Neil Young :: Charts & Sales History

[Basil]

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.

[Basil]

Collaborations - US Shipments

Buffalo Springfield
1967 none Buffalo Springfield
1967 none Buffalo Springfield Again
1968 none Last Time Around
1969 1989 Retrospective - 1,000,000 - 6wks
1973 none Buffalo Springfield
2001 none Box Set - 31,000 dec 2003

Crosby Stills Nash and Young
1970 1992 Deja Vu - 7,000,000 - 1,100,000 jan 2006 - 4wks
1971 1992 Four Way Street - 4,000,000 - 611,000 jan 2006 - 5wks
1974 1992 So Far - 6,000,000 - 111wks, 5wks at No.1
1988 1989 American Dream - 1,000,000
1999 none Looking Forward

Stills-Young Band
1976 1977 Long May You Run - 500,000

Buffalo Springfield couldn't really contain all the talent in it and fractured quickly. The songs endure with their Retrospective continuing to sell steadily.

CSN&Y were simply massive in the US, despite their tiny output. However, their star has waned with their 2 reunion albums not selling well.

The Stills-Young album was an aborted CSN&Y album.

Neil Young was not very good at being in a band, but the music they produced in their short existences was sometimes stunning.

UK Shipments

After the Goldrush - 600,000
On the Beach - 60,000
Zuma - 60,000
American Stars n Bars - 60,000
Comes A Time - 100,000
Freedom - 60,000
Ragged Glory - 60,000
Harvest Moon - 100,000
Sleeps With Angels - 100,000
Mirrorball - 60,000

Decade - 100,000
Greatest Hits - 100,000

Live Rust - 100,000
Weld - 60,000
Unplugged - 100,000

Total BPI shipments - 1,720,000

Usual patchy stuff from the BPI. Harvest isn't even certified. :-?

[zago]

my estimation about Living With War is between 535.000 and 575.125 worldwide.

[gjermund]

Great post Basil: hard facts & soft facts combined makes everything more interesting:-)

[Classicrock]

If you ever feel a bit down, play On the Beach and you will feel better.

I just picked up this album a couple of days ago

[MJDangerous]

On The Beach sold over 300k in France, Comes A Time over 200k but the true giant Neil Young seller in France is of course Harvest with 1.3m copies sold.

[borderwolf]

In my personal database for France: Comes A Time 319300, Harvest 1113000, but i don't know nothin' about On The Beach, so, thank you MJDangerous!!! But I have a question for you: On The Beach is awarded?
For the U.S.: Live At The Fillmore 37636, Living With War 228507 (and 555775 in the world).

[Basil]

If you ever feel a bit down, play On the Beach and you will feel better.

I just picked up this album a couple of days ago

Excellent. When you get over the shock of the first few listens - you'll love it.

[borderwolf]

Mario from Japan wrote:

Neil Young
Albums and Singles sales and chart positions in Japan.

Albums
[LP] 1971/01/25 After The Gold Rush # 82 , 4 weeks, 3,650
[LP] 1971/07/25 Neil Young # 84 , 1 week, 900
[LP] 1972/12/21 Journey Through the Past # 32 , 12 weeks, 26,230
[LP] 1973/10/25 Time Fades Away # 24 , 10 weeks, 20,680
[LP] 1974/07/10 On The Beach # 48 , 9 weeks, 16,120
[LP] 1975/06/10 Tonight's The Night # 61 , 5 weeks, 8,360
[LP] 1975/12/21 Zuma # 84 , 4 weeks, 4,880
[LP] 1977/06/10 American Stars 'N Bars # 63 , 6 weeks, 8,650
[LP] 1978/07/25 Comes A Time # 65 , 3 weeks, 4,350
[LP] 1980/11/10 Hawks & Doves # 72 , 2 weeks, 3,180
[LP] 1982/02/10 Harvest # 6 , 35 weeks, 83,000
[LP] 1983/02/01 Trans # 90 , 3 weeks, 3,210
[CD] 1992/11/10 Harvest Moon # 46 , 3 weeks, 14,090
[CD] 1993/06/25 Unplugged # 37 , 4 weeks, 28,290
[CD] 1994/09/25 Sleep With Angels(with Crazy Horse) # 65 , 3 weeks, 16,330
[CD] 1995/07/25 Mirror Ball # 40 , 3 weeks, 18,340
[CD] 2000/05/17 Silver & Gold # 45 , 2 weeks, 8,000
[CD] 2002/04/10 Are You Passionate? # 70 , 1 week, 3,720
[CD] 2003/09/10 American Stars 'N Bars # 238 , 1 week, 882
[CD] 2003/09/10 On The Beach # 126 , 2 weeks, 18,440
[CD] 2003/09/10 Greendale(with Crazy Horse) # 70 , 9 weeks, 11,843
[CD] 2004/11/24 Grestest Hits # 84 , 5 weeks, 8,907
[CD] 2005/10/26 Prairie Wind # 72 , 4 weeks, 7,084
[CD] 2006/06/21 Living With War # 101 , 3 weeks, 3,475


Singles
1972/02/25 Heart Of Gold # 28 , 18 weeks, 73,000
1972/08/25 War Song # 97 , 2 weeks, 3,000

MJDangerous, please, can you post the same about France?

[Classicrock]

If you ever feel a bit down, play On the Beach and you will feel better.

I just picked up this album a couple of days ago

Excellent. When you get over the shock of the first few listens - you'll love it.

I taken a liking in it almost immediatley.This record for me is not the Neil Young eqivalent of Led Zep III which shocked the latter's faithful when it was initiallly released

[Classicrock]

I have in my collection:
Zuma
After the Gold Rush
Harvest
On the Beach
Everyboyd Knows this Nowhere

Which studio album should i get next?

Comes a time?
Tonight the Night?
Other

[borderwolf]

I have in my collection:
Zuma
After the Gold Rush
Harvest
On the Beach
Everyboyd Knows this Nowhere

Which studio album should i get next?

Comes a time?
Tonight the Night?
Other

It dipends, if you prefere country: Comes A Time, Prairie Wind...
Or rock: Ragged Glory
For Young in deep of his soul: Tonight's The Night, or maybe Sleeps With Angels

[Basil]

It dipends, if you prefere country: Comes A Time, Prairie Wind...
Or rock: Ragged Glory
For Young in deep of his soul: Tonight's The Night, or maybe Sleeps With Angels

That's right, depends on which style of Neil Young you prefer.

I'd also consider Live Rust - an excellent concert.

And the compilation Decade.

For Crazy Horse at FULL blast rocking out get Weld.

The ones you've got already are pretty good!

[thaslayerslove]

it's worth checking this site out has it has excelent reviews of all Neil young albums and everyone else for that matter

http://rateyourmusic.com/artist/neil_young

[Classicrock]

Thanks all for your input

After careful consideration,I went with
"Tonight's the Nigh"

Young is one of those artists like Joni Mitchell(both Canadian hooray for Canada) where i could buy anything from him and be reasonably assured i will like it.
"On the Beach"has some many gems not found on any of his compiliation albums.Some artists are best understood only in the album format,and Neil Young is one of them

BTW Basil Live Rust is a great album bought when it first came out on LP circa 1980 i believe. One of the great live albums of all time along with Made in Japan and Live at Leeds,Led Zeppelin self-titled DVD among others in my very humble opinion

[borderwolf]

SPAIN
thanks to Davidalic

YEAR/ALBUM/PEAK/WEEKS
Albums
1971 After the gold rush 10 /1/
1972 Harvest 4 /27/ PLATINUM (2001)
1972 Everybody knows there is nowhere (Neil Young and Crazy Horse) 17 /1/
1976 Zuma 13 /11/ (Neil Young & Crazy Horse)
1994 Sleeps with angels (Neil Young & Crazy Horse) 29 /7/
1995 Mirror ball 33 /9/
2002 Are you passionate? 41 /1/
2003 Greendale (Neil Young & Crazy Horse) 60 /2/
2005 Prairie wind 65 /2/
2006 Living with war 37 /3/
Single
1972 Heart of gold 12 /8/

[borderwolf]

BRASIL

MOVED TO PAGE 17

Every CD and DVD made in Brasil since mid-2003 comes with a code wich means the "number" of the press and how many copies were made of that edition. ABPD is the "official thing" for certifications in Brasil, so those numbers on the CD's/DVD's would be the same that ABPD uses to certify albums. For example: Madonna's "Confessions on a dancefloor" was released with the code AA40000 - AA means 1st pressing, 40000 means how many copies were made of that pressing. Since then, other pressings were made - in this case, AB20000 and AC20000. Adding all together, u get the sales (shipments) for COAD in Brasil, wich are at least 80,000 copies.

[Basil]

OK, first 2 posts on Page One updated.

I've added Buffalo Springfield and CSN&Y.

Also added weeks on catalogue charts and UK Shipments.

[NothingFails]

I am surprised at how low Hawks And Doves and Re-Ac-Tor's scans are considering both of them charted pop catalog

[borderwolf]

Basil,
I'm without words... and the tears are falling down... Thanks!
But I have some little questions and (or) doubts:
1) So Far 111 (!!!) weeks on Charts (Catalog, of course): is a mistake or is the truth?
2) Harvest isn't even certified: I don't remember when or where, but I've seen a gold record, about Harvest, and about Silver & Gold too, but I don't remember well, and I'm not sure.
3) I confirm Live At The Fillmore East 1970 37,377 copies and Living With War 228,507 in their permanency on Billboard Top 200.
4) Greatest Hits is gold, now, in U.K.
5) And in march: Live At The Massey Hall 1971, another live album from the past
Great post, Basil!

[Basil]

Basil,
I'm without words... and the tears are falling down... Thanks!
But I have some little questions and (or) doubts:
1) So Far 111 (!!!) weeks on Charts (Catalog, of course): is a mistake or is the truth?
2) Harvest isn't even certified: I don't remember when or where, but I've seen a gold record, about Harvest, and about Silver & Gold too, but I don't remember well, and I'm not sure.
3) I confirm Live At The Fillmore East 1970 37,377 copies and Living With War 228,507 in their permanency on Billboard Top 200.
4) Greatest Hits is gold, now, in U.K.
5) And in march: Live At The Massey Hall 1971, another live album from the past
Great post, Basil!

My pleasure borderwolf.

Regarding So Far there's no mistake. 111 weeks on catalogue chart - mainly in the 1980's I suspect. Dane would have figures since 1991. Also 5 weeks at Number One on the catalogue chart. Thing is, it is a Greatest Hits and so has sold steadily over time as the riaa certification shows.

I've added the soundscan figures for the Fillmore and War albums and the Gold UK one for Greatest Hits. Many thanks.

There's no certification listed for Harvest. This must be his biggest UK seller and I'd estimate it has sold around 1 million (Goldrush has shipped 600k and this might not include all sales back to 1970).

His archive releases are puzzling. He certainly performed some songs only in concert, but it's the unreleased studio songs that should be the most interesting. I would hope that he releases them as Dylan did with The Bootleg series 1-3. That was a revelation with some excellent songs that had languished in the vaults.

But Neil being Neil he'll do it in his own way of course!

Neil is similar to artists like Van Morrison, Dylan and indeed a band like The Doors. They don't necessarily have huge chart success but their catalogues sell consistently - as soundscan sales form 1991 onwards show.

So outside the US/UK we can assume good consistent sales in many countries, particularly Europe and Australasia and Canada. But also in places like Japan as you showed.

In many European countries and other territories, this won't show fully with certifications - particularly 60's and 70's releases - so getting any worldwide sales will be difficult, unfortunately.

Does anyone have any info from outside US/UK?

[borderwolf]

There's no certification listed for Harvest. This must be his biggest UK seller and I'd estimate it has sold around 1 million (Goldrush has shipped 600k and this might not include all sales back to 1970).

Your estimation was my forgotten question...

His archive releases are puzzling. He certainly performed some songs only in concert, but it's the unreleased studio songs that should be the most interesting. I would hope that he releases them as Dylan did with The Bootleg series 1-3. That was a revelation with some excellent songs that had languished in the vaults.

Archives Vol. 1 (8 cd + 2 dvd) is scheduled for fall 2007

So outside the US/UK we can assume good consistent sales in many countries, particularly Europe and Australasia and Canada. But also in places like Japan as you showed.
In many European countries and other territories, this won't show fully with certifications - particularly 60's and 70's releases - so getting any worldwide sales will be difficult, unfortunately.
Does anyone have any info from outside US/UK?

I have a lot of peaks, number of weeks, and certifications, but, as you said, calculate worldwide sales is very hard...

[gjermund]

Its of limited value I know but the link at the bottom give you Neil Young-stats on the Norwegian Top 40 album and singles chart positions - but no sales figures I'm afraid. Also, it is a Norwegian website but if I tell you that:

'7 uker i 1971, #17 som beste plassering'=
= '7 weeks in 1971, #17 as peak'.

you can perhaps figure it out

NB; at the bottom you will see that there are separate entries for 'Neil Young & Crazy Horse',
'Neil Young', and of course 'Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young', just click on the respective names


http://lista.vg.no/artist_info.php?Arti ... scdesc=asc

[borderwolf]

http://lista.vg.no/artist_info.php?Arti ... scdesc=asc

Thanks, gjermund, I took my informations about Neil Young in Norway from that web-site.
It's strange, but there are not certifications for Young, neither Harvest, neither Mirror Ball, neither the dvd Heart Of Gold: and yet, they sold well...

[john2000]

Harvest in Germany : 3X Gold - 750 000