In just five weeks of release, Beyonce’s I Am…World Tour has become the best-selling music video of 2010. The DVD has sold 132,000 copies, 14,000 more than the year’s #2 music video, Rush’s Beyond The Lighted Stage. There’s still one chart week to go in 2010, but Beyonce’s lead appears insurmountable. This is the fourth year in a row that Beyonce has had one of the year’s top 10 music videos, but first time that she has come out on top.
Michael Jackson has three of the year’s top 10 videos. This is the second year in a row that Jackson has made a strong showing on the list. On the year-end chart for 2009, he made a clean sweep of the top four positions. Only one other artist in Nielsen SoundScan history has ever had three or more of the year’s top 10 music videos. Backstreet Boys had three of the top four in 1999.
Beyonce and Celine Dion each have two of the top 20 music videos for 2010.
The top 20 includes some historic footage: the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964, the Rolling Stones on their Exile On Main St. tour in 1972, and Michael Jackson on his Dangerous tour in 1992.
Nine of the videos in the top 20 are by artists who have been chart perennials for 35 years or more: Barbra Streisand, the Beatles, the Stones, Eric Clapton, Michael Jackson, Rush and Bruce Springsteen.
Here are the top 20 DVD music videos of 2010, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The number after the title is the sales total for the year to date. If the DVD was released prior to 2010, I also show the cumulative total. I also tell you when the act first appeared on The Billboard 200 album chart (just for the heck of it).
1. Beyonce, I Am…World Tour, 132K. This concert video takes its title from Beyonce’s 2008 album I Am…Sasha Fierce. The DVD, which features guest appearances by Jay-Z and Kanye West, has been out for five weeks. Beyonce first charted with Destiny’s Child in 1998.
2. Rush, Beyond The Lighted Stage, 118K. This two-disk documentary is the year’s top video by a rock band. (Take that, U2.) The doc has been out for 26 weeks. The Canadian band first charted in 1974.
3. Michael Jackson, Live In Bucharest: The Dangerous Tour, 116K. Jackson’s video was shot on Oct. 1, 1992, when he was the biggest pop star in the world. It has sold 750,000 copies since its release on DVD in July 2005. It was the #2 video of 2009. Jackson first charted with the Jackson 5 in 1970.
4. U2, 360 Degrees At The Rose Bowl, 105K. U2’s two-disk video, which was shot entirely in HD at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif., has been out for 31 weeks. The Irish band first charted in 1981.
5. Eric Clapton, Crossroads Eric Clapton Guitar Festival 2010, 93K. This was recorded in June 2010 at the third edition of Clapton’s benefit concert/music festival. The video has been out for seven weeks. Steve Winwood, Jeff Beck, ZZ Top and Buddy Guy are among the guests on the two-disk set. Clapton first charted with the Yardbirds in 1965.
6. Michael Jackson, Number Ones, 92K. The DVD, which features 15 key Jackson videos, has sold 1,332,000 copies since its release in November 2003. It’s the video companion to Jackson’s 2003 album Number Ones. This was the #1 music video of 2009, with sales in that year of 558,000 copies.
7. Michael Jackson, Michael Jackson’s Vision, 77K. This three-disk set includes all 35 of Jackson’s videos (or “short films,” as he preferred to call them). Ten of them are on DVD for the first time. The set has been out for five weeks.
8. Bon Jovi, Live At Madison Square Garden, 76K. Bon Jovi’s concert video has been out for 33 weeks. The veteran band first charted in 1984.
