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1. Is there a place to find worldwide sales?
No, not at the moment. Record label press releases/annual reports, national recording associations and credible music magazines (e.g. Billboard) are the only places to find accurate worldwide sales.
2. When worldwide sales are reported are they actual sales or shipments?
Worldwide sales figures are compiled with shipment figures and certifications (which are shipments not actual sales) from around the world. All the figures on this site barring the Soundscan figures on the US album page are estimated shipments.
Labels do know much an album has actually sold, because there are sales tracking systems (like Soundscan) in every big market and there are record labels for every big market to keep track of that information.
Record labels opt to use shipment figures, because they don't change constantly (like actual sales figures) and label's/artist's actually make money for the amount of albums shipped and accepted by retailers.
Really, actual sales are only used as an inclination of how many albums need to be shipped to supply the demand. Even Soundscan figures aren't completely comprehensive, record club sales consistently accounted for about/over 20% of music sales prior to this decade, but were and still not reported by Soundscan.
3. Why is there such a discrepancy between Mariah's Soundscan + BMG numbers and her shipment numbers? For example, Music Box and Daydream, they are millions below their shipment number, are they over-shipped?
BMG wasn't the only or biggest record club in the 1990's. Columbia House was the biggest record club in the 1990's. Mariah could have sold millions in the Columbia House record club, but we would never know because figures aren't available for them. There is also no such thing as 'over-shipped' because retailers pay labels for the amount of albums shipped and accepted by them. If labels could just ship as many records as they wanted and get paid for them, labels wouldn't be merging, because of
financial problems. Having said that, Mariah's albums are not the only albums with such discrepancies, there are many albums with even bigger discrepancies than Music Box and Daydream, but they still are not 'over-certified'. Here are a few examples:
- Jewel's Pieces Of You sold 9 million (600k more than Daydream)
in Soundscan and BMG sales, yet it's certified 12x Platinum (2 million more
than Daydream).
- Shania Twain's The Woman In Me sold 8.8 million copies
(400k more than Daydream) in Soundscan sales and BMG record club
sales, yet it's certified 12x Platinum (2 million more than Daydream)
- Whitney Houston's The Bodyguard sold 13.1 million copies in Soundscan
and BMG sales and it's certified 17x Platinum.
- Hootie & The Blowfish's Cracked Rear View sold 11.4 million
copies in Soundscan and BMG sales and it's certified 16x Platinum.
4. Mariah's official site says The Emancipation of Mimi has sold 10 million worldwide and Mariah has sold over 160 million units worldwide, why does your site have a lower figure for both?
Mariah's sales have been well documented and 160 million albums does not make sense. Mariah had sold 150 million albums and singles at the signing of her Virgin/EMI deal. Mariah's said herself in 2005, that she sold 150 million records (albums and singles) in the 1990's and that Music Box sold over 30 million records (albums and singles worldwide). 160 million albums and singles is too low, though. Mariah's sold at least 30 million albums, singles and downloads this decade, which puts her at over 180 million worldwide.
As for The Emancipation of Mimi it was at 7.7 million worldwide with 5 million in the US (according to the IFPI in Dec. 05) and 9 million worldwide with 6 million in the US (according to Billboard, her label and tour press releases in June 06). The album hasn't been re-certified in any of the big markets since then.
5. I've heard that Mariah has multiple million-selling albums in China, true or false?
Although, I don't have figures for Mariah in China, I can assure you that this myth is false. Billboard reported in 1999, that the Titanic Soundtrack was the first international album to sell 1 million, Billboard also noted that the only artist to sell even close to 500,000 in China with one album was Michael Jackson. China's music market also isn't very big, it's now about the size of Canada's and sales would even be lower since it's not an English speaking market. Futher evidence is the Platinum sales mark, it's only 30,000 (per the IFPI) for international artists.
6. What is the difference between Mediabase and BDS/Billboard?
Billboard uses BDS for its Airplay stats, and the BDS panel of stations is a bit different from the Mediabase panel. BDS counts more Pop/dance stations than Mediabase and fewer Rhythmic/Urban stations.
7. What is the difference between Hits Daily Double numbers and Soundscan numbers?
Hits Daily Double tabulates their sales figures via store reports (as in, a store manager or someone phones/faxes in sales reports). Soundscan measures their sales via computerized scans. Each time you buy a CD and it's scanned for pricing, that is counted as a Soundscan sale. This method is more accurate because store reports are influenced by human error and bias.
8. What is the difference between the Digital Tracks and Digital Songs (Billboard) chart?
Digital Tracks are for all different versions of a song, (e.g. explicit version, album version, radio version, clean version, remixes etc.) they all chart separately on the Digital Tracks chart. The Digital Songs chart (which Billboard uses to compile the Billboard Hot 100) combines all versions of a song.
9. Is Merry Christmas the best selling Christmas album of all time?
Merry Christmas is definitely the best selling Christmas album by a female artist (worldwide). Celine Dion's These Are Special Times is the only female album that could have sold more, but it only collectively sold 8-8.5 million in North America, Europe, Japan, South Korea and the Australian Continent, compared to the around 10 million Merry Christmas sold
in the same regions.
Thanks to all the people who have contributed questions and thanks to Jason and David for answering some of these questions.
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