Bob Dylan :: Charts & Sales History

[Basil]

US Shipments

Key
year of release
year of latest riaa certification
title
riaa shipment
soundscan total since 1991. Courtesy of Hanboo

Studio Albums
1962 none Bob Dylan
1963 1999 Freewheelin' - 1,000,000 - 470,000
1964 1994 The Times They are a Changin' - 500,000
1964 1999 Another Side Of - 500,000
1965 2001 Bringing It All Back Home - 1,000,000 - 480,000 feb 2007
1965 1997 Highway 61 Revisited - 1,000,000 - 812,000 jan 2007
1966 2003 Blonde On Blonde - 2,000,000 - 720,000 feb 2007
1968 2001 John Wesley Harding - 1,000,000
1969 1986 Nashville Skyline - 1,000,000
1970 1970 Self Portrait - 500,000
1970 1970 New Morning - 500,000
1974 1974 Planet Waves - 500,000
1975 1994 Blood on the Tracks - 2,000,000 - 975,000
1976 1999 Desire - 2,000,000
1978 1978 Street Legal - 500,000
1979 1980 Slow Train Coming - 1,000,000
1980 none Saved
1981 none Shot Of Love
1983 1984 Infidels - 500,000
1985 none Empire Burlesque
1986 none Knocked Out Loaded
1988 none Down in the Groove
1989 none Oh Mercy
1990 none Under the Red Sky
1997 1998 Time Out of Mind - 1,000,000 - 868,000
2001 2001 Love and Theft - 500,000 - 400,000
2006 none Modern Times - 1,000,000 - 902,000

Other Albums
1973 1997 Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid - 500,000
1973 1973 Dylan - 500,000
1992 none As Good As I've Been to You - 229,000
1993 none World Gone Wrong

Archive Albums
1975 2000 The Basement Tapes 1967 - 500,000
1985 1992 Biograph - 334,000
1991 1997 Bootleg Series 1,2,3, 1961-1991 - 167,000 - 229,000
1998 2005 Bootleg 4 Manchester 1966 - 250,000
2002 2003 Bootleg 5 Rolling Thunder 1975 - 250,000
2004 none Bootleg 6 Philharmonic 1964 - 122,000
2005 2005 Bootleg 7 No Direction Home - 250,000

Compilations
1967 2001 Greatest Hits - 5,000,000 - 705,000
1971 1997 Greatest Hits Vol 2 - 2,500,000
1994 2000 Greatest Hits Vol 3 - 500,000
2000 2003 The Essential - 500,000 - 737,000

Live Albums
1974 1997 Before the Flood - 1,000,000
1976 1976 A Hard Rain - 500,000
1979 1999 At Budokan - 500,000
1985 none Real Live
1989 1989 Dylan and the Dead - 500,000
1995 2000 Unplugged - 500,000

Other Charting Albums
2005 none Live at the Gaslight 1962

Total Shipments - 32,251,000

Soundscan Total 1991-2006 - 17,225,000

[Basil]

Comment on US/UK Sales

Dylan's studio albums were all Top 10 (US) from 1965 through to 1976. In the UK, the Top 10 run stretched from 1963 to 1983.

He had Six UK Number One albums and 4 US. Strangely, these were all different albums.

The Top 10 run resumed in both the UK and US from 1997 onwards. This trend is completely against the grain for old artists (I believe Dylan is 65) who often struggle to sell records.

In the UK Modern Times hung around the Top 10 eclipsing the latest (and very strong) release by Elton John.

In the US it has done better still. His first Number One since 1976. After only a few weeks it has scanned 525,000. This eclipses Elton again, but also the Rolling Stones latest which has been out for a year with a monster tour in support. By January Modern Times will likely approach 1m scans placing it between Madonna's last 2 studio albums in the US.

Extraordinary sales really when promotion and interviews ( ) are a bit thin on the ground. Seems his fan base is still very interested in buying his new stuff.

His total US album sales are probably in the 40-45m range and perhaps 8-9m in the UK.

Not on The Beatles scale, of course, but he must get a very handsome royalty cheque every quarter.

[Basil]

UK Shipments

Key
original year of release
year of release for start of bpi certification
year of latest BPI certification
title
BPI shipment
Auto Update BPI shipment 1994=2013 (pre-1980 awards based on sales value in £'s)

Studio Albums
1962 1989 2013 Bob Dylan 60,000
1963 2004 2013 Freewheelin' 100,000
1964 2005 2013 The Times They are A Changin' 100,000
1964 2004 2013 Another Side Of 60,000
1965 2004 2013 Bringing It All Back Home 100,000
1965 2004 2013 Highway 61 Revisited 100,000
1966 2004 2013 Blonde On Blonde 300,000
1968 1989 2013 John Wesley Harding 100,000
1969 2004 2013 Nashville Skyline 100,000
1970 Self Portrait
1970 New Morning
1974 1973 1974 Planet Waves - £150,000 in value - estimated 80,000 units sold
1975 2004 2013 Blood on the Tracks 300,000
1976 1976 1976 Desire - £250,000 in value - estimated 125,000 units sold
1978 1978 1979 Street Legal - 300,000
1979 1979 1979 Slow Train Coming - 100,000
1980 1980 1980 Saved - 60,000
1981 1981 1981 Shot Of Love - 60,000
1983 1983 1983 Infidels - 60,000
1985 Empire Burlesque
1986 Knocked Out Loaded
1988 Down in the Groove
1989 1989 1989 Oh Mercy - 100,000
1990 1990 1990 Under the Red Sky - 60,000
1997 1997 1998 Time Out of Mind - 100,000
2001 2004 2013 Love and Theft 100,000
2006 2006 2013 Modern Times 300,000
2009 2009 2013 Together Trhough Life 100,000
2012 2012 2013 Tempest 60,000

Other Albums
1973 Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid
1973 2007 2013 Dylan 100,000
1992 Good As I've Been To You
1993 World Gone Wrong
2009 Christmas in the Heart

Archive Releases
1975 1975 1977 The Basement Tapes - £300,000 in value - estimated 150,000 units sold
1985 2011 2013 Biograph 60,000
1991 2010 2013 Bootleg Series 1,2,3. 60,000
1998 1998 2013 Bootleg 4 60,000
2002 Bootleg 5
2004 Bootleg 6
2005 2005 2013 Bootleg 7 60,000
2008 Bootleg 8
2009 Bootleg 9
2013 Bootleg 10

Compilations
1967 1997 2013 Greatest Hits 300,000
1971 none Greatest Hits Vol 2
1994 none Greatest Hits Vol 3
1997 1997 2013 The Best Of Vol 1 300,000
2000 none The Best Of Vol 2
2000 2004 2004 The Essential - 300,000
2009 2009 2013 The Collection 100,000

Live Albums
1974 1974 1974 Before the Flood - £150,000 in value - estimated 80,000 units sold
1976 1976 1977 A Hard Rain - £300,000 in value - estimated 150,000 units sold
1979 1979 1979 At Budokan - 100,000
1985 Real Live
1989 Dylan and the Dead
1995 1995 2013 Unplugged 100,000

Other Releases
200? none Live 1961-2000

The usual BPI stuff. You can see by the dates that nearly all certs are immediate and so essentially just the first shipments of each album. There are just no updates.

All 6 UK Number One albums from 1963 to 1970 are excluded.

If we didn't have the Musicweek EOY sales 1984-2005 we would be really in the dark about UK sales for all artists.

For Dylan, his total shop sales 1984-2005 were 2,451,000 - and this with loads of years missing.

All his studio albums from 1963 to 1983 were Top 10 and sales for all these are missing.

[Basil]

Comment on Sales Patterns

Dylan's work seems to be received rather differently comparing the UK and US.

The UK Number Ones occured 1963-1970. The US ones were 1974-1976 (and 2006).

Street Legal is his only studio album to go Platinum in the UK - better than Blood on the Tracks and Desire. In the US these albums were Double Platinum and Street Legal only Gold.

Oh Mercy returned Dylan to the UK Top 10, but is not even certified in the US.

Biograph didn't even chart in the UK.

Lots more examples you can see in the 2 lists above.

Some UK Sales 1984-2005

1984 - unknown - less than 92,000 (Real Live released)
1985 - sold 168,000 (Empire Burlesque released)
1986 - unknown - less than 103,000 (Knocked Out Loaded released)
1987 - unknown - less than 128,000
1988 - unknown - less than 158,000 (Greatest Hits 3 and Down in the Groove released)
1989 - sold 217,000 (Oh Mercy and Dylan&Dead released)

1990-1992 - unknown (Under the Red Sky, Bootleg 1/2/3 and Good As I've Been to You released)

1993 - sold 153,000 (World Gone Wrong released)
1994 - unknown - less than 130,000
1995 - unknown - less than 120,000 (Unplugged released)
1996 - unknown - less than 180,000
1997 - sold 240,000 (Best Of and Time Out of Mind released)
1998 - sold 200,000 (Bootleg 4 released)
1999 - sold 165,000
2000 - sold 201,000 (Best of Vol 2 released)
2001 - sold 570,000 (Essential and Love & Theft released)
2002 - unknown - less than 400,000 (Bootleg 5 released)
2003 - unknown - less than 431,000
2004 - unknown - less than 430,000 (Bootleg 6 released)
2005 - sold 470,000 (Bootleg 7 released)

[davez]

Interesting keep it coming.

He looks like a consistent seller.

[teenwildlife]

Blonde on Blonde is a double album so 1,000,000 US shipment.

[Robbie]

I've often wondered how much his albums do sell in the UK. I've followed music and the charts since the 70s and I think Dylan has a steady but unspectacular following (in terms of fans who buy his albums). None of his albums since I began following music have been spectacular sellers but they do sell a steady amount. I don't think Street Legal has sold 300,000 copies, rather it is probably certified under the last of the old monetary values certification system. It did have his biggest hit single for years on it though.

[Basil]

Blonde on Blonde is a double album so 1,000,000 US shipment.

About a year ago we sorted the certs for all double albums which I seem to remember took forever. Edu was very instrumental in achieving this.

See

https://www.ukmix.org/forums/viewtopic.p ... 47&start=0

I'm afraid it is over Pages 1, 2 and 3 of this thread.

But it does cover all double albums which were certified and how we did it.

The intention was to have a resource for the whole forum when anyone wanted to calculate sales which involved multi-disc sets.

With all those albums there may well still be errors.

Take a look and see what you think.

[Basil]

I've often wondered how much his albums do sell in the UK. I've followed music and the charts since the 70s and I think Dylan has a steady but unspectacular following (in terms of fans who buy his albums). None of his albums since I began following music have been spectacular sellers but they do sell a steady amount.

But I think most the bpi certs are just for initial shipments - often with the album still on the chart - with no updates.

Many of his 60's and 70's albums with 40 and 30 years of catalogue sales could well be in the 200 to 400,000 range, with a few being even more.

Sales for 80's albums were a real slump.

The glaring difference between the UK and US is that the US arm of his record company has regularly updated his catalogue so we can see comparative sales of his 60's and 70's stuff - which seems to vary from 500,000 to 2m.

I don't think Street Legal has sold 300,000 copies, rather it is probably certified under the last of the old monetary values certification system. It did have his biggest hit single for years on it though.

Even if it had a monetary cert, actual sales can't have been too far off 300k in 1979. In the 27 years since it is very likely to have made up any difference and reached that 300k mark.

I would also suspect that Blood on the Tracks and Desire have sold better on catalogue than Street Legal and made up some of the sales gap. How much I couldn't even guess, though - there is simply no information to even make an estimate. :(

[Popspops]

mediatraffic

#10 MT 114k (-5) Total 1,351k

[NothingFails]

I believe scans posted for Love And Theft and Greatest Hits are both extremely low. Love And Theft sold 700-800k easily, it came out the same date as Mariah's Glitter and charted higher than it for the entire chart run, and lasted longer. And I believe Greatest Hits has scanned enough to make Dane's Catalog list.

[Basil]

mediatraffic

#10 MT 114k (-5) Total 1,351k

Thanks Popspops.

[Basil]

I believe scans posted for Love And Theft and Greatest Hits are both extremely low. Love And Theft sold 700-800k easily, it came out the same date as Mariah's Glitter and charted higher than it for the entire chart run, and lasted longer. And I believe Greatest Hits has scanned enough to make Dane's Catalog list.

The figures I have are from Sep 2005, so a little old.

Would welcome any update on Dylan's s/scan figures - a bit thin on the ground at present.

[Basil]

3 new soundscan figures added to the very first post.

Blood on the Tracks is 975k so should get on Dane's million selling (s/scan) catalogue list next year.

The 1963 album Freewheelin' has scanned 470k. Effectively a Gold album since 1991.

Modern Times is now past 658k and, with Christmas sales, should end up being a Platinum album.

Not many people who qualify for a bus pass seem to be selling albums like this. The latest Elton John album has only scanned 112k, and the 2005 Stones latest has only reached 515k - this following a mega year long tour.

[CaptainAhab]

Interesting thread Basil, thanks for your work.

[Basil]

First post updated with Modern Times going Platinum (884k scanned) and Dylan selling an astonishing 1,733,000 albums in 2006.

Must be the best selling guy with a bus-pass.

[borderwolf]

Thanks Basil for updates!

[borderwolf]

Nederland

year of latest certification
title
nvpi shipment


1978 - Greatest Hits - 70.000 1xplatinum
1978 - Desire - 70.000 1xplatinum
2006 - Modern Times - 35.000 1xgold

[borderwolf]

Germany

year of latest certification
title
ifpi shipment

1979 - desire - 250.000 (gold)
1989 - greatest hits - 250.000 (gold)
2006 - no direction home - 25.000 (gold-dvd)

[borderwolf]

austria

year of latest certification
title
ifpi shipment

1990 - ultimate collection - 15.000 (gold)
1990 - greatest hits - 15.000 (gold)
2001 - the best of bob dylan - 15.000 (gold)

[borderwolf]

Swiss
year of latest certification
title
ifpi shipment


1989 - Oh Mercy (CBS) - 25.000 - Gold
1990 - Oh Mercy (Sony) - 25.000 - Gold
1990 - Under The Red Sky - 25.000 - Gold
1994 - Greatest Hits - 50.000 - Platinum
2001 - Love And Theft - 20.000 - Gold
2006 - Modern Times - 15.000 - Gold

[MJDangerous]

Nederland

year of latest certification
title
nvpi shipment


1978 - Greatest Hits - 70.000 1xplatinum
1978 - Desire - 70.000 1xplatinum
2006 - Modern Times - 35.000 1xgold

1978 - Greatest Hits - 100.000 1xplatinum
1978 - Desire - 100.000 1xplatinum
2006 - Modern Times - 35.000 1xgold

austria

year of latest certification
title
ifpi shipment

1990 - ultimate collection - 15.000 (gold)
1990 - greatest hits - 15.000 (gold)
2001 - the best of bob dylan - 15.000 (gold)

1990 - ultimate collection - 25.000 (gold)
1990 - greatest hits - 25.000 (gold)
2001 - the best of bob dylan - 20.000 (gold)

[MJDangerous]

"Biograph", released in 1985 never charted in Norway until this week, it is new at #29 ! Bob Dylan has got 18 top 5 and 27 top 10 in Norway, including 5 #1s and 5 #2s.

[borderwolf]

How many mistakes....
Thanks a lot for your corrections, MJDangerous!!!

[gjermund]

As always, stellar work Basil, your combination of data and commmentary makes this top-notch reading and an example for all