CSPC: Simon & Garfunkel Popularity Analysis

SIMON & GARFUNKEL CAREER CSPC RESULTS

So, after checking all the figures, how many overall equivalent album sales has each album by Simon & Garfunkel achieved? Well, at this point we hardly need to add up all of the figures defined in this article!

In the following results table, all categories display figures in equivalent album sales. If different, pure sales are listed between parentheses.

artist_spotify_id	#	Cover	Album	Studio albums (EAS)	sales_update_date	Other LPs (EAS)	Physical singles (units sold)	Digital singles (units sold)	Streams	Streams increase	Total EAS	valid_as_of	streams_updated_value	album_id
70cRZdQywnSFp9pnc2WTCE	1		Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M.	2,140,000	11.05.18	7,482,000	28,000 (30,000)	158,000 (1,050,000)	290,000 (05/31/23)	Av.: 100 LD: 140	10,097,000	20,230,531	290,000	787
70cRZdQywnSFp9pnc2WTCE	2		Sounds of Silence	5,550,000	11.05.18	18,523,000	1,227,000 (4,130,000)	498,000 (3,320,000)	749,000 (05/31/23)	Av.: 280 LD: 430	26,547,000	20,230,531	749,000	788
70cRZdQywnSFp9pnc2WTCE	3		Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme	5,250,000	11.05.18	8,764,000	909,000 (2,620,000)	162,000 (1,080,000)	465,000 (05/31/23)	Av.: 190 LD: 330	15,550,000	20,230,531	465,000	789
70cRZdQywnSFp9pnc2WTCE	4		Bookends	5,300,000	11.05.18	19,375,000	1,423,000 (4,370,000)	338,000 (2,250,000)	824,000 (05/31/23)	Av.: 320 LD: 390	27,259,000	20,230,531	824,000	790
70cRZdQywnSFp9pnc2WTCE	5		Bridge over Troubled Water	19,580,000	11.05.18	21,072,000	3,278,000 (10,840,000)	877,000 (5,850,000)	1,298,000 (05/31/23)	Av.: 520 LD: 660	46,105,000	20,230,531	1,298,000	791
70cRZdQywnSFp9pnc2WTCE	6		Orphan	0	11.05.18	516,000	396,000 (900,000)	9,000 (60,000)	28,000 (05/11/18)	N/A	949,000	20,230,531	28,000	1,735

As a reminder:

• Studio Album: sales of the original album
• Other Releases: sales of compilations generated thanks to the album
• Physical Singles: sales of physical singles from the album (ratio 3/10)
• Download Singles: sales of digital singles from the album (ratio 1,5/10)
• Streaming: equivalent album sales of all the album tracks (ratio 1/1500 for Audio stream and 1/6750 for Video stream)

See where the artist ranks among remaining singers

Brilliant. The career of Simon & Garfunkel started slow and hasn’t last long but it hasn’t prevent them from selling magnificent numbers. The top album is Bridge Over Troubled Water. At more than 45 million equivalent album sales across all formats, its quite simply the most successful album released up to that point, impressively topping Beatles‘ biggest Abbey Road by 2 million.

This success isn’t a one-off. Both Sounds of Silence and Bookends close on 26 million. So far, from all artists we studied, we have been able to identify only 8 albums from the 60s which top 25 million – 7 Beatles‘ albums plus Led Zeppelin‘s II. These two Simon & Garfunkel albums join them, proving the duo was really at the top of the game.

At 15 million and 10 million respectively, Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme and Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. are very strong too.

The career to date of the duo stands on 123,9 million equivalent album sales with a mere 5 albums and virtually no orphan song. Their LPs generated an average of nearly 25 million album sales.

Thanks to our new ASR (Artist Success Rating) concept, we can add that they sold 73,9 million times the worth of their full catalog (Equivalent Discography Sales). This evidences an exploitation poorly handled with compilations downgrading catalog sales of their studio albums very early in their lifetime. Only Michael Jackson and the Eagles sold more times the entire value of their discography.

This implies an ASR score of 542. They are tied with Elton John in spite of a much shorter discography. They are also just behind Madonna, Pink Floyd and the Rolling Stones. If we have a look at Paul Simon‘s comprehensive discography as he is the songwriter of both his solo career and the duo, he registers an ASR score of 727, higher than Queen and trailing only Michael Jackson and the Beatles.

The following pages list their most successful songs as well as their records and achievements. Do not forget to check our amazing cross-artists lists posted inside the CSPC: Data Collector which includes the full listing of all CSPC results compiled so far to better gauge their position in the history of the music industry.

As usual, feel free to comment and / or ask a question!

Sources: IFPI, Spotify, YouTube, Discogs, Chartmasters.org.