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Who is the best selling punk/rock band ever?


Charlie Boston

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yeah...the 65 million were after 21st Century Breakdown, but now they're released 3 new albums, so it's really about 75 million ;)

But it's not thanks to the trilogy that they got 10 m more.

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Also pretty sure that the Sex Pistols and the Ramones should both be on there, way ahead of The Offspring or any modern "punk" band.

The Ramones weren't very successful when it comes to record sales so even though they were popular, I'm not sure if you can count them in the Top 5. The Offspring sold more than them if you can trust the internet.

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But it's not thanks to the trilogy that they got 10 m more.

but also thanks to it...

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In Green Day's first appearance on Jay Leno (I think 1995) he introduces them as the "best selling band in punk rock history" :lol: And that was 19-fucking-95, when at most they had sold 10 million. Wut? I mean, that's largely to do with how "punk" sells, but I'd rather not get into that discussion. Wikipedia, which is apparently our source of discussion, doesn't even have total sales listed for the Ramones, who have barely even had a gold record to their name. The Clash were slightly more successful and obviously well-respected but sales-wise not that impressive. The Offpsring have sold 45 million which is still almost half of what Green Day has sold, so in terms of "sales" there isn't really a contest here, Green Day is obviously the best-selling of their genre, IF you think it's fair to put them into a genre with real "punk" bands. If you want to be fairer and group them in with "pop-punk," Blink has sold 35 million, and they would be arguably the biggest contemporary comparison.

Green Day is in this interesting purgatory of rock music where it's not really relevant to compare them to other bands in their genre, because no one else in their genre has ever really sold that many albums, and the terms of what 'genre' they are in is pretty suspect and contentious to begin with. So then you're more tempted to compare them simply to any and all mainstream rock bands, from Linkin Park to Coldplay to the Peppers, and that's when things, IMO, get more interesting. They're sort of outside the discussion of "punk sales."

but also thanks to it...

Not really. If the trilogy has sold 1 million total, that's hardly a significant figuring into a 10 m increase. 21CB has supposedly sold around 5 million.

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but also thanks to it...

What I mean is that the trilogy did not sell 10 m copies.

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What I mean is that the trilogy did not sell 10 m copies.

i know, i wrote another post about that ;)

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Doesn't deserve to be closed. I'm just going to edit your title slightly.

Sorry for reporting then :lol:

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but also thanks to it...

Rhe trilogy if you could count em as one album would just BARLEY be platinum but that'd just make it 66 million not 75m

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okay guys, just ignore my old posts in here, it was just a harmless post i made in which i wanted to state that the number of 75 million sold records should be right and i didn't want to make a long list including every sold record, i just pointed one thing out...and i didn't even think long about it, sooo...i think that explains it :lol: (also i meant it more in the way of "21st Century Breakdown was released already 4 years ago now, a lot of time to sell that many records, they've even released three albums now"...i know, next time i should write what i mean instead of writing just the half...even my mom said i always just tell her half of the story recently...i'm already working on it, guys :P )

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don't know...though it might be possible...also they had this package of all the old albums together and they sold lots of these as well...and sure they always sell a few of their old albums...

If you buy the box set of 8 studio albums, does that count as 8 sales? Do record sales include singles, eps, FBHT?

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If you buy the box set of 8 studio albums, does that count as 8 sales? Do record sales include singles, eps, FBHT?

no idea...though i'm pretty sure FBHT doesn't count...

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I read somewhere that Green Day now have sold 87 million records.. I don't remember where though, and i don't know if it is true.

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I'm going to get called a punk elitist after this post but whatever.

I would not consider Green Day a punk band after Insomniac (maybe Nimrod, if you stretch it a little bit) so any profits or sales made from Nimrod, Warning, Shenanigans, American Idiot, 21st Century Breakdown, and the Trilogy should not be counted in with their punk total.

As for "does it matter", no, it doesn't. Punk is about the music, not about the money.

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If you buy the box set of 8 studio albums, does that count as 8 sales? Do record sales include singles, eps, FBHT?

No box sets are counted as 1 item

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The Ramones weren't very successful when it comes to record sales so even though they were popular, I'm not sure if you can count them in the Top 5. The Offspring sold more than them if you can trust the internet.

Actually, The Ramones didn't become popular until their final years and post-breakup stages.

Also pretty sure that the Sex Pistols and the Ramones should both be on there, way ahead of The Offspring or any modern "punk" band.

The Sex Pistols were active for three years and only released one studio album. They have an enormous legacy but in terms of album sales, they're definitely not up there with The Clash or The Offspring.

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Actually, The Ramones didn't become popular until their final years and post-breakup stages.

The Sex Pistols were active for three years and only released one studio album. They have an enormous legacy but in terms of album sales, they're definitely not up there with The Clash or The Offspring.

I literally just thought of it after I posted that. It's just with the huge names I assumed huge album sales. Silly me :P

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Also pretty sure that the Sex Pistols and the Ramones should both be on there, way ahead of The Offspring or any modern "punk" band.

The Ramones didn't sell many records. They wouldn't even be in the top 10 of best selling punk bands.
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I literally just thought of it after I posted that. It's just with the huge names I assumed huge album sales. Silly me :P

Ceadog totally just got pwned by a 15 year old girl! :P

The Ramones didn't sell many records to even be mentioned in this thread.

I went to Best Buy and they only had 2 Ramones CDs. Greatest Hits and Ramones. Rocket to Russia is probably their best, and they didn't have it

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Ceadog totally just got pwned by a 15 year old girl! :P

I went to Best Buy and they only had 2 Ramones CDs. Greatest Hits and Ramones. Rocket to Russia is probably their best, and they didn't have it

Well I understand why they wouldn't have it. But I like Rocket To Russia also; I think Sheena Is A Punk Rocker is my favorite song from it

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Ceadog totally just got pwned by a 15 year old girl! :P

Yes, because my age and gender really has to do with me knowing more about punk rock than Ceadog. I forgot only 20 year old men know shit about The Sex Pistols. My bad.

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Yes, because my age and gender really has to do with me knowing more about punk rock than Ceadog. I forgot only 20 year old men know shit about The Sex Pistols. My bad.

I was joking, relax. I don't know shit about the sex pistols

"I want to be stereotyped. I want to be classified." -Your signature

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I was joking, relax. I don't know shit about the sex pistols

"I want to be stereotyped. I want to be classified." -Your signature

"I want to be stereotyped. I want to be classified." - Suburban Home by The Descendents, a song about the stereotypical monotony of suburban life.

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Green Day is honestly just popular... AI did that, other than that, I would assume The Clash.

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I hope it's Green Day, they deserve to but the Clash seems to have more sold copies

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