a post by borderwolf reminded me that Hanboo had posted soundscan figures - so here's a look at Neil Young.
The Soundscan figures reveal HUGE differences in catalogue sales of his albums - though not have all been consistently available on CD for people to buy.
US Shipments
Key
year of release
year of latest riaa certification
title
riaa shipment
soundscan total since 1991 - courtesy of Hanboo
wks on catalogue chart since 1982
Studio Albums
1968 none Neil Young
1969 1986 Everybody Knows This is Nowhere - 1,000,000 - 494,000
1970 1986 After the Goldrush - 2,000,000 - 798,000
1972 1994 Harvest - 4,000,000 - 2,019,000 - 22wks
1973 1973 Time Fades Away - 500,000 - 1,000
1974 1974 On the Beach - 500,000 - 95,000 - 3wks
1975 none Tonight's the Night - 96,000
1975 1997 Zuma - 500,000 - 86,000
1977 1977 American Stars n Bars - 500,000 - 66,000 - 1wk
1978 1978 Comes A Time - 500,000 - 163,000
1979 1980 Rust Never Sleeps - 1,000,000 - 272,000
1980 none Hawks and Doves - 30,000 - 1wk
1981 none Reactor - 22,000 - 1wk
1983 none Trans - 7,000
1983 none Everybody's Rockin' - 18,000
1985 none Old Ways - 40,000
1986 none Landing On Water - 49,000
1987 none Life - 14,000
1988 none This Note's For You - 34,000
1989 1990 Freedom - 500,000 - 269,000
1990 none Ragged Glory - 133,000
1992 1997 Harvest Moon - 2,000,000 - 1,672,000
1994 1994 Sleeps With Angels - 500,000 - 443,000
1995 1995 Mirror Ball - 500,000 - 476,000
1996 none Broken Arrow - 182,000
2000 none Silver and Gold - 377,000
2002 none Are You Passionate - 232,000
2003 none Greendale - 230,000
2005 2006 Prairie Wind - 500,000 - 471,000
2006 none Living With the War - 229,000
2007 none Chrome Dreams II
Soundtracks
1972 none Journey Through the Past
???? none Dead Man - 47,000
Compilations
1977 1986 Decade - 1,000,000 - 788,000
1993 none Lucky Thirteen - 60,000
2004 2006 Greatest Hits - 500,000 - 793,000 sep 2007
Live Albums
1979 1988 Live Rust - 1,000,000 - 551,000
1991 none Weld - 186,000
1993 1993 Unplugged - 500,000 - 777,000
1997 none Year of the Horse - 124,000
2000 none Road Rock Vol 1 - 93,000
2006 none Live at the Fillmore 1970 - 38,000
2007 none Live at Massey Hall 1971 - 193,000 may 2007
Total Shipment - 17,500,000
Soundscan Total - 12,000,000
Neil's Total US album sales since 1968 are likely around 28-30m.
So how come Harvest scanned 2,019,000 and the follow up Time Fades Away 1,000!!
The answer is that Time Fades Away has never been on CD and is long deleted on LP and cassette. This is Neil's decision.
His artistic apogee - On the Beach - was only released on CD a couple of years ago. Neil again.
Neil is nothing less than eccentric and has regularly had his record company tearing their hair out with albums cancelled at the very last minute and legendary delays on others.
Indeed he rivals Axle Rose for the Greatest Delay Ever in releasing a promised record in respect to his (now mythical) Anthology series which is well over a decade late. Massive box sets were promised and prepared. Then, a couple of months ago, we got a single CD - Live at the Fillmore 1970. Wow. He might care to bear in mind that his audience could all be dead before the whole lot is ever released.
Like other (rare) artists who have complete artistic control (eg Bob Dylan) he could do with having someone else compile his albums. They all seem to be flawed, having brilliant tracks rubbing shoulders with bog-average tracks - while leaving fabulous songs languishing in the vaults. A little outside advice could do wonders.
Some estimates have 30 albums worth of unreleased tracks. When Dylan released his Bootleg series there was amazement as to why so many of these songs had been rejected in favour of the completely duff ones that appeared on some albums. Neil Young is very similar in this respect.
At least all the albums are never less than interesting.
If you ever feel a bit down, play On the Beach and you will feel better.