France Album Sales: AC/DC
Powerage (1978) Era
From a 2016 point of view when most artists debut big and run out of fashion, it may seem incredible to see an act growing steadily to the top over the curse of five, six or seven albums. This hasn’t disturb AC/DC yet who continued the heavy recording sessions with Powerage, their fifth output of new material within’ three years only.
The single Rock ‘N Roll Damnation was their first hit in UK, hitting #24. The album peaked at #26 there and #133 in the US, both times on slightly longer runs than its predecessor showing the few radio support the group was starting to get after mostly relying on their live performances to sell during their first few years.
In France the album was the first to appear lower down some minor rankings but failed to break the main – but still unofficial – Top 30 album chart.
Atlantic understood very well the appeal of the band live shows and consequently decided to release their first live album despite unimpressive original album sales. A few months after Powerage, this live set came out, titled If You Want Blood You’ve Got It. Their highest peaking record in both the US (#113) and UK (#13), it proved the group potential as strong album sellers. Similarly, in France the album went over 50,000 units quickly while all their previous records sold in the 2-50,000 range.
Underground following was there, hot live performances too, radio airplay was picking up, AC/DC was barely lacking a sizable hit to break the main audience…
Top 3 Most Streamed Tracks on Spotify
- Gone Shootin’ – 1,842,000
- Rock ‘N Roll Damnation – 1,483,000
- Sin City – 1,019,000