[Hong Wu]

Sorry, Adele, Drake, Beyoncé, Kanye, and every other pop mega-star that put out an album this year. According to Billboard, the highest-selling CD of 2016 was, of all things, a collection of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s music.

A massive collection of Mozart, it should be noted. Mozart 225: The New Complete Edition is an unprecedented 200-CD-strong mega-box-set, recorded by 60 orchestras and hundreds of soloists. All told, it’s 240 hours of music that encompasses his complete body of work.

Compiling the set took Universal Music Group 18 months, and they’re calling it the “most authoritative, complete, and scholarly box set ever devoted to the work of a single composer.” They also compared the cultural resonance of Mozart’s “immortal melodies” to the later work of The Beatles and ABBA.

Billboard claims that this mammoth box set has moved 1.25 million total CDs since its official release in October 2016, meaning 6,250 people bought the box set. Considering how expensive the box set is ($500 on Amazon), that’s pretty impressive, but given the amount of CDs per set, congratulating Mozart’s legacy for raw CD sales this year seems a little disingenuous. Given the fuzzy math involved here, it’s more accurate to claim that Mozart had the best-selling CD of the year, but not the best-selling album. That feat went to Drake, at least according to iTunes.

Ultimately, though, this story shows just how far the CD has fallen out of favor with consumers. Or just how much people love their Mozart.

Real Clear Life

There's a caveat that this is in CD sales, not digital music, but the audophiles among us (possibly just me) know that you can't settle for 320.

[Frollein]

DAMN.YOU! I get lost in the epic rap battles every.fucking.time someone mentions them here!

Currently watching Stalin vs. Rasputin...

[Pants-of-dog]

Mozart is incomparable. In the entire history of western music, perhaps only Michael Jackson has risen to the same height as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

I am not surprised to find that he is still more popular than many contemporary artists at the height of their careers.

[XogGyux]

That's a bit (just a bit) surprising. But only ~6000 people, that's kind of disappointing. Specially when you factor in those that were bought by pregnant women trying to make their babies smarter (I wonder how many of those CDs have been heard exclusively by fetuses) or those who bought the CDs to use as background/elevator music in their small businesses .
In any event, its a good thing. Recognition of one of history's greatest and monetary support for the word's classical musicians and orchestras is always great.

Never been the greatest Mozart fan myself. I am more partial to romantic era composers such as Beethoven and Tchaikovsky (and to be honest could not say which i like the most).

[Saeko]

That's a bit (just a bit) surprising. But only ~6000 people, that's kind of disappointing. Specially when you factor in those that were bought by pregnant women trying to make their babies smarter (I wonder how many of those CDs have been heard exclusively by fetuses) or those who bought the CDs to use as background/elevator music in their small businesses .
In any event, its a good thing. Recognition of one of history's greatest and monetary support for the word's classical musicians and orchestras is always great.

Never been the greatest Mozart fan myself. I am more partial to romantic era composers such as Beethoven and Tchaikovsky (and to be honest could not say which i like the most).

*snickers*

Pleb.

[Tewodros III]

Please @Saeko We all know Weeb music is up your ally. Especially this one: