Since 1973, one part of the Moon has been shaking the entire World. The British band Pink Floyd are the ones responsible for this event, and nearly half a century later they are still producing new music as Is This the Life We Really Want?, the first studio album by founding member Roger Waters in 25 years, came out just a few days ago.
Among music legends, some have been incredible sellers like the Beatles or the Rolling Stones. Others are nowhere near their stellar achievements a la Janis Joplin or Frank Zappa. So, just where do Pink Floyd stand?
The album Dark Side of the Moon is widely praised for its consistent sales since it spent decades charting on the Billboard US rankings. The 1979 double album The Wall was a long-standing #1 in various countries. On the minus side though, the band rarely issued singles. They also sold relatively few compilations. This means their studio albums have been catalyzing the largest part of their discography appeal. Thus, how does the band perform overall considering their lack of sales in several key formats? Are their pure album sales enough to put them among the A-List of the most popular artists of all-time?
As usual, I’ll be using the Commensurate Sales to Popularity Concept in order to relevantly gauge their results. This concept will not only bring you sales information for all the Pink Floyd’s albums, physical and download singles, as well as audio and video streaming, but it will also determine their true popularity. If you are not yet familiar with the CSPC method, the next page explains it with a short video. I fully recommend watching the video before getting into the sales figures. Of course, if you are a regular visitor feel free to skip the video and get into the figures.
Let’s go!
Hi MJD
Your article about Pink Floyd is so majestic, wonderful, pyrotechnic like their albums and rheir discography as Dark Side Of The Moon and The Wall.
I noticed from yesterday that the image or cover of the album Meddle is not visible, it is written “afficher l’image d’origine”.
Can you solve it please ?
Hi MJD
Maybe I’m wrong, but I think you forgot this rare physical single by Pink Floyd: PINK FLOYD Tonite Let’s All Make Love In London, http://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=1450
PINK FLOYD Tonite Let’s All Make Love In London
1. Interstellar Overdrive (16:46) Instrumental
2. Nick’s Boogie (11:50) Instrumental
Hi Daydreamer!
This is a promo single meaning no copy was commercially sold!
Thank you for clearing that up MJD. I thought it was an official PF single.
Hi dear MJD!
Could you pleasee post the album sales per country for Pink Floyd and The Beatles( wich i already asked you for)
Thanks in advance!
My bad i missed the page!
Please do the beatles sales per country !
Also, if you look at your US totals, double count Ummagumma, The Wall, the three live albums and the Echos, best of Album, like RIAA does, that puts Pink Floyd well over a 100 million US sales. I think RIAA has certified only around 70 million. Is EMI this far behind on certification? I’ve known for some time Dark Side of the moon at 15 million was way off. Didn’t know it was this way off. Are there any other bands that are this far off from their RIAA Certs? Seems Pink Floyd might be the most off.
Thanks again.
Hi Lance!
Yes, Pink Floyd’s albums sales are largely deflated by their RIAA certifications. Their label hasn’t been caring about certifications for 20 years, just like for the Beatles. At least the latter band sold well with new releases in the meantime like One or Love, so a good chunk of their sales since 20 years are awarded. For that reason Floyd are indeed likely the group with the RIAA total the most outdated of all.
This is one of the greatest websites on album sales I’ve ever found. Your research is impeccable, and very easy to follow. Your analysis is very believable. This is a wonderful way to compare all these different artists. I’m a huge Pink Floyd fan and I’ve been looking for years to try to find some accurate data on Pink Floyd’s world wide album sales, and with the exception of Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall, there is very little good information out there. And seeing claims that bands like Queen and ABBA sold 350 million albums each just… Read more »
You have a really awesome sight! Maybe sometime you could do an analysis of Creedence. Thanks!
Hi Joe!
From a personal perspective, I would love to work on CCR, but I must admit I may miss time in the near future as the pipe is full of several more artists! Thanks for the very nice words 🙂
Thank you Martin. I see, it is a little bit tricky when it comes to TGS.
Hi
Is The Wall the best selling double album of all time?
The Grease Soundtrack has shipped more copies than The Wall but I’m not sure how you would class TGS. It started life as a double LP and single cassette release but has since been issued as a 1 CD release and then a 2 CD. Incidentally, I have The Wall and it’s a single cassette release.
I think it’s not too fair to compare Grease to The Wall… the first is a multi-artist soundtrack while The Wall must be considered as a real album on a par with The Dark Side… WYWH etc. My 2 cents.
Thanks Martin
Hi! Great work.
I have a question: Does The Wall (and Ummagumma) as double albums have the certifications for the number of album copies or number of discs(2x) ?
With regards to their inclusion in this analysis and in particular, the “Original Album Sales” section, they are counted as one album.