The KISS Sales Report
geminid...@gmail.com
Ken Barnes
We've looked at the SoundScan-era sales of Rush and Donna Summer, and
while I doubt if it changed any minds about whether those acts
deserved induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, it was
interesting data.
Today we'll take a look at the other member of your triumvirate of
artists most unfairly excluded from the Hall (your opinion, not
necessarily mine): KISS.
Like Rush and Summer, KISS' sales heyday came long before 1991, when
SoundScan began tabulating record sales. They sold (and their label
pressed) a ton of records in the '70s; these SoundScan-era numbers
will represent just a fraction of those older titles' totals. Still,
it's always intriguing to see what's continuing to sell and what's
mired in the doledrums.
The long list follows.
Year of release Title: Sales
1974 Kiss: 174,000
1974 Hotter Than Hell: 153,000
1975 Dressed to Kill: 166,000
1975 Alive: 258,000
1976 Destroyer: 580,000
1976 Rock and Roll Over: 183,000
1977 Love Gun: 193,000
1977 Alive II: 295,000
1978 Double Platinum: 510,000
1978 PETER CRISS: 23,000
1978 ACE FREHLEY: 46,000
1978 GENE SIMMONS: 31,000
1978 PAUL STANLEY: 33,000
1979 Dynasty: 157,000
1980 Unmasked: 171,000
1981 Music From The Elder: 110,000
1982 Creatures of the Night: 148,000
1983 Lick It Up: 92,000
1984 Animalize: 93,000
1985 Asylum: 81,000
1987 Crazy Nights: 104,000
1988 Smashes, Thrashes & Hits: 810,000
1989 Hot in the Shade: 112,000
1990 First Kiss: 786 (hmm..., what is this, anyway?)
1992 Revenge: 596,000
1993 Alive III: 552,000
1996: MTV Unplugged: 300,000
1996 You Wanted the Best, You Got the Best!!: 329,000
1997 Greatest Kiss: 394,000
1997 Carnival of Souls -- The Final Sessions (not quite, actually):
175,000
1998 Psycho Circus: 479,000
2001 Box Set: 141,000
2002 Very Best: 433,000
2003 The Millennium Collection: 311,000
2003 Symphony: Alive IV: 134,000
2005 Gold ('74-'82): 105,000
Total: 8.6 million
So what can we conclude about latter-day KISS fans from all this? They
like hits collections: Smashes, Thrashes is the band's best-selling
album of the SoundScan era, and other, largely redundant collections
have solid sales.
The live albums score well, especially III, which actually came out
during the SoundScan era.
Destroyer is by far the best seller of the early studio albums. Hard
to argue with this esthetically, considering the metafictional
pinnacle that is Detroit Rock City is on this album.
There are about 90,000-100,000 fans out there that have to have
everything in CD form. Except the four simultaneously released solo
albums from 1978. And Ace is still winning that battle (of course, he
had the only hit from the releases, his cover of Hello's New York
Groove).
KISSMuseum
Item Of The
Week:
Click to Order
Ace Frehley Gold Record
Bruce Kulick's Website Kulick.net
Eric Singer's Website Eric-Singer.com
Tommy Thayer's Website TommyThayer.com
Eric Carr's Website EricCarr.com
Gene Simmons' Website GeneSimmons.com
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