: 2,004,877
26. GREAT WHITE: 1,941,122
27. WHITESNAKE: 1,784,470
28. RATT: 1,403,858
29. DIO: 1,318,259
30. DOKKEN: 1,176,762
31. TESTAMENT: 1,123,801
32. QUIET RIOT: 1,056,702
33. MOTORHEAD: 768,014
34. L.A. GUNS: 713,838
35. WHITE LION: 691,417
36. TRIXTER: 609,264
37. WINGER: 601,898
38. W.A.S.P.: 570,419
39. TWISTED SISTER: 503,068
40. FASTER PUSSYCAT: 336,195
41. BULLETBOYS: 262,354
42. EXODUS: 245,776
43. DANGER DANGER: 217,407
44. ENUFF Z'NUFF: 176,087
45. BANG TANGO: 151,322
46. BRITNY FOX: 131,687
47. LOVE/HATE: 100,655
48. TUFF: 85,565
49. XYZ: 79,971
50. PRETTY BOY FLOYD: 27,628

 

[DrillSergeant]

I don't think that list is representative. This quote says it all:

...the SoundScan numbers ... are misleading in the sense that many of the veteran hard rock groups' early efforts were issued prior to the start of the SoundScan era (May 25, 1991).

Just take your own example. Maiden released all their really big albums prior to that. And they had their Blaze-venture in the 90s.

 

[baldyboy]

are you suggesting that thier blaze venture didnt work out too well sarge?

 

[DrillSergeant]

are you suggesting that thier blaze venture didnt work out too well sarge?

Yes, that's what I am suggesting. At least as far as sales numbers go. Musically I'd say it wasn't the lack of quality which left things a bit unfinished. I think the boys wrote some songs as strong as ever with Blaze and it surely weren't his singing abilities either. But somehow he didn't fit in the Maiden formula. Maybe he wasn't able to adapt to the songs, maybe the Maidens didn't find a way to make the songs fit his voice, I really can't tell. All I know is that I've seen Bruce on TV singing old Blaze-era songs and that simply killed the originals.

 

[sixxswine]

Where the hell is Priest? This is numbers only since they started to use sound scan. Where they started to scan UPC codes & add them to the data base...

 

[Greeno]

I don't think that list is representative. This quote says it all:

Just take your own example. Maiden released all their really big albums prior to that. And they had their Blaze-venture in the 90s.

That's why I put "SINCE 1991" in my post. I'm just saying I still find it hard to believe that Maiden is that low on the list.

 

[Ayeka]

I find it quite surprising as well...I mean Virtual XI is their lowest charting album but The X Factor didn't do that bad in comparison. And then you've got Fear Of The Dark which went to #1, didn't it? Dance Of Death got to #2 as well...

I suppose the thing is that these days an album doesn't have to sell as many copies to chart so high...y'know, you don't have to seel as many copies to get to #1 today as you would have 20 years ago. Or maybe that just applies to the singles chart?

 

[Greeno]

I think this list is for American sales only, don't think soundscan is used anywhere else is it? Plus it's for TOTAL sales, not just albums released after 1991, but the bands complete discography. Which seeing how many re-issues Maiden has done they really have not sold all that many albums since the 80's (here in the States anyways, which kinda says it all since metal doesn't sell here).

 

[IcedMadness]

Yeah, where is Priest, I'm sure when the Remastered versions were release a few years ago, numbers had to have gone up alot.