Despite having multiple #1 hits on the pop, dance and Hot 100 Charts and selling 26 million albums in the U.S., many have questioned one thing about Janet when it comes to calculating her “worth” (not in any financial capacity, but in the industry) . What we haven’t been privy to finding out is Janet Jackson’s accumulative worldwide album sales. While there’s no question that she’s one of the leading female artist who has made history in the music world, it remains a mystery as to why there aren’t any reliable sources that measure accurately how many sales have been generated by Ms. Jackson. Still, Janet is embedded in our minds as a pop icon who has obtained great legendary status.
Due to a label change after her 10-year stint with A&M records, where we saw the release of 5 albums (“Janet Jackson”, “Dream Street”, “Control”, “Rhythm Nation” and “Design Of A Decade”, and a greatest hits package), it’s been noted that Janet has sold over 50 million albums with the former label (which excludes an additional 6 studio albums recorded by Janet). Many of her skeptical fans feel frustrated with what they believe are incomplete totals which are thrown around with higher figures that contradict one another. All claims have been estimated as Janet’s total sum, with reports ranging from 65-100 million. It is understood that sales of the aforementioned albums along with her 5th studio album “Janet” have been severely under certified. This is yet another cause of the discrepancies that exist due to not having this documented properly. Certainly an artist having the distinction to this date of having the biggest debut tour in the early ‘90’s (which has seen a record breaking total of over 2 million people that have viewed the tour in only 9 months), as well as landing on billboard’s artist of the decade list as the #2 artist (behind Mariah Carey) in the ‘90’s with only 4 albums aiding in that ranking for the decade. It is clear that Janet’s popularity was extremely massive in its peak. This is why most believe that the stats for Jackson need updating.
What is commonly cited for Janet sales are amounts that haven’t been increased since the ending of the era each album ended in (on the billboard charts), such as: “Control” not only selling the 5 million it started with – but having a minimum of at least 8 million, “Rhythm Nation” not only selling 6, but 9 million, also “Janet” not only selling 6, but 10 million (which are all U.S. estimates only) which are examples of the most drastic cases. What would be remarkable in this new millennium is to have a legend, such as Janet, be rewarded with the discloser of her grand total, which all her contemporaries (Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Celine Dion and Madonna) seem to have the luxury of being made accessible.
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