charts discussion Highest ranking solo female album on the Billboard 200 Year-End charts (1980-present)

[DevilsRollTheDice]

1 minute ago, QuanticXplosion said:

So basically she did not. Thanks for clarifying this

 

I'm not sure what the total units are for any of those albums, but this list is just best selling for the specific Billboard calendar year. If you're interested in the most successful albums from a specific year overall you'd need a different list.

[QuanticXplosion]

5 minutes ago, DevilsRollTheDice said:

I'm not sure what the total units are for any of those albums, but this list is just best selling for the specific Billboard calendar year. If you're interested in the most successful albums from a specific year overall you'd need a different list.

Yeah absolutely this is very misleading because I was alive at the time and no, it was not bigger than any of the eras I mentioned. 

[Arrows]

The only Taylor albums not here are Evermore, Lover, Speak Now and debut. Flops!

[UseYourIllusion2002]

1 hour ago, byzantium said:

Gosh, 2017 was a wasteland.  
 

Also Madonna fans like to talk up how insurmountably big Madonna was but the facts don't seem to support that thesis here.  

Year end charts are bullshit, especially the ones from the 80s. Post 1991 they'd used album units due to Soundscan. But before, they'd go just based on chart run. So albums with a more slow burn would benefit more. Obviously Madonna albums sold like hot cakes so although they did have huge chart runs, they didn't have the advantage of having a slow burn and accumulating more points. True Blue only had a few months of tracking, hence the split year. Anita Baker's Rapture charted higher on the 1987 year end chart due to this but it's only at 5x platinum. True Blue has literally sold 3 million more than it. It's literally the biggest selling female album of the 80s. So, who cares about a Billboard year end chart when the SALES show Madonna was "insurmountably big". To this day, Madonna ranks #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 All Time Artists, behind only the Beatles.

[nostalgic]

3 hours ago, KatyPrismSpirit said:

2006 - Carrie Underwood - Some Hearts (#1)

Legendary, iconic debut 

[Orsay]

2 hours ago, Zaram said:

Teenage Dream and The Fame Monster missing and now they are both staples on the BB200 charts 

Tea, it's ironic cause the real fad of 2010 was Susan Boyle

[allforyou]

2017 truly was a tragic year for music 

 

Great list. I don't know how some people still question Janet's huge success 

[tiagol88]

7 hours ago, byzantium said:

Gosh, 2017 was a wasteland.  
 

Also Madonna fans like to talk up how insurmountably big Madonna was but the facts don't seem to support that thesis here.  

Madonna literally has 2 diamond albums and another one close enough. If she had her certifications up to date she would be above 70M with only Barbra Streisand ahead of her and maybe Mariah. How is she not big? And how does this charts prove anything? Only that there were other women charting more than she did at one time or another but they are nowhere near close to Madonnas numbers overall. Also Madonna had a lot of albums released close to the Holidays meaning her numbers are split between two years for many albums.

 

lets not even mention the fact Madonna has sold more outside of the usa than every single woman mentioned in the OP so even if shes 2nd or 3rd in the USA who cares 

Edited June 24 by tiagol88

[Vixen Eyes]

Pat Benatar, the legend that you are

[VioletsandRoses]

7 hours ago, QuanticXplosion said:

Not implying Missundaztood flopped but it did not chart better, sold better or was more consumed than the efforts from Avril, Britney, Shakira and Christina in the US and certainly not worldwide. 

Missundazstood outsold all of those expect Let Go in the US. Britney's self titled, Laundry Service and stripped sold less than 5 million while the last update for Miss is at 6.5 million. Let Go is at 7.1 million. It also did better than Self Titled and Stripped WW. And sold on par with the Shakira album. Only Let Go was bigger and split between 2 years. 

[Holiest Dreams]

7 hours ago, UseYourIllusion2002 said:

But before, they'd go just based on chart run. So albums with a more slow burn would benefit more.

Oh wow this is something I never knew? You learn something new every day. 
 

Anyway, yeah, Madonna's year-end chart placements don't properly reflect how massive her music was then. 

Edited June 24 by Holiest Dreams

[UseYourIllusion2002]

2 hours ago, Holiest Dreams said:

Oh wow this is something I never knew? You learn something new every day. 
 

Anyway, yeah, Madonna's year-end chart placements don't properly reflect how massive her music was then. 

Yeah it was such a silly way of doing the year end charts! I get why the all time charts are made that way due to the fluctuation of album sales and different tracking methods. You can probably find a better example online, but before 1991 Billboard would call record stores and they'd submit a list of their top 50 best selling albums. Then depending on the market share of the record store, Billboard would give those lists weights, accumulate all the weighted points, and that's how their charts were made. They should've used these weighted points to make their year end charts instead of just chart runs. For example, a Taylor Swift album at #1 is obviously going to push more units than an Ariana Grande album at #1. But if today's year end charts were made the same way they were made in the 80s, they'd both count for the same amount of points since it was based on the position and not the units/points.

 

Below is the 1987 Billboard 200 Year End Chart and the USA sales of each album:

1) Bon Jovi - Slippery When Wet - 12m

2.) Paul Simon - Graceland - 5m 

3.) Beastie Boys - License to ill - 10m

4.) Bruce Hornsby - The Way It Is - 3m 

5.) Janet Jackson - Control - 5m 

6.) U2 - The Joshua Tree - 10m

7.) Huey Luis - Fore! - 3m 

8.) Cinderella - Night Songs - 3m 

9.) Anita Baker - Rapture - 5m

10.) Genesis - Invisible Touch - 6m

11.) Madonna - True Blue - 8m (maybe more by now due to La Isla Bonita being a streaming hit)

 

So as you can see, Madonna outsold all but three of the albums above her on the Year End Chart. There are multiple albums that only went 3x Platinum that are above her, True Blue sold that amount in just four months! So yeah, the Billboard 200 Year End Charts for the 80s are stupid. 

[stevyy]

Daydream only being surpassed by Alanis is also good. The #2 album of 1996.

[sasashite]

 

8 hours ago, QuanticXplosion said:

Not implying Missundaztood flopped but it did not chart better, sold better or was more consumed than the efforts from Avril, Britney, Shakira and Christina in the US and certainly not worldwide. 

 

8 hours ago, QuanticXplosion said:

So basically she did not. Thanks for clarifying this

 

With the exception of Avril Lavigne, it did.

P!nk's M!ssundaztood indeed outperform the others.

 

First, it's important to clarify that the Billboard 200 Year-End chart represents sales from a specific period, November 2001 to November 2002 in this case.

Christina's Stripped was released in October 2002, so it barely made the cut.

Avril Lavigne's Let Go was released in June 2002, meaning only five months of its sales were counted.

The other albums had a full year of sales, yet M!ssundaztood still sold better than any of those albums.

 

In fact, here are the US sales figures for each of those albums:

• Avril Lavigne, Let Go: 6.9 million as of 2015 Billboard
• P!nk, M!ssundaztood: 5.3 million as of 2006 Billboard
• Britney Spears, Britney: 4.4 million as of 2015 Billboard
• Christina Aguilera, Stripped: 4.423 million as of 2014 Billboard
• Shakira, Laundry Service: 3.526 million as of 2014 Billboard

Therefore, M!ssundaztood outperformed Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, and Shakira's albums in terms of US sales, with only Avril Lavigne's Let Go selling more.

[dangerousbutera]

18 hours ago, KatyPrismSpirit said:

2012 - Adele - 21 (#1)

2011 - Adele - 21 (#1)

This was wild