Dark Side of the Moon Charts For 1500 Weeks

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wow!

reposted from Glide Magazine

Dark Side of the Moon Charts For 1500 Weeks

On March 17, 1973, a band in musical transition named Pink Floyd hit the Top 200 chart with the release of its new album, "Dark Side of the Moon." It entered the chart at No. 95, the top debut that week. And then a funny thing happened: It never left. Or almost never, anyway.

More than 14 years later -- 736 weeks to be precise -- in July 1988, it finally fell off The Billboard 200. Add in a later run on that chart and another 759 weeks on the Top Pop Catalog Albums chart, and Pink Floyd, with this issue, reaches the staggering plane of 1,500 weeks on the charts.

It's difficult to contextualize just how singularly dominant a chart -- and cultural -- force the album has been. The runner-up for time served on The Billboard 200, Bob Marley and the Wailers' "Legend," is several years behind, and Floyd's lead in total chart weeks is greater Marley's by an almost 2-1 margin.

Label sources say "Dark Side" has sold roughly 40 million copies worldwide and still routinely moves 8,000-9,000 copies on a slow week. In fact, the album still often outpaces the low end of The Billboard 200, and every song on the more than 30-year-old record still gets radio play, with some among the most-played songs at classic rock stations monitored by Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems.

[Tenenbaum]

hmm, never head of it; is it any good?

[jonyak]

greatest album of all time. imho.

I remember my dad coming home once to me listening to his vinyl copy of it when I was 14. He asked me what I was doing, thinking he was gonna tell me to turn it down. then proceeded to turn it up even louder and to sit and listen to the whole thing with me.

this album gives me the chills every time I listen to it.

[Velvet]

Me and phorbesie just did the Dark Side Of Oz thing the other night and it was great. Frankly, it was awesome just to sit and listen to the cd 3 times in a row.

[peipunk]

every song on the more than 30-year-old record still gets radio play

Wow, that is the only thing that surprised me here. I never thought of how you do hear EVERY track from that album on just about any and every classic rock station. What would be the least played, maybe "Any Colour You Like" or "On The Run"? How many other albums get EVERY track played? Not many.

[afro poppa]

Yea I agree, definately front to back one of the best albums ever. The first time I listened to it I was eating some fungi and definately made for an awsome experience.

[Dr_Evil_Mouse]

It's one of those special albums, too, where if you have a guitar on the other side of the world and play a song from it, you can expect people will recognise it. That's pretty special music, for music that's actually good.

[MarcO]

It started my day yesterday. Can't go wrong.

A perfect album? Yes, I will go with that.