# Artist you own the most albums by **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 3, 2020, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artist-you-own-the-most-albums-by/853049 "2020-05-03T03:03:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2020, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artist-you-own-the-most-albums-by/853049/1 "2020-05-03T03:03:41Z")
[This article ranks all 143(!!) albums Willie Nelson has recorded.](https://www.texasmonthly.com/interactive/big-list-willie-nelson-albums-ranked/?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=Web+Social&utm_content=WillieAlbumsRanked&fbclid=IwAR0IbetZAhhUTISycT4DawqxOkgwTuXuaxXxbWqFdFFC6MovHX9TeogUq9c) Now I know nobody owns all these albums, but what artist do you own the most CDs/LPs/tapes/whatever by? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2020, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artist-you-own-the-most-albums-by/853049/2 "2020-05-03T03:59:39Z")
For me, that’s an easy answer, as they’re my favorite band: Electric Light Orchestra. I own all fourteen studio albums (plus the _Xanadu_ soundtrack, which was 1/2 ELO), two live albums, and six different greatest-hits compilations. (Plus, for nearly all of the above, I own it on both vinyl and CD.) ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2020, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artist-you-own-the-most-albums-by/853049/3 "2020-05-03T04:07:05Z")
Dave Brubeck easily. Not even close. ---
**Author:** ![ThisSpaceForRent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thisspaceforrent/32/345_2.png) [@ThisSpaceForRent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisSpaceForRent)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2020, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artist-you-own-the-most-albums-by/853049/4 "2020-05-03T04:10:58Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Dave Brubeck easily. Not even close. Cool. I love Brubeck. Me, the Grateful Dead the number depends on what you classify as albums. I have over 400 entire live shows, a lot of Cassettes, vinyl, and CD’s ---
**Author:** ![GESancMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gesancman/32/2923_2.png) [@GESancMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GESancMan)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2020, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artist-you-own-the-most-albums-by/853049/5 "2020-05-03T04:18:38Z")
Are we counting bootlegs? Yes, Dream Theater, Marillion, and Frank Zappa. I’ve easily got more than 50 albums by each. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2020, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artist-you-own-the-most-albums-by/853049/6 "2020-05-03T04:46:01Z")
If I actually go count, I just know it’ll be embarrassing… _[time passes, boxes in basement are ransacked]_ Okay, not too bad… (I was afraid it’d be some white bread WimpRock\* stuff…) \*I thought it was going to be Poco, which my kids make relentless fun of, but I was saved by the fact they didn’t put out that many albums. But it turns out I’ve got a ton of… **Beatles** albums. So no surprises there… oddly enough, they’re so ubiquitous that I didn’t think of them when I was wondering what I had. I guess they’ve become the background radiation of my life. Damn, I was hoping my collection would be full of someone that’d make me look quirkier: Hey, I’ve got tons of Jens Lekman, Grant Green, Jeb Loy Nichols and King Tubby… But those bloody Beatles were just too prolific. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2020, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artist-you-own-the-most-albums-by/853049/7 "2020-05-03T04:49:15Z")
Back when I owned albums, it was Pink Floyd, hands down. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2020, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artist-you-own-the-most-albums-by/853049/8 "2020-05-03T05:57:51Z")
I have 38 Zappa albums, which I know is just a small dent in his output. I have dozens of Grateful Dead, Hendrix, and Ry Cooder. Those are the big ones. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2020, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artist-you-own-the-most-albums-by/853049/9 "2020-05-03T06:05:51Z")
Springsteen. Probably followed by Paul Simon (if you include the S&G in that count), followed by the Beatles. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2020, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artist-you-own-the-most-albums-by/853049/10 "2020-05-03T06:20:09Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > For me, that’s an easy answer, as they’re my favorite band: Electric Light Orchestra. I own all fourteen studio albums (plus the _Xanadu_ soundtrack, which was 1/2 ELO), two live albums, and six different greatest-hits compilations. > > (Plus, for nearly all of the above, I own it on both vinyl and CD.) I also have every studio album by ELO (including Xanadu). Also every studio album by Alan Parsons, Moody Blues, and the Beatles. I haven’t actually counted them lately, so I don’t know which is numerically the most, but if you consider “all” the operative word, I guess it’s a tie. ---
**Author:** ![JeffB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeffb/32/188_2.png) [@JeffB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JeffB)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2020, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artist-you-own-the-most-albums-by/853049/11 "2020-05-03T06:38:44Z")
I know #1 and #2 without counting: Bob Marley/Wailers and Elvis Costello. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2020, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artist-you-own-the-most-albums-by/853049/12 "2020-05-03T07:18:07Z")
I’m almost ashamed to give my answer: Liberace. Liberace is the absolute last artist I would ever buy, but once upon a time I got a job ghost-writing arrangements for him, and the publisher gave me a few dozen albums so I could study the style. I wrote three arrangements. Then we went in the studio to record them, and Lee decided to play something else. I don’t think he even looked at my work. Since I got paid anyway, in the long run, it didn’t matter much. I still have the LPs. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2020, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artist-you-own-the-most-albums-by/853049/13 "2020-05-03T07:36:33Z")
I own every album by Billy Joel, including the “classical” ones, bootlegs of his bands The Hassles and Attila, compilations, the _Movin’ Out \* soundtrack/score, his soundtrack appearances (including \* Oliver and Co_), covers of other artists, and so on. I’m not at home to count, but I’m sure it’s up over 50 different albums/records (CDs and whatnot included). ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2020, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artist-you-own-the-most-albums-by/853049/14 "2020-05-03T07:50:56Z")
JS Bach by far. Pete Seeger next. ---
**Author:** ![lawoot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/35a633/32.png) [@lawoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawoot)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2020, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artist-you-own-the-most-albums-by/853049/15 "2020-05-03T08:37:55Z")
Zappa. Well over 100. And they keep releasing more! ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2020, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artist-you-own-the-most-albums-by/853049/16 "2020-05-03T09:54:13Z")
WAG: Either Mozart or Streisand. ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2020, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artist-you-own-the-most-albums-by/853049/17 "2020-05-03T10:02:36Z")
This thread is wild for me. I typically like a band or artist for one or two albums, with only two groups going to three, and that was decades ago. The Police (Outlandos D’amour, Zenyatta Mendatta, Synchronicity) and the Art of Noise (Who’s Afraid, In No Sense? Nonsense!, Below the Waste). There’s nobody I’ve liked for their entire career, or even close to it. ---
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2020, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artist-you-own-the-most-albums-by/853049/18 "2020-05-03T11:27:33Z")
Zappa fans tend to go nuts. I have 24. \<\\> ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2020, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artist-you-own-the-most-albums-by/853049/19 "2020-05-03T11:52:48Z")
Either John Denver or The Captain and Tennille. ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2020, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artist-you-own-the-most-albums-by/853049/20 "2020-05-03T12:09:23Z")
Nick Cave, in various outfits—with the Bad Seeds, Grinderman, Birthday Party and Boys Next Door, as well as some bootleg/solo/collaboration-stuff—turns out to be around 35, depending on how you count. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artist-you-own-the-most-albums-by/853049.md?page=2)