CSPC: Bee Gees Popularity Analysis
The years that end in a 7 are synonymous of anniversaries. No, I’m not talking about the Beatles’ cult Sgt Pepper’s which is turning 50 soon, and getting a much talked about reissue. Today we will be speaking about one of the biggest pop bands of all-time that came to prominence 40 years ago in the middle of the disco bonanza, the Bee Gees.
A decade ago, Amy Winehouse was everywhere. Two decades back, the Spice Girls were dominating while Shania Twain and Celine Dion dropped gigantic albums. In 1987, Michael Jackson‘s Bad, U2‘s Joshua Tree, Guns N’ Roses‘ Appetite For Destruction and Dirty Dancing all came too the spotlight. The Year 1967 is obviously home for various classics along with the Beatles, like the debut of the Doors or the Bee Gees’ own first hit in April 1967. The year interesting us today is 1977 though. Famous for being the year of Elvis Presley’s passing. Three of the biggest albums ever were released in that same year – Meat Loaf‘s Bat Out of Hell, Rumours by Fleetwood Mac, the #1 CSPC album studied to date, and of course the out-of-this-world smash Saturday Night Fever.
Just like The Bodyguard, this Soundtrack contains hits from various artists but is deeply regarded as the flagship of one specific artist, in this case the Gibb brothers. While the band became well-known in another year ending in 7, 1967, thanks to the global #1 smash Massachusetts – it is this Soundtrack that secured their spot in the music industry hall of fame. If they struggled for a few years, from Jive Talkin‘ in 1975 to their input on Barbra Streisand’s 1980 Guilty album, the Bee Gees sold an insane amount of records with ABBA being the only act coming close to their pace. From there, their popularity had various ups and downs with several revivals happening, with the last hype being generated by Robin Gibb’s sad passing in May 2012.
With a career spanning 45 years, and such an irregular trajectory, it is difficult to accurately establish the group’s success during each period of their career and their overall success. Are they in Nirvana’s league, or closer to the Beatles? Do they challenge solid acts a la Celine Dion, or not even close? Of course, as they are responsible for the biggest selling album ever up to 1983, Saturday Night Fever, this study ends up being absolutely mandatory to check the overall position of this record among the all-time album eras list. A strong question will be about whether it tops its label partner the Grease Soundtrack, which amassed an impressive 51,9 million equivalent album sales.
As usual, I’ll be using the Commensurate Sales to Popularity Concept in order to relevantly gauge their results. The concept will not only bring you sales information for all Bee Gees albums, physical singles, download singles, music videos and streaming, but it will also accurately weight all this information to conclude their true popularity. If you are not yet familiar with the CSPC idea, the next page explains it with a short video. I fully recommend you to check it out before getting into the sales figures. Of course, if you are a regular visitor feel free to jump straight into the sales figures. Let’s go!
http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Billboard/70s/1979/Billboard%201979-04-21.pdf
MJD. Look please at page 112 of issue dated April 21 1979. Spirits reported with 4 million sales
Hi again Juan! Yes, I saw this add on Billboard, but at no point it confirms 4m sales in the US – first, there is no reference to the US, it is most likely the global shipment. Second, if it refers to the US, it would still be no evidence as the album shipped immensely in its first two months, the gross shipment by then was likely higher than the net shipment by the end of the year. Financial reports of Warner are 100% factual, you can check the one of 1979 (pages 26/32) which makes it very clear that… Read more »
Impressive job as always! I really enjoyed reading it
Thanks MJD for the feedback. I dont agree with your grounds regarding Spirits but they are valid and you could have a point. I was very surprised though with the great sales of singles Staying Alive, Night Fever Tragedy and Too Much Heaven. Besides the sales of One Night Only CD and DVD are oustanding. Do you know how many copies the DVD has sold in the States? The set has spent 388 weeks in the top 40 and this very week is at number 18.
Thanks in advance and keep up the good work
Thanks MJD for the feedback. I dont agree with your grounds regarding Spirits but they are valid and you could have a point. I was very surprised though with the great sales of singles Staying Alive, Night Fever Tragedy and Too Much Heaven. Besides the sales of One Night Only CD and DVD are oustanding. Do you know how many copies the DVD has sold in the States? The set has spent 388 weeks in the top 40 and this very week is at number 18.
Thanks in advance and keep up the good work
Hi again Juan! Sorry to disappoint but I may even downgrade Spirits sales soon. I just ended to found out with 100% certainty the industry top seller in the US in 1979 was Zeppelin album In Through the Outdoor with less than 4 million – in fact it was certified 3xP in 1984. It appears clear in regards to Spirit that the “4,5 million in 10 weeks” claim is wrong. The Long Run, 11 weeks #1 by Christmas by the Eagles sold 3m only while Rod Stewart who preceded the Bee Gees at the top did 2 million. All information… Read more »
This is another amazing analysis. Thank you.
Do you mind telling us what artist(s) would be next?
Hi DD!
Next one will be Janet Jackson!
Can’t wait for this one!
Great work MJD and thanks a lot. The only thing I dont agree is the sales of Spirits Having Flown. According to RSO the album had sold almost 15 million by January 1980. This info was showed in the Bee Gees special aired in the US in 2000. Spirits sold more than any other album in the first 10 weeks in 79 so chart runs help the cause but It cant be the only source. In Canada for instance, the set sold almost 1 million according to Billboard in 1980. In Portugal Greece Hong Kong China Norway, South America, Spain… Read more »
Hi Juan! I’m sure you are educated enough on the matter to not take those claims seriously, nor 15m WW nor 1m in Canada ^^ Most figures claimed for this record included sales of its singles. You are overestimating the market of the time, Italian market for example was still fairly weak, largely lower than the Netherlands, even SNF sold less than 300,000 copies there in its first year. Selling roughly 8 million copies in its first 6 months was already a gigantic result, most likely the fastest selling non-soundtrack ever up to that point ahead of Abbey Road. Even… Read more »
I miss sales figures from Norway. A lot of Bee Gees records sold very well here. A very good example is ESP with 120 000 copies sold and Platinium status.
Hi Jostein! A choice has been made many years ago to focus on 10 markets for Europe as they are representative from the others. The UK mirrors sales in Ireland, Spain those in Portugal, Germany sales in Eastern Europe, Sweden and Finland nordic countries, the Netherlands reflects Belgium (Flanders) and France Wallonia, Switzerland is a mix of France, Italy and Germany etc… The formula used which fits with pretty much every IFPI award ever given is UK*1,05 + the remaining 9 displayed markets *1,3. That’s why E.S.P. has a Europe total of 1,96m in spite of a tally of 1,525,000… Read more »
Could you possibly introduce a page in your CSPC-articles, in which you state the total pure album sales of the respective act (studio albums + compilations + remix/live albums etc.)? That would be an interesting information for all us chart freaks to know 😉
Thanks all always.
Hi Luminator!
Sure, this can be done 😉
GREAT BAND, GREAT ARTICLE. Bee gees is the king of the disco era, I want to know is guilty the biggest female album in disco era?
Hi Skkywill!
If you don’t consider ABBA into the female category, without getting deep into figures the most realistic answer is yes 😉
Woman in love is the biggest female single? I remember to read your post in UKMIX which credit it the biggest non-soundtrack\holiday single by female artist
Main Cource got only a Gold certification, but its listed here with 1.7 million copies sold in USA. How do you know that it sold 1.2 million copies more??
Hi Marcus! As mentioned inside the article, the Bee Gees label never bothered certifying their albums. In fact, SNF is the only one that ever got updated after its first year in the market. In the case of Main Course, the album was certified after 6 months of sales, when it peaked at #15. Several months later, it went on to re-peak at #14, charting for 1 more year. By 1976, Billboard already refered to it as a Platinum album. No need to say the album continued to sell well in 1977 / 1979 until the release of Greatest. Since… Read more »
Thank You! 😉
Hi,
Do you know what the album sales were for “Main Course” in the UK and why was it so low and why did it not chart? Thank you so much!
Hi Jacob! It is really hard to tell. At the time though the Bee Gees were coming from multiple albums that failed to chart so they had truly no following. They got moderate hits but the albums weren’t popular. Main Course fits into the R&B category too which was hardly selling albums in the UK by then. A third element is the size of the chart, it was only a Top 50, which is always easier to miss than a Top 100/200. No fanbase / poor selling genre / short chart, you get an era with a #5 lead single… Read more »
Amazing work! A lot numbers! I love Bee Gees!