Mozart, despite not having actually been alive for the past 225 years, has just smashed the music sales charts right out of the water. Like a rabid Jurassic Park T-Rex, Wolfgang Amadeus has come rampaging out of the past to lay waste to his modern counterparts and claim best-selling CD of the year.
According to Universal Music via Billboard, his latest release, Mozart 225: The New Complete Edition has sold 1.25 million CDs in only five weeks since it’s release on October 28th.
Move aside Drake, Beyonce and Yeezy. You may have released some pretty massive albums this year, but your bangin’ beats and synth-soaring, hook-heavy tuneage apparently remain unmatched to the eternal symphonic superstar that is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
The historical megastar’s Mozart 225 collection boasts 200 CDs, presenting every piece ever written by the classical genius, not to mention the unrivalled talent of 600 world-class soloists and 60 orchestras. The whole shebang runs for a total of 240 hours (not to mention all the bonus bundle material).
Put the kettle on and whip up a few cucumber sandwiches guys, this is gonna be one hell of a classical crusade.
Dubious?
Well, in a way, you should be. 1.25 million people did not actually head to their local or online CD stores to purchase this mammoth Mozart box set, as Stereogum explains. In actual fact, these sorts of figures are worked out by counting each individual CD as a separate sale.
Which means, only 5,556 Mozart fans needed to purchase the 200 CD box set in order for him to take out most sold CD of 2016. According to Stereogum, this is also how OutKast took out the same award with Speakerboxxx/The Love Below a few years back.
The difference in this case, however, is that Mozart hasn’t actually been making music, let alone been alive, for over two centuries. That’s a pretty impressive win by old m8 Wolfy.
Via Billboard, Universal described the huge undertaking of putting together this exhaustive compilation as the “most authoritative, complete and scholarly box set ever devoted to the work of a single composer”.
Released on the anniversary of Mozart’s death, the anthology has been summed up by Paul Mosely of Universal as such: “Mozart’s immortal melodies, no less than The Beatles or Abba, are in some way part of all our lives – and this Edition is the perfect way to celebrate that on his 225th anniversary”.
Drake’s 2016 album Views did, however, take out the most streamed Spotify artist of all time. And his video for the lead single One Dance also took out the most streamed song of the year.
Check out both Mozart and Drake below. You decide whose bling is the hottest.
Watch: Mozart 225: The Complete Edition Trailer
Watch: Drake: ‘Hotline Bling’
