CSPC: Fleetwood Mac Popularity Analysis

[AncientQueen]

I post it here because the band had the biggest success in the Rumours-era. It's over 30 pages with tons of statistics and quite interesting.

http://chartmasters.org/2016/10/cspc-fleetwood-mac-popularity-analysis/

this is the first page:
Fleetwood Mac may not be as universally well-known as the Beatles, ABBA or even Police. They did get a couple of things none of those bands never had.

The first achievement they managed is a super mega blockbuster album like Rumours is. Just think in the US this album sold as much as Beatles smashes Abbey Road and Revolver combined. Resuming the band to Rumours would be a huge mistake yet. One argument Fleetwood Mac can claim more than any other group in music history is the capacity to successfully comeback.

During late 60s, they had a string of hits in their native UK, hitting #1 with Albatross. They achieved a decent success in European continent as well. After tough years, they realized a breakthrough as impressive as unexpected with their 1975 eponymous LP in the US. In 1977, they dropped Rumours, possibly the second most successful album ever in English-speaking countries. After back to back flops, 1987 record Tango In The Night was massive. Disappearing from the map again, 1997 live album The Dance was huge and even their 2003 effort was a very good seller compared to its predecessor. Currently recording a new album, their history show it can bomb as well as it can smash. In the meantime, we will be checking really how big or weak the band discography is.

As a reminder for users who are not yet familiar with the CSPC idea you do not need to worry, it is quite simple as it only consists in merging every format sales an artist has been getting and attributing them to respective studio albums. We will start by focusing on raw data, setting how much each Fleetwood Mac album sold. Then, we will check sales of each track from those albums on each format – physical, digital and streaming – and weight them to value those figures on a par with album sales. To complete the study, we will study sales of the all compilations, live albums and music videos they dropped. Once all the raw data is set, we will only need to apply appropriate weighting to get the overall picture of the classic rock band career results.

[James89]

They've sold over 140 million albums. Wow. Can someone please find a way of changing it from 100 million on Wikipedia without it being changed? I don't really know how to do it but use the link as a reference.

[shackin'up]

I post it here because the band had the biggest success in the Rumours-era. It's over 30 pages with tons of statistics and quite interesting.

:

Thanks for the link. It it quite interesting. I enjoyed scrolling through it, although sales do not interest me at all, it is quite revealing.
And with some really shocking numbers. Also in the Pre-Rumours era.

[jbrownsjr]

Interesting that BTM sold 2.7 Mil and SYW sold 1.6 Mil

[jbrownsjr]

Original Album Sales – Comments

1968 Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac – 1,600,000
1968 Mr. Wonderful – 1,100,000
1969 Then Play On – 2,000,000
1970 Kiln House – 800,000
1971 Future Games – 800,000
1972 Bare Trees – 1,850,000
1973 Penguin – 700,000
1973 Mystery To Me – 1,600,000
1974 Heroes Are Hard To Find – 1,300,000
1975 Fleetwood Mac – 9,400,000
1977 Rumours – 35,500,000
1979 Tusk – 6,600,000
1982 Mirage – 5,500,000
1987 Tango In The Night – 11,300,000
1990 Behind The Mask – 2,750,000
1995 Time – 150,000
2003 Say You Will – 1,600,000

[jbrownsjr]

Then Play On, Bare Trees, MTM and Heroes selling as much or more than SYW.

[mylittledemon]

Interesting that BTM sold 2.7 Mil and SYW sold 1.6 Mil

The sales of BTM surprise me, but I also don't think it's a bad record.

[iamnotafraid]

They've sold over 140 million albums. Wow.


I don't believe it.

[BombaySapphire3]

Original Album Sales


1979 Tusk – 6,600,000
1982 Mirage – 5,500,000


Tusk and Mirage are flops:shrug:They may be the lowest selling of the big five's studio albums but 12 million albums sold is nothing to sneeze at.

[Wdm6789]

Tusk and Mirage are flops:shrug:They may be the lowest selling of the big five's studio albums but 12 million albums sold is nothing to sneeze at.



Mirage was #1 for seven weeks on the billboard chart in 1982. Tusk and Tango didn't make it to #1. Fleetwood Mac, Rumours, and Mirage made it to #1.

[SteveMacD]

Then Play On, Bare Trees, MTM and Heroes selling as much or more than SYW.
That makes sense, though. They've been out much longer, they enjoyed a major bump in sales during the heyday, and they've enjoyed being rereleased on new media over the years. SYW was primarily a CD-only release in an era where people largely don't buy albums.

[bwboy]

Mirage was #1 for seven weeks on the billboard chart in 1982. Tusk and Tango didn't make it to #1. Fleetwood Mac, Rumours, and Mirage made it to #1.

I think sales are probably more important than ranking. I mean, a #1 album is nice, but anyone would rather sell 11 million copies vs 5 million.

I'm shocked Tango sold 11 million- wow! Of course there will be a Deluxe Edition of Tango!

Happy to see Behind the Mask also sold better than what I thought.

Any sales reports for Live, Greatest Hits, the Chain box set, the Dance, or Very Best?

[jbrownsjr]

I don't believe it.

Ask Rusty;)

[lbfan]

Any sales reports for Live, Greatest Hits, the Chain box set, the Dance, or Very Best?


Live 2,200,000
The Dance 7,400,000
Greatest Hits 19,300,000
25 Years The Chain Box Set 650,000
The Very Best of FM 6,100,000

[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

[jbrownsjr]

Wow, Christine really racked up on Tango. Little Lies was Everywhere.. and Everywhere was everywhere.. Wish they had a real MTV video. LB was probably gone by then and that's why they did the generic one.

I do remember Hold Me during the Mirage period. They played the sh*** out of that. Gypsy, too.

[jbrownsjr]

Other singles

Black Magic Woman – 50,000
Need Your Love So Bad – 200,000
Albatross – 1,200,000
Man Of The World – 400,000
Oh Well – 1,400,000
The Green Manalashi – 300,000
Fireflies – 200,000
As Long As You Follow – 300,000
Love Shines – 50,000
Remaining Singles – 200,000

[FuzzyPlum]

Wow, Christine really racked up on Tango. Little Lies was Everywhere.. and Everywhere was everywhere.. Wish they had a real MTV video. LB was probably gone by then and that's why they did the generic one.

I do remember Hold Me during the Mirage period. They played the sh*** out of that. Gypsy, too.


Still to this day absolutely perplexed as to why Gypsy was such a relative flop as a single. Half the sales of Hold Me. It had everything- great song, lovely lyrics, evocative video. 900,000 copies. Not to be sniffed at but nowhere near what it should have been shifting. Odd.

[jbrownsjr]

Still to this day absolutely perplexed as to why Gypsy was such a relative flop as a single. Half the sales of Hold Me. It had everything- great song, lovely lyrics, evocative video. 900,000 copies. Not to be sniffed at but nowhere near what it should have been shifting. Odd.

And yet we still hear it on the radio. Hold Me keeps popping up in my life, lately.

I was in Vegas and I heard it in the Casino last week.

[aleuzzi]

I had no idea TIME was such a thorough bomb! I always knew it was their weakest seller, but wow...

[bwboy]

Live 2,200,000
The Dance 7,400,000
Greatest Hits 19,300,000
25 Years The Chain Box Set 650,000
The Very Best of FM 6,100,000

Wow- don't take this the wrong way, but are you sure the Greatest Hits album sold over 19 million copies? That just seems unbelievable to me!

[FuzzyPlum]

Wow- don't take this the wrong way, but are you sure the Greatest Hits album sold over 19 million copies? That just seems unbelievable to me!

Nope, I can well believe it. There seems to be a copy on every jukebox in every pub I've ever been in. There's 10 copies at every car boot sale I've been to. It sold a lot.

[lbfan]

Wow- don't take this the wrong way, but are you sure the Greatest Hits album sold over 19 million copies? That just seems unbelievable to me!

No offense taken. Surprised me as well. I don't know the source of the information. It is labeled album sales worldwide. Could be a combination of CD sales, digital downloads and streaming. The information is on page 30 of the link.

[sorcerer999]

It makes total sense that the "GH" album has sold that much. The population of "casual music fans" and "non music buyers" far exceeds that of music aficionados and fanatics.

A greatest hits CD (cassette, or vinyl) appeals to those people who only have to buy the CD ONE TIME to own all the radio hits that they are most familiar with in regards to a particular artist. They don't care about the individual albums. They don't care about the "deep cuts" that were never played on the radio. It's all about spending as little money as they can on as many popular and familiar things.

[jbrownsjr]

Wow- don't take this the wrong way, but are you sure the Greatest Hits album sold over 19 million copies? That just seems unbelievable to me!

I believe it. It was on the charts forever. And then it re-entered the charts when they toured. It was huge.

[shackin'up]

Other singles

Black Magic Woman – 50,000
Need Your Love So Bad – 200,000
Albatross – 1,200,000
Man Of The World – 400,000
Oh Well – 1,400,000
The Green Manalashi – 300,000
Fireflies – 200,000
As Long As You Follow – 300,000
Love Shines – 50,000
Remaining Singles – 200,000

Oh Well and Go Your Own Way were Fleetwood Macs #1 hits in the Netherlands.

[jbrownsjr]

Oh Well and Go Your Own Way were Fleetwood Macs #1 hits in the Netherlands.

But... but... but.. what about Dreams??? lol

[HomerMcvie]

But... but... but.. what about Dreams??? lol

It was a #1 hit in the nether regions.

[jbrownsjr]

It was a #1 hit in the nether regions.

You're just a Sentinmental Lady

[shackin'up]

You're just a Sentinmental Lady

Haha. Dreams reached #8 over here. Don't Stop #5

[shackin'up]

SINGLES:


Go Your Own Way – 1,300,000

Tusk – 1,900,000
Sara – 1,500,000




This shocks me.

[HomerMcvie]

You're just a Sentinmental Lady14 joys and a will to be Mary.

[BombaySapphire3]

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]

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]

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]

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! :laugh: 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.