Sales of Prince’s Music Have Gone Nuclear
Since Prince’s death was announced on Thursday morning, sales of his music have exploded. BuzzAngle, a company that keeps tabs on music sales, reports the following:
- Total number of Prince albums sold in the US from April 15-20, 2016: 4,263
- Total number of Prince albums sold on April 21: 231,834
- Total number of Prince song sales in the US from April 15-20, 2016: 18,821
- Total number of Prince song sales in the US on April 21: 1,055,911
Breakdowns on individual albums are available here.
BuzzAngle predicts that The Very Best of Prince will be the #1 album of the week with projected sales of over 121,000 units. He may have as many as four albums in the Top 10–and that’s just in the US.
Meanwhile, Vintage Vinyl News reports the following:
According to Hits Daily Double, who does a scientific sample of retailers to project sales and chart position for the week, The Very Best of Prince sold 95,824 estimated copies (what they call “sales index”) while, with streaming added, the number jumps to 171,923. That will give him the fifth number 1 album of his tragically shortened career:
- Purple Rain (1984)
- Around the World in a Day (1985)
- Batman (1989)
- 3121 (2006)
- The Very Best of Prince (released 2001, reaching number 1 in 2016)
Number 2 for the week on both charts is the singer’s first number 1, Purple Rain, with projected sales of 55,315 and Sales + Streaming of 65,417.
Further down the charts are four more Prince albums.
- The Hits/The B-Sides (Sales: 21,698 / #7 // Sales + Streaming: 32,418 / #10)
- 1999 (Sales: 12,231 / #14 // Sales + Streaming: 17,881 / #20)
- Ultimate Prince (Sales: 7,613 / #23 // Sales + Streaming: 10,523 / #43)
- Sign O’ the Times (Sales: 5,719 / #37 // Sales + Streaming: Did not make top 50)
Finally, if we go to Amazon.com, we see that 19 of the top 20 selling albums belong to Prince.
- The Very Best of Prince – Prince
- Music From the Motion Picture “Purple Rain” – Prince
- Music From the Motion Picture “Purple Rain” – Prince (Vinyl)
- 1999 – Prince
- HITNRUN Phase Two – Prince
- The Hits/The B-Sides – Prince
- Ultimate Prince – Prince
- Prince – Prince
- Around the World in a Day – Prince
- HITNRUN Phase One – Prince
- The Hits 1 – Prince
- Controversy – Prince
- Sign O the Times – Prince
- The Hits 2 – Prince
- Dirty Mind – Prince
- Art Official Age – Prince
- Parade: Music From the Motion Picture “Under the Cherry Moon” – Prince
- Prince – Prince (Vinyl)
- 1999 – Prince (Vinyl)
- Hamilton (Original Broadway Cast Recording) – Various Artists