Even by the high standards of posthumous career boosts, Prince is breaking new ground when it comes to album sales in the wake of his death.
The Minneapolis’ rock icon set a new record by landing five titles simultaneously in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 album chart. It’s the first time an artist has accomplished that since the chart was created in 1963 — a feat that can be partly attributed to his music not being available on most digital streaming sites.
Prince made the chart at the Nos. 2, 3, 4, 6 and 7 positions with “The Very Best of Prince,” “Purple Rain,” “The Hits/The B-Sides,” “Ultimate” and “1999,” respectively.
He likely would have made the No. 1 spot two weeks in a row if not for his 2004 Grammy Awards duet partner Beyoncé, who issued her much-ballyhooed new album, “Lemonade,” last week.
All told, Prince sold what Billboard itself called “a staggering” 4.41 million albums from the day after his April 21 death to the chart cutoff day last Thursday.
By comparison, David Bowie racked up 308,000 in U.S. album sales in the four days after his Jan. 10 passing. Michael Jackson sold 422,000 in the week after his death on June 25, 2009.
Prince’s “Very Best Of” alone sold 391,000 copies, according to Nielsen Music figures — and he had 18 more albums make the Billboard 200 chart. These figures include both physical and digital (download) sales.
“If people in Minneapolis had any doubt just how big Prince was to the rest of the world, this should settle it,” said David Bakula, a senior vice president at Nielsen Entertainment, which tracks album sales.