Biggest Album(s) selling SOLO Artist in UK History is... (Not a Question)

Apparently, his worldwide total verifiable sales are 48.7 million, with the U.K. being his single largest market. Germany, France, and Australia would be his next biggest markets, and not much after that. QUeen has a very similar situation, massive U.K. baseplus Germany , but falls off, but with a massive US sales base that bangs them to the next level, something Robbie never had.

List of best-selling music artists - Wikipedia »

 

But - had the US mined the Bridget Jones angle, and the "guest stars" on the album...Americans eat that crap up! Plus, as it didn't get a US issue (I checked), reissuing it after "Under The Sea" was in Finding Nemo, it would have received a second wind. Don't forget the whole "Ultra-Lounge" fad at that time which was spearheaded by Capitol.

I'm not saying it would have made him the star he was in (arguably) every other country, but there was a way to break him here. I'm also unsure how much freedom the US had to do that.

 

Oh, I think you're selling us short!

Still, when I look at some of the British artists who have broken big in the US I wonder why they strain at a gnat and swallow a camel.

 

I doubt he's crying too much about US success when he looks at his bank balance; artistic integrity never appeared to be at the top of his shopping list and there's only so much money you can spend.

 

...and he has Jimmy Page as a very involved neighbor

 

It was Escapology that was so overpressed that became road material.

Also, Swing When You're Winning was never released in the states but its DVD was. I don't think it would have helped. The closest thing to starpower in the states on it was the Sinatra duet. Americans weren't clamoring to hear Bubble from AB-Fab or Jon Lovitz warble thru the classics.

 

Yeah, I had a vague recollection that he either lived near Page, or had bought one of his houses.

 

Good for him. He's like the Beiber or Nickleback of Canada......

 

You kinda gave it away there.

 

Could have been Mark Owen

 

I bet Adele will surpass him eventually, and doesn't she have the 4th best selling album of all time in the UK? Behind Queen Abba and Fabs making her have the biggest selling album by a solo artist? But obviously Robbie has her beat at prolific

 

yeah...it would've never broke here unless he was already big.
still...that Albert Hall DVD is one of my favorite, it's a shame not many got to see it (here).
that whole album is surprisingly well done....can't say the same about its sequel though ~

 

I'm not a fan of the 'swing' sound. Though he did it OK. I liked the duet with Nicole Kidman.

His first three albums were all great. 'Escapology' from 2002 has some excellent tracks too, but is a bit too long for its own good. I like short albums.

 

for me...his 3rd album 'Sing When You Were Winning' is his best. nearly flawless Pop album that should've been a monster anywhere.
2 or 3 inevitable fillers (one about texas if i recall) but if you replace that with Eternity (single only) & Toxic (b-side) then it would've been a rare 5-star pop album.
cracks were already showing by the time of 'Escapology' between Robbie & Chambers, both thought they could do better without each other...they thought wrong ~

i'm not a fan of his 1st album, too Oasis-lite for me...
btw, what really happened between Liam & Robbie ?? i know Noel called him 'fat dancer' but not sure in what context, somebody fill me in.

 

Robbie Williams versus Oasis: the feud that never ends »

 

I'm from the US and I've never heard of this guy.

 

I have never managed to get into his music. It's something about it that rubs me the wrong way.

 

There's something about Robbie that rubs a lot of people the wrong way.

 

Robbie's nothing to me really, but I'm glad that he covered "She's The One" by my friend Karl Wallinger (a.k.a. World Party); the income from that has, in large part, kept Karl going through a long challenging period in his life (recovery from a brain aneurysm).

The World Party version is still better, though.

 

I think we're missing the main point here: Jimmy Page appears to live in a castle.

 

If he was to have had a US hit, it would had to have been "Angels". How a song like that doesn't become a hit in the US is... not incomprehensible, but almost. That's not a comment on its quality, but the style of song (it's anthemic ballad characteristics), the lyrics, even the title. It was a minor radio hit in 1999 (No. 25 on the Radio & Records CHR chart), but really, his label should have been able to push that to the Top 10, easy. It wasn't even like UK acts couldn't hit in the US then; the Spice Girls had been massive in 1997, and even Take That had scored a Top 10 hit in 1995 ("Back For Good"). So it seems like an egregious failure by his label not to break "Angels" in the US (although I don't know the circumstances, but it looks that way). After that, his material (and his persona) was just too British to really have a chance in the US. Like, look at the US charts in 2001, 2002. "Rock DJ", "Kids", "Strong"... there weren't songs like that on the Hot 100. The "Rock DJ" clip was alienating too. But if "Angels" had come out in the American Idol era, I think it would have had more chance of being a smash. So I don't know, the timing or just luck was out for Williams in the US. In NZ and Australia, I knew a lot of people who were mad about him. That lovable, cheeky English scamp persona was a winner in the colonies.

 

That's the premise of the thread and not surprising, yet it is somehow amazing. For example, it's staggering to think that someone wouldn't have heard "Angels" so frequently that every bar of it isn't seared on their brain. Take a look at this video (five & a half million views on YouTube) and get a sense of the sheer adulation that Robbie received in his prime:

 

He's the musical equivalent of a chick flick.
Women love him. Men can ignore him.

 

I saw a bit of a live show on the TV and he's definitely one of those performers who can 'fill' a stage and not look lost.

 

Take That were huge and he cleverly took advantage of that fan base as they became women. He has very little genuine talent IMO, can't sing that well and is not very musical, but I guess a triumph of marketing over talent. It happens, Oasis are another example. They are like the lads version of Robbie - dumb music for the masses who don't know better and just want to sing along to some stadium anthem like Angels or Wonderwall.

Robbie did have a likeable cheeky boy personality which helped.

To be honest I would, if forced, prefer to listen to Robbie than Oasis.