Billboard charts

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Some band called Pink Floyd, with an album entitled ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’, or something, made it 1,056 weeks on the US album charts this week - back in 1997.

Released in the States on 17 March 1973, it would go on to be the first recording to spend 1,500 weeks on the Billboard charts (a milestone reached in May 2006), occupying 164 different positions in the Top 200.

Incredibly, it remained in the Top 200 for a record 736 consecutive weeks (741 non-consecutive, as it dropped off briefly in July 1988) before falling out in October 1988 (and only then because of changes to chart methodology), which is by far the longest chart run of any album ever.

Billboard’s Top Pop Catalog - where older albums are now listed - credits the album with a cumulative total of 1,660 weeks notched up. That’s nearly 32 years.

So, all in all, it did - and continues to do - rather well.

I won’t bother to ask what you like best about the 43-minute-long progressive epic, although you’re very welcome to share; what I’d love to know is how many copies you’ve got in your collection. (Makes you wonder, doesn’t it?)

In addition, I’m curious to discover your thoughts on album sales and chart positions today. Do you believe that anyone can possibly over-take the tremendous run that ‘Dark Side’ has enjoyed now that album sales are in decline and digital sales are up? And what of the part that variable pricing has played in encouraging full-album downloads as opposed to only paying for single tracks?

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Originally published in the Official David Gilmour Blog on 06-29-2009 03:42 PM.