CSPC: Paul Simon Popularity Analysis

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The mastermind of Simon & Garfunkel, Paul Simon is one of the most successful singer-songwriter of all-time. Exaggeration? No, not according to the data. He started very young. His father was a professional musician and he started singing with Art Garfunkel at the age of 13. Two years later in 1957, he wrote and issued his first recording with his duet partner, Hey Schoolgirl, which went top 50 in the US. For the next 8 years, Simon struggled getting hits, either solo or with Garfunkel. At the time, even their name wasn’t settled, they recorded songs under aliases like Tom & Jerry or Jerry Darcey and True Taylor for his solo material.

Then came the single The Sound of Silence. It first bombed, but when re-worked by producer Tom Wilson a couple of years later, it suddenly became a #1 smash in the US. From 1966 to 1970, the duet was unstoppable. Tensions separated the old friends though. In 1972, Simon arrived with his first major solo album, a self-titled LP. This article focuses on his solo career while a stand-alone piece of work is also available for Simon & Garfunkel data.

As usual, I’ll be using the Commensurate Sales to Popularity Concept in order to relevantly gauge his results. This concept will not only bring you sales information for all Simon‘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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Winston1968

S&G are well above Paul Simon in solo. Their sales are probably in the 120-140 million range, at the minimum ! We’ll see “Late in the evening”….

Dan

Honestly, quite underwhelming. And i doubt Simon and Garfunkel did any better.

Nuclear dolphin

Simon and Garfunkel did loads more! They were massive, biggest selling 60s artists after The Beatles I’d say!

Dan

Yep, looks like you were right.

Winston1968

Ok MJD. I didn’t pay attention to Santana because I thought you were only talking about solo artists and not about bands… And Cher neither. Seeing her face, I couldn’t imagine she was more old than 25 when she released Believe (lol)…

Nuclear dolphin

Oh please let’s have Simon and Garfunkel! 😊

SkkyWill

Not bad

Nathan

Never a big fan of simon………..but he has his place. Fav song is “kodachrome” and from
SandG “So long frank loyd wright”

Winston1968

I’m wondering what are the 2 most successful albums ever by an artist aged 45 or more ?… I’ve failed to find one. Eric Clapton’s Unplugged is a live album, so it can’be this one, I suppose… Very puzzling !

Nuclear dolphin

I’d say Pink Floyd – The Division bell.

Nuclear dolphin

Actually forget I said that..

isaiah

I wonder if a Simon & Garfunkel article is coming next?

Winston1968

Thanks, thanks and thanks ! I was hoping this one since many months !