base talk Why are singles and album weighed equally when talking about 'units sold'?

[MingYouToo]

I find it so disingenuous when people say artist A who releases #999999 singles has sold more units that artist B who releases 1 or 2 singles per album but clears like 5 million album sales per cycle.

 

Like, an artist selling a trend chasing smash hit is able to be put on par or beyond with artists who push albums as a whole? Why are singles weighed the same way as albums when we're talking certified units pushed or sales?

[Kimi]

we use units now not that fraudulent methodology 

[Yawn]

because that’s what units or records sold means 

 

if ppl want to talk more specifically about albums - and this happens all the time - then they specify albums sold 

[Into The Void]

Because it's the streaming age and people don't really sell anymore its mostly consumed by streams

 

Full albums digitally or physically sold are a thing left in the 2010s

Edited December 9, 2022 by Insanity

[Virgos Groove]

Because it leads to a bigger number of "records sold", which is great promo on talkshows, articles, etc. (See: Kylie saying she sold 80 million records).

[byzantium]

Normally I find they do it because it makes their fav look better.  But you get really strange results.  

[vale9001]

1 hour ago, MingYouToo said:

I find it so disingenuous when people say artist A who releases #999999 singles has sold more units that artist B who releases 1 or 2 singles per album but clears like 5 million album sales per cycle.

 

Like, an artist selling a trend chasing smash hit is able to be put on par or beyond with artists who push albums as a whole? Why are singles weighed the same way as albums when we're talking certified units pushed or sales?

Before the digital era singles where often some kind of EPs with new songs or remixes. Artists like Elvis basically released more singles than albums (then a greatest hits sometimes with the most selling singles). In the decades after that albums were the biggest thing. The most selling Madonna physical single in the 80's maybe sold around 2M copies WW.

Also these singles records were really expensive.  This is why industry used to count also the singles sales. 

 

Now in the streaming era people can stream the whole thing so i don't think artists with more singles released benefit that much from that.

 

The  artists which really have benefited from that are the ones peaking in the itunes era (2008-2014) with songs there for 0.60-0.99 cents.

They can really have like 70M singles sold for all the singles from an album with 4M sold.

Edited December 9, 2022 by vale9001

[Miss Americana]

Ask the rihanna stans.

[vale9001]

"Like, an artist selling a trend chasing smash hit is able to be put on par or beyond with artists who push albums as a whole? "

 

Don't forget time is a gentleman. If you sell albums means people are more interested. This is why the ones selling millions with trend chasing smash hits during itunes era, with slow album sales, now are being replaced with new artists doing this, while the biggest album sellers in that era are still here. 

 

 

Edited December 9, 2022 by vale9001

[ProudLBS]

18 minutes ago, Miss Americana said:

Ask the rihanna stans.

[Rev8]

Mostly the uneducated stans equalize them

albums=/=singles (the "records argument") has been known since 2015 at least

I dont take anyone serious who is willing to argue using the records logic

 

however there is a different perspective these days, because of the musical sales climate I guess

but still, that just shows how pointless comparison is..since it all comes down to when an artist debuted and had their peak (and how they continued their career)

[Bey_Rihstan]

I do agree that it’s crazy that someone having hits (or just one big hit) on an album = a decently selling album. Like why are the two linked automatically? That was never the case before and it doesn’t mean your entire album is being consumed. Someone could have a smash pre 2015 & it wouldn’t mean the album is going Platinum hdjcjcoc

 

idk it’s always been ridiculous to me but not important enough for me to be mad about 

[Bey_Rihstan]

Like I love Rih but her having several multiplatinum albums just amuses me because that was NOT the case. Same with Katy and the like 

[RihFenty20]

Why are streams double counted and used to certify both song and album units? 
 

It’s just the way of the industry. And how things are done. Records have been defined consistently and singles have been sold and weighted the same as albums since the inception of music tracking. You want to argue schematics based on value then every metric should be separate. Digital and physical single sales aren’t equal. Vinyls are more expensive than tradition albums. Traditional albums can vary in price range (are you going to say GaGa sold a million singles when talking about Born This Way selling 1M albums first week?). Streaming single units are worth half the value of a digital single unit. Streaming album units are worth less than half of a traditional album unit. You need to take this up with the industry. 

Edited December 9, 2022 by RihFenty20

[supaspaz]

Because stans of singles artists want their faves to feel more relevant.

[UseYourIllusion2002]

1 hour ago, Bey_Rihstan said:

Like I love Rih but her having several multiplatinum albums just amuses me because that was NOT the case. Same with Katy and the like 

Yeah exactly, and a lot of her albums were released in the 00s where smash albums were still going roughly 4x platinum+ off pure sales alone, when hers would barely scrape platinum at the time. Now, her albums are suddenly multi platinum. The RIAA should’ve not allowed digital sales from like 2007-2012 to count for new certifications, because single sales were at an all time high and album sales were still extremely healthy. Now those albums have a massive advantage. 

[Digitalism]

4 hours ago, Yawn said:

because that’s what units or records sold means 

 

if ppl want to talk more specifically about albums - and this happens all the time - then they specify albums sold 

Came here to write this

If somebody want go and change definitions they should do it. Just know that no one agrees with that delusion 

[Selenasworld]

Well chartsmasters is the opposite they think songs sold are equal to sell albums even if it's a standalone song

[GreatestLoveofAll]

well thats what chartmasters does- weigh them differently and i agree. Which makes sense cause people with actually widespread success and longevity (like Taylor) are worthy to sit with legends like Madonna and Mariah success-wise while rhe rest who just arent there yet will forever not be.

[ProudLBS]

1 hour ago, GreatestLoveofAll said:

well thats what chartmasters does- weigh them differently and i agree. Which makes sense cause people with actually widespread success and longevity (like Taylor) are worthy to sit with legends like Madonna and Mariah success-wise while rhe rest who just arent there yet will forever not be.

Chartmasters’ formula benefits singles artists at the expense of album artists…

 

an album that sells 1M copies:

 

RIAA: 1M album units

 

Chartmasters: 1M album units

 

 

a single that sells 1M downloads:

 

RIAA: 100,000 album units

 

Chartmasters: 150,000 album units

 

a 50% difference 

[GreatestLoveofAll]

8 hours ago, ProudLBS said:

Chartmasters’ formula benefits singles artists at the expense of album artists…

 

an album that sells 1M copies:

 

RIAA: 1M album units

 

Chartmasters: 1M album units

 

 

a single that sells 1M downloads:

 

RIAA: 100,000 album units

 

Chartmasters: 150,000 album units

 

a 50% difference 

but isnt their a difference between digital and physical single sale ratios in their formula? i cant imagine single artists would benefit more or else Beyonce and Rihanna would be top 20 on overall sales/consumption now.