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This Long-Dead Musician Is Selling More CDs Than Modern Artists

He's been dead for 225 years, but he's still selling more albums than top contemporary musicians (kind of).

This Long-Dead Musician Is Selling More CDs Than Modern Artists
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By Jake Jones
SMS
December 12, 2016

Quick: Which artist would you guess sold the most CDs this year?

Beyoncé? Drake? Chance the Rapper? Adele?

The answer: none of the above.

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It was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and he's been dead for 225 years.

A box set titled "Mozart 225: The New Complete Edition" was released Oct. 28.

In just five weeks, "Mozart 225" sold 1.25 million CDs.

But, there's a bit of a catch.

Each box contains a total of 200 discs, so it would only have taken a little over 6,000 sales to hit the 1.25 million CDs mark.

Which is still impressive, since the box set has sold for up to $500.

Universal Music Group spent 18 months working on the project, which it calls the "most authoritative, complete and scholarly box set ever devoted to the work of a single composer."