Five stunning MTV Unplugged albums that sold over one million 

Alanis Morissette - MTV Unplugged - 1.8 million

When Alanis Morissette recorded this in September 1999 she had four albums to draw on. That included two big-hitting ones in Jagged Little Pill (1995) and Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie (1998). But she didn't follow the usual tendency of cramming the session with lots of her top hits from Jagged Little Pill in particular. Just four songs from the six singles on that album, most obviously the huge single hit “Ironic”. A surprise omission perhaps was “All I Really Want”. 

Instead, there was more of a focus on her fourth album released the previous year, but to less acclaim and sales. Even then, she held back on a couple of its hits too, giving “Thank U" and "So Pure" a miss. Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie was a quite personal and intimate album and that comes across in this set too.

Alongside the touching songs, her performance involves the small crowd and draws in the album listener as if you were there. Enough of what wasn’t there, among the twelve songs on the album were three new ones. I really liked “No Pressure Over Cappuccino” from those. There was also a cover of The Police song “King Of Pain” which worked really well with Morissette’s voice and style.

This album from Alanis Morisette is just outside the top ten MTV Unplugged albums in terms of worldwide sales. It sits in 11th place with 1.8m sales, those above sold at least two million copies, so it’s only just below that level. You can read more about the top ten MTV Unplugged albums if you want to check which artists are included.

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