nzchartbooks

Best selling albums

2010-01-23T17:23:00.002+13:00

I hope eventually to be able to publish a reasonably accurate list of the best selling albums in New Zealand.
I say reasonably accurate as there are quite a few albums for which complete sales figures are unknown.

The Best Of ABBA.
In 1976 this album sold 200,000+, this is fact. by the end of 1977 it had been awarded 18xPlatinum discs, this is facts. in 1977/78 Platinum was equal to 20,000 copies, this is fact. Therefore we know that this album sold over 360,000 copies by the end of 1977.
This album was still on general release until 1989, and released as a CD. It is quite possible that the sales figure for this album reached 400,000.
Arrival - ABBA
In 1976 this album sold 145,000+, this is fact. During 1977 it outsold The Best Of ABBA, which had sold around 160,000 (this included the Christmas periods of 1976 and 1977). This puts the sales figure over 300,000. It was on general release until 1983 when Universal (Polydor at the time) took over ABBA's catalogue, in those 6 years, it is quite possible the album sold another platinum (15,000) copies. It had also sold about Gold (7,500) with Universal. This could easily place the sales figure at about 325,000. But this is only an estimate.

Rumours - Fleetwood Mac
an Ex-employee of Warner informed me that this album had sold about 10xplatinum in the 70s, this is highly likely. The figure I have is for sales from the 80s, including CD. Altogether it is around 17xplatinum, therefore possible over 200,000.

Soundtrack - Grease
Soundtrack - Saturday Night Fever
These albums were released on RSO, then released through Polygram records, Polygram eventually became Polydor, which eventually became Universal. All vinyl sales for these albums have since been lost and therefore even an estimate on the sales figures of these albums is nigh impossible.
From 1990 onwards though, we do have figures.
Saturday Night Fever has sold about 1xPlatinum, and basically has not been a big seller since its release, which is quite normal for soundtracks.
Grease, on the other hand has sold about 9xPlatinum since the company became Polydor.
these two albums were #1 and #3 respectively for 1978.
The #2 album is: Bat Out Of Hell, which eventually sold over 17xplatinum, and is still going strong. But unlike the other two, it has continued to sell strongly throughout the years, it is one of the great classic albums of the 70s, and one of the biggest selling albums worldwide. therefore comparing sales figures of this classic album to the 2 soundtracks isn't plausible.

Elton John:
Don't Shoot Me, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Captain Fantastic, Greatest Hits.
unfortunately Festival records had no record for the sales of Elton John so anythign even resembling an estimated guess would be worthloess.
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road was charting for over a year before our first album chart came into existance, and would have been at its peak when singles like: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road & Candle in The Wind were charting. Once the albums charts were up and running, this album spent over 100 weeks on the charts. Once Universal took over the rights to Elton John's DJM material, this album sold an additional 3xplatinum. But how much it sold on DJM is completely unknown.
his other major albums on DJM (Listed above) also have unknown sales figures, but each would be well over 3 or 4xPlatinum.

Olivia Newton-John
Greatest Hits, First Impressions
Like Elton John, this festival release was not found among the Festival sales figures, although unlike Elton, Olivia did have some figures found.
this album was one of the biggest sellers of 1975 and 1976, and continued to sell for years afterwards.

Neil Diamond
Hot August Night
MCA was originally its own label, then it was released through Warner, then it was released through BMG/Geffen, and now it is released through Universal.
This is another big selling album, which has sold copious amonts since its release in 1972, but what these sales figures are, no-one knows, or if they do, they haven't told me (As with the above figures). Although I have asked all companies for sales figure for what they have available.

I am sure there are many more albums with enough of a sales figure to place them among our top 100 albums of all time.

New updates for the CD book

2010-01-23T17:03:00.004+13:00

I have added an extra file on information for the CD rom version of the book.

this includes bubbling under albums and singles, but ONLY for those acts that have already charted, AND for ALL New Zealand acts, regardless of whether of not they charted.
The albums listings include any relevant accreditations.
This includes the date the album first appeared on the listing, and how many weeks it spent there, regardless of how many times it entered, unless the entry is more than 6 months after the first entry. This also includes singles that did chart, but 4 or more months after the initial entry.

Also included in this file is all known airplay top 40 hits from 2005 onwards that did NOT chart on the regular top 50/40 singles. I will eventually try to go back further, this will take much time though.

finally, there is a listing of all accredited albums that did not chart. This is listed by artist. With many thanks to all record companies for their help in obtaining this information.

CD Rom Version

2008-12-30T19:05:00.002+13:00

If you would like to buy a copy of the CD Rom version of the book (See other entry for what this CD contains), and want to buy at the beginning of the year, here's a hint:
If you can wait for about a month, the CD will be updated with information from the previous year's chart, including all new certifications for older albums, as much cross referencing as I can find, as well as any new information that comes to light on artists.

IE: You want to buy an updated version of the CD Book in January, wait until February when the information will be up to date, this gives me time to add the information.

THANK YOU

2008-09-28T19:53:00.002+13:00

I would like to thank every person who helped me with this book in any possible way.

First and foremost:
The Recording Industry Association Of New Zealand.
I was allowed to use the charts when I did my first book back in 1996/7, after I went to see the lady in charge.
Since then, they have been enormously helpful in every respect, helping me with errors, getting earlier charts to me, and in general getting me information I needed for these books.

Universal, Sony & BMG (Now SBME), Warner & Festival/FMR (Now combined), and EMI record companies in New Zealand.
Each and every one of them have been an absolute pleasure to work with and get help from.
It is thanks to these record companies that I managed to get the Multi-Platinum status for many albums that were never formally certified, as well as many missed certifications.
(NB: All Multi-Platinum certifications in the book are based on the latest sales levels for albums, which changed in 1992.)

ABBAMAIL
Graeme Read has done a brilliant job in helping me advertise my book, helping me get set up with this website, and with Paypal as well.
Also many more ABBAMAILers helped me identify many acts in the book for whom I had no information.

Pauline Cooper.
An old acquaintance of mine, whom I have known for many years, we met up again when she began working in the local CD store. She had an idea of getting customers top ten albums lists and going from there. I took it from there and asked as many people as possible, it is thanks to these people (and no thanks to those who couldn't be bothered following the rules) that I got the top 100 albums of the 20th century list.

All other record/CD stores I frequented in my many years (But not that many).
I still remember very well the wonderful service I always got from Chelsea Records when I was in my teens. And of late, SmokeCDs/Allens CDs. This was a brilliant store for getting imports from before the internet came along.
And of course Colin Morris Records, a very nice person, and always gave great service, still does actually, just in a book store now.
Plus the second hand stores throughout Wellington where I got the old vinyl 45s that came out before my time, or at least before I started collecting seriously.

Radioscope, from whom I got the Airplay charts information for the last 10 years or so, and again very helpful with their Blogs for helping me find out who these acts are.

The New Zealand Listener.
The Early charts from 1966-1975 were all printed in the Listener, and without their permission this book would not be complete.

My publisher of course, who gave me the chance to get my book out there.

And to the people to whom all 3 books are dedicated.

Steve Nicholls: I Still Remember you fondly, you were the first person to treat me with respect.
[I dedicate 'Leaving On A Jet Plane' to you]
Beth, Edson, Eric & Ryan Madis: Esp. Beth. Thanks for 24+ years of being a great pen-friend.
[For you 'Ohio' and 'Banks Of The Ohio' are probably somewhat inappropriate. Maybe 'Just Like Romeo & Juliet' which I heard in your car, or how about 'Rikki Don't Lose That Number']
Vernon Waretini: 10 years now, friends to the end. (And yes, he is related to the Waretini in the book)
[You know what the song is V. 'I Honestly Love You' and you know why, too]

Thanks to everyone who has helped with my book in any way, shape or form.

This award has made it all worth it.

Association For Recorded Sound Collections

2008-09-28T19:49:00.002+13:00

The winners for these awards given by the Association For Recorded Sound Collections were named about a month ago, there are many categories, and the winners from each year can be viewed on their website.
The 2007 winners were put on the website when the awards were given in June 2008.
The 2008 winners will be acknowledged on their website in June 2009.

And the winner is...
Best Research for a Pop Discography.
The Complete New Zealand Music Charts 1966-2006: Singles, Albums, Compilations & DVDs.
By Dean Scapolo.

IE: ME!

OK, at first I didn't believe it, and it's still taking its time to sink in, but it's there, it has happened, and it has now justified all the hard work done to create this book.

Awards For Excellence In Historical Recorded Sound Research

2008-05-08T08:41:00.002+12:00

As previously mentioned my book was nominated as a contender for the awards at the beginning of the year, which surprised me.
It has now been named as a FINALIST.

CD Rom version available

2008-04-14T10:11:00.002+12:00

Hello.

The CDrom version is now available.
I have finally got all the Certifications from all local record companies (SBME, Warner, EMI and Universal) included in this book. While they are far from complete, I have everything they could find for me. Thanks to those companies, and also the defunct: BMG/Sony: now SBME, and Festival, now a part of Warner.

As previously stated the CD includes everything in the book, PLUS, the ABCs of Singles and Albums, some of the old New Zealand charts from 1957-Feb 1965, and is updated annually.
The CDs are made to order.
Price is $40, plus postage ($5 for NZ & Aussie; $9 for elsewhere).
The format for all files except the ABCs is MS Word, the ABCs is in MS Excel. Downloadable readers should be easy to get from the Microsoft website.

All that has changed is the top 100 albums lists are no longer there. Instead I have replaced them with a list of the best selling albums worldwide - KNOWN! - from information gathered from legitimate sources online.

Association For Recorded Sound Collections

2008-01-14T20:08:00.000+13:00

Well, this came as an almighty shock to me.
My book 'The Complete New Zealand Music Charts 1966-2006' has been nominated for an 'Award For Excellence In Historical Recorded Sound Research'

Please visit their website at
www.arsc-audio.org

I am just stunned that I have even been nominated, it is more than enough recognition for me.

What's on the CD?

2007-09-02T20:27:00.001+12:00

Apart from the information that appears in the book, there are 2 extra files on the CD.

All files:
1) The basis of the entire book is the listing of all the chart hits from 1966-2006. All known errors have been corrected (Only 1 in this section, spelling is corrected if known, or if proven)

2) The Introductory pages, as originally written.
3) The facts pages, with the error fixed.

4) EXTRA: ABC of Albums and Singles
5) EXTRA: New Zealand charts from 1957-Feb 1965. While these were available in New Zealand at the time, they are NOT to be taken seriously. Especially those from 1963-1965, those ones are primarily based on the US and UK charts.
There are MANY charts missing from this era as well, so some singles don't appear even if they probably did hit here (Such as: Runaway - Del Shannon)
From 1963-Feb 1965 there was only one Kiwi act on the chart, does that sound right? No, I didn't think so, either. To make matters worse, it only hit #4. Do you really think She's A Mod was only a #4 hit? Neither do I. And even worse: It charted in November 1964. It first charted in Australia in August, does that make sense? I didn't think so.
And where were... Do The Bluebeat, Don't You Know Yockomo, Who Stole The Sugar?, White Rabbit.

One more thing, it is the usual suspects when it comes to charting B-sides: Elvis & The Beatles. Forget those who also had great B-sides. Or rather, no-one else mattered enough to have their B-sides listed separately.

CD Rom version available

2007-08-26T19:38:00.000+12:00

Hi.

Well, I've been working on a CDrom version of the book with more pictures and more information.
I can update this annually for anyone who wishes an updated version of the book, as I doubt I will get any more versions of the book published (Unless I decide to do some for the Libraries).

The cost is $40 and this includes postage within NZ, I haven't got around to finding out cost for overseas mail as yet, but that won't be too far away, so just ask if you are interested.

I will also be adding little flags for hits that were #1 elsewhere (Australia, USA, UK, Canada, Netherlands - from the books; Switzerland, Sweden, Austria, Ireland, Germany - from the Web)

As usual, all corrections, when nicely given, are acknowledged, and if need be, corrected in the book.

$60 (NZ) for the book

2007-06-19T20:43:00.000+12:00

Do you think $60 NZ is too much for this book?

Look at it this way.
This book includes: all Album Chart information, all Single Chart information, all DVD Chart information, and all Compilation chart information.

The UK (NOW) and Australian books only contain the Albums and the Singles information, admittedly they do have more information than NZ, the Aussie charts go back to 1940, while the UK charts go back to 1952. The NZ charts only go back to 1966.
Even so, both UK and Australian books are about $100 NZ in comparison. And you will need all 3 Aussie books (at about $100 each) to cover the same period of time.
The American book, while very informative, only contains the singles chart from 1955, other books have older information (Right back to 1890), and yet other books have the albums information, no DVD book as yet for the USA, UK or Australia.
I haven't seen or priced the Canadian books as yet, but the quality is just as good as the other countries, and the last books I have are just for singles and just for albums.
Same with the Netherlands, only the singles information in the book, and it costs about the same as the NZ book.

A heck of a lot of work goes into these books, finding the information, compiling the information into a readable format (all chart books follow the same format), and preparing it for publication.

$60 is a reasonable sum of money to spend, and think of what you're getting:
A Time Capsule Of Music Memories.
Every single a hit, every album a hit, whether they be #50 or #1.
Some of our best memories can be recalled with music, and it probably wasn't a #1 hit either!
Whether it be: God Save The Queen (Sex Pistols), Babylon (David Gray), Electric Avenue (Eddy Grant), Summer Night City (Abba), I Love My Feet (Shona Laing) or Baked Beans (Mother Goose) none of which hit the top 30.
Every song is a memory for someone.

And these are New Zealand's memories, not the American or British hits some radio stations play, because they think they are/were big here, the New Zealand Hits, that really were hits here! Whether they were #50 (Leather & Lace, Berserk Warriors) or #1 (Shaddup You Face, Bad Moon Rising)

2007-05-14T22:05:00.000+12:00

The book appears to have been well received by those who have given me feedback.
A few people had one issue:

Bimbo-Pop
Some people thought I belittled this category of music by its title. The fact of the matter is this:
These artists whom I have put in this category got their start in the business because of the way they look, NOT because of their music talent (Or lack of in many cases).
Throughout the years there have been many acts who, visually, leave a lot to be desired, and yet their Songs/Albums are massive hits: Dan Hill, Joe Cocker, Bob Dylan. I personally doubt that in this day and age many 'less attractive' hitmakers would even have a career: Barbra Streisand, Neil Diamond, Abba, The Fat Boys; let's face it, most of the acts known weren't gorgeous.

Many of these Bimbo-pop artists have proven themselves in the industry, and have shown us all that they do indeed have the ability to sing, and make a decent career out of it. Westlife are on their 8th album, all 4 Boyzone albums hit UK #1, Christina Aguilera has certainly matured in her music (Beautiful is one of the best songs of this decade).

But if we continue to give contracts to acts based purely on their looks, of course the industry will suffer, there are many acts out there waiting to be discovered that won't be, because they're not 'pretty' enough: As Kasey Chambers so eloquently put it, in her Australian and NZ hit, when she lambasted the radio in Aussie for not playing her songs. And justifiably so!

So come on record companies, give the contracts to those that have talent, those who know what a musical instrument is, and how to use it, and those that can truly sing and entertain.

Errors

2007-05-14T21:58:00.000+12:00

Well,

I've been informed of a few minor errors, nothing that makes the information inaccurate fortunately.
One error was supposed to be correct before printing but wasn't (And it has peeved me off no end!)

On pages 36/37.
Top artists of the 90s (albums)
This list should be 20 artists long. The numbering goes from 1-20 then 31-40.
Then 31-40 should be at the end of: Top artists of the 60s (singles).

Otherwise, there are just a few spelling mistakes [mine] and formatting hiccups [printer].

Oh, and the statement: (the order varies...) on page 9 has been reworded and moved without my approval.
The statement should be: The Order varies each time this survey is done, and it applies to the surveyed top 100 albums. My personal list won't change much at all, as would anyones.

What's In It For You?

2007-02-14T16:45:00.000+13:00

Have you ever wanted to know what was a hit for your favourite act? Or even if it was a hit for them?
For a small-population-country, New Zealand has a very high sales rate in the music industry. Our biggest selling album sold 360,000 when the population had barely reached 3 million.
New Zealand currently ranks among the top 30 sales countries in the music industry.

Not every country had the same hits, and not every single was just as successful in every country. Just look at some of the figures these days:

Scissor Sisters: I Don't Feel Like Dancing
For all the counties whose information I have, this single was top ten everywhere, except the USA (Their homeland), where it barely scraped into the top 100.
Boyzone: No Matter What. A top 5 hit for them in all countries for whom I have information, except the USA where it couldn't even hit the top 100.

But what about your favourite songs, or songs from when you were in school, or when you got married/first met your true love/first kiss.
Do you remember those songs now? These chart books are like time capsule full of memories associated with songs.
Who are you favourite recording acts? Where are they from? even professionals get this one wrong... often!
What was number one five years ago, ten or twenty years ago? What were the biggest hits of 1979?
Do you remember a song, such as 'Bright Eyes' but can't remember who sang, or perhaps you can remember the song, but can't remember the movie it was from.
Did you know Fleetwood Mac was originally a Male Blues Band from the UK?
Did you know one of the Nolan Sisters had a recurring role in The Bill (a UK TV drama)
Did you know 'Friday On My Mind' was voted the #1 Australian song of the 20th century?

These are just some of things you can find out in the new edition of the Complete New Zealand Chart Book.

What's in the new Complete New Zealand Charts Book?

2007-02-05T09:03:00.000+13:00

Just exactly what's in my new NZ chart book?

The introduction gives you a run down on the history of the New Zealand charts, when they began and where they were printed. There's also an explanation of how they were compiled through the various stages until the RIANZ took over in 1975.

Also in the introduction are two 'Top 100' albums lists (20th Century), one is according to a survey I did some time ago, the other is my own personal list.

There is also a list of every known New Zealand act who charted outside of New Zealand. That is, a list of homegrown acts who charted in countries like Australia, UK, Canada, Ireland, Germany, Norway, Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland and the USA.

The main section of the book is formatted as follows:
- Artists' Name
- A mini-biography (where info is available)
- A list of of all their charted singles
- A list of all their charted albums,
- A list of all their charted DVDs
- A list of any compilation albums that charted for them. IE: An album, usually credited to 2 or 3 artists, that is not eligible for the regular album chart, and is not a Soundtracks or duets album.

All known certifications/accreditations are there, although the list is very incomplete due to the information not being available.

At the end of this section is a list of all Soundtracks, Tribute Albums, and Compilation Albums to chart in New Zealand.

The final section of the book contains fact pages.

These include a list of the number one Singles, Albums, DVDs, top albums and singles for each year, where an end of year chart was compiled.

Then, for albums and singles: Most weeks on charts, Most #1s, Most top ten hits...

There's also a run down of the top acts of each decade, Singles and Albums. And a list of the top NZ artists in all 3 categories (Singles, Albums, DVDs).

Lastly, a rundown of the top acts on the NZ charts, using a combined percentage to establish which artist/group has performed best over all.

The book is an indispensible reference for music fans, music historians, libraries and members of the music industry.

Other Chart Books

2007-02-04T20:46:00.000+13:00

There are a number of Chart Books available throughout the world.
USA: Record Research compiles the US Chart books based on the Billboard charts.
www.recordresearch.com
Canada: Nanda Lwin compiles the Canadian chart books.
Sorry, no link as yet.
UK: The Guinness Book Of British Hit Singles (and Albums) is the Chart bible there.
www.britishhitsingles.com
Australia: The books by David Kent are the only ones available at this point in time, another one is in the process though.
www.austchartbook.com.au
This is the link in the front of the 1940-1969 Australian chart book.
Netherlands: Hit Dossier is their chart book.
Link unknown for now.
Germany does have chart books, but I haven't seen a new one for a while now.
www.amazon.de
Then search for Hit Bilanz, under books.

Chart Books

2007-02-04T20:44:00.000+13:00

Hi,

Well, this is my third chart book on the New Zealand Charts.
The first one was: Singles 1966-1996.
The second one was: Albums 1975-2000.
This one covers both Singles and Albums, as well as DVDs and Compilation Albums.

Welcome

2007-02-04T16:06:00.000+13:00

Welcome to the NZ Chart Books website. Thank you for visiting!

I'm Dean Scapolo and I've been a fanatical follower of the New Zealand music charts for decades! I've published two NZ Chart books previously and my third book is about to be released.

I keep getting asked by people "what's the URL of your website?" and I have to admit, until now, I didn't actually have one!

With the publication of my new book, I decided it was a about time to stop being a technophobe and get with the program - thus I've now created: http://nzchartbooks.blogspot.com/

I'll be writing about the publication of my new book and you can access links from this site to order copies of it and find out more about it. I'll also be sharing my thoughts on developments in the NZ charts and any other related items of interest.

Once again, thanks for visiting and I look forward to any comments and feedback you may have on this site and my books.

Dean.