Most selling progressive artists?
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Category: Progressive Music Lounges
Forum Name: Top 10s and lists
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URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=76214
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Topic: Most selling progressive artists?
Posted By: Jarvig
Subject: Most selling progressive artists?
Date Posted: February 25 2011 at 03:33
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Hey all I have a question. Does anybody have an alright list of how many albums different prog artists have sold? Besides an actual interest in the subject, then I have a point. Pink Floyd is clearly the most selling prog artist ever. If we put aside prog-related and proto-prog subgenres and only look at "real" prog subgenres, then who comes close to the sales of Pink Floyd?
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Replies:
Posted By: Rush77
Date Posted: February 25 2011 at 04:55
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Jethro Tull has sold over 60 million albums worldwide Yes has over 30 million albums sold Genesis has over 150 albums sold Rush have over 40 million albums sold and Pink Floyd has 200 millions albums sold so Genesis comes close |
Posted By: irrelevant
Date Posted: February 25 2011 at 05:00
------------- https://gabebuller.bandcamp.com/" rel="nofollow - New album! http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=7385" rel="nofollow - http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=7385 |
Rush77 wrote:Posted By: Nathaniel607
Date Posted: February 25 2011 at 05:53
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One to add... The Moody Blues have sold over 70 million albums worldwide. ------------- http://www.last.fm/user/Nathaniel607" rel="nofollow - My Last FM Profile 
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Posted By: livinginthepast
Date Posted: February 25 2011 at 05:57
millions? Genesis is 2nd best :) Pink Floyd's first.
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Posted By: Run Home Slow
Date Posted: February 25 2011 at 07:09
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Genesis, right, but after Gabriel left they started making money, and that was not good :-)
------------- If you got ears, you gotta listen — Captain Beefheart |
Posted By: MAD
Date Posted: February 25 2011 at 07:10
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Hoya! Except that Genesis quit making Prog at the beginning of the 80s. When it went Pop, the band sold far more than during their pure Prog period, which is not surprising considering that Prog is not easy-listening ;-) Be funky M A D ------------- Music is the Best! http://www.lastfm.fr/user/-MAD-/?chartstyle=MADsStle"> 
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Posted By: Luna
Date Posted: February 25 2011 at 07:41
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Genesis
------------- https://aprilmaymarch.bandcamp.com/track/the-badger" rel="nofollow"> 
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Posted By: TLM170
Date Posted: February 25 2011 at 08:24
you can say the same about Yes!
someone knows king crimson sales?
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Posted By: BlindGuard
Date Posted: February 25 2011 at 08:27
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Rick Wakeman(Solo) sold about 50 Million albums
------------- http://www.last.fm/user/Shelef/?chartstyle=lastfmplain" rel="nofollow"> 
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Posted By: zravkapt
Date Posted: February 25 2011 at 08:35
| Re: King Crimson, ITCOTKC went gold years after it was released. Their other albums don't even come close in sales. |
Posted By: The Dark Elf
Date Posted: February 25 2011 at 09:46
That's wishful thinking if ever there was! Wakeman solo career combined with the Yes catalog didn't sell 50 million albums. ------------- ...a vigorous circular motion hitherto unknown to the people of this area, but destined to take the place of the mud shark in your mythology... |
Posted By: Junges
Date Posted: February 25 2011 at 10:35
| How about ELP? |
Posted By: stonebeard
Date Posted: February 25 2011 at 10:39
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Pink Floyd. Not counting the completely different band Genesis was in the 80s, with huge pop hits and all I'd say Yes might be the next closest selling (supposing we only count each's 60s-70s output for fairness.)
------------- http://soundcloud.com/drewagler" rel="nofollow - My soundcloud. Please give feedback if you want! |
Posted By: Morningrise
Date Posted: February 25 2011 at 10:45
More or less ten copies sold for each of the million albums he has released.
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Posted By: Icarium
Date Posted: February 25 2011 at 18:00
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Queen and Led Zeppelin (prog related bands have sold between 200 and 300 million albums)
and like the above, Pink Floyd is not just an important prog band they are one of the leading bands in the rock scene, to me Floyd is not just a big prog band they are one of the great musical forces in histoiry of music, who can sitt in the same room as Elivs, Beatles, Michael Jackson and such proudly, -------------  
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Posted By: Curutchet
Date Posted: February 26 2011 at 04:59
| I heard that Rick Wakeman's sales are closer to 80 million. No wonder, he released 100 albums (my uncle, who is a Yes fan, has atleast 5 Wakeman albums... so apparently, every Yes fan kept buying Wakeman albums, which explains the 80 mil), and The Six Wives of Henry VIII reached 15 millions sales. |
Posted By: MAD
Date Posted: February 26 2011 at 06:49
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@TLM170 Indeed! But, if I remember correctly, Genesis were more often in the charts when it turned Pop than Yes, at least in France. ------------- Music is the Best! http://www.lastfm.fr/user/-MAD-/?chartstyle=MADsStle">
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Posted By: thehallway
Date Posted: February 26 2011 at 08:27
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Where are you getting your 'statistics' from?
Come on guys, cite your sources. ------------- http://www.thefreshfilmblog.com/" rel="nofollow"> 
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Posted By: let prog reign
Date Posted: February 26 2011 at 09:50
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The question is how many albums did genesis sell if you take out Duke, Abacab, Genesis, invisible touch, and we can't dance?
------------- Once upon a time there was some writing on the wall we all ignored, until the time that there was war and feasts of famine at our door |
Posted By: The Dark Elf
Date Posted: February 26 2011 at 11:00
With Genesis, one only needs to follow their hit singles to see where their album sales were. This formula would be termed The Trick of the Trail (sorry for the pun). All this info can be accessed via the Genesis Discography Wiki
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genesis_discography" rel="nofollow - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genesis_discography :
The first top 40 hit in the US and top 10 in the UK was "Follow You, Follow Me" off of And Then There Were Three (after Gabriel and Hackett left).
The next album, Duke, was the first album to go platinum in the same year it was released (1980). Duke had two singles, "Misunderstanding" and "Turn It On Again" that did well in the US and UK charts. It is interesting to note that of albums prior to Duke, only one, And Then There Were Three, eventually reached platinum status in the US. No album with Hackett or Gabriel achieved higher than gold status anywhere in the world.
Duke was followed in succession by four consecutive multi-platinum albums: Abacab, Genesis, Invisible Touch and We Can't Dance (sales-wise, Invisible Touch was the highest grossing in sales, followed by We Can't Dance), and many hit singles that I am too lazy to type out here.
So, to be honest, the further Genesis strayed from Prog-Rock, the better they did in album sales. ------------- ...a vigorous circular motion hitherto unknown to the people of this area, but destined to take the place of the mud shark in your mythology... |
Posted By: BarryGlibb
Date Posted: February 27 2011 at 00:13
In 1984 I remember reading that Tull had sold over 60 million albums worldwide. Yet in 2011 they seemed to have not sold one more album in the 27 years since. I therefore am sceptical on these figures presented. Are these figures based on the vinyl album only or both vinyl and CD formats? I would expect both. Maybe "over 60" million album means "120" million albums! |
Posted By: Steven Brodziak
Date Posted: February 27 2011 at 06:21
------------- Well, there it is. (Amadeus) |
Posted By: Steven Brodziak
Date Posted: February 27 2011 at 06:24
------------- Well, there it is. (Amadeus) |
Posted By: Steven Brodziak
Date Posted: February 27 2011 at 06:27
------------- Well, there it is. (Amadeus) |
Posted By: brainstormer
Date Posted: March 02 2011 at 00:30
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I see you can get info by typing into WIKI how many million albums did Emerson, Lake and Palmer sell? Got 50 million, a quote of 40 million from the 70s. how many million albums did yes sell? doesn't work but: how many million albums did yes sell? lonely heart gets Anderson saying 35 million but didn't check date of interview ------------- -- Robert Pearson Regenerative Music http://www.regenerativemusic.net Telical Books http://www.telicalbooks.com ParaMind Brainstorming Software http://www.paramind.net |
Posted By: SecretTreaties
Date Posted: July 19 2015 at 20:37
| Electric Light Orchestra are listed in Wiki at 50 million. And unlike several of their contemporaries mentioned in this thread, most of their sales were during the 70s. |
Posted By: Ivan_Melgar_M
Date Posted: July 19 2015 at 21:25
Well, lets see 1.- Journey to the Centre of the Earth sold 14 million copies 2.- Six Wives of Henry the VIII sold 15 million Copies 3.- Myths & Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table sold 12 million copies There alone we have 43 million copies Add Criminal Record, No Earthly Connection and like 120 more. Easilly reaches 50 million ------------- 
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Posted By: kenethlevine
Date Posted: July 20 2015 at 08:50
indeed. I remember when it went gold; it was no earlier than 1975, maybe as late as 1977, and I remember the announcer saying that most albums aren't even in print after that many years, let alone going gold. It makes sense that it was so big for so long. As young people discovered prog in the early to mid 1970s, they had to go back to hear one of its sources
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Posted By: Xonty
Date Posted: July 20 2015 at 11:16
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I can't find any specific figures, but: Mike Oldfield (Tubular Bells alone has sold around 25 million) Supertramp (Breakfast In America's done over 20 million) Peter Gabriel (I know "So" has had over 10 million, plus many gold/platinum records for studio's and compilations) Then there's quite a few like Marillion and Yes around 15 million total
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Posted By: terramystic
Date Posted: July 21 2015 at 02:42
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The Beatles - 1 (sold more than million in one week) |
Posted By: terramystic
Date Posted: July 21 2015 at 03:18
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Top selling artists according to RIIA: http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinum.php?content_selector=top-selling-artists" rel="nofollow - http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinum.php?content_selector=top-selling-artists Prog (also proto-prog/prog related) artists on the list: 1. The Beatles 2. Pink Floyd 3. Journey 4. Chicago 5. Queen 6. The Doors 7. Rush 8. Jimi Hendrix 9. Genesis 10. Styx 11. Kansas 12. Black Sabbath 13. Jefferson Airplane 14. Yes 15. ELO 16. Jethro Tull 17. Steely Dan 18. Nine Inch Nails |
Posted By: PrognosticMind
Date Posted: July 21 2015 at 04:04
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Yes has only sold 30 million? I could've sworn it was way more than that. ------------- "A squid eating dough in a polyethylene bag is fast and bulbous. Got me?" |
Posted By: GKR
Date Posted: July 21 2015 at 07:18
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Here in Brazil, any place that sell LP's has something of the 1980's Genesis and Yes. Rick Wakeman and Phill Collins also. Its like a plague. Nice to see JT in a solid #16. ------------- - From each according to his ability, to each according to his need. |
Posted By: Rednight
Date Posted: July 22 2015 at 16:03
Why is this not good? They plied their trade within a free market among existing market forces, just like everyone else. To the victor go the spoils! ------------- "It just has none of the qualities of your work that I find interesting. Abandon [?] it." - Eno |
Posted By: The Dark Elf
Date Posted: July 22 2015 at 17:00
Regarding your capitalist view and playing devil's advocate, one could say Genesis turned from preparing fine dining in several courses to serving McDonalds from a paper bag.  ------------- ...a vigorous circular motion hitherto unknown to the people of this area, but destined to take the place of the mud shark in your mythology... |
Posted By: SteveG
Date Posted: July 22 2015 at 17:15
| I would bet every penny I own on Floyd. No problem. F*&% the statistics. |
Posted By: Rednight
Date Posted: July 22 2015 at 17:20
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^Good one, Elf. By the way, allow me to utilize this juncture to say I recently bought the 2007 double-disc of We Can't Dance because I like the interviews on these editions, and I hate myself for doing so (it was a used copy for only about $7). Included was a documentary about the making of 'Dance where it was divulged that the lads' general practice at the time was to sit around and start riffing off one another in search of a prospective melody, and they looked ridiculous in the video doing it. No wonder it turned out the piece of sh#t that it did. ------------- "It just has none of the qualities of your work that I find interesting. Abandon [?] it." - Eno |
Posted By: Dellinger
Date Posted: July 22 2015 at 21:32
Yeah, but they sold both meals at the same price. |
Posted By: Son.of.Tiresias
Date Posted: July 23 2015 at 01:43
No wonder. Rick has let albums coming like mushroom in rain.
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Posted By: emigre80
Date Posted: July 23 2015 at 07:17
so one was an absolute bargain and the other overpriced. Your personal taste determines which was which.
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Posted By: The Dark Elf
Date Posted: July 23 2015 at 11:06
I would agree with you. Dark Side of the Moon has been granted a permanent seat on the Billboard charts as if it were a seat at a stock exchange. Except, according to many vocal folks here, Floyd is not prog. ------------- ...a vigorous circular motion hitherto unknown to the people of this area, but destined to take the place of the mud shark in your mythology... |
Posted By: Rednight
Date Posted: July 23 2015 at 19:52
Calling Scotland Yard and Alan Greenspan to figure that one out. ------------- "It just has none of the qualities of your work that I find interesting. Abandon [?] it." - Eno |