Iron Maiden U.S. Sales by Album (including solo albums). You have GOT to be kidding!

[Dark One]

LIVE AFTER DEATH I CAN EASILY UNDERSTAND, BUT HOW IN THE WORLD CAN FEAR OF THE DARK BE THE NUMBER ONE SELLING MAIDEN STUDIO ALBUM IN THE U.S.??? I'M SHOCKED TO SAY THE LEAST.

Anyway, here is the report copied from Blabbermouth and MaidenFans.com:


IRON MAIDEN fan site MaidenFans.com has published the latest Nielsen SoundScan figures for the entire MAIDEN catalog as well as MAIDEN singer Bruce Dickinson's solo releases and recordings issued by ex-MAIDEN frontman Blaze Bayley under the BLAZE banner. Note: the SoundScan numbers for MAIDEN's pre-1991 releases are misleading since the albums were issued prior to the start of the SoundScan era (May 25, 1991).

The total U.S. sales during the SoundScan era are as follows:

Iron Maiden (1980) - 196,628
Killers (1981) - 211,410
The Number Of The Beast (1982) - 357,463
Piece Of Mind (1983) - 347,400
Powerslave (1984) - 299,022
Live After Death (1985) - 558,578
Somewhere In Time (1986) - 291,420
Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son (1988) - 218,056
No Prayer For The Dying (1989) - 213,745
Fear Of The Dark (1992) - 421,786
Live At Donington (1993) - 23,639
A Real Live One (1993) - 108,177
A Real Dead One (1993) - 130,652
A Real Live/Dead One (1998 -new format) - 20,621
The X Factor (1995) - 112,710
Best Of The Beast (1996) - 251,112
Virtual XI (1998) - 65,243
Ed Hunter (1999) - 52,886
Brave New World (2000) - 282,460
Rock In Rio (AUDIO) (2002) - 69,307
Rock In Rio (DVD & VIDEO) (2002) - 59,644
Edward The Great (2002) - 130,611
Dance Of Death (2003) - 138,904
Visions Of The Beast (DVD & VIDEO) (2003) - 77,850
Part 1: Early Days (DVD) (2004) - 32,037

This last DVD is 32 on the Top DVD Music Video Chart this week, 33 last week and 32 the week before.

BRUCE DICKINSON Solo:

Tattooed Millionaire (1990) - 20,875
Balls To Picasso (1994) - 65,317
Alive In Studio A (1995) - 9,897
Skunkworks (1996) - 20,361
Accident Of Birth (1997) - 45,921
Chemical Wedding (1998) - 41,363
Scream For Me Brazil (1999) - 10,381
Best Of Bruce Dickinson (2001) - 17,334

BLAZE:

Silicon Messiah (2000) - 480
Tenth Dimension (2001) - 673
As Live As It Gets (2003) - 692
Blood & Belief (2004) - 1,499

 

[JayKeeley]

I can't believe those numbers. I would have thought that Number of the Beast was the biggest seller - even non metal fans have that album in their collection.

With that said, ALL those numbers seem low, no? At minimum, I would have thought that over the years, there would be more than 350,000 people that had bought Number of the Beast.

Just doesn't make sense when these guys go round selling out stadiums, each filling at least 70,000 people. If a million people go see Maiden on a US tour, you would figure at least half those individuals would have bought Maiden albums....hmm, maybe that does make sense....eeiirwrds!

 

[Dark One]

I agree, I'm not sure I have complete faith in those numbers. Practically every single metal fan I've ever talked to (and believe me, that's a lot) about Maiden owns Number of the Beast, Live After Death, Seventh Son, et al. They were all over Headbangers Ball in the Seventh Son era - I kinda thought that would be right at the top. Puzzling to say the least.

 

[Dark One]

D'OH!!!! I didn't read closely enough at the fine print. DUH!!! Now it makes sense:


"Note: the SoundScan numbers for MAIDEN's pre-1991 releases are misleading since the albums were issued prior to the start of the SoundScan era (May 25, 1991)."


Pretty darn good for selling that many pre-1991 releases since 1991!

That's more like it!!

 

[NAD]

Note: the SoundScan numbers for MAIDEN's pre-1991 releases are misleading since the albums were issued prior to the start of the SoundScan era (May 25, 1991).

*ACHOO*

I have a question/observation: I never even considered the impact Maiden had on metal or music in general until I came to this forum, and perhaps this shows that I'm not as out of the loop as I once thought. I mean yeah, I knew who Maiden were since I was about 6 years old (1985) just because of the covers, but aside from the occasional spin of Run to the Hills and Flight of Icarus on the local metal channel, I never heard them. Then I come here and half you lot are comparing them to Sabbath in terms of influence and I'm thinking "zuh?" Hmm, I guess that was just an observation. Sorry about misleading anyone with that question bit.

 

[JayKeeley]

Yeah, that 1991 cut off date makes sense now.

@NAD - Think about it, you had Sabbath and then the NWOBHM. The leaders of NWOBHM? Iron Maiden. Everything up until today has simply followed.

(Although you do have all the prog acts out there that jumped onto the metal bandwagon, but they were influenced by bands like Kansas and Yes, neither having anything to do with heavy metal). Either way, it's not 'pure' metal, and yet it's not a sub-genre either...

Let's face it: Heavy Metal = NWOBHM. Everything that followed is a sub-genre of the fact.

 

[NAD]

Maybe it's because I never listened to NWOBHM, I grew up on thrash and 90's alt-metal (or whatever you want to call it). I always saw Slayer, Megadeth, Metallica, Sepultura, et. al. influenced by punk, the Maiden/Priest/etc. connection only came in because they all wore leather and white tennis shoes.

Shit like Accept, Grim Reaper, all that other stuff was complete garbage to me. The only real traditional metal I listened to back then was Twisted Sister and Quiet Riot. When I discovered thrash that stuff was pretty much chucked out the window and I never looked back. Well, I did buy a Queensryche album a few years ago, but there was a 13 year void in between. :Spin:

 

[speed]

Yes but if you look at worldwide numbers Iron Maiden has sold I think more records than MEtallica, like way up there in the 45-50 million range.

They suffer from the phenomenom in America, everyone has heard OF them, but no one has heard them.

 

[lurch70]

Shit like Accept, Grim Reaper,

Hey, Balls to the Wall and See you in Hell (my friend) are stuff that legends are made of ...

Yes but if you look at worldwide numbers Iron Maiden has sold I think more records than MEtallica, like way up there in the 45-50 million range.

Metallica is close to 100 million worldwide ...

Maiden was always a "touring" band ... this is where they made their money and got their recognition and name spread around. They were the first real "merchandiser" metal band with the singles, rarities and t-shirts. You have to remember that they never really had any mainstream radio tracks, so people who bought their releases were always the "real fans".

I am surprised at some of the numbers, especially for the latest CD, but I am sure they are a hell of a lot higher in Europe for expample.

 

[JayKeeley]

I always saw Slayer, Megadeth, Metallica, Sepultura, et. al. influenced by punk, the Maiden/Priest/etc. connection only came in because they all wore leather and white tennis shoes.

That's the thing, thrash only had punk influence because NWOBHM did. All these bands you listed were influenced by (a) Sabbath, Priest, Motorhead and then (b) Maiden, Venom, Diamond Head, Budgie, etc. The punk scene essentially just bridged (a) with (b).

Of course, one of the key bands in all this is Mercyful Fate, but they weren't a part of NWOBHM. I mean, they were Danish for a start.

You really should check out some really good NWOBHM. Yes, some of it is diabolical and dated as fuck, but some of it is just timeless in a "classic metal" kind of way which you would appreciate.

Listen to Maiden's "Killers", the Angel Witch s/t debut, and some Pagan Altar. And then check out the first interpretation of it all in the USA: Manilla Road and Brocas Helm (you have a phenomenal CD-R of them already). Honestly, this stuff is so fucking raw & beautiful it's difficult to dismiss. Suddenly you'll see how the paths opened up for today's bands like Slough Feg....all you've got to do is work backwards since you're already sold on SF.

 

[NAD]

Yeah I was listening to Slough Feg all afternoon thinking "yeah this stuff is definitely influenced by NWOBHM, maybe some day I will get into all that old shit."

Hey, Balls to the Wall and See you in Hell (my friend) are stuff that legends are made of ...

Thanks to Beavis and Butt-head mostly. Oh man, that is their best line ever, when the singer from Accept comes out on stage with a sleeveless form fitting camo shirt, and Butt-head says "uhhm, do you have a back stage pass, sir?" hahahahhaah COMEDY GOLD.

 

[lurch70]

when the singer from Accept comes out on stage with a sleeveless form fitting camo shirt, and Butt-head says "uhhm, do you have a back stage pass, sir?" hahahahhaah COMEDY GOLD.

LOL ... I missed that one. Actually UDO is back in Accept and are doing some serious touring.

All of you have to listen to the track, Fast as a Shark from Accept. It is supposedely the first track ever with double bass / thrash style drumming ... plus it's a killer track

 

[Carbonized]

What i've always wondered is whether or not purchasing through a web shop contributes to the Nielson numbers. Something tells me no and if that's true those sales numbers are going to be way off.

 

[Demonspell]

Live After Death and FOTD have outsold NOTB during the past 15 years? Even though the latter was released after Soundscan and the other is the best live metal album of all time (and the pre-rereremasters cut out the fourth side, giving fans less incentive to replace their wartorn vinyls), I still think it's improbable. And I'm sure those Blaze sales figures are exaggerated...

 

[Dark One]

Live After Death and FOTD have outsold NOTB during the past 15 years? Even though the latter was released after Soundscan and the other is the best live metal album of all time, I still think it's improbable. And I'm sure those Blaze sales figures are exaggerated...

I hear ya, however, as FOTD was released for the first time in 1992 and still had Bruce Dickinson at the helm, I believe it's possible it would give NOTB a run for it's money from 1992 onward, even though it's one of the biggest turds in their catalogue.

As far as Blaze is concerned - yeah, those sales are ridiculously high.

 

[JayKeeley]

Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if NotB is the biggest selling metal album of all time.

 

[Ayeka]

LOL ... I missed that one. Actually UDO is back in Accept and are doing some serious touring.

All of you have to listen to the track, Fast as a Shark from Accept. It is supposedely the first track ever with double bass / thrash style drumming ... plus it's a killer track

Judas Priest - Exciter

But, yeah, Fast As A Shark is an ace song, and Accept fucking rule!

I'm quite at the BLAZE figures...I know the first two albums didn't get proper distro in the US for a few years, but that's TERRIBLE! Mr Bayley's got a real uphill struggle still ahead of him, it seems...I hope he carries on, his band kicks ass.

 

[Crimson Velvet]

I've always imagined Mötorhead being as influental as Iron Maiden... Am I way off?

As for NotB being the highing selling metal album of all time; I think it's only topped by the Black Album.

 

[lurch70]

some news ..Maiden must be making a killing just off this DVD

IRON MAIDEN's recent "The History Of Iron Maiden – Part 1: The Early Years" DVD has been certified platinum in the U.S. for sales in excess of 100,000 copies, according to Billboard.com.

The "Early Years" DVD, which was released in North America in early November, covers the band's course from its first days, back in the mid-'70s up until 1983 when MAIDEN went on their first major world tour.

 

[JayKeeley]

$Good for them.$

I was watching the second disc of this last night -- some early 80's documentary, mostly containing b&w footage of the band playing in small rock clubs with a couple of interviews. Funniest part was these dorks who went to the clubs and shows armed with cardboard cutout guitars, just so they could hold something 'real' whilst they air guitared away the night...haha.