The biggest bands in the world 1965 to 1999
Posted by: Kevin-W on 28 November 2003
Peeps
An acquaintance of mine, a musick biz accountant with too much time on his hands, has been compiling a list of the world's biggest bands for the period 1965 to 1999.
Dunno how accurate it is, but the list is compiled according to the following criteria:
1. singles sales
2. album sales
3. concert grosses
4. TV shows/films
5. video/DVD sales
6. merchandising
7. endorsements and sponsorship
8. media coverage
The first three criteria are of course by far the most important, but 6 and 7 have become increasingly important over the past few years.
Here's the list (with second place[s] in brackets)
1965 - Beatles (Beach Boys)
1966 - Beatles (Rolling Stones)
1967 - Beatles (Stones)
1968 - Beatles (Stones)
1969 - Beatles (Led Zeppelin)
1970 - Creedence Clearwater Revival (Led Zeppelin/CSN&Y/Sly & The Family Stone)
1971 - Led Zeppelin (Simon & Garfunkel)
1972 - Led Zep (Stones)
1973 - Led Zep (Pink Floyd)
1974 - Wings(CSN&Y)
1975 - Led Zep (Wings/Eagles/Pink Floyd)
1976 - Eagles (Abba/Wings/Fleetwood Mac/Led Zep)
1977 - Abba (Pink Floyd/Led Zep/Fleetwood Mac)
1978 - Bee Gees (Rolling Stones/Abba)
1979 - Led Zeppelin (Abba/Pink Floyd/Bee Gees)
1980 - Pink Floyd (AC/DC)
1981 - AC/DC (The Police)
1982 - Stones (Duran Duran)
1983 - The Police (Wham!)
1984 - Queen (Van Halen/Wham!)
1985 - Dire Straits (Tears For Fears)
1986 - Wham! (Queen)
1987 - U2 (Pink Floyd/Whitesnake/Guns & Roses)
1988 - Pink Floyd (U2/New Kids On The Block/Guns & Roses)
1989 - New Kids On The Block (Pink Floyd/Stones)
1990 - Stones (Depeche Mode)
1991 - Guns & Roses (U2/Nirvana/Metallica)
1992 - U2 (Nirvana/Metallica)
1993 - U2 (Nirvana/Ace of Base)
1994 - Pink Floyd (Stones)
1995 - Stones (Beatles)
1996 - Beatles (Metallica)
1997 - Spice Girls (U2)
1998 - Stones (Spice Girls/U2)
1999 - Stones (N'Sync)
(The Beatles were probably the world's biggest act in 2000 also)
Note the (distorting?) importance of the American market - this is why acts like Oasis or Take That don't figure. Interestingly, there is one exception - Abba. "Dancing Queen" apart, Abba were never really that successful in the States - but every other country in the world loved 'em, that's why they feature so often.
The Stones feature primarily because of their unrivalled box-office pull as a live act (in fact they are easily the biggest grossing live group ever, having overtaken the long running but now-defunct Floyd and Grateful Dead some time ago). Their record sales since the early 70s have been pretty small.
Interesting that Led Zep played only two concerts (both at Knebworth) and released one LP in '79, but they still managed to be the biggest band in the world. My accountant acquaintance reckons that in today's money, many of their 1970s concert grosses would exceed those of the Stones today.
Also interesting some of the pop acts who succeeded - Wham!, the Durannies, New Kids, Ace of Base, etc.
And these are apparently the biggest bands ever, by the same criteria
1. The Beatles
2. Led Zeppelin
3. Pink Floyd
4. Abba
5. The Rolling Stones
6. U2
7. The Grateful Dead
8. The Eagles
9. Fleetwood Mac
10. Queen
(with the Spices and the Bee Gees just bubbling under)
The Dead make the list primarily because of their astonishing success as a live act ('87 and '90 were their best years); the Stones likewise, and also by dint of their sheer longevity. The others probably speak for themselves.
Interesting huh?
Over to you...
Kevin
[This message was edited by Kevin-W on SATURDAY 29 November 2003 at 01:34.]
[This message was edited by Kevin-W on SATURDAY 29 November 2003 at 01:36.]
An acquaintance of mine, a musick biz accountant with too much time on his hands, has been compiling a list of the world's biggest bands for the period 1965 to 1999.
Dunno how accurate it is, but the list is compiled according to the following criteria:
1. singles sales
2. album sales
3. concert grosses
4. TV shows/films
5. video/DVD sales
6. merchandising
7. endorsements and sponsorship
8. media coverage
The first three criteria are of course by far the most important, but 6 and 7 have become increasingly important over the past few years.
Here's the list (with second place[s] in brackets)
1965 - Beatles (Beach Boys)
1966 - Beatles (Rolling Stones)
1967 - Beatles (Stones)
1968 - Beatles (Stones)
1969 - Beatles (Led Zeppelin)
1970 - Creedence Clearwater Revival (Led Zeppelin/CSN&Y/Sly & The Family Stone)
1971 - Led Zeppelin (Simon & Garfunkel)
1972 - Led Zep (Stones)
1973 - Led Zep (Pink Floyd)
1974 - Wings(CSN&Y)
1975 - Led Zep (Wings/Eagles/Pink Floyd)
1976 - Eagles (Abba/Wings/Fleetwood Mac/Led Zep)
1977 - Abba (Pink Floyd/Led Zep/Fleetwood Mac)
1978 - Bee Gees (Rolling Stones/Abba)
1979 - Led Zeppelin (Abba/Pink Floyd/Bee Gees)
1980 - Pink Floyd (AC/DC)
1981 - AC/DC (The Police)
1982 - Stones (Duran Duran)
1983 - The Police (Wham!)
1984 - Queen (Van Halen/Wham!)
1985 - Dire Straits (Tears For Fears)
1986 - Wham! (Queen)
1987 - U2 (Pink Floyd/Whitesnake/Guns & Roses)
1988 - Pink Floyd (U2/New Kids On The Block/Guns & Roses)
1989 - New Kids On The Block (Pink Floyd/Stones)
1990 - Stones (Depeche Mode)
1991 - Guns & Roses (U2/Nirvana/Metallica)
1992 - U2 (Nirvana/Metallica)
1993 - U2 (Nirvana/Ace of Base)
1994 - Pink Floyd (Stones)
1995 - Stones (Beatles)
1996 - Beatles (Metallica)
1997 - Spice Girls (U2)
1998 - Stones (Spice Girls/U2)
1999 - Stones (N'Sync)
(The Beatles were probably the world's biggest act in 2000 also)
Note the (distorting?) importance of the American market - this is why acts like Oasis or Take That don't figure. Interestingly, there is one exception - Abba. "Dancing Queen" apart, Abba were never really that successful in the States - but every other country in the world loved 'em, that's why they feature so often.
The Stones feature primarily because of their unrivalled box-office pull as a live act (in fact they are easily the biggest grossing live group ever, having overtaken the long running but now-defunct Floyd and Grateful Dead some time ago). Their record sales since the early 70s have been pretty small.
Interesting that Led Zep played only two concerts (both at Knebworth) and released one LP in '79, but they still managed to be the biggest band in the world. My accountant acquaintance reckons that in today's money, many of their 1970s concert grosses would exceed those of the Stones today.
Also interesting some of the pop acts who succeeded - Wham!, the Durannies, New Kids, Ace of Base, etc.
And these are apparently the biggest bands ever, by the same criteria
1. The Beatles
2. Led Zeppelin
3. Pink Floyd
4. Abba
5. The Rolling Stones
6. U2
7. The Grateful Dead
8. The Eagles
9. Fleetwood Mac
10. Queen
(with the Spices and the Bee Gees just bubbling under)
The Dead make the list primarily because of their astonishing success as a live act ('87 and '90 were their best years); the Stones likewise, and also by dint of their sheer longevity. The others probably speak for themselves.
Interesting huh?
Over to you...
Kevin
[This message was edited by Kevin-W on SATURDAY 29 November 2003 at 01:34.]
[This message was edited by Kevin-W on SATURDAY 29 November 2003 at 01:36.]
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