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To bolster this point, the bestselling album of all time is still Michael Jackson's Thriller, released in 1982. So it has been literally over 40 years and nothi
by eestrada 4y ago
To bolster this point, the bestselling album of all time is still Michael Jackson's Thriller, released in 1982. So it has been literally over 40 years and nothing else has topped that for mainstream popularity, musically speaking. It has sold over 70 million copies. The next nearest album is AC/DC's Back in Black, released in 1980, at 50 million copies, a 20 million copy difference. A present day musician would be over the moon to sell 20 million copies. If I'm reading the charts right, the only musician to break 30 million sales for an album since 2010 has been Adele.
So, while mainstream creations may be homogenizing, independent creators are finding a larger audience than ever before. I see that as a good thing.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_albums https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_albums
- PaulDavisThe1st 4y agoEven better, not only has nothing "topped" Thriller for mainstream popularity, it was also never really "copied" in any meaningful sense. The same is true of many of the most popular works of ... popular ... art. Yes, Thriller had quite an influence on pop-dance music when it came out, but who can name a single song about which the first thing anyone says is "oh, that's just like <X> from Thriller"
- stiglitz 4y agoAlbum sales have become an increasingly obsolete metric for popularity during the last 20 or so of those 40 years.
- eestrada 4y agoThat is a good point. It would be interesting to see these same numbers as a ratio against worldwide album sales over time. That would give a better sense of popularity relative to their time.