David Bowie Estate Signs Catalogue Deal With Warner Music: Here Are The Starman's Best-Selling Albums

Warner Music GroupWMG announced a partnership with the estate of David Bowie that covers the iconic performer’s recorded-music catalog from 1968 through 2016.

What Happened: Variety reported that the new partnership will incorporate Bowie’s final four albums — “Heathen” (2002) “Reality” (2003), “The Next Day” (2013) and “Blackstar” (2016) — that were originally released by Sony Music SONY; “Blackstar” became available two days before his death from liver cancer on Jan. 10, 2016.

The new partnership will cover the entire Bowie canon except for a few singles from his pre-stardom days in the mid-1960s and the 1967 album “David Bowie,” along with a few miscellaneous recordings.

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Why It Matters: Warner has been releasing a series of “Era” boxed sets covering Bowie’s multiple reinventions in music content and performance style, with the fifth set “Brilliant Adventure” (1992-2001) scheduled for distribution this fall.

Bowie first gained attention with his 1969 single “Space Oddity.” While he was widely considered to be among the most innovative performers based on his ability to span musical genres and to embrace a variety of on-stage personas, his music sales rarely did not always reflect his influence. He only saw two singles reach #1 in the U.S., “Fame” in 1975 and “Let’s Dance” in 1983, while “Blackstar” was his only album to peak at #1 in the U.S.

Among Bowie’s best-selling albums were:

• “Let’s Dance” (1983, 10.7 million)
• “Ziggy Stardust” (1972, 7.5 million)
• “Aladdin Sane” (1973, 4.6 million)
• “Blackstar” (1.9 million)
• “Heathen” (1.5 million)

Photo: David Bowie in a 2002 performance, by Adam Bielawski / Wikimedia Commons.