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In Reply to: Rock's best selling debut album? posted by PdL on July 5, 2006 at 13:35:21:
Wikipedia is saying that Boston's album was surpassed by Whitney Houston's debut album, but then the Whitney Houston entry says best selling debut for a solo artist, so I'm not sure which is correct.I always thought Guns n Roses' Appetite for Destruction passed Boston's debut. A check of Wikipedia shows 25 million sold worldwide.
Anyone want to weigh in?
Follow Ups:
Not rock, which was the initial post. Was Appetite really Guns' debut? I can't remember if the record they had out prior to that was an EP, or what. If we wanted to bust nuts for the sake of silliness, if it's borderline, that might've disqualified them.All the sales figures are up on riaa.com for the top-selling albums of all-time. All-time excluding sales since the inception of Soundscan (1990?) that were not sold at major chains using the service. In other words, no independent record stores need qualify, for more than 15 years, which means that a lot of indie label stuff won't register at all, not that the numbers could compete with Soundscan top sellers, anyway. But, I'm sure there were a heck of a lot of recs sold during the grunge period some 13-14 years ago that don't figure in the RIAA tallies, as well as some recs (Offspring, anyone?) from the punk revival a dozen years ago that might've fared a little better, as well. At this point it's a lot less of an issue, considering how many mom'n'pops have bit the dust.
I'm not sure if Wiki's numbers come from RIAA.com, or Grammy.com, or whatever the hell it is, but if not, they may lack credibility, especially considering that Wiki allows for user editing.
But it was an indie label e.p. which was later reissued as one side of Lies.
Checked out that site -- pretty good one. The data showed 13M for Whitney Houston, which is in line with Wiki -- WH entry. The Boston entry says WH passed them.Appetite was GnR's debut (Lies, the EP, came out after), but RIAA.com says it sold 15M copies.
I'm not one of those people (some of whom are to be found on this board from time to time) who's stuck in a classic rock world where there's been nothing good for 30 years...but that site is a symbol of the 'decline in music' that I do agree exists, if only on the business side. The business seemed headed in the direction it eventually went in (no artist development, boneheaded business decisions that past execs would never have made, label acquisitions by enormous conglomerates who applied a very corporate stamp to their brands), but Soundscan sure hastened it. The rock resurgences in the early & mid-90s were spirited and, in my view, positive, but lining those numbers up the way they are there is a harsh prism to view pop music success through.If there's any validity to the attitude that points to thinking that there'll never be another Led Zep or another Pink Floyd, Beatles, whoever, it's fostered by what's represented on that site. We shouldn't pretend that at one time it was a commune instead of a business, or that there wasn't disposable pop figures sculpted & marketed for consumption by pre-teens...but the business could've provided a better future for itself than it has. The numbers are important for sure, but I do think it was better when their meaning was being evaluated by people passionate about music, rather than number-crunchers. There are exceptions to this, but the flurry of mergers & acquisitions over the past couple of decades point to this being a large factor.
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