NPG Records/Warner Bros. RecordsFriday marks the one-year anniversary of Prince’s tragic death, and Billboard reports that amazingly, the late icon sold more albums than any other artist over the past year…including Adele.
Billboard reports that according to Nielsen Music, Prince’s catalog, counting both albums and songs, sold 7.7 million copies in the U.S. since April 21, 2016. As you might expect, most of those sales took place in the month after his death from an overdose of the painkiller fentanyl.
Of those 7.7 million copies, 2.3 million were traditional album sales. In 2016, Adele sold 2.23 million albums, so Prince actually outsold her, though not by much.
Prince’s best-selling songs last year include “Purple Rain,” with 621,000 downloads, followed by “Little Red Corvette,” “Let’s Go Crazy” and “Kiss.” His best-selling albums last year were The Very Best of Prince, with 668,000 copies sold, followed by Purple Rain and 1999.
Also of note is the fact that since Prince’s death, according to Billboard, his music has been played a lot more on the radio, and that’s continued into this year. His most popular hit at radio this year is “When Doves Cry.”
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