In the United States, "Erotica" debuted at number two on the "Billboard" 200 on November 11, 1992, with first week sales of 167,000 copies. It was held off from reaching the top spot by Garth Brooks's fourth studio album, "The Chase", which that same week sold 4,000 copies more than "Erotica". The next week, the album dropped to number four on the chart. It was eventually certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipments of two million units. According to Nielsen SoundScan, "Erotica" has sold 1.91 million copies in the United States as of December 2016, along with 79,000 sold through BMG Music Clubs. In Canada, the album debuted at number seven on the "RPM" Albums Chart on November 7, 1992. It reached a peak of number four on November 21, 1992. The album was present for a total of 38 weeks on the chart, and was certified two times platinum by Music Canada (MC) for shipments of 200,000 copies.