Chart Watch Extra: 20 Years, 20 Records
Posted Thu May 19, 2011 1:08pm PDT by Paul Grein in Chart Watch
This week marks 20 years since Billboard began using Nielsen SoundScan's point-of-sale data in its pop and country album charts. I love the precision and transparency that this has brought to the charts. Each week, we know exactly how many (or how few) copies each album has sold. Before Nielsen SoundScan came along, all we had to go on was the number of weeks an album stayed at #1 or in the top 10. That's great, but all weeks aren't created equal, as *NSYNC would the first to tell you. In its first week at #1 in March 2000, the boy band's No Strings Attached sold more than 60 times as many copies as Amos Lee's Mission Bell sold in its only week at #1 in January 2011. (Thanks to Nielsen SoundScan, I can give you the exact counts: A mind-boggling 2,416,000 copies for *NSYNC and a paltry 40,000 for Lee.)
Detractors argue that the emergence of Nielsen SoundScan has put an obsessive focus on first-week sales numbers (much as in the movie industry). Albums that are a little slow to build are quickly branded failures. There's some truth to this, but I think that's the price of an open process. Anyone who wants to can have access to the same information as the chart director of Billboard or the president of the biggest record company. Information is a great equalizer..
Here's another reason I love Nielsen SoundScan. It reflects reality. It stands to reason that albums by superstar artists at the peak of their careers are going to have their biggest sales weeks right off the bat. But for decades, albums by even the biggest artists had to build to #1. Prior to 1975, no albums debuted in the top spot. Between 1975 and 1990, six albums accomplished the feat. (See below.) Once Nielsen SoundScan came in, debuts at #1 became commonplace. Seven albums bowed at #1 in the last seven months of 1991 alone. Among them: Garth Brooks' Ropin' The Wind and Michael Jackson's Dangerous..
To commemorate the 20th anniversary, I have posted Chart Watch Extras listing the top-selling albums and songs of each of the last 20 years. (If you missed them, follow the links.) But I've saved the best for last. I went through Nielsen SoundScan's running list of the 200 best-selling albums of the past 20 years and selected these 20 albums that hold key records. The sales tally after the album title is the total number of albums sold, as of this week..
1. Metallica, Metallica, 15,664,000. This 1991 release is the best-selling album of the last 20 years. It's also the best-selling rock album and the best-selling album by a group. The album spawned the top 20 hit "Enter Sandman.".
2. Shania Twain, Come On Over, 15,504,000. This 1997 release is the best-selling album of the last 20 years by a female artist; by a country artist; and by an artist who was born outside the U.S. (Twain was born in Windsor, Ontario, Canada.) The album spawned three top 10 hits: "You're Still The One," "From This Moment On" and "That Don't Impress Me Much.".
3. Alanis Morissette, Jagged Little Pill, 14,686,000. This 1995 release is the best-selling U.S. debut album of the last 20 years. (Morissette had previously released a pair of albums in her native Canada.) The album spawned three top 10 hits: "Ironic," "You Learn" and (on the Hot 100 Airplay chart) "Head Over Feet." It won a Grammy as Album of the Year..
4. Backstreet Boys, Millennium, 12,119,000. This 1999 release is the best-selling pop album of the last 20 years. The album spawned the top 10 hits "I Want It That Way" and "Show Me The Meaning Of Being Lonely.".
5. Whitney Houston & Various Artists, The Bodyguard, 11,825,000. This 1992 release is the best-selling movie soundtrack of the last 20 years. Houston co-starred in the movie with Kevin Costner. The album spawned three top five hits: "I Will Always Love You," "I Have Nothing" and a remake of Chaka Khan's "I'm Every Woman." It won a Grammy as Album of the Year..
6. The Beatles, 1, 11,740,000. This 2000 release is the best-selling greatest hits compilation of the last 20 years. The 27 tracks on the album all reached #1 in the U.S. and/or the U.K..
13. Bob Marley & the Wailers, Legend, 10,508,000. This 1984 compilation is the best-selling reggae album of the last 20 years. One of the tracks, "Exodus," bubbled under the Hot 100 in 1977..
14. Eminem, The Marshall Mathers LP, 10,429,000. This 2000 release is the best-selling album by a male solo artist in the last 20 years. It's also the best-selling rap album. The album spawned the top 10 hit "The Real Slim Shady.".
16. Soundtrack, Titanic soundtrack, 10,141,000. This 1997 release is the best-selling (mostly) instrumental album of the last 20 years. James Horner composed the score, which is augmented by one vocal track-Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On (Love Theme From ‘Titanic')," which became a #1 single..
19. Usher, Confessions, 9,902,000. This 2004 release is the best-selling R&B album of the last 20 years. (This counts The Bodyguard as a pop album.) Confessions contained five top 10 hits, including four that made #1: "Yeah!" (featuring Lil Jon & Ludacris), "Burn," "Confessions Part II" and "My Boo" (a collabo with Alicia Keys)..
31. Eagles, Hell Freezes Over, 8,724,000. This 1994 release is the best-selling (mostly) live album of the last 20 years. Most of the album was recorded live at the Warner Studios in Burbank, Calif. "Love Will Keep Us Alive" made the top 30 on the Hot 100 Airplay chart..
32. Dixie Chicks, Wide Open Spaces, 8,713,000. This 1998 release is the best-selling album by all-female group of the last 20 years. The album spawned the top 40 hits "There's Your Trouble" and "You Were Mine.".
59. Kenny G, Miracles-The Holiday Album, 7,229,000. This 1994 release is the best-selling Christmas album of the last 20 years. An instrumental version of the holiday perennial "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" became an adult contemporary hit..
62. Lauryn Hill, The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill, 7,045,000. This 1998 release is the best-selling solo debut album of the last 20 years. Hill had previously been a member of Fugees. The album spawned the #1 hit "Doo Wop (That Thing)." It won a Grammy as Album of the Year..
79. Taylor Swift, Fearless, 6,303,000. This 2008 release is the newest album on Nielsen SoundScan's running list of the best-selling albums of the last 20 years. The album spawned five top 10 hits, including two that reached the top five: "Love Story" and "You Belong With Me." It won a Grammy as Album of the Year..
93. Garth Brooks, Double Live, 6,016,000. This 1998 release is the best-selling double-disk album of the last 20 years. The album spawned the Hot 100 hit "It's Your Song.".
109. OutKast, Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, 5,693,000. This is the best-selling album by a duo of the last 20 years. OutKast consists of Andre 3000 and Big Boi. The album spawned three top 10 hits, including the back-to-back chart-toppers "Hey Ya!" and "The Way You Move" (featuring Sleepy Brown). It won a Grammy as Album of the Year..
157. London Cast, Phantom Of The Opera, 4,959,000. This 1987 release is the best-selling original cast album of the last 20 years. Michael Crawford, Sarah Brightman and Steve Barton starred in the show, which opened in London's West End on Oct. 9, 1986. The show introduced such memorable songs as "All I Ask Of You" and "Music Of The Night.".
162. TV Cast, High School Musical, 4,862,000. This 2006 release is the best-selling TV soundtrack of the last 20 years. The movie premiered on the Disney Channel on Jan. 20, 2006. "Breaking Free," by Zac Efron & Vanessa Hudgens, became a top five hit..
184. The Beatles, Abbey Road, 4,706,000. This 1969 release is the oldest album on Nielsen SoundScan's running list of the best-selling albums of the last 20 years. The album spawned the double-sided #1 smash "Come Together"/"Something.".
Bonus Record-Holder: Adam Sandler, What The Hell Happened To Me?, 2,124,000. This 1996 album didn't make Nielsen SoundScan's top 200 list, but it's the best-selling comedy album of the last 20 years. The album was released midway through Sandler's star-making run on Saturday Night Live. The album featured his holiday perennial, "The Chanukah Song," which was first released in 1995..
Bonus Fact: Here are the six albums that debuted at #1 prior to the arrival of Nielsen SoundScan in 1991. Elton John's Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy and Rock Of The Westies (both 1975), Stevie Wonder's Songs In The Key Of Life (1976), Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band's Live 1975-85 (1986), Whitney Houston's Whitney (1987) and Michael Jackson's Bad (1987).
Representing Canada and even more importantly, Windsor-Essex County 
She was only in the past few years overtaken by Metallica, she'll regain the title once she gets back on the map.
