No I’m not going to start singing Bowie, but it is 5 years since I started my CD store on Discogs. I’ve sold nearly 19,500 discs in that time, and I thought it would be interesting to work out who the most popular artists have been over the 5 years.
This is of course totally unscientific as it only reflects the stock I’ve had to sell. But knowing what I’m picking and packing I thought it might throw up some interesting results, and it has.
Other than that all-time great “various artists” which outranks everyone else the top artists sold at Selling Songs are…
Miles Davis: Still the greatest. 212 albums sold, and plenty more in stock, including 9 copies of Kind Of Blue. They will sell as the greatest Jazz album ever is always finding new converts.
Marvin Gaye: A surprise at number 2, but everything that comes in flies out again. 166 albums sold.
Duke Ellington: The 151 albums sold may reflect the fact that I’ve had some collections of that sort of Jazz in over the years. They are getting harder to find though as the collectors of Jazz leave us. Whenever a couple of good Ellington discs appear they are snapped up fast.
Prince: 101 albums sold, clearly there are plenty out there to sell, but popularity then tends to mean no one wants them now, Paul Weller languishes unsold in the boxes, as do Queen.
John Coltrane: 91 albums sold, and interest from new listeners keeps coming. I often sell packages of Blue Train, Love Supreme and Giant Steps to people who then come back for some of the “harder” albums.
Pink Floyd: 82 albums sold and still as popular as ever. 24 copies of Dark Side of the Moon for some reason, has everyone not already got it?
The Rolling Stones: I’ve never been a fan and so tend to under price their discs, but 81 albums sold must mean someone somewhere still loves Mick and Keef.
Stevie Wonder: As Songs In The Key Of Life is up there as an all time favourite I’m pleased to see this. 81 albums sold and plenty in stock says he’s still popular.
Stan Getz: Cool tenor Sax player, very popular in the 60s especially and still popular now. 74 albums have found new owners. As I suggested above being popular back in the day doesn’t mean you are now. Can’t give away Stan Kenton, believe me I’ve tried.
Iron Maiden: 67 albums sold, far and away the most popular hard rock or metal act. Led Zeppelin etc don’t come close.
Herbie Hancock: Also on 67 sales. The variety of his music may have something to do with that. There’s a Herbie for every Jazz, Funk and Hip-Hop fan.
You then have people such as Dire Straits, Curtis Mayfield, The Pet Shop Boys, Deep Purple, many of the Blue Note artists like Lee Morgan and Joe Henderson, and AC/DC, Bruce Springsteen, and Dylan all around 50 albums sold each.
So, the moral of this tale. Good music never goes out of fashion, and that there’s no one from the last 30 years who have made enough lasting impact to still sell consistently when compared to their forebears. Interesting how many great soul singers there on the list though, and where are the female artists?
Who are the least popular? Pretty much anything that was popular in the nineties and noughties. Stereophonics, REM, Oasis, Blur, so much so that you’re probably drinking your juice out of a bottle made from their discs even as we speak.
