What was the first Gold album where CD sales surpassed LP sales?

[Scott Gardner]

At the time, I remember hearing that it was Paul Simon's
"Graceland", but I don't know on what basis that claim was made, and I
don't know where to look for statistics on CD versus LP sales for the
last 20 years, broken down by album title.

I guess the best way to describe what I'm looking for would be
this:

"When was the first time that an album was certified 'Gold' by the
RIAA where CD sales for that album surpassed LP sales, and what was
the album?"

If anyone knows the answer, or can point me toward the appropriate
online or offline resource, I'd appreciate it.

Scott Gardner

[Marc Phillips]

Scott Gardner said:

>At the time, I remember hearing that it was Paul Simon's
>"Graceland", but I don't know on what basis that claim was made, and I
>don't know where to look for statistics on CD versus LP sales for the
>last 20 years, broken down by album title.
>
> I guess the best way to describe what I'm looking for would be
>this:
>
>"When was the first time that an album was certified 'Gold' by the
>RIAA where CD sales for that album surpassed LP sales, and what was
>the album?"
>
>If anyone knows the answer, or can point me toward the appropriate
>online or offline resource, I'd appreciate it.

I can remember the same thing being said about U2's The Joshua Tree, but I
wouldn't know where to find info to confirm it.

Boon

[The Stainless Steel Boob Orchestra]

On 14 Nov 2003 01:27:30 GMT, (Marc Phillips)
wrote:

>I can remember the same thing being said about U2's The Joshua Tree, but I
>wouldn't know where to find info to confirm it.

I remember lis'tening to it, and I recall wishing Gerg would blow in
and save me from the pretentiousness.

--
td

[George M. Middius]

The Stainless Steel Boob Orchestra said:

> >I can remember the same thing being said about U2's The Joshua Tree, but I
> >wouldn't know where to find info to confirm it.
>
> I remember lis'tening to it, and I recall wishing Gerg would blow in
> and save me from the pretentiousness.

Yep, that record reeks with effeminance.

[Scott Gardner]

On Fri, 14 Nov 2003 00:50:06 GMT, (Scott Gardner)
wrote:

> At the time, I remember hearing that it was Paul Simon's
>"Graceland", but I don't know on what basis that claim was made, and I
>don't know where to look for statistics on CD versus LP sales for the
>last 20 years, broken down by album title.
>
> I guess the best way to describe what I'm looking for would be
>this:
>
>"When was the first time that an album was certified 'Gold' by the
>RIAA where CD sales for that album surpassed LP sales, and what was
>the album?"
>
>If anyone knows the answer, or can point me toward the appropriate
>online or offline resource, I'd appreciate it.
>
>Scott Gardner
>

Well, I still haven't found anything directly on point. Most of the
sources I've found agree that 1988 was the year that *total* CD sales
eclipsed total sales of LPs, but still nothing on specific albums. I
have an e-mail in to the folks at RIAA, but I'm not holding my breath
that they will take the time to respond, or even have the necessary
data to find the answer.

Scott Gardner

[Scott Gardner]

On Fri, 14 Nov 2003 03:35:49 +0000, "Glans, I" >
wrote:

(Scott Gardner) wrote:
>
>> At the time, I remember hearing that it was Paul Simon's
>>"Graceland", but I don't know on what basis that claim was made, and I
>>don't know where to look for statistics on CD versus LP sales for the
>>last 20 years, broken down by album title.
>>
>> I guess the best way to describe what I'm looking for would be
>>this:
>>
>>"When was the first time that an album was certified 'Gold' by the
>>RIAA where CD sales for that album surpassed LP sales, and what was
>>the album?"
>>
>>If anyone knows the answer, or can point me toward the appropriate
>>online or offline resource, I'd appreciate it.
>>
>>Scott Gardner
>
>According to this site Boston achieved the first gold level sales of
>CD in the U.S.A. with "Third Stage", although they don't say if it
>exceeded vinyl sales of the same album :
>
>http://www.artemisrecords.com/boston_bio.aspx?abbr=boston&idx=1
>
Thanks for the reference. Since "Third Stage" was 1986, that
certainly puts it in the running, if I can find out what the vinyl
sales were at the time it went Gold.

Scott Gardner

[Arny Krueger]

"Scott Gardner" > wrote in message

> At the time, I remember hearing that it was Paul Simon's
> "Graceland", but I don't know on what basis that claim was made, and I
> don't know where to look for statistics on CD versus LP sales for the
> last 20 years, broken down by album title.

> I guess the best way to describe what I'm looking for would be
> this:

> "When was the first time that an album was certified 'Gold' by the
> RIAA where CD sales for that album surpassed LP sales, and what was
> the album?"

> If anyone knows the answer, or can point me toward the appropriate
> online or offline resource, I'd appreciate it.

One reason why this information may be hard to find is that cassettes
outsold vinyl before CDs did, and quite dramatically so:

http://www.plan9music.com/Article2.html

"In 1987, according to figures of the Recording Industry Association of
America, 102.1 million of these little discs were shipped to record stores.
.... By comparison, the recording industry shipped 107 million albums at
total revenues of $793.1 million last year. The number of cassette tapes
shipped was a whopping 410 million at revenues of almost $3 billion.

The comparison that was on everybody's mind at the time was LP versus
cassette, not LP versus CD.