Physical Singles Sales
As a reminder, the weighting is done with a 10 to 3 ratio between one album and one physical single.
Paul Simon (1972) – 768,000 equivalent albums
Mother and Child Reunion – 1,640,000
Duncan – 240,000
Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard – 680,000
There Goes Rhymin’ Simon (1973) – 798,000 equivalent albums
Kodachrome – 1,040,000
Take Me to the Mardi Gras – 150,000
Something So Right – 40,000
Something So Right (with Annie Lennox) – 30,000
American Tune – 290,000
Loves Me Like a Rock – 1,110,000
Still Crazy After All These Years (1975) – 724,000 equivalent albums
Still Crazy After All These Years – 520,000 + 2,500 (live, 1991)
50 Ways to Leave Your Lover – 1,460,000
Gone at Last – 430,000
One-Trick Pony (1980) – 309,000 equivalent albums
Late in the Evening – 740,000
One-Trick Pony – 280,000
Oh, Marion – 10,000
Hearts and Bones (1983) – 75,000 equivalent albums
Allergies – 240,000
Think Too Much (a) – 10,000
Graceland (1986) – 492,000 equivalent albums
The Boy in the Bubble – 200,000
Graceland – 150,000
Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes – 60,000
You Can Call Me Al – 1,230,000
The Rhythm of the Saints (1990) – 78,000 equivalent albums
The Obvious Child – 240,000
Proof – 10,000
Born at the Right Time – 10,000
Songs from The Capeman (1997) – 0 equivalent albums
No single released
You’re the One (2000) – 0 equivalent albums
No single released
Surprise (2006) – 4,000 equivalent albums
Father and Daughter – 10,000
Remaining Singles – 3,000
So Beautiful or So What (2011) – 0 equivalent albums
No single released
Stranger to Stranger (2016) – 0 equivalent albums
No single released
Orphan – 597,000 equivalent albums
Motorcycle – 80,000
Lone Teen Ranger – 80,000
Slip Slidin’ Away – 900,000
Wonderful World – 470,000
The Blues – 240,000
Remaining singles – 220,000
It is often said that Simon failed to produce hits after splitting with Garfunkel, figures show this claim is untrue. Of course, it is tough to record smashes as gigantic as Sound of Silence, Mrs Robinson or Bridge Over Troubled Water, still each of his first 3 LPs produced more than 2 million sales of physical singles, a solid result. His early single Mother and Child Reunion remains his top seller at 1,64 million but he counts with 4 more million selling tunes, including You Can Call Me Al. Simon sold 12,8 million solo singles in physical format.
S&G are well above Paul Simon in solo. Their sales are probably in the 120-140 million range, at the minimum ! We’ll see “Late in the evening”….
Honestly, quite underwhelming. And i doubt Simon and Garfunkel did any better.
Simon and Garfunkel did loads more! They were massive, biggest selling 60s artists after The Beatles I’d say!
Yep, looks like you were right.
Ok MJD. I didn’t pay attention to Santana because I thought you were only talking about solo artists and not about bands… And Cher neither. Seeing her face, I couldn’t imagine she was more old than 25 when she released Believe (lol)…
Oh please let’s have Simon and Garfunkel! 😊
Not bad
Never a big fan of simon………..but he has his place. Fav song is “kodachrome” and from
SandG “So long frank loyd wright”
I’m wondering what are the 2 most successful albums ever by an artist aged 45 or more ?… I’ve failed to find one. Eric Clapton’s Unplugged is a live album, so it can’be this one, I suppose… Very puzzling !
I’d say Pink Floyd – The Division bell.
Actually forget I said that..
Hi Winston!
Cher’s Believe is slightly ahead while the still unstudied Santana with Supernatural will be the #1 on that ‘old guns’ category 😉
I wonder if a Simon & Garfunkel article is coming next?
Hi Isaiah!
Yes, Simon & Garfunkel is coming tonight 😉
Thanks, thanks and thanks ! I was hoping this one since many months !