CSPC: Aerosmith Popularity Analysis

Original Album Sales – Comments

1973 Aerosmith – 3,540,000
1974 Get Your Wings – 3,880,000
1975 Toys in the Attic – 10,180,000
1976 Rocks – 5,350,000
1977 Draw the Line – 2,740,000
1979 Night in the Ruts – 1,510,000
1982 Rock in a Hard Place – 1,050,000
1985 Done with Mirrors – 930,000
1987 Permanent Vacation – 7,590,000
1989 Pump – 10,520,000
1993 Get a Grip – 13,360,000
1997 Nine Lives – 6,110,000
2001 Just Push Play – 3,120,000
2004 Honkin’ on Hobo – 1,310,000
2012 Music from Another Dimension! – 520,000

Pure studio album sales of 71,7 million units are no doubt impressive. The fact that Aerosmith achieved 3 10-million selling albums across 18 years is also noteworthy. Ultimately, their top seller in pure units is Get a Grip, from 1993. This album sold over 3 million units in Europe and over half a million units in both Latin America and Japan. A real global seller.

Interestingly, the band sold 28,25 million with albums from their first decade and 37,58 million with their 1987-1997 outputs. It doesn’t mean that the latter era was the biggest though as early material was recycled multiple times through compilations. What’s clear though is that Aerosmith had two lives.

They were different lives still. Up to 1985, their albums shifted 81% of their copies in the US alone. In most, a large part of sales abroad came as catalog sales during the 90s. As for albums issued since 1987, they sold a much more balanced 59% in the US and 41% abroad. The band fully enjoyed the mundialization enabled by the likes Michael Jackson and Madonna during the 80s.