Over 30 years after its release, NEVERMIND still seems to be a hit in shopping carts.
Nirvana’s NEVERMIND has now spent 700 weeks on the Billboard 200 charts – a record. This makes the grunge record one of only nine albums that have reached this mark.
Over 13 years in the upper ranks
The album is currently at number 120 on the best list, between Linkin Park’s HYBRID THEORY (2000) and Metro Boomin’s HEREOS AND VILLAINS (2022). It has sold over 30 million copies to date. NEVERMIND was released on September 24, 1991 and quickly rose to the top of the US album charts. It pushed Michael Jackson’s DANGEROUS out of first place.
With the new record of 13.5 years in the top 200, the LP now joins an exclusive list of works that were also able to pass this milestone. These include:
- Bob Marley and The Wailers – LEGEND – THE BEST OF BOB MARLEY AND THE WAILERS (865 weeks)
- Journey – JOURNEY’S GREATEST HITS (835 weeks)
- Creedence Clearwater Revival – CHRONICLE: THE 20 GREATEST HITS (724 weeks)
- Eminem – CURTAIN CALL: THE HITS (714 weeks)
- Bruno Mars – DOO-WOPS & HOLLIGANS (706 weeks)
Kurt Cobain would have thought it was shit
With songs like “Smells Like Teen Spirit”, “Come As You Are” and “Polly”, NEVERMIND had a significant influence on the success of grunge and alternative rock music in the mainstream. A development that the group around singer and guitarist Kurt Cobain didn’t like at all – because they firmly rejected “success fans”. The song “In Bloom” would later turn out to be a bitter prophecy: “He’s the one who likes all our pretty songs […] but he don’t know what it means!”
In 1993, Nirvana released the follow-up IN UTERO, produced by post-rock icon Steve Albini. The stated goal: sound rawer, offend more. This was initially successful, but their label Geffen Records thwarted their plans and remastered the record before releasing it. Eventually, Cobain could no longer withstand the increasing pressure caused by his ever-growing popularity – depression drove the singer to suicide on April 5, 1994.