> The following post contains all of the chart and sales information 
> I have accumulated this past 1.5 years. I have presented all of this 
> information at some time on WIRE and EXIT, but I thought reposting 
> all of it in a summary format would be beneficial to some people 
> as I continue to encounter people requesting this information. 
> 
> I fully realize that U2 is not about chart rankings and sales. 
> However, I find that there are many people who are 
> far more eloquent than I at discussing the music, the concerts 
> and their overall U2 experiences. We also have those 
> who are great at fund-raising, making T-shirts, posting 
> the most up-to-date U2 information, etc. Therefore, I felt that 
> the one way for me to be a "contributing member" is to 
> tabulate sales and chart results. This way, I can "argue" 
> the business side of U2, which, as we all know, cannot 
> be overlooked. 
> 
> Remember, as always, take this information with "a proverbial 
> grain of salt". Charts can be misleading, as can be sales information 
> or estimates. This information is presented just to provide 
> some fans with an idea of U2's overall success. 
> 
> I hope some of you find it as interesting and potentially 
> useful as I have. If possible, it would be great if Maryanne 
> Stumpe added this information to the U2 FAQ so that 
> people could access it anytime. However, I do not know 
> how to contact Maryanne or if she is still maintaining 
> the FAQ. Any news anyone has on this will be appreciated. 
> 
> 
> ****************************************************************** 
> "Achtung Baby", "Zooroopa" and "POP" U.S. Billboard Chart Rankings 
> ****************************************************************** 
> 
> In its first week of sales, "POP" sold 349,000 copies in 
> the U.S. It sold approximately 160,000 copies its second 
> week taking less than 2 weeks to go GOLD in the U.S. 
> AB sold 295,000 copies its first week in the U.S. and 
> "Zooropa" sold 377,000 copies its first week in the U.S. 
> 
> "POP's" first 20 weeks on the U.S. top 200 BillBoard chart: 
> 
> 1-2-8-12-14-13-13-15-15-18 
> 20-29-33-42-49-56-68-89-96-101 
> 
> After "POP" dropped out of the top 100, I stopped 
> keeping track. I believe "POP" spent a total of 28 weeks 
> on the U.S. BillBoard Top 200 charts. 
> 
> How did "Achtung Baby" (AB) and "Zooropa" do on the U.S. charts? 
> We all know they both debuted at #1, as did "POP", but what happened 
> afterward? Was "POP's" chart progress typical for a U2 album in 
> the 90's? Or did "POP" drop a bit faster? Did it sell 
> at a comparable rate? What effects caused an increase in sales 
> for the previous albums? 
> 
> I went back and examined old BillBoard magazines to gather answers 
> to those questions. The U.S. BillBoard charts rank singles based on airplay 
> and sales, but they rank albums on sales only. Because of the event 
> of SoundScan, BillBoard's album charts are now more accurate. 
> The SoundScan process actually counts the number of times an 
> album is scanned for purchase at stores. While there are clearly 
> limitations with this method, it is more accurate than the old 
> process where retailers would report to BillBoard which album was 
> selling best in their stores. A lot of biased reporting happened 
> with this old method. AB was the first U2 album monitored using 
> SoundScan. Therefore, to be fair, I only compared "POP" to AB and 
> "Zooropa" since these albums were all ranked using SoundScan. 
> 
> Here are the actual chart positions for "Achtung Baby" 
> for an entire YEAR after its debut. It debuted December 7, 1991 
> on the U.S. BillBoard charts (each line represents 10 weeks): 
> 
> 1-3-4-4-7-4-7-6-6-6 
> 9-9-8-9-12-12-12-10-7-7 
> 12-13-10-13-11-11-11-17-17-21 
> 18-21-25-30-28-35-39-43-40-26 
> 23(!)-29-30-28-30-34-47-42-37-39 
> 44-45-44-52-50-49-46 
> 
> The last position above was for the week of December 26, 1992. 
> 
> "Achtung Baby" reached the 2 million mark after 9 weeks. 
> In contrast, after 9 weeks, "POP" reached just the 1 million 
> mark in units sold. By the 21st week, AB had sold 3 million units. 
> 
> After 39 weeks, "Achtung Baby" was #40. It then 
> rebounded to #23 (denoted by the (!)). This was possibly 
> due to two reasons. At that point, the late summer/fall 
> segment of U2 outside ZOO tour in the U.S. was in full 
> swing. Also, "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses" was 
> now being heard on the radio. After 47 weeks (just under 
> a year), AB reached the 4 million mark in units sold in 
> the U.S. 
> 
> After 57 weeks on the charts, AB continued to bounce around between 
> positions #50-160 for the next year. On January 8th, 1994, two 
> years and a month after its debut, AB reached 5 million copies 
> sold in the U.S. Its chart position for that week was #158. 
> As one can see, even at these lower chart positions, an 
> album can still sell over a million more copies. 
> 
> AB stayed in the top 13 for an incredible 27 weeks (over 4 months). 
> Most of this success was due to "Mysterious Ways". 
> This song, while reaching only #9 on the U.S. Hot 100 
> Singles chart, was #1 for a whopping 12 weeks 
> on the U.S. Mainstream Rock Chart and #1 for 9 weeks 
> on the U.S. Modern Rock Chart! This means that 
> radio stations LOVED this song. "Mysterious Ways" 
> was released as a single along with AB. "One", another 
> top 10 hit, was released shortly thereafter. While it's debatable 
> whether "The Fly" helped AB's initial sales/chart success, the 
> "one-two punch" of "Mysterious Ways" and "One" kept AB in the top 
> 40 for 38 weeks (over 6 months). And even when it finally fell out for 
> one week, it only rebounded back in! After 47 weeks when AB was 
> coincidentally #47 on the charts, the CD single release 
> of "Who's Gonna Ride..." brought AB back into the top 
> 40 yet again. 
> 
> Now for "Zooropa". 
> 
> Here are the actual chart positions for "Zooropa" 
> for 33 weeks after its debut. "Zooropa" debuted July 24, 
> 1993 on the U.S. BillBoard charts (each line represents 10 weeks): 
> 
> 1-1-2-3-4-6-10-11-13-16 
> 20-22-29-37-40-42-52-62-73-86 
> 81-79-76-65-58(*)-54(!)-60-58-68 
> 82-99-111 
> 
> The last position above was for the week of February 26, 1994. 
> 
> "Zooropa" reached the 2 million mark sold after 
> 9 weeks. This is the same as AB and again, it is 
> double that of "POP" for the same time frame. However, 
> "Zooropa", not having tour support in the U.S. and no 
> true CD single release (until "Stay"), dropped much 
> faster on the charts. 
> 
> "Zooropa" rebounded from #86 after only 20 weeks 
> all the way back to #54 (denoted by the (!)) when 
> "Lemon" reached #1 on the dance charts. To the best of 
> my knowledge, this is U2's only #1 dance remix song in the U.S. 
> Also, "Stay" was officially released as a CD single at this time. 
> 
> The (*) denotes the week that AB reached 5 million 
> in sales. After selling 2 million copies in 9 weeks, 
> the sales for "Zooropa" slowed dramatically (which 
> coincided with its rapid tumble down the charts). 
> "Zooropa" reached an estimated 2.5 million in sales in the U.S. 
> Five years after its release, "Zooropa" has yet to be 
> recertified as triple Platinum in the U.S. 
> 
> When "POP" is compared to the chart progress 
> of AB and "Zooropa", clearly "POP" was not 
> as big of a hit. However, as you'll see later on, 
> the lack of a super-selling album did not necessarily 
> hurt touring. 
> 
> ******************************************************************* 
> WORLD-WIDE sales information for U2 albums. 
> These figures were reported by the New Zealand 
> Polygram office on March 8, 1997 when "POP" was released. 
> ******************************************************************* 
> 
> "Boy" - 2,490,467 
> "October" - 2,360,717 
> "War" - 6,551,395 
> "Under A Blood Red Sky" - 7,556,582 
> "The Unforgettable Fire" - 6,255,826 
> "Wide Awake In America" - 1,743,610 
> "The Joshua Tree - 14,805,257 
> "Rattle And Hum" - 9,274,502 
> "Achtung Baby" - 9,763,275 
> "Zooropa" - 6,079,158 
> 
> Total - 66,880,789 
> 
> At the end of April, 1997, almost two months after "POP's" release, 
> Paul McGuinness stated that "POP" had sold 4.5 million copies 
> globally. However, many U2 fans feel that McGuinness was 
> actually referring to units shipped as opposed to units sold. 
> 
> In early August, 1997, a Polygram official wrote a note to 
> "Rolling Stone" magazine stating that "POP" had sold 
> more than 6 million units globally. Some U2 fans (Dec., 97) 
> claimed they saw a press statement that cited "POP" as selling only 
> 1.3 million copies in the U.S. When I pressed these fans for 
> the source, I failed to hear back from them again. 
> "TV Guide" (Dec., 97) stated that "POP" sold about 2 million copies 
> in the U.S. By my estimates, "POP" sold approximately 1.2 million 
> copies in its first 10 weeks and has now reached 1.5 to 2 million 
> copies sold in the U.S. As of early December, 1997, 
> reports in various press articles all stated that 
> "POP" had now sold at least 7 million units globally. 
> 
> In February, 1998, TIME and BillBoard magazines quoted from a Polygram 
> report that stated "POP" sold only 5.5 million copies worldwide. 
> The discrepancy between this number and previous reports 
> is unknown. It is possible that earlier reports discussed 
> units shipped as opposed to units sold. As of this date, 
> an estimate of 6 million copies of "POP" sold is a fair number. 
> 
> Since March, 1997, many of U2's older albums recharted. These 
> "catalog sales" totaled an additional 1.5 million units 
> sold in 1997. Therefore, U2 have sold a total of: 
> 
> U2's previous releases (66.9 million) + plus "POP's" sales (5.5-6 million) 
> + catalog sales for 1997 (1.5 million) = 73.9-74.4 million units worldwide. 
> 
> One newspaper report I ran across in late 1997 stated that U2 have 
> already sold over 100 million units of their albums. Based on 
> the information I have received, this does not appear to be correct. 
> 
> ****************************************************************** 
> RIAA Certifications 
> ****************************************************************** 
> 
> Because of recent discussions regarding sales, I looked up the 
> RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) certifications 
> of all of U2's releases. 
> 
> The RIAA is the only official source in the U.S. that 
> certifies singles, albums and videos as GOLD, PLATINUM and 
> MULTI-PLATINUM. Billboard Magazine merely reports these results. 
> RIAA obtains sales information from music label companies. 
> All audits are conducted by RIAA's official, independent accounting 
> firm for a certification fee. 
> 
> The definition for GOLD, PLATINUM and MULTI-PLATINUM 
> varies according to the format (album or video). 
> Currently, in the U.S., singles and albums are certified as GOLD 
> with sales of at least 500,000 copies; 1,000,000 for PLATINUM 
> and 2 or more million copies for MULTI-PLATINUM. 
> Long-form videos are certified at 50,000 for GOLD, 
> 100,000 for PLATINUM and 200,000 for MULTI-PLATINUM status. 
> Please keep these definitions in mind when examining 
> the information below. 
> 
> According to Billboard, here are the latest RIAA certification 
> listings (as of 12/97) for all U2 releases: 
> 
> "Boy" was certified as PLATINUM on September 11, 1995. 
> 
> "October" was certified PLATINUM on September 11, 1995. 
> 
> "War" was certified as MULTI-PLATINUM with 4 million units sold 
> on September 11, 1995. 
> 
> "Under a Blood Red Sky" was certified as MULTI-PLATINUM 
> with 3 million units sold on May 23, 1994. 
> 
> "The Unforgettable Fire" was certified as 
> MULTI-PLATINUM with 3 million units sold on May 23, 1994. 
> 
> "Wide Awake in America" was certified as PLATINUM on 
> May 23, 1994. 
> 
> The Joshua Tree" was certified as MULTI-PLATINUM 
> with 10 million units sold on September 11, 1995. 
> 
> "Rattle & Hum" was certified as MULTI-PLATINUM 
> 5 million units sold on September 11, 1995. 
> 
> "Desire" was certified as GOLD on January 10, 1989. 
> 
> "Achtung Baby" was certified as MULTI-PLATINUM with 
> 8 million units sold on November 15, 1997. 
> 
> "The Achtung Baby Videos" was certified as PLATINUM 
> on October 13, 1993. 
> 
> "Zooropa" was certified as MULTI-PLATINUM with 
> 2 million units sold on September 8, 1993. 
> 
> "ZOO TV - Live in Sydney" was certified as GOLD on 
> February 15, 1995. 
> 
> "Mission: Impossible" by Larry Mullen, Jr. and Adam Clayton 
> was certified as GOLD in July, 1996. 
> 
> "Discotheque" was certified as GOLD on April 7, 1997. 
> 
> "POP" was certified as PLATINUM on May 7, 1997. 
> 
> To Summarize: 
> 
> All 11 U2 albums or EPs that have been released in the 
> U.S. have at least gone PLATINUM. Total *certified* sales for 
> these 11 albums and EPs is at least 39 million units 
> in the U.S. Actual U.S. sales may slightly exceed this number. 
> 
> U2 have had 2 GOLD singles in the U.S.: "Desire" and 
> "Discotheque". Despite better chart successes 
> of other singles, none have been certified as GOLD or better 
> by the RIAA. Larry Mullen and Adam Clatyon also had 
> a GOLD single with their remake of the "Mission: Impossible" 
> theme. 
> 
> To the best of my knowledge, U2 have released 6 videos 
> that are readily available for sale in the U.S.: 
> "Under a Blood Red Sky", "The Unforgettable Fire Collection", 
> "Rattle & Hum", "The Achtung Baby Videos", "ZOO TV - Live from 
> Sydney" and "Numb". Only two of these, "The Achtung Baby 
> Videos" and "ZOO TV - Live from Sydney" are certified 
> as PLATINUM and GOLD, respectively. The latter video 
> also won a Grammy Award. There is no other certified video listed. 
> 
> Note that the certification date on many of the items is 
> well after the release date. This is when the RIAA obtained 
> that information. 
> 
> One VERY interesting note is that if "The Joshua Tree" sold 
> 10 million in the U.S. alone, its global sales figure of 14,805,257 
> copies sold as reported by the Polygram office (see above) seems rather 
> low. This is especially true when one looks at "Achtung Baby". 
> The RIAA has certified that AB has sold 8 million copies just 
> in the U.S., but the Polygram report states that 9,763,275 
> were sold globally as of March, 1997 (see above). Therefore, 
> it is possible that if another audit were done, the sales figures 
> for many of these albums would increase considerably. A recent 
> report in the press stated that U2 have sold over 80 million 
> units world-wide. 
> 
> 
> For Canada: 
> 
> According to CRIA certifications, "With Or Without You", "I Still Haven't 
> Found What I'm Looking For" and "Desire" sold over 50,000 units (GOLD). 
> In Canada, SoundScan has been keeping tabs on sales figures 
> only since October 1996, thereby excluding many of U2's hits. The concept of 
> collecting sales statistics via barcode scanning is fairly new in Canada and is 
> currently less than helpful when data from the 1980's are needed. 
> 
> "POP" has been certified as TRIPLE PLATINUM in Canada with sales 
> of approximately 380,000 units. If another 20,000 units are sold, 
> it will be re-certified as QUADRUPLE PLATINUM. I have no other 
> information regarding the certification of other U2 albums 
> in Canada. 
> 
> ****************************************************************** 
> U.K., U.S. and Canadian Highest Chart Rankings for U2 Songs and Albums 
> ****************************************************************** 
> 
> The list below names the song or album and its U.K., U.S. and 
> Canadian *highest* chart position. A dash (-) means that the item 
> was not officially released in the U.K., U.S. or Canada. An "X" means 
> that while the item was released in either the U.K., U.S. or Canada, 
> it did not enter in the top 100 on the corresponding chart. A question 
> mark (?) means that I have no information regarding the release or 
> chart position of the item in a particular country. 
> 
> Albums are enclosed by brackets, [ ], and other artists' work 
> are properly denoted. The U.K. chart positions are from the "Official 
> U.K. Charts Listings". The U.S. chart positions for songs and albums 
> are taken from BillBoard's Hot 100 Singles and Album charts, 
> respectively. Canadian chart positions were kindly supplied 
> by Nanda Lwin at "Jam Music". This list is presented chronologically. 
> 
> I am posting this information in the following format: 
> 
> Song or Album: U.K. Ranking/U.S. Ranking/Canadian Ranking 
> 
> U2-3: /-/-/- 
> Another Day: -/-/- 
> 11 O'Clock Tick Tock: /X/-/- 
> [Boy]: 52/63/? 
> I Will Follow: X/-/? 
> Fire: 35/X/? 
> Gloria: 55/X/? 
> [October]: 11/X/? 
> A Celebration: 47/X/? 
> New Year's Day: 10/53/? 
> [War]: 1/12/5 
> Two Hearts Beat as One: 18/X/? 
> [Snake Charmer] by Jah Wobble with Edge: X/X/? 
> [Under a Blood Red Sky]: 2/28/40 
> I Will Follow (live re-release): -/81/- 
> Pride: 3/33/33 
> [The Unforgettable Fire]: 1/12/6 
> The Unforgettable Fire: 6/X/? 
> [Wide Awake in America]: 11/37*/39 
> [Macalla] by Clannad with Bono: 33/X/? 
> In a Lifetime by Clannad with Bono: 20/X/? 
> [Captive Soundtrack] by the Edge: X/X/? 
> Heroine by Sinead O'Connor, written by Edge: X/-/? 
> [Robbie Robertson] by Robbie Robertson with U2: 47/38/? 
> With or Without You: 4/1/2 
> [The Joshua Tree]: /1/1 
> I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For: 6/1/11 
> Where the Streets Have No Name: /13/14 
> In God's Country: 48**/44/28 
> One Tree Hill: -/-/- 
> [Mystery Girl] by Roy Orbison, features song written by Bono and Edge: 2/5/? 
> She's a Mystery by Roy Orbison, song written by Bono and Edge: 27/X/? 
> Desire: 1/3/2 
> [Rattle & Hum]: 1/1/2 
> Angel of Harlem: 9/14/15 
> When Love Comes to Town: 6/68/X 
> All I Want Is You: 4/83/X 
> In a Lifetime by Clannad with Bono-recharted in 1989: 17/X/- 
> [Red, Hot and Blue] features "Night and Day" remake by U2/I did not see this 
> item listed 
> The Fly: 1/61/3 
> [Achtung Baby]: 2/1/2 
> Mysterious Ways: 13/9/4 
> One: 7/10/3 
> Even Better Than the Real Thing: 12/32/45 (Canadian re-release in 1997) 
> Even Better Than the Real Thing - remixes: 8/X/? 
> Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses: 14/35/26 (Canadian re-release in 1997) 
> [Zooropa]: 1/1/1 
> Numb: -/-/- 
> Lemon: -/-/- (this song reached #1 on the Australian charts and hit 
> #1 on the U.S. dance charts) 
> Stay: 4/61/X 
> [In the Name of the Father Soundtrack] with Gavin Friday and Bono: X/X/? 
> In the Name of the Father by Gavin Friday and Bono: 46/X/? 
> You Made Me Theif of Your Heart by Sinead O'Connor, written by Bono and 
> Gavin Friday: 42/X/? 
> Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me: 2/16/11 
> [Batman Returns Soundtrack]/I did not see this item listed 
> [Original Soundtracks 1] by the Passengers, featuring U2: 12/76/? 
> Miss Sarajevo: 6/X/? 
> Goldeneye by Tina Turner, written by Bono and Edge: 10/X/? 
> Mission Impossible remade by Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr.: 7/7/17 
> Discotheque: 1/10/1 
> [POP]: 1/1/1 
> Staring at the Sun: 3/26/2 
> Last Night on Earth: 10/57/4 
> Please: 7/9 (charted on the U.S. Maxi-Single Dance Charts)/10 
> POPHeart EP: 7 (charted as "Please")/-/4 
> If God Will Send His Angels: 12/?/? 
> 
> *"Wide Awake in America" was taken off the U.S. album 
> charts one week after it's release since it was considered 
> an "EP" and not an album. The chart value reflects the 
> position of that week. 
> 
> **This U.K. chart ranking for "In God's Country" 
> is very impressive as this single was only available 
> as a U.S. import! 
> 
> If someone could provide me with as detailed a list as possible 
> of U2's chart rankings in other countries (Australia, Germany, 
> France, Ireland, etc.) I would gladly add the data to the above list. 
> Make sure you clearly state your source for the information 
> so that others can check on it if necessary. 
> 
> ****************************************************************** 
> Recent Tour Grosses 
> ****************************************************************** 
> 
> The ZOO tours (ZOO TV and ZOOROPA) in 1992-93 grossed 
> $65 million (U.S. dollars). At the time, this was U2's best 
> grossing tour. However, the extreme cost of production 
> allowed U2 to come away with "only" a $3 million profit. 
> 
> The POPMart tour grossed - wait for it - $360 million! While 
> part of this can be explained by the fact that ticket prices were 
> double that of the ZOO tours, this huge amount indicates how 
> successful this tour was. It was stated that U2 were guaranteed 
> to profit $160 million from this tour. 
> 
> For the entire tour, U2 averaged over 44,000 per concert 
> selling 4.5 million tickets. U2 set a single concert attendance 
> record in Italy by drawing 150,000 fans to the Reggio Emilla stadium. 
> U2 had sell-out performances at all sites outside the U.S. 
> 
> The first leg in the U.S. averaged over 44,500 fans and $2.3 
> million in ticket sales per show with very successful 
> shows in L.A., Chicago, Boston, Salt Lake City and New York. 
> The only part of the entire tour that truly slumpled was the third leg 
> in the U.S. which averaged over a little over 21,000 per show. 
> Of course, one must keep in mind that by this 
> time, "POP" had fallen out of the U.S. Top 200 Billboard 
> charts and U2 were playing in much smaller cities. Even 
> the Rolling Stones failed to sell out many of these same cities 
> where U2 had difficulty. 
> 
> ****************************************************************** 
> 
> That's it! 
> 
> 
> Ciao, 
> 
> John