BOOH (474 wks) vs Rumours (477 wks)
 

Hi!

Was just looking up Meat Loaf in the Guiness book of (UK) Hit singles and albums, where Bat Out Of Hell is listed to have spent 474 weeks on the album chart. I then checked to see if any album could beat this, and Fleetwood Mac's Rumours, does by just 3 weeks!!!

It would be nice if Bat could chart for just 4 more weeks to hold the record. Maybe with the realese of Bat III, Bat I might re-enter?

Any thoughts?
Ross

From what I remember Rumours and Bat seem to alternate who holds this particular record (didn't the Sound Of Music Soundtrack hold it as well for a while?). Bat I Often enters the charts regardless of what's going on, it seems to be a consistent seller, which on quieter weeks when there aren't many new albums recently released results in Bat climbing back into the quotable region of the charts.

PS ... welcome to the board Ross!

Don't forget Rumours has been out 10 years longer!! Not only that but when Bat3 is released I'm sure that will pull Bat1 and Bat2 back into the charts. Just like Bat2 pulled Bat1 back in the charts for over a year!

The Sound of Music holds 381 weeks, so both albums are a good bit ahead of that. (as of the end of 2003, but I don't see it recharting any time soon.) The next closest I could find is Queen's Greatest Hits I which had 450 wks. These figures may have changed in the last year, as the current edition goes to the end of 2004.

Ross

Excellent! Come on Meat!

Ross

Actually, Rumors was released in 1977 as well ... :mrgreen:

unfortunately Queens greatest hits did climb back into the charts late last year. How long they spent there though i don't know. Lets just keep our fingers crossed eh.:D

Yeh.. released on week ending 26th feb 1977. Bat never charted until 11th March 1978 though. Never made it higher than number 9, despite being in the chart for over 9 years.

Ross

I am actually a big fan of queen too... But I think Bat deserves the record more because it's so epic, and it's an album thather that a GH.

The new edition comes out in May, it will be the first fact I check!!!

Ross

:-) the new edition of what? GH or Bat?

If I am correct. Bat 1 sells something like 14,000 copies a week. Which is amazing. I wonder when it will reach the 40 million mark. It can't be far off. The last I heard it had sold 36 million copies worldwide, but that was ages ago. Does anyone know what it's at now?

Sorry, The Guiness Chart book. The new edition will be out in May, so then I can check any changes from 2005.


It seems hard to track down a reliable figure, but searching seems to show a lot of 30 and 35 million estimates. One bio said 45 mi, which seems highly exaggerated.. Here is the top 12 according to Guiness, beggining with this note:

Accepting that it is notoriously difficult to pin down accurate figures for album sales worldwide, we still think it is worth printing here the results of our research from figures we have collected over the years. The results may be hotly disputed but are nonetheless fascinating, dominated as they are by the largest record-buying market on earth, the US.

Thriller - Michael Jackson - 47 million *
Greatest Hits 71-75 - Eagles - 31 million
Saturday Night Fever - Soundtrack - 30 Million
Come On Over - Shania Twain - 30 Million
Jagged Little Pill - Alanis Morissete - 29 Million
Led Zeppelin IV - 26 Million
Bat Out Of Hell - Meat Loaf - 24 Million
Dark Side Of The Moon - Pink Floyd - 23 Million
1 - Beatles - 23 Million
Hotel California - Eagles - 23 Million
Back In Black - AC/AD - 23 Million

*47 to 51.2 Million depending on sources used.

Madonna's True Blue is another real contender for our top 12, with estimates varying between 17 and 25 million.

23 million - Slightly more conservative that the estimates on the internet.

Who knows? So It will be kind of impossible to know exactly when it hits 30/35/40 or whatever the actual next milestone is.

Ross

AC/AD :shock: who the hell are they? :lmao:

I'd have expected to see Abba's Gold up there and I'm surprised to see Saturday Night Fever and Dark Side of the Moon, I guess some people just don't have any taste :D

Pud :twisted:

I think you will find many members (including me) on this forum actually like Dark Side of the Moon, so I personally think you should show a bit more respect, ie write: you think Dark Side of the Moon is rubbish, instead of " guess some people just don't have any taste".

But even then how could ANYONE ever call something like Dark Side Of The Moon rubbish?

I wouldn't be a fan of Dark side of the moon to be honest, or Michael Jackson's Thriller

I'm very suprised the Joshua Tree isn't in the list :confused: (U2)
It can't be far off. Didn't it get the Best album of all time on VH1, and wasn't Meat and Jim's BOOH number 4?

I think Oasis got no 3 with Wonderwall and Michael Jackson got no 2 with Thriller. I watched the whole countdown. It was good a show.

If I want to say Dark Side Of The Moon is rubbish I will, and if I think anyone who likes it along with Saturday Night Fever don't have any taste, I'll say that also.

Pud :twisted:

This is a wrong estimation of bat sales, because in the new version of guiness they actually said bat has sold OVER 30,000,000 copies.

"I think Dark Side of the Moon is rubbish"

*Eats*

What does *Eats* mean?

Nothing to be honest with you, its just my bizarre sense of humour really.

Whoops.

Yeah I remember watching that. Didn't the presenter really criticise BOOH when he announced it? Like "I can't believe you voted for this" or words to that effect. Do You mean Whats The Story Morning Glory, because Wonderwall isn't an Oasis album, just a single.

Yep - the Year ending 2003 edition, which the above stats come from, says "His album BOOH has sold more than 25 mil copies," in Meat's mini-bio. (Despite the above table from the same edition saying 23 mil.) However the year ending 2004 edition, does as you say, change that to 30 million. Which suggests the figure is higher than they previously thought, but also goes to show how impossible it is to find a real reliable figure.


I have never listened to Dark Side Of The Moon. Methinks I should have a listen to see what all the arguing is about.


Ross

I'd definately recomend it, either that or The Wall. The Wall especially if you like your music with a theatrical edge to it.

Pink Floyd are good and Dark side of the moon isn't as bad as i said it was. I'm just not into that kind of Psychedelic music.