Here's the information on Bob Dylan's U.S. chart hits. I hope this is in an easy form for you (it's the only way I know to send it). By the way, I just realized that I don't have "Gotta Serve Somebody" on this list. I'll track it down later and send it too.
You don't usually see numbers over 100, but the charts usually included more. Billboard, for instance, called the extras "Bubbling Under the Hot 100." The abbreviations are BB= Billboard, CB= Cash Box, RW= Record World. There are only two entries for "Sweetheart Like You" because Record World wasn't around any more by then, having folded in mid-1982 (the spring, I think).
YYMMDD BB CB RW 6503 #39 #52 #53 Subterranean Homesick Blues 650720 #2 #1 #2 Like a Rolling Stone 650907 #7 #9 #9 Positively 4th Street 6509&12 #58 #58 #55 Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window? 6602 #119 #135 #127 One of Us Must Know 6603 #2 #2 #2 Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 6606 #20 #25 #22 I Want You 6608 #33 #28 #26 Just Like a Woman 6703 #81 #97 #86 Leopard-Skin Pillbox Hat 6904 #85 #60 #60 I Threw It All Away 6907 #7 #8 #7 Lay Lady Lay 6910 #50 #45 #39 Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You 7007 #41 #28 #34 Wigwam 710603 #41 #31 #37 Watching the River Flow 711112 #33 #30 #31 George Jackson 730731 #12 #10 #11 Knockin' on Heaven's Door 7404 #55 #47 #68 A Fool Such As I 7402 #44 #30 #43 On a Night Like This 7403 #107 #76 #102 Something There Is About You 7407 #55 #47 #79 Most Likely You Go Your Way 7502 #31 #43 #62 Tangled Up in Blue 7510 #33 #27 #66 Hurricane 7601 #54 #49 #43 Mozambique 7908 #24 #37 #42 Gotta Serve Somebody 8312 #55 #60 Sweetheart Like You
Date: Tue, 30 Jan 1996 09:01:37 -0600 From: Mark Gonnerman (markg@LELAND.STANFORD.EDU) Subject: List/ Dylan on the Chart & Chart Positions List/ Dylan on the Chart & Chart Positions >From John Nogowski, >Bob Dylan: A Descriptive, Critical Discography and Filmography, 1961-1993< (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 1995), 195-96:A. Dylan Records, Weeks on the Chart
BIABH...........................................32 Nashville Skyline.........................31 Slow Train Coming.......................26 H61R............................................24 JWH..............................................21 BD's Greatest Hits........................21 GH II.............................................17 Desire...........................................17 BoB...............................................15 Freewheelin'................................14 Pat Garrett and BtK......................14 BOTT.............................................14 Planet Waves................................12 Self-Portrait...............................12 New Morning................................12 30th Anniversary........................11 Before the Flood...........................10 Infidels.........................................10 Basement Tapes..............................9 Street Legal....................................8 UTRS...............................................8 GAIBTY............................................8 Dylan..............................................7 Budokan..........................................7 Empire Burlesque..........................6 Oh Mercy........................................6 Another Side of BD..........................5 TTTAA-Changin'..............................5 Hard Rain........................................5 Saved...............................................5 WGW...............................................4 Shot of Love.....................................3 Biograph..........................................2 Bootleg Series, 1-3........................2 Four albums--Bob Dylan, Real Live, Knocked Out Loaded, and Down in the Groove --did not make the charts.B. Chart Positions
Planet Waves..................................1 BOTT...............................................1 Desire.............................................1 JWH................................................2 Nashville Skyline...........................3 H61R...............................................3 Before the Flood..............................3 Slow Train Coming..........................3 Self Portrait...................................4 BIABH..............................................6 BoB..................................................6 New Morning...................................7 Basement Tapes...............................7 BD's Greatest Hits.........................10 Street Legal...................................11 Budokan.........................................13 GH II..............................................14 Pat Garrett & BTK........................16 Dylan.............................................17 Hard Rain......................................17 TTTAA-Changin'............................20 Infidels..........................................20 Freewheelin'.................................22 Saved.............................................24 Oh Mercy.......................................30 Shot of Love...................................33 Empire Burlesque.........................33 Biograph........................................33 Bootleg Series, 1-3......................33 30th Anniversary.........................40 Another Side of BD........................43 BAIBTY..........................................51 WGW.............................................70 UTRS.............................................76 I asked ya please to cross me off-a your list. --Bob Dylan/ Abandoned Love --Mark
Date: Wed, 31 Jan 1996 17:25:54 GMT From: tom marquardt (capstaff@ANNAP.INFI.NET) Subject: Re: List/ Dylan on the Chart & Chart Positions markg@leland.stanford.edu (Mark Gonnerman) wrote: >List/ Dylan on the Chart & Chart Positions >Four albums--Bob Dylan, Real Live, >Knocked Out Loaded, and Down in the Groove >--did not make the charts. > This information is erroneous. The first album didn't appear on the charts, but I'm pretty sure the other three did. Actually, I'm certain about "Real Live," because I looked it up. It got as high as #115 on the Billboard charts, and stayed on for 9 weeks. In Cash Box it reached #49 and stayed on for 17 weeks. Quite a difference! -- Bob G.
Date: Tue, 6 Feb 1996 18:56:20 -0500 From: Robin Jatko (rjatko@UMABNET.AB.UMD.EDU) Subject: EDLIS - Album Chart Stats ============================================================================ __________________ _/ || ~-_ ,/ // /~- / ~-_ ________---------------// -----------------------------------\-------------------____________ __// O-------------- ~~^ | | ~| }======{--------\____________________|______________________________ | | \===== / /~~~\ \ \ | ________________________|-~ \----| \___/ ||--------------------'----------| \____/ // `______'' `_______' Good car to drive, after a war http://www.expectingrain.com/dok/gif/GOODCAR.GIF ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ (First number is position on charts, second number is weeks on charts. No other albums are noted as having reached #1) BILLBOARD CASHBOX #1-35 #1-30 Desire #1-24 #1-26 Blood On The Tracks #1-21 #1-19 Planet Waves ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ EDLIS Statistics Agent-Robin Jatko rjatko@umabnet.ab.umd.edu Many thanks to Bob Gill, Max Ferguson, and Mark Gonnerman for their generous assistance.
Date: Tue, 20 Feb 1996 19:46:28 -0500 From: Robin Jatko (rjatko@UMABNET.AB.UMD.EDU) Subject: EDLIS - Statistics (Clarification) ============================================================================ __________________ _/ || ~-_ ,/ // /~- / ~-_ ________---------------// -----------------------------------\-------------------____________ __// O-------------- ~~^ | | ~| }======{--------\____________________|______________________________ | | \===== / /~~~\ \ \ | ________________________|-~ \----| \___/ ||--------------------'----------| \____/ // `______'' `_______' Good car to drive, after a war http://www.expectingrain.com/dok/gif/GOODCAR.GIF ============================================================================ (First number is highest position on charts, second number is weeks on charts in Top 40, third number is weeks on chart in Top 200) BILLBOARD CASHBOX #1-35 #1-30 Desire #1-24 #1-26 Blood On The Tracks #1-21 #1-19 Planet Waves
Date: Sun, 18 Feb 1996 15:21:41 GMT From: CHRISTOPHER ROLLASON (rollason@DIALUP.FRANCENET.FR) Subject: Re: List/ Dylan on the Chart & Chart Positions On Dylan's chart record, my information comes from: for the US - Joel Whitburn, 'The Billboard Book of Top 40 Albums' (NY, Omnibus Press, 1991) - top 40 placings only, up to 'Oh Mercy'. for the UK - Paul Gambaccini, Tim Rice and Jonathan Rice, 'The Guinness Book of British Hit Albums' (6th edition) (London: Guinness, 1994) - all albums that have ever charted in the UK, up to 'World Gone Wrong' (using the official BBC-recognized charts). It emerges that the only albums up to WGW not to have charted in the UK are 'Dylan (A Fool Such As I)' and, surprisingly, 'Biograph'. Both of these were top 40 in the US. 'Bob Dylan', which apparently did not chart at all in the US, reached No. 13 in the UK in 1965 (3 years after release). 'Knocked Out Loaded' and 'Down in the Groove' both made the UK top 40 (35 and 32 respectively); 'Real Live' peaked at 54. Of the more recent recordings, 'Oh Mercy' reached No. 6 in the UK, and 'Under the Red Sky' and 'Good As I Been To You' were also top 20 (Nos. 13 and 18 respectively - but the entire chart life of both seems to have been only 3 weeks!). 'World Gone Wrong' reached No. 35; 'The Bootleg Series' reached 32, staying 5 weeks in the chart. In the UK chart, it is quite common for albums to peak early or even in the first week of release, as the hard-core fans all buy them immediately, and then disappear quickly. Some questions: did 'The Bootleg Series' chart in the US? (I presume it wasn't confined to the back catalogue chart?) how did 'Greatest Hits III' and 'Unplugged' do in the US and UK (a poster has said 'Unplugged was Top 30 in the US - was this on Billboard?)? I think Dylan's most remarkable chart achievement in the UK was 'John Wesley Harding', which was at No. 1 for 13 weeks (two spells: 10 + 3). I presume this was partly thanks to loyalty buying after the motorcycle accident, but it is still quite a feat for an acoustic album. I don't know if it's his biggest overall seller in the UK, though. It's also interesting to note that, on the basis of these charts, Dylan has had 6 No. 1 albums in the UK and 3 in the US, but with 9 totally different albums - no release was No. 1 in both countries. Chris Rollason
Date: Sun, 25 Feb 1996 10:03:04 -0500 (EST) To: Karl.Erik.Andersen@nbr.no From: bobgill@dc.infi.net (bob gill) Subject: Bob Dylan on the U.S. album charts There's been some discussion on r.m.d. lately about Dylan's showing on the charts, so I thought I'd send you this. This covers Dylan's albums through 1986 in Billboard and Cash Box. The second number on each listing is weeks on the chart. There are some large differences in the '60s, because Billboard's chart went up to #200 for most of that period and Cash Box stopped at #100. But in the early '70s Cash Box expanded to a top 200 and eliminated the problem. BB CB #22-32 #21-25 Frewheelin' #20-21 #29-16 The Times They Are A-Changin' #43-41 #25-18 Another Side of Bob Dylan #6-43 #7-35 Bringin' It All Back Home #3-47 #4-24 Highway 61 Revisited #9-30 #11-20 Blonde on Blonde #10-86 #7-29 Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits #2-52 #2-24 John Wesley Harding #3-46 #3-40 Nashville Skyline #4-22 #1-20 Self Portrait #7-23 #8-16 New Morning #14-31 #11-30 Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Vol. 2 #16-30 #25-25 Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid #17-15 #10-14 Dylan #1-21 #1-19 Planet Waves #3-19 #3-18 Before the Flood #1-24 #1-26 Blood on the Tracks #7-14 #13-12 The Basement Tapes #1-35 #1-30 Desire #17-12 #9-17 Hard Rain #11-23 #10-21 Street-Legal #13-25 #14-14 At Budokan #3-26 #5-24 Slow Train Coming #24-11 #24- 9 Saved #33- 9 #36- 8 Shot of Love #20-24 #14-24 Infidels #115- 9 #49-17 Real Live #33-17 #30-25 Empire Burlesque #33-22 #51-30 Biograph It looks like his best sustained peaks of popularity were in the late '60s, from John Wesley Harding through New Morning, and the mid-'70s, from Planet Waves through Desire.
Date: Mon, 25 Mar 1996 18:55:36 -0500 From: Robin Jatko (rjatko@UMABNET.AB.UMD.EDU) Subject: EDLIS - Statistics - Singles ============================================================================ Researching...researching... >From BILLBOARD - TOP 40 SINGLES ............................................................................. BOB DYLAN ............................................................................. Date Highest Position Weeks Title 05-15-65 39 01 Subterranean Homesick Blues 08-14-65 02 09 Like A Rolling Stone 10-09-65 07 07 Positively 4th Street 04-23-66 01 09 Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 07-16-66 20 04 I Want You 10-01-66 33 03 Just Like A Woman 08-02-69 07 11 Lay Lady Lay 12-25-71 33 04 George Jackson (huh?) 09-29-73 12 11 Knockin' On Heaven's Door 03-29-75 31 03 Tangled Up In Blue 01-03-76 33 03 Hurricane (Part I) 10-06-79 24 06 Gotta Serve Somebody ............................................................................ A total of 12 singles in the Top Forty. Corrections and/or additional info appreciated. Any info regarding singles in the Top 100 please forward. Robin Jatko EDLIS Statistician rjatko@umabnet.ab.umd.edu