SECTION D
August 4-10, 2010
The Best-Selling Albums Of All Time
Reflections By Steve Holsey
Should be a major star
Superstardom is just not in the cards for
some entertainers, although based on their skills and achievements, it should be.
One example is actor Giancarlo Esposito, whose face is familiar to perhaps most people, though not necessarily his name. He has a long history of films and television appearances to his credit, but he never broke all the way through like Samuel L. Jackson, Laurence Fishburne, Morgan Freeman and Denzel Washington.
Giancarlo Esposito
Esposito is one of the best. I first saw him in
“School Daze” in 1988. I did a lengthy inter-
view with him years later when he was in a play at the Fisher Theater. He is absolutely noth- ing like Julian, his hard, sexist “School Daze” character. On the contrary, he is warm, friendly —and very talkative.
Also, the actor, who was born in Copenhagen,
Denmark, has one of the most unusual names in show business or anyplace else: Giancarlo Giusseppe Ales- sandra Esposito.
IN RECENT
years many celeb- rities have been vocalizing their support for gay people and for an end of that, and by extension, all forms of discrimi- nation.
“I have never
judged anyone based on his or her sexual orien- tation,” said Van- essa Williams. “I have a lot of gay and lesbian fans and I love them no differently than my straight fans.”
Vanessa Williams Jennifer Holiday personalized it even more:
“If it were not for the gay and lesbian commu- nity, I would not have half the career I’ve had.”
Among others who have spoken out are Mary J. Blige, Eve, Russell Simmons, Mo’Nique, Tyson Beckford, Jason Lewis (“Sex and the City”), Patti LaBelle, Brandy, Jennifer Lopez, Kanye West, Janet Jack- son and Tyra Banks, as well as Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and the late Coretta Scott King.
I hate with a passion Russell Simmons
all forms of prejudice, whether based on race, size, sexual orientation, looks, social standing,
religious beliefs or anything else. It is, among other things, stupid, pointless and counterpro- ductive — and it says more about the prejudiced person than it does about their targets.
People are people, and we all need love, ac-
ceptance, friendship, understanding, kindness, support, warm smiles, forgiveness, etc.
The self-appointed judges need to do some
serious thinking and readjusting.
oddest
ONE OF THE things
being reported is that Haiti-born re- cording star Wyclef Jean may be con- sidering running for president of that troubled Ca- ribbean country. However, Jean is not a stranger to government.
In
2007 he was ap- pointed ambassa- dor-at-large for the Republic of Haiti by President René Préval.
Wyclef Jean Oprah Winfrey’s new television channel,
OWN, is producing five two-hour documenta- ries that are scheduled to begin airing in early 2011. Many huge stars have signed on, includ- ing Academy Award winners Forest Whita- ker and Julia Roberts.
Whenever Afro-Sheen Questlove
and Afro picks happen to be mentioned, imme- diately the mind goes back to the 1970s when Afros were the style. But Questlove, leader of the Roots, that is now the house band on
Jimmy Fallon’s late-night TV show, says with a See Reflections Page D-2
By Steve Holsey The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is the trade
organization that, among other things, tracks the sales of record- ings. Those that reach certain sales marks are certified accordingly — Gold (500,000 copies sold), Plati- num (1 million), Mul t i -Plat inum (1 million plus), Diamond (10 mil- lion). A select few albums have gone way beyond Dia- mond.
The RIAA docu-
ments sales in the United States only. Other coun- tries have similar organizations.
But, of course, Michael Jackson
the RIAA’s work is much more complicated today since that advent of downloaded music (legal and otherwise), which has resulted in a drastic drop in the sales of CDs. Then too, younger people usually download individual songs rather than whole albums.
This, in turn, sig-
naled the end of the road for retail music retailers, not only the small stores but also giants like Tower Records, Sam Goody and Harmony House. For the most part, the ones that survive are those that appeal to specialty markets.
Another cause of the vir-
tual demise of record stores was giant discount depart- ment stores such as Wal-Mart, Meijer, Kmart and Target. They sold CDs (primarily cur- rent titles) at lower prices than record stores could com- pete with.
The mega discount stores
typically made little or no profit on the CDs, or purpose- ly took a loss. The low prices were offered to lure people into the stores, with the (usu- ally accurate) assumption that while there, they would make other purchases.
We said all that to say
this: There are far fewer cer- tifications today, and that has been the case now for several years.
SO EVEN if an album is cer- Lionel Richie
10) “The Lion King”..... Soundtrack
11) “Songs in the Key of Life”.....Stevie Wonder
12) “Life After Death”.....The Notorious B.I.G.
13) “Faith”.....George Mi- chael 14)
“Please Hammer, Don’t Hurt ’Em”.....M.C. Hammer
15) “Daydream”.....Mariah Carey
16) “Music Box”.....Mariah Carey 17)
19) “The Marshal Mathers LP”.....Eminem
20) “Whitney”.....Whitney Houston
23) “Mariah Carey”..... Mariah Carey
24) “The Eminem Show”.....Eminem
25) “Christina Aguilera”..... Christina Aguilera
26) “Bad”.....Michael Jack- son
27) “Off the Wall”.....Mi- chael Jackson 28)
“Secrets”.....Toni Braxton
29) “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill”.....Lauryn Hill
30) “Toni Braxton”.....Toni Braxton 31) “R.”.....R. Kelly
32) “The Writing’s on the Wall”.....Destiny’s Child
33) “History: Past, Pres- ent and Future, Book 1”..... Michael Jackson
Mariah Carey
34) “Dangerous”.....Michael Jackson 35) “To the Extreme”.....Vanilla Ice 36) “Unforgettable With Love”.....Natalie Cole
37) “Waiting to Exhale”..... Soundtrack, featuring Mary J. Blige, Chanté Moore, Brandy and others
38) “No Way Out”.....P. Diddy and the Family
Whitney Houston
tified Double Platinum today, it is still highly unlikely to ever reach the Diamond status of albums such as, for example, Lionel Richie’s Diamond “Can’t Slow Down” or Led Zeppelin’s “Double Diamond” “Led Zeppelin IV,” or to use the preferred terminology, 23 x Plati- num. (Richie’s would be 10 x Platinum.)
This week we are presenting the top-selling albums (in the United States) of all time, with the inclusion of soundtrack albums with predominantly Black artists (example: “Sat- urday Night Fever”) and, in addition, White artists whose music is essentially Black (example: Eminem).
Not surprisingly, Michael
Jackson’s “Thriller” re- tains its championship title (29 million copies sold), al- though the Eagles are hot on his heels with “Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975).” But, of course, Jackson’s untimely passing sparked a significant boost in the sales of virtually all of his albums.
The Eagles — and other Prince
71: 1)
rock and pop acts — are not on the following list since the it is specialized for a specific market. Although some African-Americans — with broader tastes in music — also routinely purchase recordings by non-Black art-
ists. And, of course, Whites buy very large amounts of Black music. HERE ARE the Top
“Thriller.....Michael
Jackson 2)
3) “The Bodyguard”.....
Soundtrack, featuring Whitney Houston and others
“Saturday Night
Fever”.....Soundtrack, fea- turing the Bee Gees, Kool & the Gang, the Trammps, Tavares and others
4) 5) “Purple Rain”.....
Prince and the Revolu- tion, Soundtrack
“Whitney Houston”
.....Whitney Houston 6)
Boyz II Men 7)
TLC 8)
“Boyz II Men II”..... “Crazysexycool”..... “Legend”.....Bob
Marley and the Wailers 9)
“Can’t Slow Down”..... Bob Marley
39) “Don’t Be Cruel”..... Bobby Brown
40) “My Way”.....Usher 41) “Make It Big”.....Wham! 42) “Hot Shot”.....Shaggy 43) “Nellyville”.....Nelly
44) “The Big Chill”..... Soundtrack, featuring Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, the Temptations and others
45) “Girl, You Know It’s True”......Milli Vanilli
46) “Fanmail”.....TLC
47) “Rhythm Nation”..... Janet Jackson
Usher
48) “Janet”.....Janet Jack- son 49) “The Score”......The Fugees 50) “The Christmas Song” .....Nat “King” Cole 51) “Dr. Dre 2001”.....Dr. Dre 52) “Tracy Chapman”.....Tracy Chapman 53) “The Emancipation of Mimi”.....Mariah Carey 54) “12 Play”.....R. Kelly
55) “Get Rich or Die Tryin’”.....50 Cent
56) “Gonna Make You Sweat”.....C & C Music Fac- tory
57) “Merry Christmas”..... Mariah Carey
58) “#1’s”......Mariah Carey
59) “Butterfly”......Mariah Carey
60) “New Beginning”...... Tracy Chapman
61) “Greatest Hits”......Sly & the Family Stone
62) “The Massacre”.......50 Cent
63) “Private Dancer”.....Tina Turner
64) “Never Say Never”....... Brandy 65) “Rapture”.....Anita Baker 66) “Hard Knock Life, Volume 2”.....Jay-Z 67) “Control”.....Janet Jackson 68) “Merry Christmas”.....Johnny Mathis 69) “Very Necessary”,,,,,Salt-N-Pepa 70) “…And Then There Was X”.....DMX 71) “Unleash the Dragon”.....Sisqo
R. Kelly Lionel Richie
21) “Cooleyhighharmony” .....Boyz II Men 22) “All Eyez on Me”.....2Pac
“Confessions”.....Usher
18) “Country Grammar”..... Nelly
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