CSPC: AC/DC Popularity Analysis

AC DC

AC/DC, the Thunder from Down Under, were formed in Sydney, Australia, in 1973 by Malcolm Young and his schoolboy uniform wearing little brother Angus. After finding international success in 1979 with the seminal Highway to Hell album, they were suddenly struck by mortality. However, when lead singer Bon Scott died aged 33 in February 1980 they replaced one legendary front man with another. With Brian Johnson at the microphone they soon released their landmark Back in Black album, which transformed them into superstars of the Hard Rock genre.

Today, the future of the band is uncertain. Brian Johnson almost lost his hearing, forcing AC/DC to finish their latest tour in 2016 with singer Axl Rose of Guns ‘N Roses stepping in. Add to this, sadly, in November 2017 Malcolm Young died following years of dementia, leaving Angus Young as the only member left from the classic line-up.

Many claims have been made about AC/DC‘s record sales. Supposedly they’re over 200 million. Back in Black has been heralded by some as the 2nd biggest album of all time behind Michael Jackson‘s Thriller. While this may not be the case, we do know AC/DC are one of the strongest catalog sellers in the business. But how do they stack up against other Hard Rock behemoths like Metallica and Led Zeppelin? It’s time to find out.

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 AC/DC‘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.

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Analord

Least streamed songs on their pre-2010 albums :

Back In Black 18m
Highway To Hell 10m
High Voltage 6m
Dirty Deeds 4m
Let There Be Rock 4m
Black Ice 4m
The Razors Edge 4m
Powerage 3m
Stiff Upper Lip 3m
Ballbreaker 2m
For Those About To Rock 2m
Fly On The Wall 1m
Blow Up Your Video 1m
Flick Of The Switch 1m

Zeppelin for comparison :

II 22m
IV 16m
I 14m
Houses Of The Holy 11m
III 7m
Physical Graffiti 6m
In Through The Out Door 4m
Presence 3m

Analord

The Beatles have released more songs than AC/DC :

Abbey Road 27m
Revolver 15m
Rubber Soul 14m
Magical Mystery Tour 14m
Let It Be 14m
Sgt Peppers 14m
The Beatles 11m
Please Please Me 9m
Help 9m
A Hard Day’s Night 6m
With The Beatles 6m
Beatles For Sale 6m

Plus all of the “orphan” stuff (Hey Jude…etc).

Some of Metallica’s albums are quite recent so it’s difficult to compare, Load/Reload are around 6m I think, St Anger more like 5m, which isn’t that much for a 2003 album…

Analord

I think you’re focusing too much on playlists, Metallica or Zeppelin fans are mostly into albums, not playlists. Metallica for example : Master Of Puppets 32m Ride The Lightning 27m And Justice For All 26m Metallica 24m Kill Em All 15m Load 6m Reload 5m St Anger 5m These numbers simply represent the popularity of these albums, the Rolling Stones have a lot of forgotten tracks because they have a lot of forgotten albums… Aerosmith is a perfect example, they have more Spotify followers than Zeppelin but check this out : Toys In The Attic 2.1m Aerosmith 1.7m Get A… Read more »

Martin

I’m with Analord on this and always have been. I think it’s far more to do with popularity than playlists. The simple fact for me, is that a lot of DCs albums are just not very popular. Same with Queen, even although the film boosted a lot of their underperforming album tracks. In my opinion the reason those 3 albums by GNR and Nirvana are so well streamed is to do with each bands popularity. Many other acts have 3 album catalogues but do not manage the streams those acts do, so that proves to me that having a small(er)… Read more »

Martin

But your debating in “ifs” and that is pointless. What we do know is, many past acts have had a career of 3 studio albums but not many, if any, have the streams of GNR or Nirvana. If it is so easy to get these kind of streams from 3 albums and playlists, every 3 album act would have them, but they don’t, so this has to be about their popularity.

MJD

I feel like both of you Martin and Analord are missunderstanding the point of Thomas. He isn’t saying that had Queen only released their first 3 albums, they would be Abbey Roads, obviously not. Not that GnR and Nirvana are weak/average bands. The point is, had Queen’s strength been concentrated in 3 albums, say put 2-3 big hits per album then random deep cuts from them, streams of these deep cuts would be way higher than they are in the current configuration. And the point is, had Nirvana or GnR continued up to now a la Pearl Jam or RHCP,… Read more »

Martin

I get what Thomas is saying, I just disagree that it is totally to do with playlists, in my opinion it’s more to do with popularity. The reason those AC/DCs albums are such poor streamers, is that for the most part they are just not very popular albums and never have been. The public don’t really care about stuff like Flick of The Switch, Fly On The Wall, Stiff Upper Lip, Ballbreaker, Powerage, Blow Up Your Video or even For Those About To Rock and never did, they were not particularly popular on release are not now. I think too… Read more »

Martin

I didn’t say it was catalogue size Thomas, I said it was a decline in popularity, due to the length of career, two different things. Zeppelin were pretty popular from start to finish, just Presence and ITTOD were not as popular or successful as their first 6 albums. Although saying that, both albums were still quite successful, hitting #1 in the US and UK and both entering in the Top 10 in the US (quite a rare feat pre Soundscan) Presence at #2 and ITTOD at #10 (it entered at #1 on Cashbox). ITTOD was even the Top Selling album… Read more »

Analord

“The reason those AC/DCs albums are such poor streamers, is that for the most part they are just not very popular albums and never have been.”

Exactly, that was my only point. Zeppelin’s albums are way more popular than AC/DC’s, which explains these very low numbers for AC/DC’s least streamed songs. People really care about Metallica albums and they really don’t care about Aerosmith albums, that’s all. AC/DC are kind of in between I guess?

Analord

“Well, if Queen only had 3 albums they likely wouldn’t have had any songs under 100m plays…”

What? If Queen broke up after their 3rd album I don’t even know if one of their songs would’ve 100m streams (maybe Killer Queen).

““Bleach” is not very good”

11th best album from 1989 according to critics, 13th best grunge album ever according to Rolling Stone, and music nerds on RateYourMusic gave it way more ratings than Back In Black (24k vs 17k).

MJD

I think you were correct about Bleach still. The thing with this kind of albums is that they have next to no general public awareness, yet the artist has a very solid fanbase. It creates a situation where most people speaking about it / rating it online will have a very favorable bias to it. ‘Lists of lists’, understand sites merging together tons of lists from users, benefit to these albums that are pushed a lot by a restricted number of people. It’s very visible when we look at it closely. On besteveralbums, Bleach is listed as the 6th best… Read more »

Analord

Sorry but ranking albums by average ratings on “besteveralbums” is ridiculous 😆 For example, the #6 album only has 9 votes (with a 80/100 note) and most of the top 100 albums only have a dozen votes, while Bleach has 1250 votes with a 76/100 note… Again, Bleach is the 11th best album from 1989 according to critics, maybe you don’t care about critics, that’s fine, I also mentioned RateYourMusic which essentially represent people who goes beyond pop/commercial stuff, their #1 album is OK Computer (85k ratings), and as I said Bleach has 24k and Back In Black 17k. Even… Read more »

MJD

Hi Analord! Please, prevent me the “pleases”, especially when you base your message, as usual, on misquotes 😉 I don’t think I’ve said that the list by average ratings is amazing, have I? These lists are all ridiculous, including the ones you mentioned, that’s the point. You say that RateYourMusic is great because “it goes beyond pop/commercial stuff”, as if that was a good thing, and even highlight how Bleach has more ratings than BIB. I would have expected that you would realize yourself when saying something like this that all it proves is the bias of these ratings. The… Read more »

Analord

Oh boy… I never said RateYourMusic is “great”, I just mentioned them. I’ve no idea what you mean by them having a “massive pro-Nirvana bias”, do you mean that Nirvana is considered to be cooler and less commercial than AC/DC? Thomas said “Bleach is not very good” as if it was an established fact, I said critics love the album, a simple counter-argument, I don’t really care about critics myself. Also, Bleach is 11th with a top 10 including De La Soul, Madonna, New Order, Soul II Soul and the Beastie Boys, so your rant about “classic rock heritage” or… Read more »

Analord

Also :

“Have you ever check similar lists from other countries to see how your claim holds, or are we supposed to just accept that the US media defines the world?”

This list represents critics from a dozen countries, including Belgium, Poland, Norway, Italy…etc., it’s the best website I know when it comes to critical consensus, if you know a better one please tell me…

Martin

Powerage is without doubt my favourite album of theirs. Not sure exactly, why its tracks are so unloved in general, maybe because it doesn’t have any hugely popular tracks on it, to bring people to it. I’ve read a few forums etc, where a lot of people and AC/DC fans, also claimed it to be their best.

Martin

I’m not sure I had any of their albums prior to buying That’s The Way I Wanna Rock and Roll but that was definitely the first contemporary record I bought by them, a 12″ picture disc, with Angus on it, if I remember correctly lol. So I guess I’ve been a fan since at least early 88. I’m pretty sure Back In Black and Highway To Hell, were the first two I got into, BIB first, then HTH. I then picked up tons of their albums over the next few years, in 2nd hand shops, charity shops, 2nd hand record… Read more »

Martin

I just reworded my reply, so your reply might look odd now!

Yeah, I’m just the exact opposite to you with LTBR, even Rosie doesn’t work for me as a studio version…I need to hear “Angus”…”Angus”. For me, there’s just nothing standout on it and I’ve never been a big fan of the actual track LTBR, I actually think there are a few weak/filler tunes on it. Sorry lol

Martin

They need to avoid calling any future recordings, a title that begins with S, ends with D, has two Ls, one O, one E, one N and one B, in it and has exactly ten letters! lol Personally, I don’t really rate anything post Back In Black. I’ve enjoyed a handful of tracks that were contemporary to me, such as Who Made Who, That’s The Way…, Heatseeker, Thunderstruck and Rock N Roll Train but not one of their post BIB albums (and I’ve owned them all, since the late 80s) has left any kind of lasting impression on me. I… Read more »

Meca76

AC/DC surpassed 200m EAS. Congratulation !

Analord

T.N.T. just crossed 500m on Spotify, their fifth song to do so. There are only two other 20th century acts who can match that, Guns N’ Roses with also five songs (Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door is at 509m) and of course Queen who have… eleven songs over 500m 😆

Analord

Oh I missed Elton John :

Rocket Man 788m
Your Song 620m
Tiny Dancer 583m
I’m Still Standing 579m
Don’t Go Breaking My Heart 536m

Martin

There’s also Fleetwood Mac;
Dreams 1113m
The Chain 774m
Go Your Own Way 712m
Everywhere 582m
Landslide 519m

The Rolling Stones are getting there
Paint It Black 792m
(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction 552m
Sympathy For The Devil 462m
Start Me Up 459m
Gimme Shelter 457m

and obviously the RHCP, who have 4 from the 90s and 3 from the 00s.

Analord

I’m not including live versions though, I don’t think it makes much sense personally… In any case, Landslide has 488m streams so it will reach 500m very soon indeed.

Nick

The Beatles are also getting there too:

Here Comes the Sun–893m
Come Together–552m
Let It Be–509m
Hey Jude–470m
Yesterday–451m

Analord

I just looked at his digital sales and there are some wild differences when it comes to what used to be his most popular songs : Tiny Dancer 4.2m Your Song 2.7m Rocket Man 2.6m Bennie & The Jets 2.1m (338m streams) Goodbye Yellow Brick Road 1.1m (224) I’m Still Standing 1.1m ! Can You Feel The Love Tonight 0.9m (238) Candle In The Wind 0.9m (129) Step Into Christmas 0.8m (192) Don’t Go Breaking My Heart 0.7m !! AC/DC’s Highway To Hell is also an interesting case, only 50% of Back In Black’s sales but now they both have… Read more »

Nick

That movie Rocket Man changed things. I think Elton’s streams were way lower prior to the movie, in fact I think Madonna was outstreaming him prior to the movie (could be wrong about that one though).

Analord

February 2018 (15 months before the movie) : Like A Prayer 85m Material Girl 63m Like A Virgin 58m Vogue 52m La Isla Bonita 46m Holiday 28m Into The Groove 24m Frozen 23m Papa Don’t Preach 23m Ray Of Light 17m Your Song 132m Rocket Man 130m Tiny Dancer 111m Don’t Go Breaking My Heart 83m Can You Feel The Love Tonight 69m Bennie & The Jets 68m Step Into Christmas 45m I’m Still Standing 38m Candle In The Wind 36m Goodbye Yellow Brick Road 36m As you can see, it was already very different from his digital sales, just… Read more »

Nick

Thanks for backing up with data! Interesting that Madonna’s streams are way worse than her digital sales. She outsold The Beatles, (due to them releasing their catalogue very late on itunes), Elvis, Pink Floyd, Zeppelin, Elton (by a lot) and U2. But now she lags behind all of them.

Analord

But that’s largely because she was still very successful in the 2000s, a song like 4 Minutes sold 5m copies for example, but Material Girl or Like A Virgin only sold 1m… Compared with Elton :

Tiny Dancer 4.2m
Your Song 2.7m
Rocket Man 2.6m
Bennie & The Jets 2.1m
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road 1.1m

So her back catalog was already much less popular despite her being much more relevant during the 2000s… She also sold more than AC/DC :

Back In Black 5.9m
Thunderstruck 4.3m
You Shook Me All Night Long 3.7m
Highway To Hell 3.1m
Hells Bells 2.1m

Nick

Great data, thank you!

Martin

Not that Rumours is not insanely popular anyway, but Dreams has went crazy, since that Tik Tok guy on the skateboard.

I’ve not really been following the pre 2000 songs much of late, will AC/DC have 3 over 1B, before anybody else has 2?

Last edited 1 year ago by Martin
Thomas Christiansen

Yes they will. Besides Queen of course. They already have 4.

Martin

Yeah, that’s what I meant, excluding Queen.

Analord

Californication was released in the summer of 2000 though, the album is from 1999 but I think the most important thing is when did these songs became famous.

About AC/DC, let’s not forget that they arrived late on Spotify (2015), if not Highway To Hell would’ve probably reach 1B already, and Thunderstruck would be very close.

Thomas Christiansen

Californication was indeed released as the 4th single from the album in may 2000. But the album, and first 3 singles, were released in 1999. The album debuted and peaked at #3 in June 1999. Therefore I consider all it’s songs released pre-2000. However, it is possible the song benefitted from being fairly recent when Spotify began. I have a list of top pre-2000 songs dated feb. 2018 on which Californication rank as #10. 4 years later (jan. 2022) it’s down to #25. So it’s popularity is fading somewhat compared to the other oldies on the list. But the same… Read more »

Analord

Yeah it’s possible that Under The Bridge’s popularity is partly explained by the Chilis’ massive success during the 1999-2006 period, so even though the song is from 1991 its trajectory might be closer to a song from 2000 or so.

Btw I truly have no idea why my post got so many downvotes… I’m gonna assume there’s some weirdo out there with fake accounts who doesn’t like me 😆