Physical Singles Sales – The 90s and beyond
The Razors Edge (1990) – 260,000 equivalent albums
Thunderstruck – 360,000
Moneytalks – 390,000
Are You Ready – 110,000
Rock Your Heart Out – 5,000
Ballbreaker (1995) – 47,000 equivalent albums
Hard as a Rock – 130,000
Hail Caesar – 15,000
Cover You in Oil – 5,000
Ballbreaker – 5,000
Stiff Upper Lip (2000) – 27,000 equivalent albums
Stiff Upper Lip – 70,000
Safe in New York City – 10,000
Satellite Blues – 10,000
Black Ice (2008) – 3,000 equivalent albums
Rock ‘n’ Roll Train – 10,000
Rock or Bust (2014) – 3,000 equivalent albums
Play Ball – 5,000
Rock or Bust – 5,000
Orphan – 144,000 equivalent albums
Who Made Who – 140,000
Big Gun – 330,000
Other singles – 10,000
Although the single format was decreasing in popularity in the 90s, AC/DC still managed to release their 3 biggest singles since 1981. Thunderstruck, Moneytalks and Big Gun all top 300,000 sales.
So, without any million-selling singles in their entire career, AC/DC total 6,635,000 in this format. Not overwhelming, but respectable considering they never were a singles minded band.
Today “Hells Bells” passed 250M plays on Spotify (250.142M). That’s a big threshold for any song, any song that old anyway (1980). But it’s also the 3rd song from “Back in Black” to reach this mark. That’s big for a catalog album, but not unheard of. I know of 15 other pre-2000 albums reaching that. “Hells Bells” always kinda went toe-to-toe with “Shoot to Thrill” though, also from BIB. And sure enough, that one stands at 249.614M plays and will become the 4th song from BIB above 250M in just a few days! THIS is rare as just one other… Read more »