The Grateful Dead have shown that despite the fact that they’re not creating new music, and haven’t been for many years, they have no issue continuing to sell well. The group regularly drops archival material, which becomes an instant bestseller without issue. This past week, the band scored another top-selling collection, and it’s a very special win for them.
This week, the Grateful Dead’s Dave’s Picks, Volume 49: Frost Amphitheatre, Stanford U., Palo Alto, CA (4/27/85 & 4/28/85) arrived on a handful of Billboard charts last frame. The live recording sold just under 21,100 copies, according to Luminate, the company that collects consumption data and powers the weekly rankings.
Dave’s Picks, Vol. 49 was an instant smash on a handful of Billboard charts, and it’s a milestone win on a number of them. The set opened last week at No. 6 on the Top Rock & Alternative Albums chart, and No. 5 on the slightly-more-specific Top Rock Albums ranking, giving them another top 10 on the pair of tallies.
The Grateful Dead has now collected an incredible 50 top 10 titles on both of those rankings. This latest placement marked the eighty-ninth album to place anywhere on the Top Rock & Alternative Albums chart for the band, and their eighty-fifth to appear in any position on the Top Rock Albums list. The group has reached the No. 1 spot on both tallies with half a dozen releases.
Dave’s Picks, Vol. 49 is special to the Grateful Dead for a number of reasons when looking specifically at the Billboard charts. The set debuted at No. 1 on the all-genre Top Album Sales ranking. Somehow, it marked the rockers’ first leader on that tally, even though they’ve broken into the top 10 with 39 different collections.
For many years now, the Grateful Dead have been dropping live albums for their legion of fans. These collections are almost always sold exclusively through their website and usually aren’t made available in other formats. This is not a plan that would work for most acts, but for the legendary jam band, it seems to be playing out beautifully.
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