CSPC: Eagles Popularity Analysis

Physical Singles Sales – Part 2

Hotel California (1976) – 1,737,000 equivalent albums

New Kid In Town – 1,640,000
Hotel California – 3,500,000
Life In The Fast Lane – 650,000

The Long Run (1979) – 921,000 equivalent albums

Heartache Tonight – 1,490,000
The Long Run – 880,000
I Can’t Tell You Why – 690,000
Sad Café – 10,000

Long Road Out Of Eden (2007) – 0 equivalent albums

No physical single released.

Orphan – 420,000 equivalent albums

Please Come Home For Christmas – 740,000
Seven Bridges Road – 340,000
Get Over It – 70,000
Love Will Keep Us Alive – 40,000
Learn To Be Still – 60,000
Hole In The World – 150,000

By their 4th album the Eagles were still not managing to break most foreign markets. They were strong in the US, solid in remaining English-speaking countries plus the Netherlands, surprisingly great sellers in Japan, but then unknown in continental Europe or Latin America. New Kid in Town mostly followed those patterns although its #1 success in the US was enough to grant it more than 1 million sales. The song Hotel California was very different though. It was big everywhere.

Ironically, the track peaked at a shockingly low #60 position in Australia and at a modest #8 spot in the UK. The cannibalization factor worked the other way around this time: rather than a single that ate into sales of an album, the song Hotel California was so popular that it convinced music consumers to go after the LP. Despite this, the single still moved a healthy 3,5 million units. Life In The Fast Lane broke a string of 6 consecutive US Top 5 hits by stalling just outside at #11 due to the success of the album which reduced the number of possible buyers tremendously.

Heartache Tonight was one more US #1 hit while both The Long Run and I Can’t Tell You Why were Top 10 successes. They sold 3 million copies combined.

In terms of physical singles this was the last proper era of the Eagles as no song was released physically from Long Road Out Of Eden. From 1978 to 2003 new singles popped up here and there though. The most successful of them has been their Christmas tune Please Come Home For Christmas. 

Over their career the group sold 16,6 million singles. It may look disappointing for a band with 5 #1 hits plus 5 more Top 10 singles, but we need to keep in mind their huge airplay which fueled their US chart performances, as well as their lackluster results abroad during their entire career minus Hotel California, which remains their only Top 10 hit in countries as important as the UK, France and Germany.