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Now, I know that this isn't a board for social and/or socio-political/economic/religious discussions etc. per say however, as a West-Indian (Jamaican and Trinidadian) man and one of whom grew up listening to Marley extensively as many people across the Caribbean do where he remains somewhat of a perennial Godfather amongst us, I was very disappointed to read recently that he was a deeply homophobic man also.
[Marley’s manager, Don Taylor, tried to arrange a collaboration between the two legends in 1979 – Prince had just released his second album, while Marley died just a year and a half later – but was unsuccessful in his efforts, largely because of Prince’s wardrobe, or lack of it. After a Prince show in Los Angeles, the reggae legend visited him backstage. Taylor said, “When we called on Prince, he met us in this skimpy leopard g-string undergarment, which immediately aroused Bob’s Jamaican macho feelings, and so our stay was as brief as Prince’s g-string and Bob’s discomfort was shown all over his face.”]
It's easy to assume that Bob, being homophobic, saw Prince's outfit and assumed he was gay, and it made him extremely uncomfortable.
Ziggy Marley has also spoken before of a close friend of his father's that he vividly remembers as a teeanger but when it soon came out that he was Gay, Bob completely rejected him. (I believe this man was an ex-member of the Wailers).
Nonetheless, this doesn't surprise me in any way, shape or form given his background or religious beliefs. (We all know of the unhealthy state of LGBT relations throughout the Caribbean and Africa). I've had conversations like these with family and friends and was always curious to know what Marley's opinion on non-heterosexuality would be. For someone who preached "love and peace for all" in context of race, class, status etc. why would that perspective suddenly combust and be non-applicable when the topic is on sexuality?
Mindblowing! Of course we all knew "Legend" was massive, but I had no idea Marley's catalog was this HUGE!
"this is only the 5th pre-2000 album which registers 3 songs over 100 million on Spotify. The remaining four albums are Michael Jackson‘s Thriller, Fleetwood Mac‘s Rumours, Guns N’ Roses‘ Appetite For Destruction and Nirvana‘s Nevermind."
I suspect Metallica's Black Album and AC/DC's Back in Black are getting close too. In fact both would most likely be there had they not been held back from streaming for years.
Bon Jovi's "Slippery When Wet" will probably join the club pretty soon too.
Regards
Thomas
Hi Thomas!
At least 2 other albums have achieved this incredible performance, "Californication" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers and "2001" by Dr. Dre, both released in 1999.
Concerning the albums you mentionned, the 3rd biggest song for each is:
- Black Album: The Unforgiven => approx. 90m streams
- Back in Black: Hells Bells / Shoot To Thrill => approx. 50m streams
- Slippery When Wet: Wanted Dead Or Alive => approx. 75m streams
"Exodus" is still the second oldest album to reach this performance, only exceeded by "Rumours" which was released only 4 months before!
Hi Thomas!
Adding some more details to the ones posted by Anthony 🙂
About Back to Black, its 3rd and 4th biggest songs are both on 52m so while they will take time to reach 100m, but it may be one of the fisrt albums with 4 songs reaching this milestone!
The delayed arrival @Spotify isn't hurting rock bands much actually because of the insane increase of the platform's traffic. Metallica is there since 2012, streams were still irrelevant then. AC/DC arrived in June 2015. I collected the top 80s tracks in April 2015, below the top songs:
1 Journey Don't Stop Believin' - 113mm (1981)
2 Michael Jackson Billie Jean - 82,7m (1982)
3 Survivor Eye Of The Tiger - 62,9m (1982)
4 U2 With Or Without You - 61,3m (1987)
5 Toto Africa - 57,4m (1982)
By now Don't Stop believin' is on 362m, Billie Jean is on 295m, Eye On The Tiger on 235m, With Or Without You 184m, Africa on 247m. As you can see songs with a decreasing popularity (Journey/U2 were way more hyped roughly 5 years ago) still multiplied their number by 3, stable songs by about 4. It means that AC/DC's songs on 50m would have been on about 70m, with 20m 'lost' at the beginning. In the case of the Beatles, the loss is even lower since their arrival at Spotify was heavily promoted so they have quickly caught up a good part of the streams lost due to the late availability.
This really gives back a lot of credit to 'Exodus' when we see the albums that are comparable to it!
Hi Anthony and MJD
Thank you both! Excellent stuff!
A bit disappointed in Hells Bells streams actually, but I guess it will get there eventually. 😁
Regards Thomas
"About Back to Black, its 3rd and 4th biggest songs are both on 52m so while they will take time to reach 100m, but it may be one of the fisrt albums with 4 songs reaching this milestone!"
I bet "Thriller" is gonna be the first to do it. I noticed in your MJ CSPC that "P.Y.T." is about to join the big three from "Thriller" in the 100m club.
Also, "Bad" is close to having 3 songs top the 100m mark (Mirror, Criminal, Feel) and a 4th song (Bad) will get their eventually too.
So Michael Jackson is likely to be the first to have an album in the 4 x 100m club AND the first to have TWO albums in the 3 x 100m club AND the 4 x 100m club. Mindblowing!
So we have
Pre-2000 Albums in the 3 x 100m club:
Thriller (267+167+116)
Nevermind (278+180+104)
Exodus (188+117+103)
Appetite ??? (141+92+88) Jun 2016
Rumours ??? (99+72+47) Oct 2016
Californication ???
2001 ???
(Bad (3rd 90m))
(Metallica (3rd 90m))
(Slippery (3rd 75m))
(Back in Black (3rd 52m))
Pre-2000 Albums in the 4 x 100m club:
(Thriller (267+167+116+83))
(Bad (119+93+90+57))
(Nevermind (278+180+104+51))
(Back in Black (?+?+52+52)
I'm sure you could fill in the blanks and make this list more comprehensive 🙂
A few more to keep an eye on:
Born in the USA (3rd 64m) Jul 2017
The Wall (3rd 47m) Jun 2017
DSOTM (3rd 40m) Jun 2017
Led Zep IV (3rd 23m) Aug 2016
Some of those are are very outdated numbers, of the top of my head 3rd on LZIV is Rock & Roll on around 42m now. Although it only has one, Stairway, on around 160m that's over 100m, Black Dog is 2nd on around 49m.
Martin, yes these numbers are from August 2016, so I figuered they were getting higher by now
Hi Thomas!
Well spotted! Ten has four songs over 60m. The main version only:
- Even Flow 92,8m
- Alive 101,5m
- Black 73,4m
- Jeremy 63,1m
I always prefered Daughter though 😉
As for Oasis there is a surprise coming 🙂
You are right about MJ's upcoming records! Bad's 3rd song is already on 97 million now so it is only a matter of days before it joins Thriller. The fourth song from that one is up to 90m now, it has only been a few weeks!
Californication Top 3 is immense, they are on 268/183/149 million! Same for Dre at 233/227/150 but also tracks at 79m and 55m! An absolute classic record.
BIB top two is the title track at 181m and YSMANL at 119m.
btw, you can get all figures for free from Spotify software. I think you need to create an account but it requires you an email address only!
Thanks MJD!
Saw your great work on Oasis!
So Morning Glory is 369(!)+118+78 👍
I think I know what you meant by "Main version only" concerning Ten. Your numbers dont included live versions? Or how about remaster/compilations.
A search for Stones Satisfaction will bring like 20 results!!!
I can only find Spotify figures for the top 5 most popular tracks by each artist...🤔
Huge!
With Thriller and Dr Dre we have to consider 5 songs in 100m club at some point!
