August 27, 2024, 2:16 p.m.
When Mozart sold more physical albums than Beyoncé.
Image: Getty
According to the official Billboard charts, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart had a huge success in 2016 against the biggest pop stars of his time. This is how he fared…
December 5, 2016 marked the 225th anniversary of the death of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. To honor this occasion, the legendary record labels Decca and Deutsche Grammophon, together with the Mozarteum Foundation Salzburg, released a single containing all of the Austrian composer's works.
The lavish box set contained an incredible 200 CDs and featured many of the greatest recordings in history.
Mozart was known for his productivity in his short life, writing over 600 catalogued works. The 200 CDs containing these works and the associated scholarly material weighed over 10 kg. That's a lot of Wolfgang.
Read more: The 10 most life-changing pieces of music by Mozart
The Mozart 225 box set.
Image: Deutsche Grammophon (DG)
Mozart lovers were thrilled by this historic release and the set rose to the top of the classical charts – and beyond…
In December 2016, the music industry statistics oracle Billboard announced that the huge Mozart set was the best-selling CD release of the year and Beyoncé’s lemonadeAdele's 25 and Drake's Views in relation to digital physical copies sold.
There is a tiny difference. The industry counted the CDs and each was a single unit, meaning Mozart had a 200:1 advantage on each sale. Still, given the £500 price tag for the set, sales of several thousand units was a remarkable achievement that made headlines around the world.
“Yes, Mozart had the best-selling CD of 2016,” CNN explained.
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Paul Moseley, Senior Vice President of Universal Music Group, described the response to the box set at the time as a “wonderful” result.
“It’s wonderful to see the response to this box set, which is the result of years of research, planning and compilation,” he said.
“Mozart’s immortal melodies, like those of the Beatles or Abba, are part of our lives in one way or another.”
Portrait of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, around 1780.
Image: Getty
Mozart is used to being at the top of the charts – in 2024, 13 of his pieces were voted into the Classic FM Hall of Fame, making him once again the composer with the most entries in the top 300.
And today, in the age of streaming, Mozart regularly reaches millions of listeners and loyal fans on Spotify, YouTube and also on Classic FM's own app, Global Player.
The Beatles and Beyoncé, Drake and Don Giovanni – this is proof that even after more than two centuries, Mozart can still keep up with any other artist of his time in terms of popularity.
