This is so strange and not accurate of what was being consumed when this was released.

This has sold 3 million (pure) i believe in the US, which is great. It was certified Triple platinum and the first week sales (150k), longevity of the album and singles reflected this.

Most of if not all the songs ran their course i would say up until the end of 2013 which is when the recurring streams probably slowed (naturally obviously after 4 years) or even halted (except for firework, 4th of July Standard now).

Its so strange to see the hyper success of one song inflate an entire album’s “sales” and certifications. This is why you have unknown singers nowadays getting albums scrapping gold when they have 1 hit singles thats done extremely well. Its NOT an accurate representation of the albums success or the artists popularity , this is why if you tell strangers that “insert new fad artist here” has an album selling “ 1 MILLION RECORDS” they will Be in disbelief.

I guess katy is the wrong example here because her singles and albums (up until witness) have had great sales and streams, but its indicative of where we are now that you can get an extra 5 million on certs for an album through its single’s success.