CSPC: Led Zeppelin Popularity Analysis

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Original Album Sales – Comments

1969 Led Zeppelin I – 15,800,000
1969 Led Zeppelin II – 21,900,000
1970 Led Zeppelin III – 13,700,000
1971 Led Zeppelin IV – 36,800,000
1973 Houses Of The Holy – 17,700,000
1975 Physical Graffiti – 13,400,000
1976 Presence – 7,300,000
1979 In Through The Out Door – 11,500,000
1982 Coda – 3,400,000

No need to comment much as numbers speak by themselves. A very impressive pattern of sales, especially for their first 5 albums, or even 6 when one considers that Physical Graffiti is a double album. At 36,8 million Led Zeppelin IV is firmly established as one of the very best selling albums ever on its own, whilst Led Zeppelin II comes second with 21,9 million copies. Houses Of The Holy at 17,7 million, Led Zeppelin I at 15,8 million,  Led Zeppelin III at 13,7 million and Physical Graffiti at 13,4 million rank behind those two.

The softest part of their catalogue relates to their later material, even though Presence and especially In Through The Out Door achieved good sales. Coda is included above but it wouldn’t really be fair to classify it as a proper studio album. In fact, it is listed here to provide you more information but will be added to Orphan Album tally.

As far as worldwide sales are concerned, North America is by far their biggest market. Those 9 albums combined for 96,9 million copies sold there, a sizable 68% of their overall results. UK, Japan, Germany and France are – not surprisingly – amongst their best markets in absolute terms. In relative terms, however, Oceania and parts of Scandinavia are up there, albeit with smaller total sales due to their market’s size.

All told, the above 9 albums managed to sell a breathtaking 142,6 million combined. But their appeal doesn’t quite stop there. And that is what comes next.