# Which rock acts can claim to have been the biggest in the world? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 31, 2011, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-rock-acts-can-claim-to-have-been-the-biggest-in-the-world/601402 "2011-10-31T18:00:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Candyman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Candyman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Candyman74)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2011, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-rock-acts-can-claim-to-have-been-the-biggest-in-the-world/601402/61 "2011-11-01T15:49:03Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > I dunno what’s the population breakdown between cities and rural ares? Lots of Chinese folk outside of cities don’t even have electricity, so it’s unlikely they are building up CD collections. I found this: [http://www.iea.org/weo/electricity.asp](http://www.iea.org/weo/electricity.asp) 90% of people have electricity. Only 186 million don’t. This was back in 2009. And also this: [http://www.iea.org/weo/database\_electricity10/electricity\_database\_web\_2010.htm](http://www.iea.org/weo/database_electricity10/electricity_database_web_2010.htm) 99.4% of people have electricity, and only 8.1 million haven’t. Not sure why the two different numbers, but both indicate that most Chinese folk have electricity just fine. (Ah - the difference is that the first number is China and East Asia; the second one is China. So, yeah, pretty much all Chinese people have electricity). ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2011, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-rock-acts-can-claim-to-have-been-the-biggest-in-the-world/601402/62 "2011-11-01T16:10:50Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > I think if you add the Rolling Stones onto the list, this is pretty much it, until the 90s at least. I pretty much lost track of pop music after the mid 80s, so I couldn’t comment much about more recent bands. I’m not sure about U2 either, because they weren’t huge until later, but I’ve probably heard their name more than any other band since the mid-80s. I wanted to work the Stones in, but honest question; when were the Rolling Stones the world’s absolutely premiere rock band? As near as I can tell, basically never. They have been a huge band for a long time but someone was always bigger. Were the Stones the biggest thing in music in the 60s? No, the Beatles were. Early 70s? No, I’d say Elton John and Zeppelin, at least, were bigger. Late 70s? If we’re counting all pop music the Bee Gees and ABBA were bigger. Their track record is amazing, but I don’t think you can point to any time in their history and say “and that’s when they were the biggest thing going in music.” ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2011, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-rock-acts-can-claim-to-have-been-the-biggest-in-the-world/601402/63 "2011-11-01T16:51:08Z")
> [@Candyman74](#): > > I found this: > > [http://www.iea.org/weo/electricity.asp](http://www.iea.org/weo/electricity.asp) > > 90% of people have electricity. Only 186 million don’t. This was back in 2009. > > And also this: > > [http://www.iea.org/weo/database\_electricity10/electricity\_database\_web\_2010.htm](http://www.iea.org/weo/database_electricity10/electricity_database_web_2010.htm) > > 99.4% of people have electricity, and only 8.1 million haven’t. > > Not sure why the two different numbers, but both indicate that most Chinese folk have electricity just fine. > > (Ah - the difference is that the first number is China and East Asia; the second one is China. So, yeah, pretty much all Chinese people have electricity). Thank you for the facts! Progress there has been faster then I thought. ---
**Author:** ![bucketybuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@bucketybuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bucketybuck)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2011, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-rock-acts-can-claim-to-have-been-the-biggest-in-the-world/601402/64 "2011-11-01T16:53:56Z")
> [@Candyman74](#): > > Only 186 million don’t… > > [SNIP SNIP] > > …most Chinese folk have electricity just fine. Coming from a small country of only a few million, these types of numbers fascinate me. “Only 186 million”. Oh, is that all? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2011, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-rock-acts-can-claim-to-have-been-the-biggest-in-the-world/601402/65 "2011-11-01T16:58:18Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > I wanted to work the Stones in, but honest question; when were the Rolling Stones the world’s absolutely premiere rock band? > > As near as I can tell, basically never. They have been a huge band for a long time but someone was always bigger. Were the Stones the biggest thing in music in the 60s? No, the Beatles were. Early 70s? No, I’d say Elton John and Zeppelin, at least, were bigger. Late 70s? If we’re counting all pop music the Bee Gees and ABBA were bigger. Their track record is amazing, but I don’t think you can point to any time in their history and say “and that’s when they were the biggest thing going in music.” You could say the Stones were the Stan Musial of rock. Consistently good, definitely among the all-time greats, but never quite the best in the business at any given moment. Stan always had a Ted Williams or a Willie Mays who was a little better, and the Stones always had the Beatles or Elton John or… ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2011, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-rock-acts-can-claim-to-have-been-the-biggest-in-the-world/601402/66 "2011-11-01T17:22:46Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Early 70s? No, I’d say Elton John and Zeppelin, at least, were bigger. AFAICT, in '71 the Stones put out more #1 singles and #1 albums than Elton John and Led Zeppelin put together. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2011, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-rock-acts-can-claim-to-have-been-the-biggest-in-the-world/601402/67 "2011-11-01T17:56:28Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > I wanted to work the Stones in, but honest question; when were the Rolling Stones the world’s absolutely premiere rock band? '70-'72 at least, after the Beatles broke up and the Stones released, in succession, Get Yer Ya-Yas Out, Sticky Fingers, and Exile on Main Street. ---
**Author:** ![Ian\_D.Bergkamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Ian\_D.Bergkamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ian_D.Bergkamp)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2011, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-rock-acts-can-claim-to-have-been-the-biggest-in-the-world/601402/68 "2011-11-01T18:53:20Z")
> [@Spoke](#): > > '70-'72 at least, after the Beatles broke up and the Stones released, in succession, Get Yer Ya-Yas Out, Sticky Fingers, and Exile on Main Street. I would have put them up there even earlier, with the release of Let It Bleed in December 1969, but their subsequent three studio albums–Sticky Fingers (1971), Exile on Main St. (1972), and Goats Head Soup (1973)–all had long runs at #1 on the US and UK album charts, according to [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rolling_Stones_discography). So I think there’s a strong case to be made that they were the biggest band in the world for at least a bit during that period. ---
**Author:** ![Ian\_D.Bergkamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Ian\_D.Bergkamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ian_D.Bergkamp)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2011, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-rock-acts-can-claim-to-have-been-the-biggest-in-the-world/601402/69 "2011-11-01T19:01:29Z")
Following up on my previous post, Led Zeppelin hit #1 on the US and UK charts with Led Zeppelin II (October 1969), Led Zeppelin III (October 1970), Houses of the Holy (March 1973), Physical Graffiti (February 1975), Presence (March 1976), and In Through the Out Door (August 1979). The only studio album in that range that didn’t reach #1 on both charts, oddly enough, was IV (November 1971), which hit #1 in the UK, but peaked at #2 in the US. That’s a damn impressive run. I hadn’t realized that they were quite _that_ successful in terms of the album charts. ---
**Author:** ![voguevixen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5ac83/32.png) [@voguevixen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voguevixen)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2011, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-rock-acts-can-claim-to-have-been-the-biggest-in-the-world/601402/70 "2011-11-02T04:31:32Z")
> [@I'm Not Dennis Bergkamp](#): > > And I’m definitely counting current acts/artists, though I also don’t know to whom **voguevixen** is referring, and I’m active on twitter. Here’s another hint - one is such an overachiever he both released his 6th album AND got slapped with a paternity suit today, at the age of 17. (@JustinBieber - 13,950,741 followers @ladygaga - 15,234,114 followers) The verdict is still out on longevity of both, obviously. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2011, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-rock-acts-can-claim-to-have-been-the-biggest-in-the-world/601402/71 "2011-11-02T07:19:02Z")
Throw in enough qualifiers, and pretty much anybody can claim to have been “the biggest.” Somebody once told Cowboy Troy that he was “the biggest Black Country Rapper in the world!” He replied “No. I am the ONLY Black Country Rapper in the world.” Vanilla Ice gets (and deserves) very little respect these days, but in that awkward period circa 1990 when the major labels unceremoniously scrapped the LP format (and basically orphaned cassettes and anything that wasn’t a CD), Ice dominated Rolling Stone’s charts for the better part of two years. When he disappeared, these were dominated instead by Mariah Carey. Yep, the period everybody remembers as being owned by Nirvana and Pearl Jam was in fact ruled by these twin embarrassments. We remember the Beatles dominating the early 60s, but a lot of those years actually saw superior sales by people like Mitch Miller and Dave Brubeck. PLAYBOY’s music polls barely mentioned the Beatles or the Stones until after the former broke up and Brian Jones drowned, but they weren’t pitching to the same demographic as these bands, of course. And there were those late-night ads by the likes of Boxcar Willie and Slim Whitman baldfacedly claiming that these artists outsold the Beatles, without specifying the year or market. Cheap Trick made a lot of hay of the fact they sold more tickets at Budokan than the Beatles had a decade or so earlier; they didn’t mention that Budokan had added a few more seats in the interim. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2011, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-rock-acts-can-claim-to-have-been-the-biggest-in-the-world/601402/72 "2011-11-02T11:18:49Z")
> [@Krokodil](#): > > Throw in enough qualifiers, and pretty much anybody can claim to have been “the biggest.” Somebody once told Cowboy Troy that he was “the biggest Black Country Rapper in the world!” He replied “No. I am the ONLY Black Country Rapper in the world.” > > Vanilla Ice gets (and deserves) very little respect these days, but in that awkward period circa 1990 when the major labels unceremoniously scrapped the LP format (and basically orphaned cassettes and anything that wasn’t a CD), Ice dominated Rolling Stone’s charts for the better part of two years. When he disappeared, these were dominated instead by Mariah Carey. Yep, the period everybody remembers as being owned by Nirvana and Pearl Jam was in fact ruled by these twin embarrassments. > > We remember the Beatles dominating the early 60s, but a lot of those years actually saw superior sales by people like Mitch Miller and Dave Brubeck. PLAYBOY’s music polls barely mentioned the Beatles or the Stones until after the former broke up and Brian Jones drowned, but they weren’t pitching to the same demographic as these bands, of course. > > And there were those late-night ads by the likes of Boxcar Willie and Slim Whitman baldfacedly claiming that these artists outsold the Beatles, without specifying the year or market. Cheap Trick made a lot of hay of the fact they sold more tickets at Budokan than the Beatles had a decade or so earlier; they didn’t mention that Budokan had added a few more seats in the interim. True enough, the best selling single of 1964 was not a Beatle song- it was Louis Armstrong’s “Hello Dolly.” Was Louis, therefore, “bigger than the Beatles”? Well, the Beatles had a BUNCH of number one singles that year, while Louis only had one. And at NO time in his great career could Louis Armstrong have sold out Shea Stadium, or even Madison Square Garden. ---
**Author:** ![mr.jp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@mr.jp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr.jp)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2011, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-rock-acts-can-claim-to-have-been-the-biggest-in-the-world/601402/73 "2011-11-02T11:57:07Z")
> [@Hippy\_Hollow](#): > > INXS (Kick era, '87-'88) No. ---
**Author:** ![Ian\_D.Bergkamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Ian\_D.Bergkamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ian_D.Bergkamp)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2011, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-rock-acts-can-claim-to-have-been-the-biggest-in-the-world/601402/74 "2011-11-02T11:59:07Z")
> [@voguevixen](#): > > Here’s another hint - one is such an overachiever he both released his 6th album AND got slapped with a paternity suit today, at the age of 17. > > (@JustinBieber - 13,950,741 followers > @ladygaga - 15,234,114 followers) > > The verdict is still out on longevity of both, obviously. :smack: Can’t believe I couldn’t think of those two. ---
**Author:** ![Ian\_D.Bergkamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Ian\_D.Bergkamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ian_D.Bergkamp)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2011, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-rock-acts-can-claim-to-have-been-the-biggest-in-the-world/601402/75 "2011-11-02T12:00:11Z")
> [@mr.jp](#): > > No. Agreed. INXS were at their highest point, but I wouldn’t say they were the biggest thing going even then. ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2011, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-rock-acts-can-claim-to-have-been-the-biggest-in-the-world/601402/76 "2011-11-02T12:41:25Z")
> [@mr.jp](#): > > No. Thank you for that spirited rebuttal. Well, what does Wikipedia say? > [@](#): > > Kick was released in October 1987 and provided the band with worldwide popularity, it peaked at No. 1 in Australia, No. 3 on the US Billboard 200, No. 9 in UK, and No. 15 in Austria. It was an upbeat, confident album that yielded four Top 10 US singles, “New Sensation”, “Never Tear Us Apart”, “Devil Inside” and No. 1 “Need You Tonight”. “Need You Tonight” peaked No. 2 on the UK charts, No. 3 in Australia, and No. 10 in France. They toured heavily behind the album throughout 1987 and 1988. The video for the 1987 INXS track “Mediate” (which played after the video for “Need You Tonight”) replicated the format of Bob Dylan’s video for “Subterranean Homesick Blues,” even in its use of apparently deliberate errors. In September 1988 the band swept the MTV Video Music Awards with the video for “Need You Tonight/Mediate” winning in 5 categories. It also sold 10 million albums in the US alone. Given the radio airplay, chart success, sales, and MTV impact, I think there is easily an argument made for their inclusion. ---
**Author:** ![bucketybuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@bucketybuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bucketybuck)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2011, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-rock-acts-can-claim-to-have-been-the-biggest-in-the-world/601402/77 "2011-11-02T12:49:48Z")
> [@Hippy\_Hollow](#): > > Thank you for that spirited rebuttal. > > Well, what does Wikipedia say? > > It also sold 10 million albums in the US alone. Given the radio airplay, chart success, sales, and MTV impact, I think there is easily an argument made for their inclusion. Are you serious? Their most popular album didn’t even top the charts in either the US or UK, and they merit inclusion in an argument as the biggest band in the world? ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2011, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-rock-acts-can-claim-to-have-been-the-biggest-in-the-world/601402/78 "2011-11-02T12:56:17Z")
> [@bucketybuck](#): > > Are you serious? Their most popular album didn’t even top the charts in either the US or UK, and they merit inclusion in an argument as the biggest band in the world? Look at **Dennis’** description: > [@](#): > > Which rock acts, whether a band or a solo artist, can make a legitimate claim to being the biggest in the world at some point (doesn’t even have to be during the lifetime of the band)? Use whatever criteria you want–album sales, concert attendance, hit singles, magazine covers, whatever–but I’m looking for some indication of widespread popularity, as opposed to influence. I think in all the given criteria INXS warrant a mention. Like **WordMan** said upthread, at some point (maybe a month, maybe even a week) with all the venues in the media, a lot of unlikely contenders bubbled to the top, bands you wouldn’t ordinarily think of. And what about singles? “Need You Tonight” was a US Billboard #1 single and listed as the second best selling single of that year. ---
**Author:** ![bucketybuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@bucketybuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bucketybuck)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2011, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-rock-acts-can-claim-to-have-been-the-biggest-in-the-world/601402/79 "2011-11-02T13:10:38Z")
> [@Hippy\_Hollow](#): > > Look at **Dennis’** description: > > I think in all the given criteria INXS warrant a mention. Like **WordMan** said upthread, at some point (maybe a month, maybe even a week) with all the venues in the media, a lot of unlikely contenders bubbled to the top, bands you wouldn’t ordinarily think of. > > And what about singles? “Need You Tonight” was a US Billboard #1 single and listed as the second best selling single of that year. Using your criteria, I nominate Shania Twain, Boston, Hootie and the Blowfish, Journey, and the Dixie chicks. > **[List of best-selling albums in the United States](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_albums_in_the_United_States)** > > The following is a list of the best-selling albums in the United States based on RIAA certification and Nielsen SoundScan sales tracking. The criteria are that the album must have been published (including self-publishing by the artist), and the album must have achieved at least a diamond certification from the RIAA. The albums released prior to March 1991 should be included with their certified units only, as their Nielsen SoundScan sales are not complete. > Since February 2016, album certifica... On a more serious note, using the criteria that his popularity was so big that even over here we were swamped by it, how about Garth Brooks. For a period of about a year that guy bloody massive. If you thought country, you thought of Garth Brooks. At that time he could rightly claim to be one of the biggest acts on the planet, no matter how far his star has fallen. ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2011, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-rock-acts-can-claim-to-have-been-the-biggest-in-the-world/601402/80 "2011-11-02T13:25:01Z")
> [@bucketybuck](#): > > Using your criteria, I nominate Shania Twain, Boston, Hootie and the Blowfish, Journey, and the Dixie chicks. > [List of best-selling albums in the United States - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_albums_in_the_United_States) > > On a more serious note, using the criteria that his popularity was so big that even over here we were swamped by it, how about Garth Brooks. For a period of about a year that guy bloody massive. If you thought country, you thought of Garth Brooks. At that time he could rightly claim to be one of the biggest acts on the planet, no matter how far his star has fallen. I don’t disagree. This isn’t about impact, or legacy. Simply, who had garnered the attention of the world, even momentarily. Garth was massive and the only issue I might take (as with Hootie and Dixie Chicks) is that they seemed to have found success mainly in North America (someone can correct me if I’m wrong). Certainly, they were the biggest acts on this continent for some period of time. Looking at your location, I see that’s true for Garth et al. There you go! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-rock-acts-can-claim-to-have-been-the-biggest-in-the-world/601402.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-rock-acts-can-claim-to-have-been-the-biggest-in-the-world/601402.md?page=5)