I'm doing a personal research project that involves the total sales of canonical albums, and my googling (admittedly unprofessional) has been unsuccessful in turning up figures that tell me how many copies of _____ have sold to date. Does anyone know of some sites that will give me these numbers?

I tried to find the same information numerous time and was largely unsuccessful. There are some good sites out there for weekly sales but that's all I've ever been able to find.

http://www.riaa.com/gp/default.asp


Check here for list I think it only has gold and up but it is a start. Billboard has lists as well.

Another guy just told me that this is highly protected info that record labels charge people like me cash money to access. Maybe I can get some estimates from Billboard-- thanks, BigDaddy. (I felt dirty typing that last bit.)

The RIAA site tells you figures for gold and platinum certification in the US. These numbers are rounded off...i.e. they only tell you that a given album sold enough copies to achieve certification

I'm not aware of any site that lists worldwide sales totals

I believe it's correct that to obtain more exact #s, you'd have to pay a label $$

Industry magazines and websites such as Billboard and Pollstar may also have sales figures, but again, you may be looking at a premium service ($)