How Many Commodore 64 Computers Were Sold? 10.6 Million, Based on Commodore’s Records

Approximately 10.6 million Commodore 64 computers were sold worldwide. This estimate is based on unit-sales figures published in Commodore International’s annual reports and corroborated by surviving internal Commodore sales records. Commodore’s published sales figures establish approximately 12.35 million combined Commodore 64 and Commodore 128 sales; because Commodore combined C64 and C128 sales in several fiscal years, the C64-only figure of 10.594 million is partly estimated.

The commonly repeated figure of 17 million Commodore 64s is not supported by Commodore’s records. In particular, contrary to a frequently repeated citation, Commodore’s 1993 Annual Report does not state that 17 million C64s were sold.

Unit sales numbers of the Commodore 64 have been greatly exaggerated over the years, with previous estimates ranging from 12.5 million to 30 million. 12.5 million is generally accepted as the most accurate number, but even that is too high.

Using Commodore’s annual reports to shareholders as a primary source of information, and using internal documentation provided by Commodore International Limited’s former Treasurer, Don Greenbaum, as a backing and corroborating source, I arrived at what I believe are the most accurate unit sales figures to date.

Combined C64 and C128 total lifetime unit sales

Unit sales numbers were published in Commodore’s annual reports over the years, so if you read every annual report you can compile the figures reported in those annual reports and arrive at an approximate 12.35 million combined C64/C128 lifetime sales total. No estimation, speculation, or projections are required to arrive at this total. I merely had to compile the numbers Commodore published over the years.

The table below represents combined C64 and C128 unit sales throughout Commodore’s lifetime. These figures are not estimates derived from serial numbers, market-share data, or other indirect evidence. They are the unit-sales figures Commodore itself published in its annual reports. These numbers include all C64 and C128 unit sales for all geographic regions. It was confirmed in the video posted below by Don Greenbaum that these numbers also include SX-64, and Drean unit sales. Returns and refurb sales are also accounted for. I am confident in stating that Commodore sold approximately 12.35 million combined Commodore 64 and Commodore 128 units over the lifetime of the company.

Fiscal Year	Combined C64 and C128 unit sales
FY82	0
FY83	500,000
FY84	2,500,000
FY85	2,000,000
FY86	1,900,000
FY87	1,100,000
FY88	1,000,000
FY89	1,000,000
FY90	700,000
FY91	800,000
FY92	650,000
FY93	200,000
FY94	0
Total	12,350,000

However, because Commodore combined C64 and C128 unit sales numbers as the “C64 family of computers” in their annual reports, that total doesn’t tell us specifically how many C64 were sold. We have detailed, separate unit sales data for the C64 and C128 for FY86 from internal reports provided by Don Greenbaum, so I used those to split out unit sales for FY86. For FY87 through FY89, I used my own projections from the actual FY86 unit sales. Therefore, the separate C64/C128 unit sales for FY87-FY89 are not backed by published numbers from Commodore, but my estimates do add up to Commodore’s published combined total unit sales. I estimate total lifetime Commodore 64 unit sales to be 10,594,000 and total lifetime Commodore 128 unit sales to be 1,756,000.

Fiscal Year	C64 Unit Sales	C128 Unit Sales
FY82	0	0
FY83	500,000	0
FY84	2,500,000	0
FY85	2,000,000	0
FY86	1,200,000	700,000
FY87	704,000	396,000
FY88	640,000	360,000
FY89	700,000	300,000
FY90	700,000	0
FY91	800,000	0
FY92	650,000	0
FY93	200,000	0
FY94	0	0
Total	10,594,000	1,756,000

If you’d like to see how I arrived at these numbers, I created a video where I walk through the numbers in great detail, with references to every source document, and a guest appearance by Commodore’s former Treasurer, Don Greenbaum, who walks us through Commodore’s corporate structure and explains how sales were accounted for.

Did Commodore Sell 17 Million Commodore 64s?

There is no documentary evidence supporting the commonly cited claim that Commodore sold 17 million C64s.

Does Commodore’s 1993 Annual Report Say 17 Million C64s Were Sold?

No.

The largest myth that needs to be dispelled is the notion put forth in a Usenet post from 2002 that Commodore’s 1993 annual report states, “17M total C64, 4.5M C128”. The original Usenet post can be read on Google Groups.

This claim was repeated over the years and published on various websites. Because of this, it became “the truth” and people continue to cite total unit sales of 17 million C64 and 4.5 million C128 as gospel, 22 years later. I’ve seen forum posts where people have claimed to have read the 1993 annual report and confirmed it themselves. It’s simply not true. There is no mention whatsoever of total unit sales of the C64 and C128 in Commodore’s 1993 Annual Report to Shareholders. You can read the entire 1993 annual report at the link here.

You will find C64 total unit sales for fiscal years 1991, 1992, and 1993 in the 1993 annual report, and I used those numbers to generate my results, but nowhere in Commodore’s 1993 Annual Report to Shareholders does it say that Commodore sold 17 million C64s and 4.5 million C128s.

What Do Commodore’s Records Actually Show?

Any conclusions derived from the incorrect citation from the ’93 annual report of 17 million c64 and 4.5 million C128 must be deemed inaccurate.  So what do Commodore’s numbers say?

If you follow along in the video I posted above, you’ll see that Commodore reported Commodore 64 and 128 numbers in their annual reports using terms such as “with an installed base of”, and “over one million sold” for a given year. They don’t provide exact sales figures to the unit in a spreadsheet, but that’s not the purpose of an annual report to shareholders. However, if you track what Commodore published in their annual reports year after year, the numbers they provide make sense and add up to a reasonably accurate total by the 1993 annual report. We can be extremely confident in the 12,350,000 combined total of C64 and C128 unit sales.

Because of generous contributions in the form of internal reports that I’ve received from Don Greenbaum, the former Treasurer of Commodore International Limited, we now have extremely detailed unit sales numbers for everything from C64 to C128, to monitors and disk drives.  These are actual, internally generated, confidential sales reports created by Commodore.  None of the sales numbers are estimates or speculative. Unfortunately, we don’t have these detailed reports for the entire duration of C64/C128 sales, but for the years we do have, we can compare these detailed numbers with the approximations provided in the annual reports and they’re in alignment.

Conclusions

We can conclude that The Guinness Book of Records estimate of up to 30 million C64s sold is wildly inaccurate. The widely cited estimates of 12.5 million to 30 million C64s are not supported by Commodore’s surviving sales records. There’s nothing to support anywhere close to those numbers. Given the documentation we have, I’m comfortable listing the combined total of C64/C128 unit sales to be 12,350,000. The only estimates I had to make in my numbers were in splitting unit sales between C64 and C128 for fiscal years 1987-1989. Every other number is based on actual data and not estimated. There is currently no better primary-source evidence supporting a substantially different combined total.

Until such time that we receive detailed internal sales reports for FY87-FY89, my estimates for those years are as good as we’ll get, but the combined total should therefore be regarded as the best-supported figure unless better primary-source documentation is discovered.

 Primary Sources

Here are links to the source documents I referred to in the YouTube video if you’d like to follow along.

Commodore International Limited 1983 Annual Report to Shareholders

Commodore International Limited 1984 Annual Report to Shareholders

Commodore International Limited 1986 Annual Report to Shareholders

Commodore International Limited 1987 Annual Report to Shareholders

Commodore International Limited 1989 Annual Report to Shareholders

Commodore International Limited 1990 Annual Report to Shareholders

Commodore International Limited 1993 Annual Report to Shareholders

Commodore’s post-bankruptcy assets, including post-FY93 unit sales

Supporting papers for Commodore’s calendar year 1986 financial plan

Commodore’s revised financial plan for calendar year 1986

Commodore sales and inventory report for week ending 1986-06-07

Commodore International Limited, International Bank Presentation – June 7, 1984