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Post by MokyWI on Sept 26, 2016 9:00:54 GMT -5
I always wondered why Linda had only one song go to #1 on Billboards top 100 ("You're No Good") but had a few others that got more air play than YNG fall short by one position, stalling at #2 ("Blue Bayou" & "Don't Know Much" being two of the top of my head) sliderocker's post from 8:44 on 9/23 helped me understand why that might have been. Thanks slide.
All of this aside, Ronstadt had 18 albums in a row (DCN-CLARHLTW including Trio) go at least gold and almost all of those going platinum and several going platinum multiple times over. That had to have been a record for a female artist up until 1989 if not til today.
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Post by erik on Sept 26, 2016 9:09:55 GMT -5
There's also "When Will I Be Loved?", which was shut out of the catbird's seat on the Hot 100 by the Captain and Tenillle's "Love Will Keep Us Together" (it did top Billboard's C&W singles chart, despite having nary a steel guitar or fiddle on it).
But yes, by all rights, Linda probably should have more than just one #1 pop hit to her credit. It actually should be five (IMHO): "You're No Good"; "When Will I Be Loved?"; "Blue Bayou"; "Somewhere Out There"; and "Don't Know Much".
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Post by eddiejinnj on Sept 26, 2016 10:22:36 GMT -5
Actually not to nit pick but "Blue Bayou" peaked at number 3 (BB was number 3 and ISE was number 5 simultaneously). I looked it up to verify. I too wish WWIBL would have been number 1 but have to say that it would have been hard to overtake C&T song unless the timing was right and it was on its descent. As we have discussed, both DKM and SOT both peaked at number 2 but were number 1 in actually sales. eddiejinnj
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Post by Tony on Sept 26, 2016 10:23:22 GMT -5
Billboard did have another chart - The Top Sales Chart - which was based on sales only-- not airplay. Somewhere Out There and Don't Know Much both went to #1 on the sales chart.
I don't know if When Will I Be Loved was a #1 seller, but the massive airplay for Love Will Keep Us Together certainly kept it out of #1 on the Hot 100- of course, Love Will Keep Us Together went on to become the #1 song of the year.
Blue Bayou, likewise, was at the same times as Debby Boone's massive hit- oddly the name escapes me now, but Debby's song also went on to become the #1 song of the year. You Light Up My Life- yes, that's it.
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Post by Tony on Sept 26, 2016 10:26:29 GMT -5
eddiejinnj- you and I must have been posting at the same time but you were faster on the trigger.
Does anyone know what songs kept Don't Know Much and Somewhere Out There out of #1 on the Hot 100?
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Post by eddiejinnj on Sept 26, 2016 11:37:31 GMT -5
"Jacob's Ladder" by Huey Lewis and the News for SOT and "Another Day in Paradise" by Phil Collins for DKM. I knew that by heart. I like Huey and have seen hm once in concert but I did not feel imo that that song deserved the number one spot. "Another Day in Paradise" I could see that at number one as it also was a social commentary on the plight of the homeless done very well I thought. I still would have liked to see DKM at number one at some point. eddiejinnj
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Post by sliderocker on Sept 26, 2016 20:26:44 GMT -5
I always wondered why Linda had only one song go to #1 on Billboards top 100 ("You're No Good") but had a few others that got more air play than YNG fall short by one position, stalling at #2 ("Blue Bayou" & "Don't Know Much" being two of the top of my head) sliderocker's post from 8:44 on 9/23 helped me understand why that might have been. Thanks slide. All of this aside, Ronstadt had 18 albums in a row (DCN-CLARHLTW including Trio) go at least gold and almost all of those going platinum and several going platinum multiple times over. That had to have been a record for a female artist up until 1989 if not til today. You're welcome, Mike. Over the years, I've come to regard the Billboard Top 40 Charts or Top 100 as not being a very accurate chart because of the radio airplay being factored in as part of the equation. Billboard has it sales chart, true, but very few people saw that chart, so very few would likely know whether an artist or band who should've been number one of the pop charts but wasn't because of the airplay was number one on the sales chart. It's a murky area. As for sales vs. radio airplay and how that affected the chart, I don't know what the sales were on the Poppy Family single vs, the Beatles single. But, I thought I did read at one time the Poppy Family single sold five million copies whereas the Beatles single sold more than a million, I believe. It may have been two million. On another sales vs. radio airplay conflict in Billboard I've written about over the years involves the Chuck Berry single "My Ding a Ling," keeping Elvis Presley's "Burning Love" out of the number one spot, despite the fact Presley's single earned a gold record and eventually awarded a platinum record for two million units, whereas the Berry single reportedly fell 8,000 copies short of a million copies and thus wasn't eligible for a gold record. The Presley single actually sold about 2.5 million copies. The Berry single would've needed to have had about 15-16,000 pop-rock radio spins at a minimum across the US during the week the single was a number one. All of the largest US cities in 1972 that were good for 100 points each time the record was played could not have generated that many spins to have put Berry over. A lot of radio stations played the Berry single but a lot of radio stations played the Presley single. And even if there were a hundred stations or a thousand stations playing the Berry single every hour, it's the same deal on the Presley single. It's almost like Billboard didn't count the airplay for the Presley single. With Linda, "When Will I Be Loved" and "Blue Bayou" both should've been number one. I think there is a lot of politics on the Billboard Top 40 and Top 100 charts as to what records actually make the number one position. I also think Billboard has or had a bias against some artists, including Elvis. They have long denied they have any biases but many just don't believe that.
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Post by Tony on Sept 26, 2016 21:42:04 GMT -5
I had read somewhere that Blue Bayou actually did reach #1 in the Billboard rankings, but at an unfortunate time. I can't find the article. Blue Bayou was peaking near the end of the calendar year 1977. It was the #1 song the last week of the year, but in those days, Billboard did not publish an issue the last week of the year. Unfortunately, I do not have a source because in 1977 I was not clairvoyant enough to keep every Linda mention for a future website.
Truth or BS?
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Post by sliderocker on Sept 26, 2016 21:58:40 GMT -5
I had read somewhere that Blue Bayou actually did reach #1 in the Billboard rankings, but at an unfortunate time. I can't find the article. Blue Bayou was peaking near the end of the calendar year 1977. It was the #1 song the last week of the year, but in those days, Billboard did not publish an issue the last week of the year. Unfortunately, I do not have a source because in 1977 I was not clairvoyant enough to keep every Linda mention for a future website. Truth or BS? I can't say for sure either but one would think not having an issue the last week of the year would've been something Billboard would've done every year, not just one. At the same time, I think it could've happened and maybe did happen.
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Post by eddiejinnj on Sept 26, 2016 22:59:23 GMT -5
Well Tony said "those days" so for me it suggests more than one say maybe the 70's or whatever. It would be interesting to find out if that was a policy of Billboard's; when it started and am assuming ended . If I am correctly inferring slide is saying that it is not done presently. eddiejinnj
PS: For such an important who deserved more than one number that is a bum break. As many of us would probably say, Linda would not care.
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Post by MokyWI on Sept 27, 2016 9:05:22 GMT -5
I am sure at this point in Linda's life she has bigger fish to fry so to speak than feeling slighted over not having more songs reach #1. If I had to guess I doubt she would have ever lost sleep over the issue. From my point of view, what really stands out to me is all the gold/platinum selling albums in row rather than how many #1 singles an artist have to their name. I never bought 45's I always bought albums. I wonder where Ronstadt would land on a chart that calculated the artist/band with the most gold/platinum selling albums in a row. Considering few albums these days sell gold, much less platinum, I would guess she would be close to the top of the list.
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Post by eddiejinnj on Sept 27, 2016 14:49:31 GMT -5
TMK for women she probably still holds the record at 8 consecutive platinum albums. Maybe Streisand has more though she releases albums kind of infrequently now but has many albums total. Linda did have the record over her in the 70's and was the FIRST to do so. I would say Linda still holds the record for females and maybe (guessing top ten) of all artists. Mike you are right re: present sales but also artists take their sweet time with releases. it is much more common for artists to go 4 yrs or more between releases. Good thing for us, Linda came from the musical generation where you pretty much got an album every year or year and a half. eddiejinnj
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Post by sliderocker on Sept 27, 2016 16:34:17 GMT -5
TMK for women she probably still holds the record at 8 consecutive platinum albums. Maybe Streisand has more though she releases albums kind of infrequently now but has many albums total. Linda did have the record over her in the 70's and was the FIRST to do so. I would say Linda still holds the record for females and maybe (guessing top ten) of all artists. Mike you are right re: present sales but also artists take their sweet time with releases. it is much more common for artists to go 4 yrs or more between releases. Good thing for us, Linda came from the musical generation where you pretty much got an album every year or year and a half. eddiejinnj Here's the RIAA list of to selling artists. Linda is not among the top ten of all artists. I haven't counted how many other female artists are ahead of her, so I can't say for sure if she's in the top ten of all female artists. If my count is right, Linda is 60th of all top selling artists. It would be higher if executives from her former record companies got their act together and had Linda's totals updated. There are some artists who are ahead of her that made wonder WTF, how was that possible? Garth's total has now been updated, so he now is two million ahead of Elvis. Sony/BMG/RCA will not take that lying down, continuing to search for additional books in the archives that will up Presley's totals. The total for the Beatles has not changed in some time. It may be higher but EMI may not have submitted their books for further certifications. Also, the Beatles' catalog was exempted from the sale in the US to Universal but I don't know what record company handles the distribution for Apple. That may be why the certifications are at a standstill Certified Units
(In Millions)
SHARE THE BEATLES 178
SHARE GARTH BROOKS 138
SHARE ELVIS PRESLEY 136
SHARE LED ZEPPELIN 111.5
SHARE EAGLES 101
SHARE BILLY JOEL 82.5
SHARE MICHAEL JACKSON 79
SHARE ELTON JOHN 77
SHARE PINK FLOYD 75
SHARE AC/DC 72
SHARE GEORGE STRAIT 69
SHARE BARBRA STREISAND 68.5
SHARE THE ROLLING STONES 66.5
SHARE AEROSMITH 66.5
SHARE BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN 65.5
SHARE MADONNA 64.5
SHARE MARIAH CAREY 64
SHARE METALLICA 62
SHARE WHITNEY HOUSTON 57
SHARE VAN HALEN 56.5
SHARE U2 52
SHARE CELINE DION 50
SHARE FLEETWOOD MAC 49.5
SHARE NEIL DIAMOND 49.5
SHARE JOURNEY 48
SHARE KENNY G 48
SHARE SHANIA TWAIN 48
SHARE KENNY ROGERS 47.5
SHARE ALABAMA 46.5
SHARE GUNS N' ROSES 44.5
SHARE ALAN JACKSON 43.5
SHARE BOB SEGER & THE SILVER BULLET BAND 43.5
SHARE SANTANA 43.5
SHARE REBA MC ENTIRE 41
SHARE ERIC CLAPTON 40
SHARE CHICAGO 38.5
SHARE SIMON & GARFUNKEL 38.5
SHARE ROD STEWART 38
SHARE TIM MCGRAW 37.5
SHARE EMINEM 37.5
SHARE BACKSTREET BOYS 37
SHARE FOREIGNER 37
SHARE 2 PAC 36.5
SHARE BOB DYLAN 36
SHARE DEF LEPPARD 35
SHARE QUEEN 34.5
SHARE BON JOVI 34.5
SHARE BRITNEY SPEARS 34
SHARE PHIL COLLINS 33.5
SHARE DAVE MATTHEWS BAND 33.5
SHARE JOHN DENVER 33.5
SHARE THE DOORS 33
SHARE JAMES TAYLOR 33
SHARE R. KELLY 32
SHARE WILLIE NELSON 31.5
SHARE PEARL JAM 31.5
SHARE TOM PETTY & THE HEARTBREAKERS 31.5
SHARE BOSTON 31
SHARE DIXIE CHICKS 30.5
SHARE LINDA RONSTADT 30
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Post by MokyWI on Sept 27, 2016 23:19:47 GMT -5
Linda has sold twice what that list says she has at 30 million. I would bet money on it.
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Post by eh? on Sept 27, 2016 23:41:10 GMT -5
BARBRA STREISAND 68.5 MADONNA 64.5 MARIAH CAREY 64 WHITNEY HOUSTON 57 CELINE DION 50 SHANIA TWAIN 48 REBA MCENTIRE 41 BRITNEY SPEARS 34 LINDA RONSTADT 30
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Post by eddiejinnj on Sept 28, 2016 4:20:59 GMT -5
What were discussing at the time was how many platinum albums in a row did various artists sell. Not sure if there is a chart/list for that. I guessed that Linda was near the top if not top for females and maybe top ten for all artists. She may not be in the top ten for all artists but hopefully close. As far as total album sales, Linda was number 2 (for females) for a long time until the late 80's or so.
eddiejinnj
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Post by eh? on Sept 28, 2016 15:27:47 GMT -5
With her next album, Adele will move into the #9 slot and push Linda down to #10.
Interesting that of the people that have moved ahead of Linda, and she once was #2, all of them except for Barbra Streisand are artists that came after Linda.
There were some massive sellers in the 1980s and 1990s.
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Post by eddiejinnj on Sept 28, 2016 17:44:35 GMT -5
After 1982, which was a low for music sales, album sales skyrocketed. 1983 had "Thriller", "Can't Slow Down" and "What's New". That era was pre-internet where now people buys individual songs as if if all music is technically singles now. People still buy full albums but many have stated that this has decreased greatly. eddiejinnj
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