I think a lot of people have very little knowledge on the sales figures of some of their favorite acts. while sales figures do not matter too much to sonic youth fans, it just goes to show how many people took the time to actually purchase an album. of coruse this does not say how many listened to the album more than once. Of course these figures are a bit outdated. getting up to date figures is a bitch.
This is from
http://sfj.abstractdynamics.org/
NIRVANA:
Bleach / 1.6 million
Nevermind / 8.2 million
In Utero / 3.9 million
Incesticide / 1.2 million
Unplugged / 4.5 million
Nirvana / 1.6 million
HOLE:
Pretty on the Inside / 204,000
Live Through This / 1.6 million
Celebrity Skin / 1.4 million
PAVEMENT:
Westing (By Musket and Sextant)/ 63,000
Slanted and Enchanted / 144,000
Watery, Domestic EP / 33,000
Crooked Rain Crooked Rain / 237,000
Wowee Zowee / 118,000
Brighten the Corners / 142,000
Terror Twilight / 96,000
SLINT:
Tweez / 24,000
Spiderland / 50,000
Slint (EP) / 19,000
PJ HARVEY:
4/Track Demos / 119,000
Rid of Me / 204,000
To Bring You My Love / 369,000
Is this Desire? / 163,000
Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea / 282,000
Uh Huh Her / 131,000
THE BREEDERS:
Last Splash / 987,000
SONIC YOUTH:
Sonic Youth / 4,100
Bad Moon Rising / 33,000
Confusion Is Sex / 41,100
Starpower / 1,000
Evol / 48,400
Sister / 72,000
Sonic Death / 5,500
Made In The USA soundtrack / 21,000
Daydream Nation / 162,000
Goo / 169,000
Dirty / 329,000
Experimental Jet Set Trash & No Star / 246,000
Washing Machine / 159,000
A Thousand Leaves / 66,000
Nyc Ghosts & Flowers 46,000
Murray Street / 63,000
Sonic Nurse / 65,000
Notice how, in spite of every single hipster indie rocker out there sucking at the Slint teat, (including myself) less than a hundred thousand of us have actually purchased what is considered by many a truly seminal piece of post rock/whatever you want to call it.
Note also, how the single greatest album of the last twenty five years (in my opinion), Daydream nation, has yet to break the two hundred thousand mark. I know I have personally bought it 5 times, be it cassette, CD, or vinyl. I personally account for 1/8000th of daydream nation sales.