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Meat Loaf's career has been a one-of-a-kind story since day one. He is nowhere and everywhere at the same time. Acting, singing and performing, he has built a curriculum vitae insanely impressive in comparison to his own fame. Among his stand-out moments figure the iconic album franchise Bat Out Of Hell.
His unique trajectory leads to weird conclusions. The first album of the Bat Out Of Hell series, issued in 1977, is still claimed to be* among the very highest selling albums of all-time at 43 million units.
*Please note the Wikipedia list is widely inaccurate, follow this link for a better reflection of the true ranking.
At the same time, various statistics prove he is completely unknown in several key markets like Japan. He has on average 71 times less views there than Michael Jackson, AC/DC, Pink Floyd and Whitney Houston, claimed to own the Top 5 best selling albums along with him. The same situation is verified in Brazil, France, Italy, Indonesia, Mexico, Spain, etc. The list goes on.
While we have learned that claims may be inflated, they are never so much different from the valid data. What happened then? How big really is Meat Loaf? How much his Bat Out Of Hell albums sold? Were his remaining records successful too? What's his biggest hit to date? It's time to dig into his numbers to point out valid answers.
Original Albums Sales
Bat Out of Hell (1977)
- America
- US - 15,050,000
- Canada - 2,250,000
- Argentina - N/A
- Brazil - N/A
- Mexico - N/A
- Asia - 205,000
- Japan - N/A
- Oceania
- Australia - 1,775,000
- New Zealand - 265,000
- Europe - 7,410,000
- UK - 3,310,000
- France - N/A
- Germany - 1,300,000
- Italy - 70,000
- Spain - N/A
- Sweden - 150,000
- Netherlands - 900,000
- Switzerland - N/A
- Austria - N/A
- Finland - N/A
- World - 27,410,000
Dead Ringer (1981)
- America
- US - 400,000
- Canada - 60,000
- Argentina - N/A
- Brazil - N/A
- Mexico - N/A
- Asia - 20,000
- Japan - N/A
- Oceania
- Australia - 55,000
- New Zealand - 10,000
- Europe - 1,370,000
- UK - 645,000
- France - N/A
- Germany - 260,000
- Italy - 15,000
- Spain - 20,000
- Sweden - 140,000
- Netherlands - 40,000
- Switzerland - N/A
- Austria - N/A
- Finland - N/A
- World - 1,980,000
Midnight at the Lost and Found (1983)
- America
- US - 100,000
- Canada - N/A
- Argentina - N/A
- Brazil - N/A
- Mexico - N/A
- Asia - 5,000
- Japan - N/A
- Oceania
- Australia - 5,000
- New Zealand - N/A
- Europe - 270,000
- UK - 140,000
- France - N/A
- Germany - 60,000
- Italy - N/A
- Spain - N/A
- Sweden - 12,500
- Netherlands - N/A
- Switzerland - N/A
- Austria - N/A
- Finland - N/A
- World - 400,000
Bad Attitude (1984)
- America
- US - 300,000
- Canada - N/A
- Argentina - N/A
- Brazil - N/A
- Mexico - N/A
- Asia - 10,000
- Japan - N/A
- Oceania
- Australia - 15,000
- New Zealand - N/A
- Europe - 430,000
- UK - 185,000
- France - N/A
- Germany - 130,000
- Italy - N/A
- Spain - N/A
- Sweden - 10,000
- Netherlands - N/A
- Switzerland - N/A
- Austria - N/A
- Finland - N/A
- World - 800,000
Blind Before I Stop (1986)
- America
- US - 50,000
- Canada - N/A
- Argentina - N/A
- Brazil - N/A
- Mexico - N/A
- Asia - 5,000
- Japan - N/A
- Oceania
- Australia - 5,000
- New Zealand - N/A
- Europe - 180,000
- UK - 100,000
- France - N/A
- Germany - 40,000
- Italy - N/A
- Spain - N/A
- Sweden - 5,000
- Netherlands - N/A
- Switzerland - 5,000
- Austria - N/A
- Finland - N/A
- World - 260,000
Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell (1993)
- America
- US - 6,075,000
- Canada - 1,025,000
- Argentina - N/A
- Brazil - N/A
- Mexico - N/A
- Asia - 200,000
- Japan - 50,000
- Oceania
- Australia - 370,000
- New Zealand - 70,000
- Europe - 4,690,000
- UK - 2,140,000
- France - 100,000
- Germany - 1,150,000
- Italy - 35,000
- Spain - 50,000
- Sweden - 120,000
- Netherlands - 220,000
- Switzerland - 100,000
- Austria - 85,000
- Finland - N/A
- World - 12,730,000
Welcome to the Neighbourhood (1995)
- America
- US - 750,000
- Canada - 140,000
- Argentina - N/A
- Brazil - N/A
- Mexico - N/A
- Asia - 35,000
- Japan - N/A
- Oceania
- Australia - 45,000
- New Zealand - 5,000
- Europe - 1,080,000
- UK - 495,000
- France - N/A
- Germany - 325,000
- Italy - N/A
- Spain - N/A
- Sweden - 12,500
- Netherlands - 25,000
- Switzerland - 25,000
- Austria - N/A
- Finland - N/A
- World - 2,110,000
Couldn't Have Said It Better (2003)
- America
- US - 100,000
- Canada - N/A
- Argentina - N/A
- Brazil - N/A
- Mexico - N/A
- Asia - 10,000
- Japan - N/A
- Oceania
- Australia - 15,000
- New Zealand - N/A
- Europe - 370,000
- UK - 205,000
- France - N/A
- Germany - 90,000
- Italy - N/A
- Spain - N/A
- Sweden - 5,000
- Netherlands - 10,000
- Switzerland - 5,000
- Austria - 6,000
- Finland - N/A
- World - 520,000
Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose (2006)
- America
- US - 325,000
- Canada - 50,000
- Argentina - N/A
- Brazil - 2,000
- Mexico - N/A
- Asia - 10,000
- Japan - N/A
- Oceania
- Australia - 35,000
- New Zealand - 2,500
- Europe - 720,000
- UK - 375,000
- France - N/A
- Germany - 190,000
- Italy - N/A
- Spain - N/A
- Sweden - 5,000
- Netherlands - 20,000
- Switzerland - 10,000
- Austria - 12,500
- Finland - N/A
- World - 1,180,000
Hang Cool Teddy Bear (2010)
- America
- US - 50,000
- Canada - 7,500
- Argentina - N/A
- Brazil - N/A
- Mexico - N/A
- Asia - 5,000
- Japan - N/A
- Oceania
- Australia - 15,000
- New Zealand - 2,000
- Europe - 190,000
- UK - 90,000
- France - N/A
- Germany - 60,000
- Italy - N/A
- Spain - N/A
- Sweden - 1,000
- Netherlands - 2,500
- Switzerland - 4,000
- Austria - 4,000
- Finland - N/A
- World - 280,000
Hell in a Handbasket (2011)
- America
- US - 15,000
- Canada - N/A
- Argentina - N/A
- Brazil - N/A
- Mexico - N/A
- Asia - 2,500
- Japan - N/A
- Oceania
- Australia - 7,500
- New Zealand - N/A
- Europe - 90,000
- UK - 40,000
- France - N/A
- Germany - 30,000
- Italy - N/A
- Spain - N/A
- Sweden - 500
- Netherlands - 1,500
- Switzerland - 1,500
- Austria - 2,000
- Finland - N/A
- World - 120,000
Braver Than We Are (2016)
- America
- US - 25,000
- Canada - N/A
- Argentina - N/A
- Brazil - N/A
- Mexico - N/A
- Asia - N/A
- Japan - N/A
- Oceania
- Australia - 5,000
- New Zealand - N/A
- Europe - 70,000
- UK - 40,000
- France - N/A
- Germany - 20,000
- Italy - N/A
- Spain - N/A
- Sweden - 500
- Netherlands - 1,500
- Switzerland - 1,000
- Austria - 1,000
- Finland - N/A
- World - 110,000
Original Album Sales - Comments
1977 Bat Out of Hell - 27,410,000
1981 Dead Ringer - 1,980,000
1983 Midnight at the Lost and Found - 400,000
1984 Bad Attitude - 800,000
1986 Blind Before I Stop - 260,000
1993 Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell - 12,730,000
1995 Welcome to the Neighbourhood - 2,110,000
2003 Couldn't Have Said It Better - 520,000
2006 Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose - 1,180,000
2010 Hang Cool Teddy Bear - 280,000
2011 Hell in a Handbasket - 120,000
2016 Braver Than We Are - 110,000
I suppose that's the point where I have to mention Jim Steinman. He was the composer of Bat Out Of Hell, while Todd Rundgren produced it. The former along with vocalist Meat Loaf spent years recording and producing this record. Mocked by most of the industry, they ultimately got a deal with Cleveland International Records in 1977, a tiny independent record label that was founded that same year.
The success of the album led the Meat Loaf / Steinman pair to much legal dispute. Although they teamed again for the album Dead Ringer, the rest of the 80s was a never ending struggle for Meat Loaf. His new LPs sold chaotic numbers, all of them being outsold by the catalog record Bat Out Of Hell during their year of release. Steinman was more successful during this period, composing several hits for Bonnie Tyler including the classic Total Eclipse of the Heart.
When the performer and the composer reconciled several years later, they decided to release a new album together. When Bat Out Of Hell II was announced, that created some interest but mostly jokes. If many doubted it could be anywhere near as successful as its predecessor, people were curious to hear the record. The single I'd Do Anything For Love was soon a gigantic smash, leading the album to over 12,7 million sales to date.
The story was repeated a second time. Subsequent albums, with little to no input from Steinman, sold less and less. The composer got some nice cashbacks thanks to the cover of his song It's All Coming Back To Me Now by Céline Dion.
In 2006, Meat Loaf sued the composer once again, this time because he registered on his side the sentence Bat Out Of Hell and tried to cancel the release of Bat Out of Hell III. They ultimately find an agreement and the record came out with It's All Coming Back To Me Now being used as a single. While it sold more than twice its direct predecessor, it sold much less than the first two volumes of the trilogy.
A lot of drama spread through 40 years result into a healthy 47,9 million pure units for this 12 albums. Bat Out Of Hell I and II account for 84% of this total.
Physical Singles Sales
As a reminder, the weighting is done with a 10 to 3 ratio between one album and one physical single.
Although Bat Out Of Hell sold bucketloads amounts up to date and was released at the singles peak, it got no Top 10 hit neither in the UK nor in the US. Instead, 3 songs made the Top 40 in both country, with one on each going Top 20. The title track fixed that issue in the UK during 1993's Christmas week when its reissue went #8. The size of the market in late 70s still grant these songs a healthy 2,9 million physical singles sold.
Dead Ringer for Love, a duet with Cher, did well in the UK a few years later, hitting #5. After that, Meat Loaf went through over a decade without a single Top 10 hit. He got a new one in 1993, and what a hit! I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That) led the US Hot 100 for 5 weeks. It topped UK charts for 7 weeks while dominating the ranking in Australia (8 weeks), the Netherlands (6 weeks), New-Zealand (5 weeks), Austria (12 weeks), Switzerland (9 weeks), Belgium (6 weeks), Sweden (6 weeks), Norway (5 weeks) and Germany (9 weeks) too, among others. The biggest selling single of 1993 globally, the song moved over 4,1 million units.
The singer got a last million seller with 1995's I'd Lie for You, a #2 hit in the UK. In total, he sold close to 11 million physical singles to date.
Bat Out of Hell (1977) - 870,000 equivalent albums
Bat Out of Hell - 150,000
You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth (Hot Summer Night) - 790,000
All Revved Up with No Place to Go - 10,000
Two Out of Three Ain't Bad - 1,120,000
Paradise by the Dashboard Light - 600,000
Bat Out of Hell (Live, 1987) - 10,000
Paradise by the Dashboard Light (1988) - 50,000
Two Out of Three Ain't Bad (1992) - 10,000
Paradise by the Dashboard Light (1993) - 10,000
Bat Out of Hell (1993) - 150,000
Dead Ringer (1981) - 189,000 equivalent albums
I'm Gonna Love Her for Both of Us - 150,000
Read 'Em and Weep - 50,000
Dead Ringer for Love - 410,000
Midnight at the Lost and Found (1983) - 44,000 equivalent albums
Razor's Edge - 40,000
Midnight at the Lost and Found - 80,000
If You Really Want To - 25,000
Bad Attitude (1984) - 90,000 equivalent albums
Modern Girl - 230,000
Nowhere Fast - 40,000
Piece of the Action - 30,000
Blind Before I Stop (1986) - 30,000 equivalent albums
Rock 'n' Roll Mercenaries - 70,000
Getting Away with Murder - 10,000
Blind Before I Stop - 10,000
Special Girl - 10,000
Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell (1993) - 1,479,000 equivalent albums
I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That) - 4,110,000
Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through - 590,000
Objects in the Rear View Mirror May Appear Closer than They Are - 230,000
Welcome to the Neighbourhood (1995) - 417,000 equivalent albums
I'd Lie for You (And That's the Truth) - 1,110,000
Runnin' for the Red Light (I Gotta Life) - 40,000
Not a Dry Eye in the House - 240,000
Couldn't Have Said It Better (2003) - 20,000 equivalent albums
Couldn't Have Said It Better - 15,000
Did I Say That? - 30,000
Man of Steel - 20,000
Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose (2006) - 50,000 equivalent albums
Blind as a Bat - 5,000
It's All Coming Back to Me Now - 150,000
Cry Over Me - 10,000
Orphan - 65,000 equivalent albums
Is Nothing Sacred - 60,000
A Kiss Is A Terrible Thing To Waste - 5,000
What You See Is What You Get - 150,000
Digital Singles Sales
As a reminder, the weighting is done with a 10 to 1,5 ratio between one album and one digital single.
Overall, Meat Loaf's downloasd are bad. The 4 popular tracks from Bat Out Of Hell sold around half a million each. Paradise by the Dashboard Light leads the way thanks to larger North American numbers.
I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That) disappointingly fails to break the million mark. The lack of love from key downloads markets like South Korea no doubt impact its results ngatively. It's still the highest selling download of Meat Loaf.
Bat Out of Hell (1977) - 336,000 equivalent albums
Bat Out of Hell - 530,000
You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth (Hot Summer Night) - 430,000
Two Out of Three Ain't Bad - 520,000
Paradise by the Dashboard Light - 660,000
Remaining tracks - 100,000
Dead Ringer (1981) - 11,000 equivalent albums
Dead Ringer for Love - 60,000
Remaining tracks - 10,000
Midnight at the Lost and Found (1983) - 1,000 equivalent albums
All tracks - 5,000
Bad Attitude (1984) - 1,000 equivalent albums
All tracks - 5,000
Blind Before I Stop (1986) - 0 equivalent album
All tracks - irrelevant amount.
Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell (1993) - 150,000 equivalent albums
I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That) - 850,000
Remaining tracks - 150,000
Welcome to the Neighbourhood (1995) - 15,000 equivalent albums
I'd Lie for You (And That's the Truth) - 80,000
Remaining tracks - 20,000
Couldn't Have Said It Better (2003) - 6,000 equivalent albums
All tracks - 40,000
Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose (2006) - 32,000 equivalent albums
It's All Coming Back to Me Now - 150,000
Remaining tracks - 60,000
Hang Cool Teddy Bear (2010) - 5,000 equivalent albums
All tracks - 30,000
Hell in a Handbasket (2011) - 3,000 equivalent albums
All tracks - 20,000
Braver Than We Are (2016) - 2,000 equivalent albums
All tracks - 10,000
Orphan - 24,000 equivalent albums
Hot Patootie - 150,000
Remaining tracks - 10,000
Streaming Sales
Streaming is made up of audio and video streams. Our CSPC methodology now includes both to better reflect the real popularity of each track. The main source of data for each avenue is respectively Spotify and YouTube. As detailed in the Fixing Log article, Spotify represents 157 million of the 272 million users of streaming platforms, while YouTube is pretty much the only video platform generating some revenue for the industry. Below is the equivalence set on the aforementioned article:
Audio Stream - 1500 plays equal 1 album unit
Video Stream - 11,750 views equal 1 album unit
Equivalent Albums Sales (EAS) = 272/157 * Spotify streams / 1500 + YouTube views / 11750
Part 1
Meat Loaf's streams are rather disappointing. Obviously, his target audience isn't the most fitting to streaming users. Also, the lenght of his tracks don't make it easy either. The two most streamed songs from Bat Out Of Hell, the title track and Paradise by the Dashboard Light, last a whopping 18:16 minutes together. This is a huge handicap to be featured into playlists.
We can notice it with streams of Dead Ringer for Love. The duet with Cher is arguably nowhere near as popular as the 4 main songs from Bat Out Of Hell but has similar streams on Spotify. It's more traditional length of 4:21 minutes make it easier to be included on playlists and subsequently gain healthy streams.
In terms of equivalent album sales (EAS), the debut album stands on 115,000, Dead Ringer on 23,000 and Midnight at the Lost and Found on an awful 3,000 units.
Part 2
Albums Bad Attitude and Blind Before I Stop are more than dead nowadays. They combine for a mere 4,000 EAS.
Back Out Of Hell II is much bigger, although still kind of disappointing. I'd Do Anything for Love is up to 47 million Spotify streams and 68 million YouTube views. While these figures are decent, especially for a track which is 12 minutes long, that's nowhere near as good as one would expect from such an earth-shaking smash. The album totals 73,000 EAS to date from streams.
Part 3
I'd Lie for You and It's All Coming Back to Me Now still streamed a bit, but these figures fail to impress. The song Do It! doesn't reach 50,000 streams on Spotify, a dramatic showing for an artist who sold so many records. All 3 albums combined register 22,000 EAS.
Part 4
Well, do I need to comment? It's seems impossible that Braver Than We Are was released in 2016 considering how low its streams are. It's true though.
These figures reveal something that's also visible on Meat Loaf's album sales violent ups and downs: he has no fan base. There is very few people out there excited to hear his new songs. Indeed, they liked some tracks or albums, but close to nobody would present himself as a huge Meat Loaf fan.
Part 5
There isn't much left out of the orphan tracks from Meat Loaf, some of which came from his early 1971 album Stoney & Meatloaf. The only one with relevant streams is Hot Patootie, issued in 1975 as part of the The Rocky Horror Picture Show soundtrack.
Full Length related record Sales
It sounds fairly logical to add together weighted sales of one era - studio album, physical singles, downloads, streams - to get the full picture of an album's popularity. For older releases though, they also generate sales of various live, music videos and compilation albums.
All those packaging-only records do not create value, they exploit the value originating from the parent studio album of each of its tracks instead. Inevitably, when such compilations are issued, this downgrades catalog sales of the original LP. Thus, to perfectly gauge the worth of these releases, we need to re-assign sales proportionally to its contribution of all the compilations which feature its songs. The following table explains this method.
How to understand this table? If you check this example, these figures mean The Very Best Of sold 1,980,000 units worldwide. Then, the second statistics column means streams of all the songs included on this package add for 203,912 EAS.
The second part at the right of the table shows how many streams are coming from each original album as well as the share they represent. Thus, streaming figures tell us Bat Ouf Of Hell songs are responsible for 53% of the The Very Best Of tracklist attractiveness. In other words, it generated 1,047,000 of its 1,980,000 album sales. Eventually, we apply this methodology to all compilations.
Compilations - Part 1
This first list of compilation and live records focuses on sets issued without tracks from Bat Out Of Hell II. Thus, we see that Bat Ouf Of Hell songs have a gigantic impact on them. Please notice that both Heaven & Hell and Meat Loaf and Friends include songs from Bonnie Tyler which is why only half of their sales were distributed to Meat Loaf's albums.
Compilations - Part 2
This second list of compilations includes packages issued from 1994 to 2009. The first two volumes of Bat Out Of Hell are responsible for nearly all their sales. The latter, released by MCA, isn't covered by some packages of Cleveland International Records like Piece of the Action.
Compilations - Part 3
With most releases involving MCA / Cleveland International Records agreements now, they are fueled by both Bat Out Of Hell I and II.
Full Length related records Sales – Summary
Here is the most underestimated indicator of an album’s success – the amount of compilation sales of all kinds it generated. Due to the dependency of sales of the original studio albums on these releases, they are a key piece of the jigsaw.
Naturally, Bat Out Of Hell dominates. It generated nearly all 4 million plus sales of the compilations released until 1993 and continued to be the main traction of the artist in later years.
BONUS: Total Album (all types) Sales per Country
- America
- US - 24,975,000
- Canada - 3,835,000
- Argentina - N/A
- Brazil - N/A
- Mexico - N/A
- Asia - 595,000
- Japan - 195,000
- Oceania
- Australia - 2,750,000
- New Zealand - 415,000
- Europe - 23,175,000
- UK - 11,845,000
- France - 355,000
- Germany - 4,625,000
- Italy - 165,000
- Spain - 245,000
- Sweden - 490,000
- Netherlands - 1,415,000
- Switzerland - 380,000
- Austria - 305,000
- Finland - 80,000
- World - 58,350,000
Please note that some of the countries totals may be slightly incomplete when the figure is N/A for minor releases. Countries with too much missing information to be precise enough are listed as N/A.
MEAT LOAF CAREER CSPC RESULTS
So, after checking all the figures, how many overall equivalent album sales has each album by Meat Loaf achieved? Well, at this point we hardly need to add up all of the figures defined in this article!
[xyz-ips snippet="updatedCSPCalbums"]
Conclusions
In the music industry, some artists are one-hit wonders, others are one-album wonders. Meat Loaf is unique in that he is a one-franchise wonder. Both Bat Out Of Hell I and II have been immense successes. If sales claims often quoted on media of the former are largely inflated, it remains an insane smash. Up to 35,4 million equivalent album sales and counting, it's among the Top 40 most successful albums of all-time. It tops classic records like Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here and the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
The volume II is one of the most successful comebacks ever. A la Paul Simon's Graceland and Santana's Supernatural, it succeeded a very weak seller and went on to become a blockbuster. It is close to 16 million EAS to date. The 3rd chapter of the franchise is much more modest at less than 1,3 million.
Modest is also the word for remaining albums. If follow ups of his monster albums average 3 million EAS, remaining albums of Meat Loaf bombed in great fashion. Dead Ringer sold less than 10% of Bat Out Of Hell. It's only one of his 5 albums which dropped 77% or more over their immediate predecessor. The singer has been completely unable to transform the success of his albums into a real following of his persona.
More than 40 years into his career, Meat Loaf has now sold close to 62 million EAS. Apart from back catalog sales of his two main records, this tally isn't going to be boosted anytime soon.
To go deeper...
Thanks to our new ASR (Artist Success Rating) concept, we know that his sales represent 32.6 million times the purchase of his full catalog. Coupled with his total sales, it translates into an ASR score of 233. That puts him ahead of Cher and Green Day but behind Enya and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Additionally, the following sections list his most successful songs as well as his records and achievements.
As usual, feel free to comment and / or ask a question!
Sources: IFPI, Spotify, YouTube, Discogs, Chartmasters.org.
Bonuses
MEAT LOAF'S BIGGEST TRACKS
The list is compiled in album equivalent sales generated by each song. Therefore, these figures are not merged units of singles formats. Instead, it includes weighted sales of the song's physical single, download, ringtone and streaming as well as its share among sales of all albums on which it is featured.
1. 1993 - Meat Loaf ft. Lorraine Crosby - I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That) [Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell] - 13,140,000
2. 1977 - Meat Loaf - Paradise by the Dashboard Light [Bat Out of Hell] - 11,600,000
3. 1977 - Meat Loaf - Bat Out of Hell [Bat Out of Hell] - 9,070,000
4. 1977 - Meat Loaf - Two Out of Three Ain't Bad [Bat Out of Hell] - 6,630,000
5. 1977 - Meat Loaf - You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth (Hot Summer Night) [Bat Out of Hell] - 4,940,000
6. 1981 - Meat Loaf ft. Cher - Dead Ringer for Love [Dead Ringer] - 2,760,000
7. 1995 - Meat Loaf - I'd Lie for You (And That's the Truth) [Welcome to the Neighbourhood] - 1,540,000
8. 1977 - Meat Loaf - Heaven Can Wait [Bat Out of Hell] - 1,410,000
9. 1977 - Meat Loaf - For Crying Out Loud [Bat Out of Hell] - 1,010,000
10. 1993 - Meat Loaf - Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through [Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell] - 910,000
RECORDS & ACHIEVEMENTS
- At 35,440,000 EAS, Bat Out Of Hell is the 3rd most successful album from 1977.
- At 15,931,000 EAS, Bat Out Of Hell II is the 7th most successful album from 1993.
- At 27,410,000 pure units, Bat Out Of Hell is the 8th highest selling studio album from the 70s.
- At 2,250,000 pure units, Bat Out Of Hell is one of the Top 10 selling albums of all-time in Canada.
- At 1,775,000 pure units, Bat Out Of Hell is the highest selling album of all-time in Australia.
- At 900,000 pure units, Bat Out Of Hell is one of the Top 10 selling albums of all-time in the Netherlands.
- At 4,110,000 physical singles sales, I'd Do Anything For Love is the biggest selling single from 1993.
NB: EAS means Equivalent Album Sales.
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Thank you for mentioning Jim Steinman. Jim is the major reason why Meatloaf's albums sold a lot. If only he always agreed with Jim, Jim would have not had Celine record his song "It's All Coming Back To Me Now" and his version and his 3rd bat out of hell album could have sold millions more.
His first album is unknown in the Philippines and never heard of him until "I Would Do Anything For Love"
Still decent total EAS for him.
Some sources said bat out of hell is sold more than 40 million but that's inflated for sure
Alanis Morissette should do the same as Meat Loaf with the Bath...albums, and release an album named Jagged Little Pill II. And maybe JLP part III as well.
I really thought she has the worst career downfall ever. Clearly I was wrong.
I'm sure Meatloaf isn't complaining...........he has a solid career and a unique sound.
No, Steinman saw "It's All Coming Back to Me Now" as a "woman's song, so prevented Meat Loaf from recording it. Girl group Pandora's Box went on to record, and it was made famous through a cover by Celine Dion, Meat Loaf has said the song was intended for Bat Out of Hell II and given to the singer in 1986, but that they both decided to use "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)" for Bat II, It's considered to be "the greatest love song ever written," and Dion version " the record of the millennium“
http://www.jimsteinman.com/lontimes.htm
When Jim said that IACBTMN was an attempt to write "the most passionate, romantic song" he could ever create, I was really happy because it could really mean it is his favorite and the best song he has written. So yeah, I'd Do Anything For Love, Total Eclipse Of The Heart are great songs too, but IACBMTN is his most special song.
IDAFL is the bigger single though 13,140,000 EAS prolly TEOTH (no figures available yet) is also bigger than IACBTMN (12,280,000 EAS) as both songs reached #1 in the US Billboard Hot 100. IACBTMN only reached #2 which for me was really unbelievable.
But I'm pretty sure IACBMTN will outsell both other Jim songs in the future.
I wasn't really disappointed with Meatloaf picking Marion Raven as his duet for his version of IACBTMN because her voice still suits the orchestraic song even if it sounded a young and soft raspy voice but... he could have picked Christina Aguilera as she is more popular and has a better voice too. And I didn't expect Meatloaf's version to be the shortest compared to the versions of Pandora's Box and Celine Dion.
I see Jim and Meatloaf as bestfriends, agrees in a lot of things and at the same time, disagrees in a lot of things. So reading about them disagreeing and even going to court, their disagreements weren't personal. Somebody should make a movie about them!
It’d be a perfect time to do Jay Z since his joint album just dropped with Beyoncé.
Hi chartmasters staff,
Can i get the total EAS on Meatloaf's version of It's All Coming Back To Me Now? Oh and please the total EAS too on Marion Raven's part so I can get the complete total EAS of the song. Thank you in advance!
Now that you did Meatloaf how about doing Credence? C'mon guys everybody would love to see Credence!
not an inflated number listed at 45 million by the New York times , LA Times , and 3 other major newspapers in the states but not the real number , the President of Epic at the time Bat was released has said it is 60 million .
RIP Meat!
Here's a look at some Spotify figures for his hits/albums.
Meat Loaf's discography hasn't survived the streaming age well. His biggest album is obviously his debut smash "Bat Out of Hell", but even that one has rather disappointing streaming figures.
The raw figure for the BOOH album is 269.2M plays - far from the 500M mark to make it to the list of big streaming albums of 1977. A list led by "Rumours" with a whopping 3032.8M plays!
Anyway, all told (incl. live vers. etc) here are the figures for the 7 tracks on his iconic debut:
2 Paradise By the Dashboard Light - 104.0M
3 Bat Out of Hell - 69.5M
4 Two Out of Three Ain't Bad - 50.2M
5 You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth - 37.8M
8 Heaven Can Wait - 12.2M
10 For Crying Out Loud - 10.1M
13 All Revved Up With No Place to Go - 7.2M
Six of the seven tracks are in his all time top 10 (ARUWNPTG is #13), four of his top five tracks are found here, so it's easily his most important work.
His biggest single though is "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Wont Do That)" from BOOH2. It's also his biggest track on Spotify, with most of the streams coming from a live version btw. (much shorter than the epic original).
The remaining three tracks in the top ten are "Dead Ringer for Love", "Hot Patootie" and "It's All Coming Back to Me Now":
1 I'd Do Anything for love - 157.5M
6 Dead Ringer for Love - 29.4M
7 Hot Patootie - 16.4M
9 It's All Coming Back to Me Now - 11.1M
It's worth noting that 3½ years ago when this CSPC was first published "Dead Ringer for Love" (16.5M) was actually his 4th biggest track on Spotify ahead of both "Two Out of Three" (15.2M) and "You Took the Words" (12.4M). It's now trailing both significantly!!!
"Dead Ringer" hasn't even doubled it's plays, while the other two has tripled! (most of the top 10 actually tripled).
So what happened? Well, a cd-reissue of the debut has "Dead Ringer" included at the end. And that version was previously on Spotify, but isn't any longer. So less exposure. That could be part of the explanation.
MJD, is this shift in streaming popularity significant enough to alter the distribution of early Greatest Hits sales?? (like those of "Hits Out of Hell"). I suppose BOOH would get a bigger share with these figures. (and "Dead Ringer" a smaller one).
That said, the "Dead Ringer" album is actually criminally underrated imo! The title track, "Peel Out", "Read 'Em and Weap" and "I'm Gonna Love Her for the Both of Us" are all brilliant!
