Phil Collins outsold Genesis!?! And other related surprises.

I had read before that he supposedly sold 150 million albums as did Genesis. Here
http://tsort.info/music/faq_album_sales.htm
however it shows a couple of his solo albums much higher up than any Genesis albums. And their biggest seller? We Can't Dance...

 

Out sold because he sold out!

 

That doesn't surprise me at all.

 

I'm surprised to see Phil's "Serious Hits Live" on that list, higher than Phil's greatest hits album and "Hello I Must be Going" as well as "Invisible Touch." I question their methodology, even though it seems to be backed up by chart certifications.

 

yeah I don't see how any of this is surprising, including the information that Genesis' worst album is their top seller

 

Numbers pre-Soundscan are probably guestimates, at best. But also this doesn't surprise me in the least...Genesis really only had two bon-fide smash 'pop' albums (ATTWT to self-titled had hits, and sold, but nothing compared to the stuff on this list), Phil had at least three in the 80's, and he reached more casual listeners than Genesis did. There were a lot of people who bought No Jacket Required who probably never bought a Genesis album.

But again, anything pre-1991 is a guesstimate.

 

He probably did. He was huge in the 80's. I loved his solo stuff, as well.

 

It was the only Phil compilation available from 1990 to 1998, the height of the CD/retail music boom. There's a reason it was titled Serious Hits Live, and distilled to a single disc trimmed of all deep cuts, and not given a clever name like a live album. Also, it came out around exactly around the heydey of people replacing their albums with the CD format, who by 1991 probably wanted some Phil, but didn't need 5 CD's worth of Phil. Marketing!

 

Yes, and You Might Recall that Genesis didn't make any $$$ for their label, until the MTV years...

 

I guess... I just didn't have any sense at the time that it was successful on a par with Phil's studio albums, although it wasn't like I was tracking it closely. I feel like there haven't been a lot of huge live albums in general since the 80s (since the 70s?) other than the Unplugged releases.

 

A lot of the albums on that list reflect a moment. They sold absolutely HUGE numbers for a small period of time. Phil Collins' entry on the list is one of those. The planets aligned when the album came out and there you go...

 

Not so. They were in debt until Trick Of The Tail. After that, they started making money for themselves and the label

 

I don't think Genesis sold anywhere near 150 million albums. Maybe 30 million tops? Genesis didn't even have a platinum album in the USA until 1980.

Collins beat that by a mile. He had far more solo hits.

 

Neither of those is even remotely a surprise. I also prefer Genesis' music, but I remember Phil as a solo artist having much more of a crossover.

 

Genesis has 22.5 million USA RIAA-certified album shipments, and 17 top 40 singles, almost all of them after Phil became a solo superstar.

All of their top 10 hits are from "Invisible Touch", which is basically a Collins solo album itself in terms of style and songwriting. Has nothing to do with the "progressive rock" 1970s Genesis, the peer of Yes and ELP.

Collins has 33.5 million in USA RIAA-certified album shipments, and 22 top 40 singles, including 7 number one singles.

Collins sold far more records than Genesis, and it shouldn't surprise anyone really.

 

According to that list, "We Can't Dance" has outsold "Abbey Road." That can't be right.

 

I'm not surprised either.

 

Not a surprise for me either. Until Calling All Stations, each Genesis album outsold its predecessor. That only We Can't Dance and Invisible Touch rate on that list shows how a few massive albums for Phil can trump a career's worth of decent selling records for Genesis.

 

That list is complete BS! No way in hell did Phil Collins outdo MJ in the 80's.

 

and Britney Spears sold 78,000,000 records.

 

It's not counting records sold, it's counting the number of hit singles and albums. Phil was way more prolific than Michael in the 80s (not to mention they put his numbers together with Genesis') so yeah, he would have more hit records.

 

No surprise.Genesis was a prog rock band that didn't get much airplay until they turned sort of rock and rolly.I had a local all request radio station that played all kinds of so called progressive bands,ie Crimson,Yes,Zappa,ELP et cetera and Genesis did not get any local traction.
I'm not knocking all you proggy Genesis's fans.They just didn't get airplay in my neck of the woods.

That said.Umm I done rambling.

 

I'd like to see a follow up study polling people if they still listen to Phil Collins.

 

Am not surprised one bit.