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Yvone Samiento
American rock band Aerosmith has released 15 studio albums, six live albums, 16 compilation albums, two extended plays, and 72 singles. Aerosmith was formed in Boston, Massachusetts in 1970 by vocalist Steven Tyler, guitarists Joe Perry and Ray Tabano, bassist Tom Hamilton, and drummer Joey Kramer. Tabano was replaced by Brad Whitford in 1971. Other than a period from 1979 to 1984, this lineup has remained the same.[1]
Twenty-one of Aerosmith's songs have reached the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 and the band has long been a stalwart of the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, achieving nine number-one hits on that chart to date. An additional 28 of the band's songs have reached the top 40 on various charts worldwide. The band has achieved four multi-platinum singles ("Dream On", "Sweet Emotion", "Walk This Way", and "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing"), while an additional eight singles have attained silver, gold, or platinum certifications in various territories.
Aerosmith is estimated to have sold well over 150 million albums around the world, making them the biggest-selling hard rock band in United States history.[2] As of November 2021, the band has sold 69.5 million albums in the United States in terms of certification units,[3] and 31,702,000 albums since 1991 when SoundScan started tracking actual sales figures.[4]
Any worst-to-best ranking of the Boston rockers' catalog must deal with two distinct eras: their sleazy '70s work and their slicker, more successful '80s and '90s comeback. But which one was better?
Still, there's no denying the magnitude of the band's miraculous late-'80s comeback, buoyed by a remake of "Walk This Way" featuring Run-D.M.C. A slew of multiplatinum albums and hit singles followed, transforming Aerosmith from strung-out dinosaur rockers into lean, mean MTV darlings. Sobriety looked good on them, and if their cleaner, slightly more mature new image turned off some old-school fans, it was a small price to pay for regaining their place atop the hard rock throne.
Aerosmith are gearing up for a long tour that kicks off in Istanbul on May 14th. They head over to America for a run of outdoor and arena dates with special guest Slash in July. Their last album was 2012's Music From Another Dimension, but don't expect to hear all that much from that one: It pretty much disappeared without a trace and the group is still pretty sore about that. "The head of the label left three weeks before the record came out," Joe Perry recently told Rolling Stone. "The whole promotion thing got screwed up." Adds Steven Tyler: "How refreshing after 10 years to get fucked by your label again. God, I missed that." Thankfully, they have plenty of other albums to draw from. We asked our readers to vote for their favorite Aerosmith albums. Click through to see the results.
Aerosmith were in complete meltdown mode when they began work on Night in the Ruts in early 1979. Drug abuse was ripping the group apart and relations between Joe Perry and Steven Tyler were at an all-time low. They were also burning through their money and they had to walk away from the project midway through to play some gigs. Backstage at a show at Cleveland stadium, Perry and Tyler got into a horrible fight and the guitarist quit. A bunch of studio guitarists attempted to fill Perry's void for recording (including his eventual replacement Jimmy Crespo), and they padded out what few songs they had with covers like "Think About It" by the Yardbirds and the Shangri-Las classic "Remember (Walking in the Sand.)" Despite all the problems, the album manages to have some very nice moments, especially "Bone to Bone." The LP did seem like a low point at the time, but they'd sink much lower in the coming years.
They didn't realize it at the time, but Aerosmith's 1977 album Draw The Line marked the end of an era: It was their final release before the original lineup totally splintered apart. They'd become superstars over the previous few years and their endless orgy of drugs and women distracted them a bit from songwriting, but they came together at a former convent in New York and quickly hammered out this down-and-dirty rock album. The title track is a classic they play to this day while the punk-infused "Bright Light Fright" marked Joe Perry's first time on the lead vocals.
It's been over 40 years since Aerosmith dropped their self-titled debut album, and it still sounds remarkably fresh. It's all here: the power ballads, the killer guitar duo of Brad Whitford and Joe Perry and Steven Tyler's wild howl of a voice. The LP didn't find out a big audience outside of their native Boston, but it started selling really big three years later when Aerosmith blew up and "Dream On" came back out as a single. Tyler wrote the song years before he even joined Aerosmith and it remains their signature song, played at virtually every show the group has ever done. "Mama Kin" has also become a beloved classic. Aerosmith have cut better albums than their first one, but they never quite recaptured this youthful energy and loose vibe.
Most people learned that Joe Perry was back with Aerosmith when Run-DMC's "Walk This Way" exploded in the summer of 1986. But the classic Aerosmith lineup actually came together the previous year to record Done With Mirrors. The group got off drugs for the album and made peace with Joe Perry and Brad Whitford. "Let the Music Do The Talking" and "Shela" were minor rock hits, but the album mostly stiffed and today many in the group say it's one of its weaker efforts. Still, it paved the way for the remarkable comeback that truly began the next year.
Relentless touring had turned Aerosmith into a first-rate live band when it came time to record their second album in late 1973, but they had yet to release a breakout single. That didn't change with Get Your Wings, but the record is still a vital leap forward for the band. It's their first effort with producer Jack Douglas, a man they'd return to time and time again as the decades wore on. It also features some of their most enduring songs, such as "Lord of the Thighs" and "Same Old Song and Dance." Once the group blew up with Toys in the Attic in 1975, many fans went back and discovered the genius of Get Your Wings.
Aerosmith were at a creative peak when they recorded 1976's Rocks. Toys in the Attic finally showed the world this was a band worth taking seriously, but they wanted to prove they had more to offer. This was before drugs and ego took over, and they poured all their energies into crafting an absolute monster of an album. It doesn't relent from the opening notes of "Back in the Saddle" through "Home Tonight." It's the perfect marriage of Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones, but still something very original. They'd never again craft another album quite this perfect.
Much like their Columbia labelmate Bruce Springsteen that same year, Aerosmith's 1975 LP Toys in the Attic was the group's third record, and a crucial make-it-or-break-it release. They had a cult following and an amazing live show by this point, but it was time for them to craft a masterpiece so the whole world would get to join the party. They pulled it off in a huge way by writing "Sweet Emotion," "Toys in the Attic" and "Walk This Way." Radio embraced "Sweet Emotion" and "Walk This Way" in a huge way, finally bringing Aerosmith on to big stages around the world. It's hard to imagine what would have happened to Aerosmith had they not pulled this record off.
From the perspective of a European, it seems unbelievable that Aerosmith debuted 45 years ago. They did though and among 70s bands, they smashed the 90s like no one else. They compete with the likes Eagles, Metallica and Bon Jovi for the title of most successful American band ever. Where do they stand then?
Pure studio album sales of 71,7 million units are no doubt impressive. The fact that Aerosmith achieved 3 10-million selling albums across 18 years is also noteworthy. Ultimately, their top seller in pure units is Get a Grip, from 1993. This album sold over 3 million units in Europe and over half a million units in both Latin America and Japan. A real global seller.
They were different lives still. Up to 1985, their albums shifted 81% of their copies in the US alone. In most, a large part of sales abroad came as catalog sales during the 90s. As for albums issued since 1987, they sold a much more balanced 59% in the US and 41% abroad. The band fully enjoyed the mundialization enabled by the likes Michael Jackson and Madonna during the 80s.
For the next 10 years the band was going to do well. All their singles did well. None got truly massive, but they all sold decently and supported greatly their parent albums. The era Get a Grip remains their most productive singles-wise with more than 2,4 million sales.
That song, included into the various artists soundtrack Armageddon, became their biggest hit in 1998. It topped the US Hot 100 for 4 weeks, also hitting the top in Australia, Germany, Norway, Switzerland and Austria among others. It sold a healthy 2,55 million units, far and away their highest seller in this format.
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