Why has DG solo out-sold RW solo in total?

[Annoying Twit]

First, here are the figures I get from bestsellingalbums.com

DG

https://bestsellingalbums.org/artist/3012

DAVID GILMOUR sold over 2,130,300 albums, including 1,000,000 in the United States and 500,000 in the United Kingdom. The best-selling album by DAVID GILMOUR is ON AN ISLAND, which sold over 595,300 copies .

RW

ROGER WATERS sold over 1,184,661 albums, including 500,000 in the United States and 180,000 in the United Kingdom. The best-selling album by ROGER WATERS is THE PROS & CONS OF HITCHHIKING, which sold over 575,000 copies .

https://bestsellingalbums.org/artist/11196

Both lists of album sales include live albums. RW and DG are near tied for the sales of their best selling individual album. TPaCoHH for RW and OaI for DG. But, other than that, DG's album sales have been much more consistent, while RW's drop off considerably. It's not just DG releasing more (though the lists of albums seem similar.) Apart from TPaCoHH, RW's numbers are down per album too.

Very important: I am not saying that more album sales means higher quality music or artistic achievement.


Also, it's possible that the numbers are wrong. But, they are different by a fair margin.

But, it raises the question. Why has DG over time outsold RW? I don't have an answer myself, and was surprised to see the figures as I thought the numbers would be closer.

I wasn't sure where to put this post. I hope this is a reasonable choice of sub-forum.

[Jimi Dean Barrett]

Probably the guitars. The solos in Comfortably Numb top greatest guitar solo polls. Thanks to 13 years of a Conservative government the public have become more fearful and anti-knowledge (that's a nonsensical phrase. But reap what you sow!).
I think Gilmour made a few appearances on BBC2's Jools Holland shows. I think Roger might think that's beneath him!
But from those figures people seem to like music more than words.

[Annoying Twit]

Probably the guitars. The solos in Comfortably Numb top greatest guitar solo polls.

Thanks to 13 years of a Conservative government the public have become more fearful and anti-knowledge (that's a nonsensical phrase. But reap what you sow!).

I think Gilmour made a few appearances on BBC2's Jools Holland shows. I think Roger might think that's beneath him!
But from those figures people seem to like music more than words.

I think you have a point about the guitars and solos. DG is a stupendously popular guitarist. And, looking at the comments for 'On an Island' (song), loads of them mention the guitar solos.

Perhaps DB should record his own 'Shut Up and Play Your Guitar', and it would sell by the truckload.

I'm not sure that the Jools Holland appearances would have made a huge difference, but I enjoyed seeing the appearances I did.

I'm not sure either way about the 'anti-knowledge' bit - I agree that the public has become more anti-knowledge and even anti-truth. (Not saying that I agree with everything Rog says - very much not nowadays.) Not sure that this is the defining difference. Guitar solos are simpler, and I think they explain a lot.

I went through the comments on songs from the OaI album that I find a little less interesting, such as 'The Blue', and there are a lot of people talking about the music, the guitar playing, the feel/atmosphere of the song. I didn't find anyone talking about the lyrics, but perhaps if I scrolled down further... EDIT: I found a comment on the lyrics under the (official audio) for 'Take a Breath'.

[theaussiefloydian]

Probably the guitars. The solos in Comfortably Numb top greatest guitar solo polls.
...
But from those figures people seem to like music more than words.

I'm not quite sure it's that simple. I think it's less that people like music more than words and more that the marriage of lyrics to music is extremely important.
I'll put it like this. I find the political commentary on Is This the Life We Really Want? compelling. I find Nigel Godrich's production of it compelling. But there's little to no sign of life in the composition of the music, and as a result a lot of it falls flat. The album loses some bite. Same goes for Amused to Death. The lyrics reviewing our dependence on media are potent, but are let down by uninteresting and on occasion stupid music (look I'll be honest, "Watching TV" sucks. And this is from someone who loved Amused to Death in high school.) On the flipside, we have David Gilmour. His lyrics are not always as heavy, but the marriage between them and the music works exponentially better in my eyes. The lyrics on On an Island are largely introspective, going through Gilmour's love for his family. The atmospheric music matches it perfectly. It's a better package overall.
Also, instrumental tracks. Roger Waters' albums lack them severely. Gilmour's albums make excellent use of them.

[Annoying Twit]

After reading @theaussiefloydian's post. I had a relisten to 'Watching TV'. The track works for me, as a country interlude on the album. Musically it isn't sophisticated, but for me PF music (including solo) doesn't have to be. But, perhaps it would have worked better on a Don Henley solo album than on a RW one. The line 'And I grieve for my sister' could have taken the song somewhere different, but the country song returns too quickly. A pity, but overall I still like the song musically. Though, I'm a little unsure of the lyrics nowadays for various reasons.

RW has lost a lot of his audience, with sales dropping dramatically from the high of TPaCoHH and IttLwRW selling paltry figures according to the links above. RtL also sold less than previous DG albums, but nothing like Rog's drop-off. Which is a pity as both of these albums are my favourite solo album from the respective PF members. But, sales dropping as a fan base ages is not unusual.

BTW: AtD is still my second favourite RW solo album, and was my favourite until IttLwRW was released. But, I guess not so for other people.

[theaussiefloydian]

After reading @theaussiefloydian's post. I had a relisten to 'Watching TV'. The track works for me, as a country interlude on the album. Musically it isn't sophisticated, but for me PF music (including solo) doesn't have to be. But, perhaps it would have worked better on a Don Henley solo album than on a RW one. The line 'And I grieve for my sister' could have taken the song somewhere different, but the country song returns too quickly. A pity, but overall I still like the song musically. Though, I'm a little unsure of the lyrics nowadays for various reasons.

You make many a good point here.
And having a quick re-read of the lyrics... oh dear. I get what he's trying to go for, that a lot of activism is exceedingly shallow and based on what is seen on TV. But it's utterly graceless and occasionally a little bit offensive. (A gripe I actually have with a lot of Amused to Death - a slur against East Asians appears quite a bit on that album for no apparent reason other than shock value, and it grinds my gears something awful.)
That might also be a difference between Waters and Gilmour that's led to Gilmour selling better. Waters is on the whole a lot more abrasive, which might be a turn off for larger audiences.

[Ashes andDiamonds07]

I think it could be because Gilmour has a much better voice and the music is more appealing. I'm not saying that Roger's music isn't appealing (I loved The Final Cut and his 4 solo albums), but Gilmour is, no doubt, better at writing the music. The lyrics on the other hand...

There's a reason old Polly writes his lyrics nowadays.

[PooF]

Gilmour's output appeals more to the mainstream and adult contemporary markets.

[Annoying Twit]

You make many a good point here.
And having a quick re-read of the lyrics... oh dear. I get what he's trying to go for, that a lot of activism is exceedingly shallow and based on what is seen on TV. But it's utterly graceless and occasionally a little bit offensive. (A gripe I actually have with a lot of Amused to Death - a slur against East Asians appears quite a bit on that album for no apparent reason other than shock value, and it grinds my gears something awful.)
That might also be a difference between Waters and Gilmour that's led to Gilmour selling better. Waters is on the whole a lot more abrasive, which might be a turn off for larger audiences.

It's ambiguous, but I'm a bit concerned that the lyrics head slightly in the direction of fetishisation of an Asian female. I'm not sure they get 'there', but reading the lyrics properly made me a bit ... unsure. Things have moved on since the 90s, and I'm only saying that the lyrics look a bit ... old fashioned (at least) in hindsight and from a more modern context.

TPaCoHH has in the end outsold AF. So, it appears that they started with about the same audience, but DG held onto his audience better. So, the 'abrasive' aspect may well be there.

Gilmour's output appeals more to the mainstream and adult contemporary markets.

Hmmm... Does he have a lot of fans who didn't come to his work through PF? I'm not sure. On the other hand, one thing I've learned is that there are PF fans who discovered the band through AMLoR or TDB. And, these could be more mainstream/adult contemporary listeners.

[theaussiefloydian]

It's ambiguous, but I'm a bit concerned that the lyrics head slightly in the direction of fetishisation of an Asian female. I'm not sure they get 'there', but reading the lyrics properly made me a bit ... unsure. Things have moved on since the 90s, and I'm only saying that the lyrics look a bit ... old fashioned (at least) in hindsight and from a more modern context.

My concern precisely. I get its a song making fun of people whose activism is swung by what happens to be on TV at the time, but using the casually fetishistic language to do so doesn't help anybody's case I don't think.

Hmmm... Does he have a lot of fans who didn't come to his work through PF? I'm not sure.

It's not outside the realms of possibility. My mum vividly remembers someone in her high school in the 80s saying "did you know Paul McCartney was in a band before Wings?" so anything's possible. And it is true that Gilmours work appeals more to popular rock music than Waters does. It'd be much easier for me to get a mate to listen to "There's No Way Out of Here" than to "Picture That".

[flashback]

It could be Dave's music hits a certain tone with more people,lyrics aside.

[battra]

Well...it starts off like this...

I'd wager that 80% of Pink Floyd fans don't care about the lyrics or the meanings of the songs but enjoy the emotional swings of the progressive songs. Look at Led Zeppelin...those butts never wrote a song about anything. They either did oh baby baby blues or avantgarde nuttery. But the music was great!

Then couple that with Roger's singing voice being...we'll say limited compared to Dave's angelic voice and don't even need to get started on the guitars there.

David's music is easier to digest. Roger's music dense. Roger's music is predicated on the message and Dave's predicated on the tunes.

Roger's music is harder to understand and Dave's is easier to digest.

My preference is Roger's, but the best is when Dave helped make Roger's messages into beautiful songs.

[azza200]

David is more versatile with his music and is always trying new stuff or does something out of his comfort zone. Good examples even though us die hard fans may not like them The Girl In The Yellow Dress, or Red Sky at Night. Roger has done that Opera

Plus David has guested with lots of artists over his career for shows appearances or Tv spots. Roger's solo albums Amused To Death is his most solid solo album but his problem is all his songs are too preachy far too many words at times and he does not always let the music just flow its too dominated by lyrics and his message & some of it is incredibly depressing. The same goes for some of David's solo stuff too.

[mosespa]

Could it be because Gilmour comes across as more gracious in his press dealings and that transfers to people wanting to give him their money more than to the dour guy who acts like he thinks he's above it all?

Just a guess.

[azza200]

Yeah that surely has played a major part in it.