Mylène Farmer started her career as singer songwriter in 1984. As of today, she has released 10 studio LPs and 6 live LPs, sold more than 10 million copies worldwide and broken many, many records!
Her first releases proved to be instant hit songs, such as “Libertine,” “Sans contrefaçon” (which established her star status), and “Pourvu qu’elles soient douces” (her first #1 hit on France’s Billboard 50)...
From the beginning, Mylène Farmer stood apart from the rest thanks to her music videos, so carefully crafted that they stand as actual short movies. The video for “Libertine,” directed by Laurent Boutonnat, revolutionized the genre and heralded the distinctive talent of the Farmer/Boutonnat creative duet. The “Pourvu qu’elles soient douces” music video, lasting more than 17 minutes, captivated and wowed audiences, so much so that 10.000 copies of the song’s 7-inch single were sold each day during the month of December 1988! Later on, Mylène even collaborated with famed French director Luc Besson on the “Que mon cœur lâche” music video. She also worked with Abel Ferrara, Bruno Aveillan, Marcus Nispel, Ching Siu Tung, Michael Haussman, Jerome Dahan amongst others.
In 1988, the LP album “Ainsi soit je...” propelled Mylène Farmer to the top of the charts. It sold for more than 1.400.000 copies, earning her the very first Diamond disc certification for a female singer in France.
In May 1989, Mylène Farmer gave her first live concert. During her “Tour 89,” more than 300.000 fans came to see her perform all across France (including a whole week of concerts at the Palais des Sports and Bercy in Paris), Belgium and Switzerland.
At the onset of the 1990’s, Mylène Farmer released one of her biggest hits: “Désenchantée,” which sold for 800.000 copies and remained #1 on the Billboard 50 for nine weeks in a row. Consequently, she sold nearly 2 million copies of her third LP release, “L’Autre” (Diamond disc certified).
In 1995, the singer completed a more Rock-oriented album, “Anamorphosée,” in which she emphasized her femininity and sexiness like never before. A second French tour baptized “Tour 1996” followed the release of what became the highest-grossing French LP of 1996 in terms of international sales.
“Live à Bercy” was released on May 20, 1997 and sold for nearly 900.000 copies, an absolute record for live albums in France. The companion DVD, “Avant que l’ombre... à Bercy,” with more than 400.000 copies sold, earned Mylène Farmer another record for the highest-grossing music DVD in France.
For her fifth studio LP, “Innamoramento” (1999), Mylène Farmer herself composed several songs, before undertaking another tour, the “Mylenium tour,” which, for the first time, included three concerts in Russia.
In 2003, Mylène won for the fourth time in a row the NRJ Music Award for Best Francophone Female Artist of the Year. She was granted a Diamond Award in 2012 for her career as a whole, becoming the first artist ever to win such an accolade since the creation of the NRJ Music Awards.
In 2008, Mylène Farmer achieved yet another record: her two live shows at the Stade de France near Paris (scheduled for the following year) were sold out in less than three hours, and the 100.000 tickets for her tour were sold in a day — a feat that has happened for each of her tours ever since.
The same year, her single “Dégénération” reached #1 in only three days and set the record for digital downloads in France. The physical release saw “Dégénération” reach instantly #1 thanks to the best start for a single in 2008.
With the LP “Point de Suture,” featuring a pop-electro sound, a Mylène Farmer album was simultaneously ranked #1 of both digital and physical sales in France for the first time. It was also certified Gold for international sales (more than 50.000 copies sold outside of France). Moreover, all the singles from “Point de Suture” ranked #1 as well in the singles’s charts — an impressive fact which contributes to another stellar achievement for Mylène: she is the artist with the most #1 singles since the creation of the billboard in 1984.
In May 2009, the artist completed another tour, “Tour 2009,” during which she performed twice in a sold-out Stade de France, a first for a female artist. The Live album that followed, “N°5 On Tour,” was ranked #1 as soon as it was released, and ended up being certified Double Platinum. It took only one week for the DVD “Mylène Farmer Stade de France” to be certified Diamond DVD with more than 250.000 copies sold.
At the end of 2010, Mylène Farmer came back once more in the limelight with an unexpected and overwhelming single, “Oui mais... Non,” introducing an equally great new album, “Bleu noir.” The single, composed and produced by RedOne, became a true hit song, ranking #1 (the tenth #1 single for Mylène!), with its Chris Sweeney-directed video being the most broadcasted video in France for three consecutive weeks. The LP, “Bleu noir,” featuring collaborations with Moby, RedOne, and the band Archive, sold for 500.000 copies in France and more than 60.000 abroad.
Mylène Farmer’s most recent LP, “Monkey Me,” achieved the best start of the year 2012 in France with 147.530 copies sold during the first week following its release. It went on to reach more than 400.000 copies sold including more than 50.000 abroad.
The “Timeless 2013” tour gathered more than 500.000 fans across its 39 concerts in 5 countries (including 10 concerts at the Bercy Arena in Paris). The live LP “Timeless 2013,” sold for more than 150.000 copies worldwide. The movie “Timeless 2013 Le Film,” was premiered exclusively on the big screen in 2014: more than 100.000 moviegoers rushed to movie theaters in France, Belgium, and Switzerland. This brought along another record for Mylène Farmer, who became the artist with the biggest audience for a single movie screening. “Timeless 2013 Le Film” was also shown in Russia, Canada, and Latvia.
Following high-profile collaborations with Seal and Moby, Mylène is coming back with a show-stopping duet: “Stolen Car,” with Sting, produced by The Avener. This single comes from Mylène Farmer’s tenth studio album, “Interstellaires,” available on November 6, 2015 and produced by Martin Kierszenbaum.