Mozart Sold More CDs in 2016 Than Beyoncé and Rihanna

2016 was a good year for music. Beyoncé came out with Lemonade. Rihanna had Anti. Chance The Rapper had Coloring Book. But when it comes to pure volume in CD sales, only one person reigned supreme, and he hasn’t been alive for 200 years: Amadeus Mozart.

A 200-CD boxed set of Mozart’s recordings called Mozart 225: The New Complete Edition sold 6,250 copies in 2016, according to Billboard. Break that down by CD, and the classical artist sold 1.25 million CDs in five weeks from the end of October to December 6 when the numbers came in.

The CDs feature 600 soloists, 60 orchestras, and lasts 240 hours. Oh yeah, there’s also reading material with it. Granted, the total number of people who purchased CDs was no where near the number of downloads and purchases of Rihanna, Beyoncé, or Chance The Rapper. Mozart also didn’t make as much of a cultural splash with the CDs. Pure number though, Mozart reigns supreme.