CSPC: Fleetwood Mac Popularity Analysis

[shackin'up]

Originally Posted by jbrownsjr

SINGLES:


Go Your Own Way – 1,300,000

Tusk – 1,900,000
Sara – 1,500,000

This shocks me.

[HomerMcvie]

Originally Posted by jbrownsjr

You're just a Sentinmental Lady

14 joys and a will to be Mary.

[BombaySapphire3]

Originally Posted by shackin'up

This shocks me.

These are worldwide totals ..Tusk was a bigger hit in the UK and down under than it was in the US. Sara and Go Your Own Way not so much.

[Jondalar]

Originally Posted by jbrownsjr

SINGLES:

Over My Head – 700,000
Rhiannon – 900,000
Say You Love Me – 900,000
Landslide – 200,000

Go Your Own Way – 1,300,000
Don’t Stop – 1,600,000
Dreams – 2,100,000
You Make Loving Fun – 900,000

Tusk – 1,900,000
Sara – 1,500,000
Think About Me – 800,000
Sisters Of The Moon – 200,000

Hold Me – 1,700,000
Gypsy – 900,000
Love In Store – 500,000
Oh Diane – 250,000
Can’t Go Back – 25,000

Big Love – 1,300,000
Seven Wonders – 700,000
Little Lies – 1,600,000
Family Man – 200,000
Everywhere – 1,000,000
Isn’t It Midnight – 50,000

Save Me – 400,000
In The Back Of My Mind – 50,000

Peacekeeper – 80,000

This is wrong. Landslide is there biggest song. It's the only song certified platinum. Dreams is certified gold.

[BombaySapphire3]

Originally Posted by Jondalar

This is wrong. Landslide is there biggest song. It's the only song certified platinum. Dreams is certified gold.

These are physical copies.Landslide is platinum as a digital download.

[jbrownsjr]

Originally Posted by BombaySapphire3

These are physical copies.Landslide is platinum as a digital download.

correct..........

[Hawkeye]

First of all, like many have said I do not care about sales or what is most popular one bit, but there was a lot of eye opening statistics from that data. As a lover of stats thank you so much for posting this Ancient Queen. Including streaming and iTunes stats along side initial single sales at the time of release was my favorite aspect of all this. I'm gonna go thru what I felt was most eye opening:

1. The Stevie owns the only #1 song argument should never be used again. This data clearly shows while clearly in the top 5 every way you slice it, over time it's proven not to be their number 1 most popular song. Now this isn't that of news. We as fans have always thought this but now there are numbers.

2. Everywhere was maybe the biggest single revelation to me. I always kind of considered this a very forgettable hit that was only popular at the time of tangos release and wasn't very relevant now. Also thought it would be an easy choice to drop in a future set. But in terms of popularity Everywhere is matched only by GYOW, Dreams and Landslide.

3. Piggy backing on number 2, Christine's 2 Tango songs are her clear top 2 most popular songs even beating out Don't Stop. I always considered YMLF and SYLM here more signature songs but neither top her tango songs in either initial single sales and especially not in current streaming or digital downloads. I'm really baffled at the lack of success on those 2 songs (still very successful just relatively speaking)

4. Gold Dust Woman- probably my biggest shocker next to Everywhere but for the opposite reason. I always put Gold Dust Woman in the same league as Landslide and The Chain, non singles that should be considered equal to the charting hits. I'll bring I'm so Afraid in on this too. I consider those 2 songs to be without question the best 2 live songs by fleetwood Mac in the 21st century. They are always show stopping live. But neither of those centerpieces of the fleetwood Mac live show really move the needle with popularity. And in Gold Dust woman's case I feel it gets equal radio play to any other fleetwood Mac song on classic rock radio. But it's the lowest streamed song on Rumours other then oh daddy and I don't want to know. This song is not on par with dreams Rhiannon and landslide as I once thought

5. Rumours- I pray that no one in the band or associated with the band ever encounters these numbers because these numbers only intensify and cement how disproportional rumours was sales wise to every other thing released by the band. Total album sales/ the singles within the album/ digital sales/ streaming. The album kicks ass every way possible. In terms of their legacy versus other bands this is pleasing news. As a bigger fan of the band beyond the rumours album it's not pleasing news.

6. Never Going Back Again- this is another song along with Everywhere I always felt should be dropped from Mac sets since they really weren't popular enough to enjoy that cemented in the set status. Again I'm wrong and it turns out next to the 4 singles and the chain it's the most popular song on rumours. And in some specific streaming lists it's only below the chain dreams and go your way. And it blows away gold dust woman (so mind blowing this had to get mentioned twice)

7. Hold Me- finally an unpopular opinion "I've" always had that is now justified by numbers. That unpopular opinion- Hold Me ain't s**t! at least not anymore. While it was Christine's best selling single ever upon release at least, it is one of the lowest songs with iTunes sales and streaming. In fact the lowest 2 songs on rumours oh daddy and I don't want to know have equivalent streams to Hold Me.

8. I started this out by pointing out we need to give up the Stevie having the only number one song argument, we also need to give up the Christine's pure dominance in the hit department. I think these figures show a much more 3 way balance in hit making. Christine absolutely still holds the lead, but it's not the landslide people always make it out to be. Especially since I consider longevity of their songs to be the main factor. Lindsey has the real number 1 song in go your own way. Stevie has 3 absolute juggernauts in Landslide Dreams and Rhiannon. Chris has 3 juggernauts in everywhere little lies and Don't Stop. The Chain is also in this category.
Then honestly I'd say Tusk,Big love, Gypsy, Sara, YMLF, Seven Wonders and Never Going Back Again all seem pretty even to me in my unscientific combining of initial sales with current popularity. Seven wonders is a little weird to list here and maybe this is solely because of AHS but based on numbers it hangs with the rest of those songs.
Then it's everything left on rumours Say You Love Me Over My Head and Hold Me. Sorry but those last 3 Christine hits are just not truly as relevevant anymore popularity wise.
Christine still wins for sure just not as definitively.

9. Why the F**K are the bob welch albums not available for streaming!!! This is my 9th point but maybe the one I feel strongest about. From a personal standpoint I want to be able to listen to them on spotify, but also feel their sales justify it! Bare trees and mystery to me especially had legit sales. I bet at the very least Why and Hypnotised would be amongst their most popular songs if they were digital.

10. Tusk and Mirage- I'm sick of articles and some fans pointing to Mirage as some sort of improvement over Tusk in the sales department. So mirage went to #1, Tusk has still outsold mirage by a decent amount. And Tusk/Sara beat hold me/gypsy. And while it's the most pathetic of match ups Think about me/sisters beat love in store/oh Diane. And while it's preaching to the choir here, even the general public give a bit more love to the album tracks on tusk vs mirage.


That's all I can think of for now, I'll add more if I think of them later.

[bwboy]

I've thrown out the "Stevie's had the only #1 single" line a few times, but as a reaction to other people talking smack about her. It seems like the band should have had other #1 hits, while it shocks me that Rhiannon, Over My Head, and Gypsy didn't hit the top ten.

I agree with quite a bit of your assessment. I feel in terms of airplay NOW, some of their most popular songs are the singles from Rumours, along with (in order of their appearance), Rhiannon, Tusk, Sara, Gypsy, Little Lies, and Everywhere. On a rare occasion I'll hear Over My Head and Landslide. However, I can't tell you the last time I heard Big Love, Seven Wonders, Say You Love me, or Hold Me on the radio. Could be geography or the radio format here.