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Top-selling albums in the U.S., 1945 to May 2016


custom55
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Very interesting look back in time

 

 

http://datavizz.com/2016/05/22/billboard-200-1945-2016/

 

That site makes me feel like I just ingested 10 hits of acid at a planetarium laser show.

My head started spinning at South Pacific.

 

I started seeing caterpillars with the head of Ian Anderson crawl up my leg at Harry Belafonte.

 

They have a pill for that. Oh, incidentally , they also have an app for that.

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Fave part is when physical graffiti, EW&F the way of the world, Elton John captain fantastic, and Eagles were all in same period. Wish we had that kind of mix these days.
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Nine months of Frampton Comes Alive!

 

Years of Rumours!

 

Over a year of Synchronicity

 

This Adele character pulled off a calendar year in 2012

 

 

This was a very interesting visual, thanks for posting!

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Fave part is when physical graffiti, EW&F the way of the world, Elton John captain fantastic, and Eagles were all in same period. Wish we had that kind of mix these days.

 

I noted a lack of diversity from the mid 90s through sometime mid 2000s, then it seems that the American Idol crowd helped inject a bit of diversity back into the top album sales. But still, holy heck there's a lot of hip hop/rap and country, both of which I see as music targeted/appealing to the lowest common denominator. Says a lot about where we are as a country right now, what we value in the arts, find 'entertaining', etc.

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Fave part is when physical graffiti, EW&F the way of the world, Elton John captain fantastic, and Eagles were all in same period. Wish we had that kind of mix these days.

 

I noted a lack of diversity from the mid 90s through sometime mid 2000s, then it seems that the American Idol crowd helped inject a bit of diversity back into the top album sales. But still, holy heck there's a lot of hip hop/rap and country, both of which I see as music targeted/appealing to the lowest common denominator. Says a lot about where we are as a country right now, what we value in the arts, find 'entertaining', etc.

 

But man.... from Elvis into the Beatles, and on through the 70's.... all those great AOR records. Golden age for my tastes... probably most of us here.

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No Rush at all? :o

Since when was that ever going to be likely?

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I didn't see Dark Side of the Moon on their either, which is amazing since it was on the charts for so long and sold so many copies. I wonder if it's the highest grossing album to never reach #1.
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I didn't see Dark Side of the Moon on their either, which is amazing since it was on the charts for so long and sold so many copies. I wonder if it's the highest grossing album to never reach #1.

 

I must have missed it, according to wikipedia it was #1 for one week:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dark_Side_of_the_Moon#Sales

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I thought the Stones would be bigger than Elton John in the 70's.

 

Great stuff. Any doubt the 70's were the "golden years" of great music?

 

No doubts, starting mid '60s there's a lot of stellar material.

Edited by stoopid
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I tend to think of the 90s as the era of grunge but you can't tell that looking at this list. Hard to believe that one of the more influential albums of the 90s (nevermind) was only number 1 for 2 weeks.
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I tend to think of the 90s as the era of grunge but you can't tell that looking at this list. Hard to believe that one of the more influential albums of the 90s (nevermind) was only number 1 for 2 weeks.

 

There are a lot of albums starting in the '80s that sold multi-platinum that only spent a few weeks on the charts. Live's "Throwing Copper" is a good example, I think they ending up selling like 8 million copies. I guess I'd rather have a slow burner than a firecracker when it comes to chart success.

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No Rush at all? :o

Maybe they may have had a smidgen of a chance that one summer that Moving Pictures was hot. Otherwise, no.

I believe Moving Pictures reached number 3 on the Billboard 200.

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No Rush at all? :o

Maybe they may have had a smidgen of a chance that one summer that Moving Pictures was hot. Otherwise, no.

I believe Moving Pictures reached number 3 on the Billboard 200.

That doesn't mean you were #1 in sales any given month. Didn't CP and CA hit #2?

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No Rush at all? :o

Maybe they may have had a smidgen of a chance that one summer that Moving Pictures was hot. Otherwise, no.

I believe Moving Pictures reached number 3 on the Billboard 200.

That doesn't mean you were #1 in sales any given month. Didn't CP and CA hit #2?

I know. The smidgen of a chance was reaching #3. And # 2 twice.

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I didn't see Dark Side of the Moon on their either, which is amazing since it was on the charts for so long and sold so many copies. I wonder if it's the highest grossing album to never reach #1.

 

I must have missed it, according to wikipedia it was #1 for one week:

 

https://en.wikipedia..._the_Moon#Sales

It's there, nestled between Billion Dollar Babies and Aloha from Hawaii: Via Satellite.

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