GNR/AFD Album Sales Mention on Billboard Q&A

[rube]

?
? Music Questions - Letters To The Music Editor - Ask The Music Editor
 

Experts answer your questions. For June 22, 2007,
UNDERWOOD DEBUT

Keith,

(On the "American Idol" finale) I saw Clive Davis present Carrie Underwood with a plaque for selling 6 million units of her debut album. That got me thinking: What are the most successful debut albums in history? I was thinking maybe it was Alanis Morissette's "Jagged Little Pill," but then I realized she had released previous material in Canada. So could you please tell me how does Carrie rank with most successful debut albums?

Robert Martin
Atlanta

Hello Robert,

Since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking sales data in 1991, we can't use SoundScan alone in determining what the biggest debut albums are.

But we can use the Recording Industry Association of America's (RIAA) list of the top 100 best-sellers in the U.S., since the RIAA has been around much longer than SoundScan.

According to the RIAA, here are the biggest selling debut albums in the U.S. Generally speaking, all of the titles listed below are the major-label debuts of the artists. We're including Morissette's "Jagged," as it was her U.S. major label debut. Same for Hootie & the Blowfish, Guns N' Roses and the Dixie Chicks, who had released independently distributed albums previous to the major label bow. Previous to his "Bat Out of Hell" success, Meat Loaf released a little known album through Motown as part of a duo, but we're discounting that album as well.

Boston, "Boston" (17 million)
Alanis Morissette, "Jagged Little Pill" (16 million)
Hootie & the Blowfish, "Cracked Rear View" (16 million)
Guns N' Roses, "Appetite For Destruction" (15 million)
Backsteet Boys, "Backstreet Boys" (14 million)
Meat Loaf, "Bat Out of Hell" (14 million)
Britney Spears, "... Baby One More Time" (14 million)
Whitney Houston, "Whitney Houston" (13 million)
Jewel, "Pieces of You" (12 million)
Matchbox Twenty, "Yourself Or Someone Like You" (12 million)
Dixie Chicks, "Wide Open Spaces" (12 million)
Pearl Jam, "Ten" (12 million)
Shania Twain, "The Woman in Me" (12 million)

Any way you slice it, Boston's self-titled debut - the act's real, true, first album - is the biggest selling debut album.
 
 http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/ask_bb/index.jsp
 

[Loaded NightraiN]

AFD needs an update damnit 

[Bodhi]

it is completely unbelievable to me that hootie and the blowfish rank higher than GNR on this list....hootie was big for about a year maybe less then they completely dropped off the face of the earth vanilla ice style...i cant believe they sold that many records in such a short amount of time...

[mrbrownstone8797]

That is in the U.S....not worldwide.

Also I wouldn't be surprised at a new rush of AFD sales when CD comes out. If CD is popular, the younger generations who might not know much of GN'R besides Greatest Hits could get into GN'R.

[CheapJon]

it is completely unbelievable to me that hootie and the blowfish rank higher than GNR on this list....hootie was big for about a year maybe less then they completely dropped off the face of the earth vanilla ice style...i cant believe they sold that many records in such a short amount of time...

well according to the site you should never trust when it comes to GNR they have 3 records that sold platinum, first sold 16xplatinum their second sold 3x platinum and thrid 1x platinum spanning from 1994 to 1998.. but this aint bad obsession it's the gnr section so let's talk about gnr

[Loaded NightraiN]

it is completely unbelievable to me that hootie and the blowfish rank higher than GNR on this list....hootie was big for about a year maybe less then they completely dropped off the face of the earth vanilla ice style...i cant believe they sold that many records in such a short amount of time...

well according to the site you should never trust when it comes to GNR they have 3 records that sold platinum, first sold 16xplatinum their second sold 3x platinum and thrid 1x platinum spanning from 1994 to 1998.. but this aint bad obsession it's the gnr section so let's talk about gnr

wow you totaly lost me on that one 

[GeraldFord]

Hootie & the Blowfish, "Cracked Rear View" (16 million)

 

Oh my...

Of those 16 million, I wonder how many still listen?

[Layne Staley's Sunglasses]

Let's not forget that AFD hasn't been certified since 1999!

I wonder when was the last time Boston was certified?  I'm sure they've sold a ton of records after Delp's untimely passing, but I still think AFD would be #1.

[bumblebucket]

god damn media don't know fucking shit!

[RageNirvanaNIN]

god damn media don't know fucking shit!

That was pretty random and stupid? Anyways thats a pretty big feat , considering in 86' the Gunners where just barely getting out of teenage years , and well didn't have anything. I wonder if anyone had asked Axl in 86 , " You know AFD will be one of the biggest selling debuts ever , your band will over take the world and will forever be remembered" what he wouldv'e thought lol!

[lennonisgod]

A few years ago there was an article that said AFD still sells 400,000 albums a year. That "15 million" hasn't been updated in ages. My guess would be that it's around 18 or 19 million by now.

[LunsJail]

god damn media don't know fucking shit!

That was pretty random and stupid? Anyways thats a pretty big feat , considering in 86' the Gunners where just barely getting out of teenage years , and well didn't have anything. I wonder if anyone had asked Axl in 86 , " You know AFD will be one of the biggest selling debuts ever , your band will over take the world and will forever be remembered" what he wouldv'e thought lol!

He'd say "Yeah, I had that planned all along."

[marknroses]

I would certainly anticipate newer platinum records to delivered to the mailboxes via FedEx to Axl, Slash, Duff, Matt, Gilby, Izzy and Dizzy and Steve when CD is out.

If it took 10 years for AFD to ship 15 million, and considering that I and MANY others have gotten into GNR since 1999, there's no reason why it could not have shipped another 2 million since. Also, considering how unpopular GNR was between 1993 and 1999 during the grunge and post-grunge era (thank you Nirvana) and how popular their music has become since, there's certainly a lot more movement that has occured since and not much album sales over that dark period when no one knew GNR and Axl's whereabouts.
Likewise, another platinum record for Lies, UYI 1 and 2 and Spaghetti Incident and all the members / ex-members will need another wall to fill up the awards.
MNW

[madagas]

Lies, UYI, AND SI won't be getting updated anytime soon....like the next decade or so! Greatest Hits will pretty much take all their sales plus some of AFD's. AFD is said to sell about 5000 per week or approx 250,000 per year. 400,000 is a little high, especially after GH was released. AFD was last updated by riaa in 1998 so in my best estimation it is probably around 17,000,000 to 18,000,000.