Most successful current prog bands

[bondegezou]

Going through various reviews, best-of lists and so on of 2013 raises the question of who are the most successful current prog bands. I don't mean artistically, because we'd spend forever arguing about that, but rather in terms of commercial success and penetration.

I was set to thinking about this topic by Pollstar's top 200 grossing North American tours of 2013. Depending on how you define prog, the top three prog bands there were...

Rush: $14.9 million gross, 8,338 average tickets per show
Sigur Rós: $5.2 million, 2,815 average tickets
Yes: $4.4 million, 1,431 average tickets

Rush and Yes are not surprising, but I didn't know Sigur Rós were so big! Good for them.

On the other hand, with a broader definition of prog, the top three could be...

Trans-Siberian Orchestra: $47.9 million, 13,161 average tickets
Phish: $34.6 million, 30,208 average tickets
Muse: $31.2 million, 12,968 average tickets

(The overall top three were Taylor Swift ($112.7 million, 28,411 average tickets), Bon Jovi ($107.3 million, 19,363 average tickets) and Kenny Chesney ($90.9 million, 28,949 average tickets). I don't even know who Chesney is...???)

Now, that's just North America and that's just the 2013 season. And it's just touring. If one could collate total gross across all activities, I would have thought Dream Theater would be up there too. Their 2013 album was top 10 in the US, Japan and Germany (and top 20 in the UK). For comparison, Sigur Rós' Kveikur was top 10 in the UK and top 20 in the US/Germany (and #1 in Iceland). Clockwork Angels was top 10 in the US and top 20 in Germany (and #1 in Canada). Fly from Here was top 20 in Germany, top 30 in the UK and top 40 in the US.

I tried to think of other prog bands who might come close on album sales. The Whirlwind made the top 50 in Germany, but didn't chart elsewhere. Thick as a Brick 2 was top 20 in Germany and top 40 in the UK. Mike Oldfield made the UK top 10 with Music of the Spheres a few years back and the compilation Two Sides: The Very Best of Mike Oldfield (2012) made #6 here. Marillion's Sounds That Can't Be Made was top 30 in Germany and top 50 in the UK.

So, I guess that's my shortlist: Rush, Sigur Rós, Yes, Dream Theater, Ian Anderson, Mike Oldfield, Marillion. Does anyone have any further suggestions?

Henry

[bondegezou]

Asia's XXX made the Japanese top 40, with the 2 previous albums just making the top 30 there. XXX also made #69 in the UK and #134 in the US.

Henry

[Rarebird]

I suppose Arjan Lucassen is doing quite well. He can live from his music, without performing live.

[2ndsout]

What about Steven Wilson, The Flower Kings, Pineapple Thief, and Porcupine Tree? Some more highly public and commercial bands that have been successful in recent memory...

[bondegezou]

I suppose Arjan Lucassen is doing quite well. He can live from his music, without performing live.

The Theory of Everything made the German top 30 and charted in several other European countries (as high as #3 in the Netherlands), although he doesn't appear to sell as well in the English-speaking markets. Interesting...

What about Steven Wilson, The Flower Kings, Pineapple Thief, and Porcupine Tree? Some more highly public and commercial bands that have been successful in recent memory...

Silly of me to overlook Steven Wilson! Raven made the UK top 30 and the US top 60, and #3 in Germany. So he's absolutely up there on album sales, it would appear. Porcupine Tree's last album in 2009 made the US and UK top 30s and the German top 20. I don't know what touring revenues are like, but I imagine pretty good.

Pineapple Thief are not anywhere near this level of sales, AFAIK. None of their albums have charted anywhere. I don't know if The Flower Kings do well in Sweden, but I don't think they've ever charted elsewhere.

Henry

[battema]

I don't even know who Chesney is...???

Kenny Chesney is a country musician. Fairly popular here in the States, although I wouldn't be surprised if he's less known outside these borders. Not really a fan, but seeing as I live in the south, I'm aware of him and aware that he's pretty popular.

Back while they were still active, Porcupine Tree made a couple of lists of bands that need to be seen live, so I imagine they did rather well on touring.

I don't know how frequently they tour, but I imagine Radiohead does very well when they do. It seems that everytime they come through my area, they sell out almost immediately. So, provided you'd consider them at least peripherally progressive, I'd add them to the list.

[JKL2000]

The Theory of Everything made the German top 30 and charted in several other European countries (as high as #3 in the Netherlands), although he doesn't appear to sell as well in the English-speaking markets. Interesting...

Probably because we can understand his lyrics.

Is Sigur Rós really prog? I've never really heard them, and was turned off from them when my mother-in-law asked "Have you ever heard Sugar Rose?" (That's how she pronounced it and thought it was spelled - I'm actually not positive how it's pronounced, but I don't thing it's quite Sugar Rose. They had played it in her art class). LOL.

[bondegezou]

Is Sigur Rós really prog? I've never really heard them, and was turned off from them when my mother-in-law asked "Have you ever heard Sugar Rose?" (That's how she pronounced it and thought it was spelled - I'm actually not positive how it's pronounced, but I don't thing it's quite Sugar Rose. They had played it in her art class). LOL.

I can see that one's mother-in-law knowing about a band is a big turn off, yes.

Are they prog? The perennial question. They're part of an Icelandic tradition that includes the likes of Bjork and (recent Jon Anderson collaborators) Todmobile. I've seen them described as post-rock and as alt rock, and they've supported Radiohead on tour. They sound pretty prog to my ears, but maybe that's just because Icelandic post-rock sounds more alien to my ears than British post-rock!

Henry

[Zalmoxe]

I'm actually not positive how it's pronounced, but I don't thing it's quite Sugar Rose. They had played it in her art class). LOL.

It's pronounced "Siga Russ" - heard it from a guy with Icelandic background! It means Victoria Rose and it's the name of the little sister of one of the band members (maybe Jonsi - not sure whether it's him, I forgot).

[bill g]

Very proud to report the last Cirrus Bay album made the top 1,000,000 in both Holland and Blechistan!

[JJ88]

Opeth and Dream Theater usually chart well in the UK. To be sure they are as much metal which helps, but neither are shy about their prog influences either.

The Flower Kings and Spock's Beard have no more than a small following here. I saw the latter in a club about 6 years ago and actually it was a good turn out as I remember (I remember a long queue outside...I've been to far more sparsely attended shows by acts who did chart highly in the 70s!), so they do have a loyal following, but they still haven't branched into the mainstream. They are a band I feel probably could have done though, had they been on a major label here.

Stretching the definition further, Elbow are very popular these days. I saw the thread posted here recently where their singer Guy Garvey was talking about how Genesis and Yes had influenced their soon-to-be-released new album.

[soblivious]

Interesting thread.... as our band (Lifesigns) is a little further down the scale and we certainly don't make a living from prog sadly I thought you might like to see some comparative figures... all are based on Amazon chart positions.

CD's (highest position)
UK 93
USA 1024
Japan 1094
Canada 48
Germany 515
France 114
Spain 75
Italy 108

mp3's
UK 192
USA 763
Japan 32
Germany 257
France 47

It was interesting to see that although we were up with Yes and Crimson in Japanese CD sales, the Japanese pop market held
sway with pretty much the first 1000 positions. In the US it just shows that a UK based band with no budget will
struggle to break into the marketplace. That all said the CD was number 1 in the prog and classic genre in every Amazon
territory. Still a massive gap though between us and the giants in the prog world.
hope it's of interest
best
jy
www.lifesigns.me

[bondegezou]

Thanks JY. A peak of #93 on Amazon.co.uk is a strong performance, I would have thought, although I don't know how comparable it is to the regular charts (probably not very given how Amazon update their numbers much more often, so it's easier to have a good peak).

Obviously, most prog bands are not in the same commercial league as acts that can gross millions in touring. I can understand that many prog fans care little for the likes of Dream Theater or (modern day) Yes. However, I am increasingly of the view that the genre needs these high profile acts: their popularity supports the infrastructure of the genre, and they're how most people get introduced to the genre. Music has always had a long tail, and the tail is often more interesting, but you need the head as well.

Opeth... yes, Storm Corrosion made the top 50 in the US and UK. Opeth's last album was top 10 in Germany, top 20 in the US and top 30 in the UK. Oh, and I checked Blackfield. Blackfield IV made #95 in the UK and top 30 in the Netherlands.

So, new short list (in no particular order): Rush, Sigur Rós, Yes, Dream Theater, Ian Anderson, Mike Oldfield, Marillion, Steven Wilson/Porcupine Tree/Storm Corrosion, Opeth, Arjen Lucassen... (with Asia, Blackfield and Transatlantic bringing up the rear perhaps).

Henry

[JJ88]

Yes, I'm not that crazy about DT's music myself, but admire the way they've gotten a large audience on their own terms, the old fashioned way (with little hype). With Yes on the other hand, I remember when I first got into them seriously about 10 years ago, they were a big deal again, playing arenas. They are generally in theatres now (still better venues than most)...and 'Fly From Here' performed respectably (better than Asia's three albums on the same label).

[NogbadTheBad]

How about Radiohead? Got to assume they're pretty big seller, I went to a arena concert last year that sold out in 48 hours.

Just checked 2012 and saw :-

Roger Waters - $90.2MM, 21670 per gig
Radiohead - $22.9MM, 17230 per gig

[Homburg]

Good to have some factual info about the current popularity of prog. Thanks Henry.

[firth5th]

Steve Hackett GR2 tour had to pull in some good coin. He was selling out 1k-3k arenas charging $50-$75 a head. Did a lot of shows too.

[bondegezou]

Steve Hackett GR2 tour had to pull in some good coin. He was selling out 1k-3k arenas charging $50-$75 a head. Did a lot of shows too.

Yes, I agree, must have been a pretty big gross there. The album did well in the charts too (top 30 UK, top 40 Germany), although Hackett sells less well without the Genesis connection (Beyond the Shrouded Horizon peaked at #133 in the UK).

How about Radiohead? Got to assume they're pretty big seller, I went to a arena concert last year that sold out in 48 hours.

Just checked 2012 and saw :-

Roger Waters - $90.2MM, 21670 per gig
Radiohead - $22.9MM, 17230 per gig

Yes, good call. Which Pollstar list did you find for 2012? http://www.pollstarpro.com/files/011413top50.pdf is a worldwide top 50, but that seems to be different to the one you found.

Anyway, looking at Pollstar's 2012 top 50 worldwide list, the top three are Madonna, Bruce Springsteen and Roger Waters. 8 entries on the list are different Cirque du Soleil productions. If we just focus on the proggy acts...

Roger Waters: $186.4 million gross, 34,997 average tickets
Radiohead: $42.5 million, 15,718 average tickets

... and, er, that's it for proggy acts, but it's only a top 50.

Henry

[bondegezou]

For 2013, Pollstar did only a top 20 for worldwide figures: http://www.pollstarpro.com/files/cha...ToursChart.pdf Bon Jovi, Beyoncé and Pink come top. The only vaguely prog entry is Muse ($103.9 million gross, 21,351 average tickets).

Henry

[bondegezou]

OK, here's Pollstar's top 200 North American grossing tours for 2012: http://www.pollstarpro.com/files/cha...ricanTours.pdf Madonna, Cirque du Soleil's Michael Jackson show and Springsteen are the top 3. Proggy entries:

Roger Waters - $90.2M, 21670 per gig
Phish - $28.1M, 23654 per gig
Trans-Siberian Orchestra - $27.5M, 4566 per gig
Rush - $27.2M, 9736 per gig
Radiohead - $22.9M, 17230 per gig
Peter Gabriel - $12.4M, 8475 per gig (how did we forget to mention him!)
The Moody Blues - $6.8M, 2139 per gig (ditto)
Ian Anderson - $3.0M, 1456 per gig

Time to update the shortlist again...

Henry

[NogbadTheBad]

Yes, good call. Which Pollstar list did you find for 2012?

Henry

It was North America.

[bondegezou]

For 2011, Pollstar had a global top 25 (with U2, Take That and Bon Jovi the first three). Prog-wise, we have only Roger Waters ($102.7M, 27,554 average tickets). And they only give a top 25 for North America too (U2, Taylor Swift and Kenny Chesney the first three). No Roger Waters in that list (presumably touring elsewhere), but there is...

Trans-Siberian Orchestra - $32.4M, 6191 per gig
Phish - $28.5M, 24012 per gig

Henry

[bondegezou]

Oh, sorry, here's the top 200 for 2011: http://www.pollstarpro.com/files/cha...ricanTours.pdf So, looking at places 26-150 for anything proggy:

Furthur - $18.5M, 7273 per gig
Rush - $18.3M, 9757 per gig (more touring outside the continent that year IIRC)
Peter Gabriel - $7.6M, 5595 per gig
The Moody Blues - $6.6M, 2277 per gig

Henry

[bondegezou]

More comparison data... The Moody Blues haven't released a new album since 2003, and that failed to chart, as did their more recent compilations. So, they can sell live tickets, but not albums. It's been a while since Waters released an album. Ça Ira was in 2005 and didn't make the mainstream charts. Last time he made the US or UK top 30 was Amused to Death! His touring is selling on the popularity of old Floyd albums. Peter Gabriel's New Blood (2011) was top 30 in the US and UK, and top 20 in Germany. Scratch My Back did a bit better: top 20 in the UK, top 30 in the US, #2 in Germany and Canada. Phish's last album in 2009 made the US top 20.

Henry

[Yanks2014]

Probably because we can understand his lyrics.

Not sure why that comment was needed. Ayreon is one of the more successful things discussed on PE, lots of fans here.