Thanks to a question that was asked over at Gary Trust’s Ask Billboard column over at Billboard.com, we now have a definitive answer as to who wins the legendary New Jersey grudge match between Bon Jovi and Bruce Springsteen. Here’s the link to the original article:
http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/ask-bb/ask-billboard-basia-bon-jovi-and-the-boss-1003956403.story
Gary didn’t setup a baby pool filled with KY-Jelly in his basement in order for them to gauge the true winner, but he did some research and pulled the record sales of each artist. I’ve reprinted parts of the article with the results:
Listed is the top five selling albums by each artist, including Jon Bon
Jovi’s solo works and Springsteen’s releases with the E Street Band, dating to
the inception of Nielsen SoundScan data in 1991.
Bon Jovi/Jon Bon Jovi:
“Cross Road” (1994), 4,709,000
“Slippery When Wet” (1986), 3,106,000
“Crush” (2000), 2,071,000
“Keep the Faith” (1992), 1,591,000
“Have a Nice Day” (2005), 1,552,000
Bruce Springsteen/E Street Band:
“Greatest Hits” (1995), 4,092,000
“The Rising” (2002), 2,163,000
“Born in the U.S.A.” (1984), 1,463,000
“Human Touch” (1992), 1,168,000
“Magic” (2007), 1,054,000
Combining sales of each act’s albums, the winner is…Bruce
Springsteen. It’s an astonishingly close race, however. In the Nielsen SoundScan
era, Springsteen totals 19,968,000 million in album sales, just ahead of Bon
Jovi’s 19,922,000.Springsteen pulled into the lead with his latest album,
“Working on a Dream.” The set has sold 484,000 copies since its January
release.