The Soul Sessions - Commercial Performance

Commercial Performance

The Soul Sessions entered the UK Albums Chart at number forty-seven for the week of 17 January 2004 (the highest debut of that week), and reached its peak position of number four three weeks later. It spent twelve non-consecutive weeks in the top ten and seventy weeks altogether in the top seventy-five, including three re-entries in 2005. The British Phonographic Industry (BPI) certified the album triple platinum on 15 April 2005, denoting shipments of over 900,000 copies. Additionally, it became the UK's nineteenth best-selling album of 2004.

In the United States, The Soul Sessions was a sleeper hit. On the issue dated 4 October 2003, the album debuted at number 199 on the Billboard 200 and at number seventy-six on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, peaking at number thirty-nine on the former and at number thirty-eight on the latter in its twenty-fourth week on both charts, on the issue dated 8 May 2004. Prior to that, the album topped the Top Heatseekers during the week of 21 February 2004. Sales were heavy on the East Coast, especially in cities such as New York City, Philadelphia and Boston. Within six months of its release, The Soul Sessions was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on 29 March 2004, having sold 914,000 units as of March 2007.

The album was also commercially successful in the rest of Europe, where it reached number four in Austria, Germany, the Netherlands and Norway, number five in Portugal, number seven in Belgium, number eight in Italy, number twelve in Sweden and number fourteen in Switzerland, as well as number four on the European Top 100 Albums. In June 2004 The Soul Sessions was honoured with a Platinum Europe Award from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) for sales in excess of one million copies across Europe. In Oceania the album peaked at number sixteen in Australia and number eight in New Zealand, earning platinum accreditations from the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) and the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ) for sales of 70,000 and 15,000 copies, respectively. The album sold over 5 million copies worldwide.