US sales according to en.wiki

____no5

____no5

Free Man
it's been a long time since my last visit to this url
...the differences regarding numbers is just enourmous to say the least
I tried to visit RIAA official page for some confirmation but apparently the site is down

so here is a comparision list with all 14 albums -first column US sales stated courently by wiki,
second column (with red) US sales before 1 & 1/2 years stated from the same site as I *remember* them

IM - 2,000,000+                500.000+
KILLERS - 2,000,000+        1.000.000+
TNOTB - 4,900,000+          2.000.000+
POM - 3,800,000+                1.500.000+
POWERSLAVE - 3,900,000+    1.500.000+
SIT - 4,000,000+                    1.000.000+
SSOASS - 4,250,000+            1.000.000+
NPFTD - 1,850,000+            500.000+
FotD - 2.450,000+              400.000+
TXF - 515,000+                    150.000+
VIX - 270,000+                      80.000+
BNW - 575,000+                  200.000+
DOD - 510,000                    120.000+
AMOLAD - 500,000+              150.000+
Click to expand...

NOTE :  I know that I can't state something out of memory, but I'm quite sure that generally the numbers were like this before 1 & 1/2 years  (red colour)

besides if I remember well official RIAA page was giving just 4 platinum LPs :
NotB x2
POM x1
POWERSLAVE x1
SIT x1

these are some Soundscan numbers provided by gor, regarding sales from 1991 up to 12/10/2005 :

Dance Of Death - 99,934
Brave New World - 267,137

The following include all releases and re-releases for all labels:

Virtual XI - 69,360
The X Factor - 117,889
Fear Of The Dark - 414,391
No Prayer For The Dying - 213,423
Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son - 311,217
Somewhere In Time - 276,655
Powerslave - 275,403
Piece Of Mind - 329,980
The Number Of The Beast - 366,451
Killers - 198,596
Iron Maiden - 187,028
Click to expand...

does anyone has some feed back in this ??
 
These numbers are unsubstantiated with evidence or sources whatsoever, and therefore are unreliable.  In fact, there is no sure-fire way of verifying total album sales without going into the distributor's individual sales records, which should reflect the total units actually shipped, with adjustments for returns, defective goods, etc.  That information is not publicly available on a per-title basis, unless the record company voluntarily elects to disclose that information, which is probably not the case here.  Clearly the Soundscan numbers underreport actual album sales, as Soundscan only tracks sales at cash registers that are hooked into Soundscan's system, and in any event, Soundscan didn't even exist until 1991 -- well after Iron Maiden's most popular albums were released.  Also, what does "sales before 1 & 1/2 years" mean?  Do you mean sales in the first 18 months after the title was first released? 
 
I have found the RIAA sales to be misleading with the numbers always varying.  And what about the sales in other countries?  I'm unsure if RIAA counts those and as Cornfed indicated, I've seen some CDs with many returns in my local CD discount stores and used CD stores.

This best selling CDs of all time list if my memory serves has been stable.
http://members.aol.com/PaulHry/music/riaa.html

EDIT: One more thing, No.5 -- the wiki site clearly states that "this section does not site and references or sources".  In other words, it is unreliable.
 
I know I'm stating the obvious here, but never trust Wikipedia.  At one point Maiden's page (in Wiki) said that they've sold over 100 million albums worldwide.  I checked their source on this, and that source was someone's blog which seemed to have no factual evidence to back it up.  At the same time, the "best selling music artists" (don't remember exact name) said they were between 50 and 100.  Now Maiden's wiki page says 80,000 with three sources to back it up.  Maiden, on their official home page, however, have twice said that they've sold over 70 million.

So who knows?
 
Wow, that has to be one of the worst Wikipedia articles I've ever seen. If, as a Maiden fan, I wouldn't know they were correct, I'd even double-check album titles, release dates and labels. Apart from the fact that the tables look cluttered, their information is even inconsistent! Most releases have only the year of release mentioned, while some suddenly have the entire date. The certifications are not even remotely complete, and I just don't believe that the source that says Maiden Japan was certified platinum in Canada -if that is even true!- does not make any mention of other certifications in the country. The chart positions are horribly incomplete, hard to read and inconsistent. The US sales column not only lacks any sort of credible source, it is also completely unnecessary (Why a US column? Why not a UK, Germany and Brazil column?). The numbers are completely uninformative, because 2,000,000+ can mean anything, from 2,000,001 to 20,000,000. Moreover, as cornfedhick pointed out, most of those only go back to 1991, long after the initial run on the classic albums was over, so their informative value is next to nothing.
There are absolutely no references to anything except sales numbers for A Matter Of Life And Death. While I hate it when people put 10,000 footnotes in a Wikipedia article, there should always be a section at the end giving a few comprehensive web links as well as references to equally or more comprehensive books and/or printed articles. Otherwise, for all we know, I could have written it with the intention to piss you all off. In other words, this article is absolutely worthless, unreliable, inconsistent and should not be taken as any kind of source by anyone.

You may ask why I'm not editing this article myself. A valid point, but I do not have the sources. As we all know by now, information such as this simply does not exist on the internet, and I do not possess the necessary books and/or magazines that contain this information. At the very least, I'd need those to properly cite them in a "sources" section.
 
cornfedhick said:
  Also, what does "sales before 1 & 1/2 years" mean?  Do you mean sales in the first 18 months after the title was first released?   
Click to expand...

more simple than this... it means that about November 2006 in that very article, sales were about (as I can remember)
as stated in the red column

Genghis Khan said:
I have found the RIAA sales to be misleading with the numbers always varying.  And what about the sales in other countries?  I'm unsure if RIAA counts those and as Cornfed indicated, I've seen some CDs with many returns in my local CD discount stores and used CD stores.
Click to expand...

RIAA is certainly not Soundscan (which is the most reliable source regarding records sales ever)
but even, I used to trust RIAA
...I was hoping cornfedhick would reply when I started the topic, as he is in music bussines but he doesn't seem to seem something more specific than I already knew

so for the moment, I keep what gor had e-mailed me back in 2005 :

gor said:
These figures can be very misleading though, because all the pre 1991 sales or sales that occur on some smaller stores (online or not) do not count. If you add up the golden and platinum albums they have earned (which, again, can be very misleading), you reach the following conclusions: The Catalogue's best sellers are Nob and SIT (both approx over 7.000.000). POM, Powerslave and SSoaSS are around the 5 million mark. IM, Killers and Fear of the Dark around 3 millions, While all the rest are between 1 and 2 millions (TXF, VXI, BNW, DOD). Live albums generally sell poorly, except maybe LAD. Add the singles, the sales must now be between 55 and 60 millions.

Also, it helps to know that the back catalogue collectively sells approx 1 million per year. Every 30 seconds, someone on the planet is buying a Maiden album ;)
Click to expand...


Perun said:
The US sales column not only lacks any sort of credible source, it is also completely unnecessary (Why a US column? Why not a UK, Germany and Brazil column?).
Click to expand...

why US column ? because US is the most important market in the planet
platinum in US means 1.000.000 sales while in Germany means 200.000, thus 5 times more albums sold

Perun said:
There are absolutely no references to anything except sales numbers for A Matter Of Life And Death. .
Click to expand...

not even  :( just verify and you'll see why
 
____no5 said:
why US column ? because US is the most important market in the planet
platinum in US means 1.000.000 sales while in Germany means 200.000, thus 5 times more albums sold
Click to expand...

Not necessarily, at least for metal.  Metal albums usually sell far better in Europe than in the US, though it might be that in terms of actual numbers (instead of just compared to population) US still beats Europe. 
 
yes, but what we generally know is the certifications, gold records platinum records...
from there we can estimate the sales after

and don't forget that we do have some heavy metal albums that sold even 10 million
System of a Down, Metallica, GnR, Def Leppard, Linkin Park...even Black Sabbath has sold enormously there

so the market is out there, but you need the magic touch to sell as a monster
 
But what do gold/platinum certifications count for in the end?  They're not strictly based on population, and how do you even count them nowadays when you can buy individual tracks from online stores.
 
and how do you even count them nowadays when you can buy individual tracks from online stores.
Click to expand...

good question, I don't know, maybe cornfedhick could

But what do gold/platinum certifications count for in the end?
Click to expand...

they don't count actual sales that's for sure, I think they count sailing orders...
in any case is a base for making approx. calculations

They're not strictly based on population
Click to expand...

I don't understand what you mean here
 
____no5 said:
I don't understand what you mean here
Click to expand...

As in, if you get sales equal to x% of the population of the country, you get a gold sale.  This is how I guess it should work, but the amount of sales needed proportional to population is not the same in every country.
 
no, because population is not the same

and that's why everyone would prefer to make a gold record in States (500.000) than in Finland (15.000 mark if I remember good)

that's why I said to Perun earlier that I do understand the existance of an US sales column


note : it's not only population that counts but also its purchasing power, so in India, dispite its & billion of population, is very possible that a gold record is made with 50.000 sales

the 3 top music markets globaly :

1. USA
2. Japan
3. UK
 
My point was some documented feed back about US sales -it's one subject that interesses me quite a while
and the occasion for the thread was the wiki article
 
Not that long ago I opened a topic about Maiden and Priest albums in the USA. Platinum and Gold, to compare their sales. Might that help?
 
Forostar said:
Not that long ago I opened a topic about Maiden and Priest albums in the USA. Platinum and Gold, to compare their sales. Might that help?
Click to expand...

*  :halo: thinks : we need a topic about the correct use of the search option*

where it is ? can you link it please  :innocent:
 
____no5 said:
and that's why everyone would prefer to make a gold record in States (500.000) than in Finland (15.000 mark if I remember good
Click to expand...
You still miss the point.  Finland is about 60 times smaller than the US, and the gold mark is 15,000.  60 times that would be 900,000.  So in fact, if Finland were the size of the US, an album would have to sell 900,000 records to be certified for gold.  So, directly in comparison to the population, that Gold is much more valuable in some countries than in others.

You are right, though, that purchasing power is also a determining factor.  However, those things change too.  Chinese and Indians are wealthier now than they were 15 years ago.  I don't know when the lines were drawn for album sale certifications, but I would guess quite a long time ago, so they are horribly outdated.  Not only would you have to adjust them for population and economic conditions etc.
 
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