Michael's Singles & Albums Sales in the USA
On this page you will find information we have collected on the sales of Michael's singles and albums in the USA, from the Motown years, from the SoundScan era (which started in November 1991), and from America's largest - but by no means only - record/music club, BMG.
There are lots of gaps - please contact us if you can help with any of the missing figures.
Many thanks to Hanboo & JR King for posting SoundScan sales figures on ukmix & Classic Divas, respectively.
Singles
Singles will be added to this list, and sales up-dated, as and when we find the information.
Key: SScan = sales according to SoundScan; Date = date the sales figure relates to.
| SScan | Date | Title |
| 1,056,000 | Jan 06 | You Are Not Alone |
| 758,000 | Dec 05 | Black Or White |
| 719,000 | Jan 06 | Scream |
| 576,000 | Dec 05 | Remember The Time |
| 493,000 | Dec 05 | Will You Be There |
| 327,000 | Jan 06 | They Don't Care About Us |
| 304,000 | Jan 06 | Heal The World |
| 271,680 | Jun 04 | In The Closet |
| 245,680 | Jun 04 | Jam |
| 189,190 | Jun 04 | Blood On The Dance Floor |
| 179,460 | Jun 04 | Who Is It |
Here are some SoundScan figures for digital downloads:
| SScan | Date | Title |
| 2,343,000 | Jun 10 | Thriller |
| 1,882,000 | Jun 10 | Billie Jean |
| 1,575,000 | Jun 10 | Beat It |
| 1,281,000 | Jun 10 | Man In The Mirror |
| 1,259,000 | Jun 10 | Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough |
| 1,094,000 | Jun 10 | The Way You Make Me Feel |
| 1,015,000 | Jun 10 | Smooth Criminal |
| 1,002,000 | Jun 10 | P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing) |
| 616,870 | Nov 09 | Black Or White |
| 588,720 | Nov 09 | Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' |
| 521,410 | Jul 09 | Rock With You |
| 403,400 | Nov 09 | Human Nature |
| 346,310 | Jul 09 | Bad |
| 308,240 | Jul 09 | Dirty Diana |
| 295,900 | Jul 09 | You Are Not Alone |
| 265,680 | Jul 09 | Will You Be There |
| 259,960 | Jul 09 | Remember The Time |
| 219,100 | Jul 09 | Off The Wall |
| 211,230 | Jul 09 | We Are The World |
| 187,630 | Sep 09 | Scream |
| 175,900 | Nov 08 | Somebody's Watching Me |
| 170,730 | Jul 09 | You Rock My World |
| 161,280 | Nov 09 | They Don't Care About Us |
| 129,340 | Jul 09 | Ben |
| 121,400 | Jul 09 | The Girl Is Mine |
| 116,440 | Jul 09 | Rockin' Robin |
| 115,780 | Jul 09 | Heal The World |
| 98,470 | Jul 09 | She's Out Of My Life |
| 97,960 | Jul 09 | Got To Be There |
| 88,330 | Jul 09 | Working Day And Night |
| 86,370 | Jul 09 | I Just Can't Stop Loving You |
| 84,470 | Jul 09 | Say Say Say |
| 79,350 | Jul 09 | Leave Me Alone |
| 77,770 | Feb 08 | Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' 2008 |
| 77,070 | Jul 09 | Butterflies |
| 73,080 | Jul 09 | In The Closet |
| 69,400 | Jul 09 | The Lady In My Life |
| 55,140 | Jul 09 | Another Part Of Me |
| 52,800 | Jul 09 | Earth Song |
| 49,050 | Jul 09 | We Are The World (Demo) |
| 46,540 | Jul 09 | Smile |
| 42,340 | Jul 09 | Gone Too Soon |
| 40,890 | Jul 09 | Give In To Me |
| 39,570 | Jul 09 | Who Is It |
| 35,390 | Jul 09 | Jam |
Albums
Motown wasn't a member of the RIAA in the early-to-mid 1970s, so Michael's early solo albums have never been independently certified. The figures quoted here are the official Motown sales, dating from 1995, for the USA. Motown albums are listed before Michael's later releases.
Note: RIAA awards relate to shipments - not actual sales (and each disc of a double album is counted separately - hence History's certification of 7 x Platinum means a shipment of 3.5 million, not 7 million).
Key: SScan = sales in SoundScan era, Date = date of SoundScan figure, BMG = BMG Music Club sales between 1990-2003, < = less than.
| SScan/Date | BMG | Title (RIAA Award) |
| 10,000/Dec 05 | ? | Got To Be There |
| 7,000/Dec 05 | ? | Ben |
| <1,000/Dec 05 | ? | Music & Me |
| <1,000/Dec 05 | ? | Forever, Michael |
| 146,000/Dec 05 | ? | The Best Of |
| 3,000/Dec 05 | ? | One Day In Your Life |
| <1,000/Dec 05 | ? | Farewell My Summer Love |
| <1,000/Dec 05 | ? | Looking Back To Yesterday |
| 1,000/Dec05 | ? | The Original Soul Of |
| 50,000/Dec 05 | ? | Anthology |
| 48,000/Dec 05 | The Best Of - The Millennium Collection | |
| 24,000/Dec 05 | Love Songs | |
| 1,996,860/Dec 09 | ? | Off The Wall (8 x Platinum) |
| 4,810,000/Jun 10 | 923,000 | Thriller (29 x Platinum) (including Thriller 25) |
| 1,579,051/Jun 10 | 879,000 | Bad (8 x Platinum) |
| 6,300,000/Dec 09 | 298,000 | Dangerous (7 x Platinum) |
| 2,584,000/Dec 09 | 730,000 | History (7 x Platinum) |
| 352,000/Dec 09 | Blood On The Dance Floor (Platinum) | |
| 2,221,020/Dec 09 | Invincible (2 x Platinum) | |
| 1,171,782/Jun 10 | Greatest Hits History Vol.1 (Gold) | |
| 4,264,880/Jun 10 | Number Ones (3 x Platinum) | |
| 187,170/Oct 09 | The Ultimate Collection (box-set) | |
| 1,651,290/Jun 10 | The Essential (2 x Platinum) | |
| 105,800/Jun10 | The Definitive Collection | |
| 1,566,470/Jun 10 | This Is It (2 x Platinum) | |
The totals for Off The Wall to Dangerous include the special editions released in October 2001. The individual totals, up to April 2007, for the special editions are as follows:
1,073,624 - Thriller (December 2007)
309,425 - Off The Wall
218,140 - Bad
132,995 - Dangerous
Music Videos & DVDs
Key: SScan = sales according to SoundScan, Date = date the sales figure relates to.
| SScan | Date | Title (RIAA Award) |
| 137,150 | Jun 06 | Moonwalker (8 x Platinum) |
| 156,000 | Dec 05 | Dangerous - The Short Films (3 x Platinum) |
| 520,330 | Jun 10 | Video Greatest Hits - History (9 x Platinum) |
| 398,160 | Jun 10 | History On Film Volume II (6 x Platinum) |
| 1,296,030 | Jun 10 | Number Ones (13 x Platinum) |
| 23,000 | Jan 06 | The One (Gold) |
| 704,540 | Jun 10 | Live In Bucharest: The Dangerous Tour (6 x Platinum) |
Making Michael Jackson's Thriller has never been certified in the States, but is said to have sold around 900,000 copies. Moonwalker's 8 x Platinum relates to a shipment of 800,000.