Their "problem" was that they were never a singles band really until around 2008 in part because the singles market was so poor 2001-2008, and though they sold phenomenal amounts albums wise it coincided with the biggest market years for album sales (2000-2008) so they suffered
Top 200 Biggest Acts Of The Last 35 Years
- Thread starter gezza76
- Start date
Yeah Coldplay feel very low on the list but that makes sense.
We haven't had much 80s action on the list so far. I imagine there will be some acts with lower sales but higher market shares. I wonder if Five Star are gonna be in there with Kylie and Bros?
Olly Murs's master plan is to make everyone in the world think this. And it's working!
136 (106) LILY ALLEN (2,039,000) 2009 1.6241
Another “My space” graduate Allen launched her second album “It’s Not Me, It’s You” with the four week chart topper “The Fear” which became her biggest selling single and was followed into the top 5 by “Not Fair”. The album itself became her first No 1 debuting at the top after selling 112k almost double the opening of “Alright Still” evidencing her increased popularity chart wise.
[video=youtube;q-wGMlSuX_c]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-wGMlSuX_c[/video]
Another “My space” graduate Allen launched her second album “It’s Not Me, It’s You” with the four week chart topper “The Fear” which became her biggest selling single and was followed into the top 5 by “Not Fair”. The album itself became her first No 1 debuting at the top after selling 112k almost double the opening of “Alright Still” evidencing her increased popularity chart wise.
[video=youtube;q-wGMlSuX_c]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-wGMlSuX_c[/video]
135. (91) THE VERVE (2,190,000) 1997 1.6286
The Verve’s history is pretty much one of a group that can’t work together with an internal argument rate probably matched only by Oasis! After splitting in 1995 after one of their best singles “History”, they reformed in 1997 to catch the tail end of Britpop with the last truly successful album of the movement “Urban Hymns” which opened with 250k sales in week one and 1.3 million for the year becoming the 9th biggest album of the decade. Three top 10 singles plus the chart topping “Drugs Don’t Work” helped make 1997 a magical year from them.
[video=youtube;GCeHLdilnls]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCeHLdilnls[/video]
The Verve’s history is pretty much one of a group that can’t work together with an internal argument rate probably matched only by Oasis! After splitting in 1995 after one of their best singles “History”, they reformed in 1997 to catch the tail end of Britpop with the last truly successful album of the movement “Urban Hymns” which opened with 250k sales in week one and 1.3 million for the year becoming the 9th biggest album of the decade. Three top 10 singles plus the chart topping “Drugs Don’t Work” helped make 1997 a magical year from them.
[video=youtube;GCeHLdilnls]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCeHLdilnls[/video]
134 (98) MIKA (2,098,000) 2007 1.6413
Winner of the BBC “Sound Of” for 2007 Mika soon showed he was worthy of the accolade with the No 1 single “Grace Kelly” and four other top 10 hits throughout the year in addition to the million selling album “Life In Cartoon Motion”. He was famously turned down by Simon Cowell before he hit the big time and more recently became a judge on X Factor.....in Italy.
[video=youtube;RVmG_d3HKBA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVmG_d3HKBA[/video]
Winner of the BBC “Sound Of” for 2007 Mika soon showed he was worthy of the accolade with the No 1 single “Grace Kelly” and four other top 10 hits throughout the year in addition to the million selling album “Life In Cartoon Motion”. He was famously turned down by Simon Cowell before he hit the big time and more recently became a judge on X Factor.....in Italy.
[video=youtube;RVmG_d3HKBA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVmG_d3HKBA[/video]
I agree. As boy bands go they were pretty great.
Olly Murs is about as bad as it can possibly get without actually being Will.i.am.
Oi! What about, say, LMFAO?
Anyway, The Verve. Glad to see 'em here - "Lucky Man" is my favourite Britpop(-ish) song ever, even if I do kind of miss the psychedelic/shoegaze sound of A Storm in Heaven.
133 (118) JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE (1,915,000) 2003 1.6719
BEST SELLING YEAR: 2013
The 700,000+ selling “Mirrors” became his biggest selling single which when added to three albums released in 2013 make that his best selling year but there is little doubt that Timberlake was one of the biggest stars of 2003. A blistering BRIT performance saw his debut album “Justified” soar to No 1 and house four top 15 singles by year end as it amassed 1.4 million sales making that difficult transition from boyband member to a genuine worldwide solo star.
[video=youtube;CKQOppiXq8M]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKQOppiXq8M[/video]
BEST SELLING YEAR: 2013
The 700,000+ selling “Mirrors” became his biggest selling single which when added to three albums released in 2013 make that his best selling year but there is little doubt that Timberlake was one of the biggest stars of 2003. A blistering BRIT performance saw his debut album “Justified” soar to No 1 and house four top 15 singles by year end as it amassed 1.4 million sales making that difficult transition from boyband member to a genuine worldwide solo star.
[video=youtube;CKQOppiXq8M]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKQOppiXq8M[/video]
132 (86) ALICIA KEYS (2,219,000) 2010 1.6757
A consistent, if unspectacular, career is probably an apt description for Keys’ UK chart record since her first hit “Fallin” back in 2001, but in 2010 she got a big boost thanks to providing the vocals on Jay Z’s “Empire State Of Mind” which was chance really as Mary J Blige was in the running for that gig initially. Keys recorded her own sequel to the song which became a top 10 hit in 2010 along with the fantastic “Try Sleeping With a broken heart”.
[video=youtube;srMBZiqNMaM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srMBZiqNMaM[/video]
A consistent, if unspectacular, career is probably an apt description for Keys’ UK chart record since her first hit “Fallin” back in 2001, but in 2010 she got a big boost thanks to providing the vocals on Jay Z’s “Empire State Of Mind” which was chance really as Mary J Blige was in the running for that gig initially. Keys recorded her own sequel to the song which became a top 10 hit in 2010 along with the fantastic “Try Sleeping With a broken heart”.
[video=youtube;srMBZiqNMaM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srMBZiqNMaM[/video]
131 (48) AMY WINEHOUSE (2,693,000) 2007 BIGGEST ACT 1.6901
2007 was undoubtedly the year we all went a little crazy for Winehouse, it was also pretty much the last year when she didn’t feature in the papers for all the wrong reasons. “Back To Black” was the biggest album of the year outstripping Leona Lewis by just 36,000 copies and moving almost half a million singles (no easy feat in the sales climate of 2007). It all came to a tragic end however in 2011 when Winehouse died without ever recording a follow up album.
[video=youtube;b-I2s5zRbHg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-I2s5zRbHg[/video]
2007 was undoubtedly the year we all went a little crazy for Winehouse, it was also pretty much the last year when she didn’t feature in the papers for all the wrong reasons. “Back To Black” was the biggest album of the year outstripping Leona Lewis by just 36,000 copies and moving almost half a million singles (no easy feat in the sales climate of 2007). It all came to a tragic end however in 2011 when Winehouse died without ever recording a follow up album.
[video=youtube;b-I2s5zRbHg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-I2s5zRbHg[/video]
It always amuses me that Alicia Keys first mis-step in the USA charts (where she'd pretty much dominated since 2004) was her biggest era in Europe... back when a performance on The X-Factor really could generate interest from casual music fans...
130 (153) ELVIS PRESLEY (1,710,000) 2002 1.6930
Proving there will always be a market for his music, Elvis continues to sell long after his death, and in 2002 he got a major boost from a remix by JXL of his 1968 track “A Little Less Conversation” which was used in a Nike advert that summer to advertise their world cup sponsorship. It provided him with a 18th number one single breaking a 25 year tie with the Beatles for the act with the most UK No 1 singles, album “Elv1s- 30 #1 Hits” also became his 11th No 1 on that chart.
[video=youtube;Zx1_6F-nCaw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zx1_6F-nCaw[/video]
Proving there will always be a market for his music, Elvis continues to sell long after his death, and in 2002 he got a major boost from a remix by JXL of his 1968 track “A Little Less Conversation” which was used in a Nike advert that summer to advertise their world cup sponsorship. It provided him with a 18th number one single breaking a 25 year tie with the Beatles for the act with the most UK No 1 singles, album “Elv1s- 30 #1 Hits” also became his 11th No 1 on that chart.
[video=youtube;Zx1_6F-nCaw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zx1_6F-nCaw[/video]
129 (52) DAVID GUETTA (2,654,000) 2012 1.6981
Though he was outsold by Flo Rida singles wise in 2012 Guetta gets his revenge here thanks to his much better album sales with “Nothing But The Beat”. He was the provider of occasional hits in the Noughties but made it big after his album “One Love” started to produce major international hits, and he couldn’t be stopped scoring 9 top 10 hits between 09 and 2011. Then came 2012 in which he got his first million seller in “Titanium” in addition to four other top 10 smashes thanks in part to a couple of re-issues of the NBTB album.
ALSO BIG IN: 2011
[video=youtube;PVzljDmoPVs]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVzljDmoPVs[/video]
Though he was outsold by Flo Rida singles wise in 2012 Guetta gets his revenge here thanks to his much better album sales with “Nothing But The Beat”. He was the provider of occasional hits in the Noughties but made it big after his album “One Love” started to produce major international hits, and he couldn’t be stopped scoring 9 top 10 hits between 09 and 2011. Then came 2012 in which he got his first million seller in “Titanium” in addition to four other top 10 smashes thanks in part to a couple of re-issues of the NBTB album.
ALSO BIG IN: 2011
[video=youtube;PVzljDmoPVs]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVzljDmoPVs[/video]
128 (183) BOBBY BROWN (1,580,000) 1989 1.7195
Former lead vocalist with New Edition, who scored a UK No 1 with “Candy Girl” in 1983, Brown was effectively fired from the band for misbehaviour, he got his revenge by going solo and in 1989 outsold everything he’d done with the group. Landing the theme to “Ghostbusters II” assisted no doubt but then so do 5 top 40 hits, he also became the year's dance sensation bridging the gap between Michael Jackson and MC Hammer.
[video=youtube;P0FKzPfsxA4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0FKzPfsxA4[/video]
Former lead vocalist with New Edition, who scored a UK No 1 with “Candy Girl” in 1983, Brown was effectively fired from the band for misbehaviour, he got his revenge by going solo and in 1989 outsold everything he’d done with the group. Landing the theme to “Ghostbusters II” assisted no doubt but then so do 5 top 40 hits, he also became the year's dance sensation bridging the gap between Michael Jackson and MC Hammer.
[video=youtube;P0FKzPfsxA4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0FKzPfsxA4[/video]