Skip to content
02_Elements/Icons/ArrowLeft Back to Insight
Insights > Sports & gaming

007 by the Numbers

2 minute read | February 2013

As the Academy Awards prepare to pay tribute to British Secret Service agent 007 and the James Bond franchise this Sunday, Nielsen looked at the most popular titles by music and disc sales.

Some key findings include:

  • 1.5 million: Since its debut last year, consumers have purchased 1.5 million digital copies of Adele’s Oscar-nominated theme song to “Skyfall,” which is almost as many digital tracks as the rest of the top 10 songs combined (1.7 million digital tracks purchased).
  • No. 4: Paul McCartney’s “Live and Let Die,” the only pre-digital era Bond song on the top five list, is the fourth best-selling Bond title track, as consumers had purchased 269,000 digital tracks as of Feb. 17.
  • 453,000: Consumers have purchased 453,000 copies of the “The Best of Bond” soundtrack, the most purchases among all James Bond soundtracks, ahead of the soundtracks for “Tomorrow Never Dies” (117,000 copies purchased) and “GoldenEye” (116,000 copies).
  • 21%: Action movies—moviegoers’ favorite genre to see in a theater in 2012—accounted for 21 percent of all video sales in 2012, the most sales of any genre.
  • No. 1: “Skyfall,” just released on Feb. 12, is already the highest-selling DVD so far this year.
  • Top 10 James Bond Title Tracks by Digital Track Purchases*

    Rank James Bond Title Year Title Song Artist Digital Track Purchases
    1 Skyfall 2012 Skyfall Adele 1,552,000
    2 Quantum of Solace 2008 Another Way to Die Jack White/Alicia Keys 318,000
    3 Casino Royale 2006 You Know My Name Chris Cornell 290,000
    4 Live and Let Die 1973 Live and Let Die Paul McCartney 269,000
    5 Die Another Day 2002 Die Another Day Madonna 232,000
    6 The Spy Who Loved Me 1977 Nobody Does It Better Carly Simon 213,000
    7 A View to a Kill 1985 A View to a Kill Duran Duran 149,000
    8 Goldfinger 1964 Goldfinger Shirley Bassey 81,000
    9 Dr. No 1962 James Bond Theme John Barry 52,000
    10 Diamonds Are Forever 1971 Diamonds Are Forever Shirley Bassey 51,000
    *Release-to-date digital track purchases.Read as: Since its release in 2012, U.S. consumers have purchased 1.5 million digital tracks of Adele’s “Skyfall.”

    Source: Nielsen.

    Top 5 Best-Selling* James Bond Soundtracks

    Rank Title Year Released Album Purchases
    1 The Best of Bond: James Bond^ 1999, 2002, 2008, 2012 453,000
    2 Tomorrow Never Dies 1997 117,000
    3 GoldenEye 1995 116,000
    4 Die Another Day 2002 107,000
    5 The World is Not Enough 1999 60,000
    *Release-to-date album purchases. ^Includes sales of all re-releases of the same album.

    Source: Nielsen.

    Top 5 Best-Selling* James Bond Discs

    Rank Title Year Released
    1 Casino Royale 2006
    2 Die Another Day 2002
    3 Quantum of Solace 2008
    4 The World is Not Enough 1999
    5 GoldenEye 1995
    *As of 2012. Based on unit sales since 2000, the first year Nielsen began tracking DVD sales. Data does not include Walmart.

    Source: Nielsen.

Related tags:

Continue browsing similar insights