New BPI certifications!

[Jondalar]

Originally Posted by James89

Well, it's an educated guess. I know that at the end of 1989, TOSOTM sold upwards of 190,000 copies. That's from a credible year-end source that I can no longer find but noted it down years ago. It debuted at #3 with really strong sales and is easily her best charting and possibly highest selling album here in the UK. Therefore I think around 220,000 is a fairly accurate assumption.

As for RAL, it was a very slow seller and only ever reached as high as #30 and spent a while at the lower end of the top 100. It was certified Gold here in the UK in February 1987 which shows how it took around 15 months to sell 100,000 copies. Therefore it is probable that it has sold around 120,000 possibly more but not a lot more as it was a very slow seller.

People outside the UK must not forget that TOSOTM was a considerable hit here in the UK and I remember seeing a publication from 1989 that showed that it was the best-selling album on CD format for a week. Her other albums sold very steadily but this album sold many copies in just one week. I think it sold around 100,000 copies in week one.

I hope that answers your question!

Yay! One of her crappiest albums sells the most copies. It's only because Tango In The Night was a phenomenon in Britain.

[James89]

Originally Posted by Jondalar

Yay! One of her crappiest albums sells the most copies. It's only because Tango In The Night was a phenomenon in Britain.

Yes, you're mostly right. TITN was a huge album here and that helped a lot but I have to say, it was largely because of Rooms on Fire as she went on 'Top of the Pops' and that show pretty much guaranteed you a UK top 40 hit. Also, I think it happens to be a fantastic song and single choice.

I've said this before but if Stevie had gone on TOTP back in 1981, 1983 and 1985 and had sung SDMHA, Stand Back or Talk to Me for the supporting albums, she would've sold many albums. That's just the way it worked back in the 80's.