This sums up the music biz today: Beatles the no. 2 selling act of the '00s

[BYH]

Just behind Eminem, who wasn't born when The Beatles broke up. Wow. Not unbelievable, but...well, unbelievable.

http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/chart_watch/34074/chart-watch-extra-the-top-20-album-sellers-of-the-2000s

At least you can assume people buying The Beatles' albums were, like Eminem, not born yet when the band was at its peak and are of the generation that bought CDs. So the most damning indictment of the perishing industry is the fact that Metallica's biggest-selling album this decade is "The Black Album"...from 1991. Not a whole lot of 16-year-olds buying that one, in any format.

 

[PCLoadLetter]

Funny.

I have a big music collection -- literally thousands of CDs and records, and countless others downloaded on the computer -- and I've got albums from precisely 3 artists in that top 20. And one of them is the Beatles.

 

[KevinmH9]

Meh. That list doesn't really surprise me. Seeing Johnny Cash on there shocked me, though. I would assume his semi-recent death and the movie that came out several years ago probably have something to do with that.

 

[BYH]

I've got hundreds of albums in various formats, too, and have something from six of the artists on the top 20 (Beatles, Metallica, Dixie Chicks, Linkin Park, Creed and Nickleback). But the only band I've bought a CD from since 2002 is the Dixies. I now cringe at ever liking Linkin Park, Creed or Nickleback. Tebow, do they ever suck.

To me, the funniest part of that story was the dramatic fall of '90s stars Garth Brooks, Mariah Carey and Michael Bolton. If you told me The Beatles and Metallica were among the top 20 selling acts of this decade I would have guessed that Brooks and Carey would be there as well, if only for their catalogues. But Bolton going from more than 20 million in the '90s to 1.8 million in the '00s is no surprise. I bet he had most of those 20 million-plus records sold by the end of 1991.

 

[Strong Bad]

Meh. That list doesn't really surprise me. Seeing Johnny Cash on there shocked me, though. I would assume his semi-recent death and the movie that came out several years ago probably have something to do with that.

No ****?

 

[spnited]

The fact that Eminem is No. 1 sums up the lack of taste of the current generation of "music" buyers.
The fact that The Beatles are No. 2 means a lot of people of my generation have taught their children well.

 

[BYH]

I'm actually very surprised Bruce wasn't on there. He's had three E Street albums this decade, all of which topped the charts, plus "Devils and Dust" and "The Seeger Sessions" as well as a couple compilation albums. And he's been touring a ton, so you figure his catalog has sold well.

 

[DanOregon]

I only have albums from the Chicks and Cash. Kind of makes you wonder how "oldies" stations will be programmed in 10-15 years.

 

[BYH]

I only have albums from the Chicks and Cash. Kind of makes you wonder how "oldies" stations will be programmed in 10-15 years.

Like they are now?

 

[I Should Coco]

Another interesting name not on the list: John Mayer, for all his hype.

I guess there's only so many people out there who can stand listening to crap like "Your Body is a Wonderland."

Zzzzzz ....

 

[Steak Snabler]

The Beatles' presence on that list is almost totally because of "1," which sold 11 million copies. Surely that generated interest in the rest of their catalogue among "new" fans. And those who holds the Beatles' song rights have never been shy about releasing compilations and re-issues, even going back to the early 70s.

 

[Starman]

In addition to being the #5 group of the '90s, I would bet they were in the top 10 in the '80s, probably top 5 in the '70s, in addition to being runaway No. 1 in the '60s.

Forty and 45 years later, it's still astonishing to think what they did:

Summer 1962:



Summer 1969:



It was like going from a motor scooter to the Starship Enterprise.

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

Just behind Eminem, who wasn't born when The Beatles broke up. Wow. Not unbelievable, but...well, unbelievable.

http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/chart_watch/34074/chart-watch-extra-the-top-20-album-sellers-of-the-2000s

At No. 9 on that list, epic fail occurs.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

Just wait until the entire remastered Beatles collection comes out in September.

 

[MartinEnigmatica]

I would absolutely not have expected Nelly to be No. 7 there.

 

[Double Down]

There are a lot of bad artists here, but Nelly's presence on the list blows my mind more than any. More albums than Jay-Z?

Ye god.

 

[Double J]

The Beatles' presence on that list is almost totally because of "1," which sold 11 million copies. Surely that generated interest in the rest of their catalogue among "new" fans. And those who holds the Beatles' song rights have never been shy about releasing compilations and re-issues, even going back to the early 70s.

Well, the guy (term used loosely) who owns the publishing has needed the steady cash flow in order to pay for the still-ongoing transformations.

 

[Some Guy]

I've got hundreds of albums in various formats, too, and have something from six of the artists on the top 20 (Beatles, Metallica, Dixie Chicks, Linkin Park, Creed and Nickleback). But the only band I've bought a CD from since 2002 is the Dixies. I now cringe at ever liking Linkin Park, Creed or Nickleback. Tebow, do they ever suck.

To me, the funniest part of that story was the dramatic fall of '90s stars Garth Brooks, Mariah Carey and Michael Bolton. If you told me The Beatles and Metallica were among the top 20 selling acts of this decade I would have guessed that Brooks and Carey would be there as well, if only for their catalogues. But Bolton going from more than 20 million in the '90s to 1.8 million in the '00s is no surprise. I bet he had most of those 20 million-plus records sold by the end of 1991.

Garth hasn't produced new music since, what, 1997?

 

[MacDaddy]

Am I reading it right that it's counting actual album sales, i.e, CDs/tapes/eight-tracks/wax cylinders/etc.? If that's the case, doesn't it take away some of the meaning from these numbers? Digital sales are something like 20 percent of all music sales.

 

[Double J]

I've got hundreds of albums in various formats, too, and have something from six of the artists on the top 20 (Beatles, Metallica, Dixie Chicks, Linkin Park, Creed and Nickleback). But the only band I've bought a CD from since 2002 is the Dixies. I now cringe at ever liking Linkin Park, Creed or Nickleback. Tebow, do they ever suck.

To me, the funniest part of that story was the dramatic fall of '90s stars Garth Brooks, Mariah Carey and Michael Bolton. If you told me The Beatles and Metallica were among the top 20 selling acts of this decade I would have guessed that Brooks and Carey would be there as well, if only for their catalogues. But Bolton going from more than 20 million in the '90s to 1.8 million in the '00s is no surprise. I bet he had most of those 20 million-plus records sold by the end of 1991.

Garth hasn't produced new music since, what, 1997?

Scarecrow was his last album of new music, in 2001. He's released a few singles and some compilation albums since then, I think mostly through a deal with Wally World.