Pink Floyd or the Beatles – which of the two bands has the more popular records? There is now a study on this, the result is a top 15 list that offers an approximation to the question of the currently most popular LPs.
Record ownership and wish list are key
The UK price comparison website money.co.uk analyzed data from Discogs. With Discogs, users can create a virtual record collection and record which discs they own and which are on their wish list. Using this data, the site first determined the 100 best-selling records. Then the price comparison platform created a popularity value, which is made up of the number of responses from those who own the album and those who still want it. The total number of records by an artist reported as “owned” on Discogs also influenced the score. The maximum value that can be reached is 10.
Pink Floyd top the list
Using this method, the study unearthed the result that Pink Floyd achieved a popularity score of 9.06 with the record Wish You Were Here. This puts the album in first place in the list of the most popular records. A total of 22,802 people on Discogs said they owned the record and 11,000 users plan to get the LP. Not only do Pink Floyd top the list, they have four other discs in the running, including 3rd and 4th “The Wall” and “The Dark Side Of The Moon”.
Daft Punk and Michael Jackson in the top 5
Daft Punk’s “Random Access Memories” took second place with a score of 8.63: A total of 51,000 people are said to own the album. Around 18,000 have it on their Discogs wish list.
Michael Jackson secured fifth place with “Thriller” and a popularity rating of 8.28 out of 10. The 1982 record had all of its songs charting in the top 10 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and was Jackson’s first number one album on the US Billboard Top LPs & Tapes chart.
The Beatles reached number 6
Of course, the Beatles are also among the top 15 most popular records according to the Discogs discography database. They are sixth with “Abbey Road” and “Let It Be”. That’s right, there are two sixth places as both records have the same score of 8.23.
Additional spots were given to David Bowie, Nirvana, Queen, Kendrick Lamar and Radiohead. See the full list here:
1
Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here (LP)
9.06
2
Daft Punk-Random Access Memories (2xLP, 180)
8.63
3
Pink Floyd-The Wall (2xLP, San)
8.53
4
Pink Floyd – The Dark Side Of The Moon (LP, RE, RM, 180)
8.35
5
Michael Jackson – Thriller (LP, Pit)
8.28
6
The Beatles – Abbey Road (LP)
8.23
6
The Beatles-Let It Be (LP, wins)
8.23
8th
David Bowie – The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars (LP, RE, RM, RP, 180)
8.17
9
The Beatles – Magical Mystery Tour (LP, lot)
8.05
10
Nirvana-Nevermind (LP, RE, 180)
7.93
11
Queen-A Night At The Opera (LP, Emb)
7.89
12
Kendrick Lamar – Good Kid, MAAd City (2xLP, Dlx)
7.79
13
Pink Floyd – The Dark Side Of The Moon (LP, Gat)
7.74
14
Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here (LP, RE, RM, 180)
7.47
15
Radiohead-In Rainbows (LP, 180)
7.46
The most popular artists remain the Beatles
While the Beatles have been overtaken by Pink Floyd in the most popular record rankings, they top the list in another money.co.uk analysis: the list of top artists based on the number of people who own the band’s records . There, the Beatles placed just ahead of their competitor, Pink Floyd, with over 3.3 million records. These come to almost 2.8 million disc owners.