Beatles sales

As expected, our memory was not good on the figures in the previous post.  Here's what Music Week actually said about recent sales:

The Beatles are the sixth biggest ALBUM sellers in the UK since 2000:

1 Robbie Williams (14.1 million)
2 Westlife (11.7 million)
3 Coldplay (11.0 million)
4 Take That (10.7 million)
5 Eminem (8.8 million)
6 Beatles (8.2 million)
7 Michael Jackson (8.1 million)
8 Michael Buble (7.9 million)
9 Oasis (7.5 million)
= Madonna (7.5 million)

Their biggest selling albums since 2000 are:

1 #1 (3 million)
2 Love (835,000)
3 Sgt Pepper (560,000)
4 1962-1966 (400,000)
= 1967-1970 (400,000)
6 Abbey Road (400,000)
7 Revolver (300,000)
8 Beatles (White Album) (300,000)
9 Rubber Soul (300,000)
10 Let it Be... Naked (300,000)

As far as downloads go, 39 Beatles tracks have sold more than 10,000 copies each, with Hey Jude (80,000), Let It Be (80,000) and Here Comes The Sun (70,000) the biggest individual sellers.

Of the "musical legends", the biggest selling album acts since 2000 are:

1 Beatles (8.2 million)
2 Rod Stewart (7.3 million)
3 Elvis Presley (7.2 million)
4 U2 (7.0 million)
5 Queen (5.9 million)
6 Pink Floyd (4.4 million)
7 ABBA (4.3 million)
8 Elton John (4.0 million)
9 Rolling Stones (3.7 million)
10 AC/DC (3.1 million)

Apparently Michael Jackson has sold 8.1 million albums, but isn't a legend yet!  Elvis 30 No.1's is Elvis's biggest seller (1.7 million), Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon has outsold all the Beatles studio albums this century, and the Stones' Exile On Main Street has sold 250,000 copies.

In the States, the Beatles (28.2 million albums, including 12 million for #1) come second to Eminem (32.2 million), and since 1991 are second only to Garth Brooks (63.3 million compared to 68.6 million albums sold by Brooks).  Pink Floyd sold 37.2 million albums in the States since 1991.

EMI, Universal and The Beatles

Music Week has a big article about the EMI takeover this week.  It seems that the Beatles back catalogue is something that EMI are keen to keep, because the Beatles are the eighth most successful act in Britain since 2000, having sold something like 8 million albums.  Most of this is down to the 1 collection (just about to go over the 3 million mark), but Sgt Pepper has sold over half a million, and Abbey Road, Revolver, Rubber Soul and the reworked Let It Be have all sold over a quarter of a million, as has the Cirque de Soleil mix Gold.  The number of downloads is also apparently phenomenal, but spread widely over all the Beatles tracks, with Hey Jude and Let It Be (80,000 downloads) being the top tracks with Here Comes The Sun (60,000) close behind.  Over a million Beatles downloads have been sold in the UK.  Behind the Beatles as the second “legacy” act is Queen – also on EMI, and the biggest selling legacy LP is Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon, also on EMI.  Worldwide, the Beatles have been the top selling act since 2000.  So why are EMI is financial trouble?