#soundscan

358,633 album-equivalent units earned in the U.S.

Activity ATD ALBUM SALES 272,488 ALBUMS W/TEA 305,300 ALBUMS W/TEA W/SEA ON-DEMAND AUDIO 338,401 ALBUMS W/TEA W/SEA ON-DEMAND 358,633

Source: Nielsen (5/17/2018)

The usage of the album-equivalent units revolutionized the charts from the "best-selling albums" ranking into the "most popular albums" ranking. Read more about it here.

Photo: The cover art for the album "Unbreakable." The cover art copyright is believed to belong to the label, Rhythm Nation Records and BMG Rights Management, or the graphic artist(s).

Janet Jackson's top-selling downloaded songs in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan, rank as follows:

“Feedback,” 909,957 “That's the Way Love Goes,” 442,273 “If,” 383,483 “All for You,” 377,335 “Scream,” 364,402 “Escapade,” 256,734 “Runaway,” 256,666 “Again,” 248,845 “Nasty,” 242,180 “Rhythm Nation,” 238,742

Source: Nielsen (May 17th, 2018)

An extended list is preserved in our database.

Photo: The cover art for the single "Feedback." The cover art copyright is believed to belong to the label, Island Records, or the graphic artist(s).

447,261 album-equivalent units earned in the U.S.

Activity ATD ALBUM SALES 104,430 ALBUMS W/TEA 342,536 ALBUMS W/TEA W/SEA ON-DEMAND AUDIO 415,803 ALBUMS W/TEA W/SEA ON-DEMAND 447,261 STREAMING ON-DEMAND 157,088,121

Source: Nielsen (May 17th, 2018)

—Eligible to be certified Gold® by the Recording Industry Association of America® (RIAA)

The usage of the album-equivalent units revolutionized the charts from the "best-selling albums" ranking into the "most popular albums" ranking. Read more about it here.

Photo: The cover art for the album "Icon: Number Ones." The cover art copyright is believed to belong to the label, UMe, A&M, or the graphic artist(s).

1,100,395 album-equivalent units earned in the U.S.

Activity ATD ALBUM SALES 1,054,043 ALBUMS W/TEA 1,090,217 ALBUMS W/TEA W/SEA ON-DEMAND AUDIO 1,097,190 ALBUMS W/TEA W/SEA ON-DEMAND 1,100,395 STREAMING ON-DEMAND 15,266,885

Source: Nielsen (May 17th, 2018)

—Certified Platinum® by the Recording Industry Association of America® (RIAA)

The usage of the album-equivalent units revolutionized the charts from the "best-selling albums" ranking into the "most popular albums" ranking. Read more about it here.

Photo: The cover art for the album “Damita Jo.” The cover art copyright is believed to belong to the label, Virgin Records, or the graphic artist(s), Glen Nakasako and Jeri Heiden.

People still buy albums. Taylor Swift fans, mostly. But still. 100 million physical and digital albums sold is not nothing. And Swift is responsible for 3% of those: 1,818,000 copies of Midnights (945,000 of those on vinyl!) and at least another 1.1 million more across her catalog. Vinyl outsold CDs again, but its growth curve is leveling off, perhaps due to maxing out the existing pressing…

Data: 2021 Total Music Sales and Streams

The big news from the 2021 year-end report (if you’re a dork like me) is that vinyl finally surpassed compact discs as the most-sold physical format for the first time in the Soundscan era (i.e., since 1991). Still though, people bought over forty million CDs — nuts! Also, total album sales (physical + digital) actually went up a little bit for the first time since a little blurp in 2011. Other…