[Derek]

I would have thought that Daydream Nation sold the most since it is considered their peak.

And it's also my favourite ever album

[evollove]

Originally Posted by Rob Instigator

I was watching Richard Pryor live in concert for the 30th or so time yesterday and I fucking cracked up again when he mentioned the cops siccing a doberman on a black dude in an alley and th dude was "low-runnin'!"

I fucking love that low-runnin' joke!

which one's that on?

[Rob Instigator]

Originally Posted by evollove

which one's that on?

RICHARD PRYOR LIVE IN CONCERT

[Rob Instigator]

as far as these numbers go, you gotta take into account that the older records (CIS, SISTER, etc) have been selling for going on two decades now. they probably sell ten thousand a year of their back catalogue.

not much but better than nothing. and it all is still in print on CD at least.

EJST&NS sold a lot because the frat kids and the top 40 dipshits latched onto BULL IN THE HEATHER. then they bought some more sonic and they got scared because the pussy bastards cannot handle the true sonic force.

[k-krack]

Originally Posted by Dan Evol

I heard their Corporate Ghost dvd outsold their albums. Is that true?

It could be possible, it was sold at walmart...

[fluxequalsrad]

Washing Machine / 159,000 More then I expected.

159,000 lucky people.

[pantophobia]

wanted to bump this cause i was reading an article about Nirvana sales, and it correlates to the indeterminate nature of calculating album sales

according to RIAA - Nevermind was certified diamond (10 million units) in 1999, some reports say the album is at 13 mil in the US as of now

according to soundscan it has sold: 8,287,000 (recent number like no later then 2 years ago)

and this point was brought up:

The dates for the RIAA are certification dates. Bands have to pay to certify each album gold, platinum, or multiplatinum. Actual shipment numbers are most likely higher than what you see here. For example, Nevermind hasn't been certified in over 7 years, even though it has most likely sold an additional million units during that time.

Both the RIAA and Soundscan have their problems. The RIAA counts all albums shipped from the factory to record stores, retail stores, music clubs, online stores, libraries, mom and pop stores, etc. The problem with the RIAA is that certifications often lag years behind what has actually been shipped. For example, Nevermind has definitely sold a million albums since 1999 if you look at yearly Soundscan figures and Unplugged and In Utero are close to 6 million if not already there.

Soundscan only counts what is actually sold at the cash register. The problem here is that in the past they did not include music clubs, which were big in the 1990’s. Nevermind alone sold 1,240,000 at BMG record club by 2002. They also do not include supermarket stores like Wal-Mart or Mom and Pop stores. Soundscan began in 1991 and it took a few years for their system to be implemented with a sense of accuracy. Today their analysis is more accurate, but in the early 90’s, when many Nirvana albums were released, it was not.

if you take the number from the front page for Dirty (most likely the best selling one) it says: Dirty / 329,000

i remember reading somewhere it was in the mid 400k levels, and some have though it has sold over 500k going Gold

but as everyone knows, the band doesn't really care about those kinds of things, and isn't willing to pay to have them certify it even if it has, so it's hard to determine if we'll ever know, maybe geffen would care to up the money if SY get into the Rock Hall of Fame just to make them look good, but who knows

info like that even brings up the question if Jet Set has even sold 500k, it debuted at 34, a 4 star RS review, and an A from Christgau, so it's hard to say

[Rob Instigator]

[quote=

but as everyone knows, the band doesn't really care about those kinds of things, and isn't willing to pay to have them certify it even if it has, so it's hard to determine if we'll ever know, maybe geffen would care to up the money if SY get into the Rock Hall of Fame just to make them look good, but who knows[/quote]

very true. geffen would do that to hype their back catalogue.

[pantophobia]

might as well bump this as well

anyone been able to find any new numbers, Moshe?

i remember reading some where that Rather Ripped sold 18,000 in it's first week and over 7,000 in it's second week

[Concrete Abutments]

IF those numbers are correct, I'm willing to guess that Daydream Nation would have sold more if it was more consistently available. It's the one EVERYBODY talks about. There was a period where it had to make the jump to Geffen and was in limbo for awhile along with Bad Moon..., Confusion... etc. Also, does the Daydream Nation sales figure of 162,000 include the original Enigma release or is that just the Geffen reissue sales figure?

[Rob Instigator]

SUP. I found some numbers, but I am not sure how current they all are. Quite low though, for a band with such a wide swatch of influence and history.


Title Artist Lbl Cf Rel Date Sales
------------------------------------------------------------------------
100% SONIC YOUTH GDGC S 06/30/92 16991
1991: THE YEAR PUNK BROKE SONIC YOUTH GDGC V 04/13/93 28046
ANAGRAMA SONIC YOUTH SYRS A 06/24/97 12972
BAD MOON RISING SONIC YOUTH GDGC A 04/25/95 21812
CONFUSION IS SEX SONIC YOUTH GDGC A 02/28/95 24326
CONFUSION IS SEX SONIC YOUTH SST A 12/14/87 5995
DAYDREAM NATION SONIC YOUTH ENI A 10/19/88 7462
DAYDREAM NATION SONIC YOUTH GDGC A 11/23/93 84228
DIRTY SONIC YOUTH PID A 03/31/98 34
DIRTY SONIC YOUTH GDGC A 07/21/92 273048
DISAPPEARER SONIC YOUTH GDGC S 12/28/90 3757
DIRTY BOOTS SONIC YOUTH GDGC S 02/26/91 13115
EVOL SONIC YOUTH SST A 12/14/87 2423
EVOL SONIC YOUTH GDGC A 09/27/94 30389
EXPERIMENTAL JET SET TRASH SONIC YOUTH GDGC A 05/03/94 226726
FAN CLUB PACK SONIC YOUTH TEC A 11/29/93 1280
GOO SONIC YOUTH PID A 03/31/98 43
GOO SONIC YOUTH ANAD A 04/09/96 274
GOO SONIC YOUTH ULT A 04/09/96 874
GOO SONIC YOUTH GDGC A 06/26/90 126036
GOO SONIC YOUTH GDGC V 07/25/91 8774
HOLD THAT TIGER SONIC YOUTH GOOF A 08/25/98 3698
I DREAMED OF NOISE SONIC YOUTH RUTA A 01/01/97 20
INVITO AL CIELO SONIC YOUTH SYRS A 03/10/98 9131
MADE IN THE USA-SOUNDTRACK SONIC YOUTH ATLG A 02/28/95 19985
MASTER DIK SONIC YOUTH SST A 12/14/87 142
MUSIC FROM MADE IN USA SONIC YOUTH ATLG A 02/14/95 27
SCREAMING FIELDS OF SONIC L SONIC YOUTH GDGC A 04/25/95 35941
SCREAMING FIELDS OF SONIC L SONIC YOUTH GDGC V 04/25/95 4920
SISTER SONIC YOUTH GDGC A 10/11/94 30449
SISTER SONIC YOUTH SST A 12/14/87 19905
SILVER SESSION SONIC YOUTH SNTH A 07/21/98 5599
SLAAPKAMERS MET... SONIC YOUTH SLR A 09/30/97 12159
SLAAPKAMMERTS MIT SLAGRAAM SONIC YOUTH MSI S 09/09/97 50
SONIC YOUTH SONIC YOUTH SST A 12/14/87 3975
SONIC DEATH SONIC YOUTH SST A 07/01/88 5442
SONIC YOUTH SONIC YOUTH IMGE V 09/06/95 229
STARPOWER SONIC YOUTH SST A 07/25/88 1001
SUNDAY SONIC YOUTH PID S 06/02/98 431
SUGAR KANE SONIC YOUTH GDGC S 03/02/93 4332
THOUSAND LEAVES SONIC YOUTH MSCR A 05/05/98 3801
THOUSAND LEAVES SONIC YOUTH GDGC A 05/12/98 54032
WASHING MACHINE SONIC YOUTH GDGC A 09/19/95 133479
TV SHIT SONIC YOUTH/YAMATSUKA EY ECP A 03/01/94 5140

[Rob Instigator]

Those numbers are from 1999.

I wonder how they have changed?

I do not think a single SY album has gone gold right? In USA that is 500,000 copies sold.

as of 1999

SY - 3975
CIS - 30301
BMR - 21812
EVOL - 32812
SISTER - 50354
DDN - 91690
GOO - 126036
Dirty - 273048
EJSTNS - 226726
1000 Leaves - 54032
Washing Machine - 133479

[Rob Instigator]

Little bit more recent

After Dirty in 1992 (sales of 300,000) they began to revert to indie level results: Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star in ‘94 (“a weird record” according to SY’s Kim Gordon) sold 250,000 and Washing Machine of the following year 160,000 but their albums since (A Thousand Leaves, NYC Ghosts and Flowers, Murray Street, Sonic Nurse, Rather Ripped) all pegged in between 60 - 70,000.

[evollove]

Are these worldwide sales? Seem way way way too low.

[Rob Instigator]

These are USA sales. I would not imagine that worldwide distribution was in-depth enough to add much more to the count. Maybe like another 15% added to all Geffen totals?

It always shocks me how little they have sold. I know I am personally responsible for 6 of the DDN sales figures! (2 cassettes, 2 CD's and 2 vinyls)

Compare to Nirvana worldwide figures as of 9/2013 (Bleach is Sub Pop's biggest seller. They funded the last 15 years of their existence on Bleach.)

Bleach - 5,000,000

Nevermind (#1 on charts)- 31,000,000

In Utero (#1 on charts) - 15,000,000

MTV Unplugged (#1 on charts) - 25,000,000 (GODDAMN! MTV made a mint off of that shit)

Hell, the Smells Like Teen Spirit single alone sold 2.25 MILLION.

If SY had ever reached that level they would have likely not survived as long as they did.

[Derek]

Originally Posted by Washing Machine

Those figures are terrible! Sonic Youth are one of those legendary, mythic bands, you would think Daydream Nation (the holy grail of indie albums) would have reached at a 5mil mark. SY seriously needs a new record company. I could understand the problems of selling a record like NYCG&F (which personally I love, but a fan record really), but an album like Sonic Nurse or Rather Ripped could easily have been as big as their early 90's sales peak....Incinerate, that sounds like a huge hit single, are Geffen just deaf?

Man, some of these old posts are hilarious. 5 million? Really? Not even number one rappers in the 90s sold that much. Wu-Tang Forever only went 4x platinum and that was a double album.

The numbers posted in this thread seem about right. They're an indie rock band with a cult fanbase, it's not that crazy that their albums didn't sell a million each. I guess users here forget that their immense enjoyment and collecting of the band's work isn't universal.

Slint's Spiderland only recently reached 50k copies sold and that's heralded as an all time "classic".

[Rob Instigator]

yep

[Jim72]

So Jet Set is their highest selling record by that much of a margin? I really wouldn't have expected that at all... doubting the accuracy of some of these figures, that some of them are from '99 or whatever makes sense

[Jim72]

Obviously SY never sold as well as Nirvana and never will, what a silly comparison