During his lifetime, English singer-songwriter David Bowie (1947–2016) released 26 studio albums, nine live albums, two soundtrack albums, 26 compilation albums, eight extended plays, 128 singles and six box sets. Since his death, one further studio album, 13 live albums, one soundtrack album, one compilation album, four extended plays and six box sets have been released. Bowie also released 28 video albums and 72 music videos.[1] Throughout his lifetime, Bowie sold at least 100 million records worldwide.[2] In 2012, Bowie was ranked ninth best selling singles artist in United Kingdom with 10.6 million singles sold.[3] As of January 2016, 12.09 million David Bowie singles had been sold in Britain.[4] In a period of 24 months since his death, five million records were sold in UK, 3.1 million singles and two million albums.[5]
Bowie's debut release was the 1964 single "Liza Jane" by Davie Jones & the King Bees.[6] He released two more singles in 1965 under the names of the Manish Boys and Davy Jones, respectively. His first release using the name David Bowie was the 1966 single "Can't Help Thinking About Me", which was released with the Lower Third. His next single, "Do Anything You Say", also released in 1966, was the first release by simply David Bowie.[7] Bowie released four more singles and his debut album, David Bowie, but the first success in the United Kingdom was with the 1969 single "Space Oddity". The single reached number five on the UK Singles Chart after it was released five days before the Apollo 11 Moon mission.[8][9] In 1975, the single was re-released, becoming Bowie's first UK number-one single.[10] Bowie released three more albums – David Bowie (1969), The Man Who Sold the World (1970), and Hunky Dory (1971) – before he eventually entered the UK Albums Chart with The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (1972), which peaked at number five. Its success saw sales of Hunky Dory improve and it eventually peaked at number three in the UK in 1973. RCA re-released the 1969 David Bowie under the title Space Oddity and The Man Who Sold the World, which reached numbers 17 and 26 in the UK, respectively.[11]
Bowie released nine more studio albums with RCA, all of which reached the top five of the UK Albums Chart; Aladdin Sane, Pin Ups (both 1973), Diamond Dogs (1974) and Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) (1980) all reached number one. Young Americans included his first US number-one single "Fame".[12] He then released three solo studio albums with EMI – Let's Dance (1983), whose title track became his first single to reach number one in both the UK and US, Tonight (1984) and Never Let Me Down (1987). Let's Dance and Tonight reached number one in the UK, while Never Let Me Down reached number six. The success of Let's Dance revitalised Bowie's back catalogue: throughout the summer of 1983, he had multiple albums on the UK Albums Chart. This peaked on 16 July that year, with ten entries – a figure bettered only by Elvis Presley.[9]
From 1988 to 1992, Bowie performed as a member of the rock band Tin Machine, who released two studio albums before disbanding.[13] Continuing as a solo artist, Black Tie White Noise (1993) reached number one on the UK Albums Chart.[14] Despite numerous label changes throughout the decade,[15] Bowie had further UK top ten success into the 2000s, from Outside (1995) to Reality (2003).[16] After a ten-year hiatus, Bowie returned with The Next Day (2013), his first UK number one since Black Tie White Noise. His final album, Blackstar, was released on 8 January 2016, his 69th birthday and two days before his death on 10 January. The album debuted at number one in the UK and became his first album to reach number one on the Billboard 200 in the US.[17] Since 2015, Parlophone has remastered Bowie's back catalogue through the "Era" box set series, starting with Five Years (1969–1973).[18]
Studio albums
Primary studio albums
List of studio albums, with selected chart positions and certifications
^David Bowie (1967) was released in the US in August.[31]
^David Bowie (1967) chart position for the 2010 deluxe edition re-release.[32]
^David Bowie (1969) was the original name for the album in the UK, while in the USA it was released a few months later as Man of Words / Man of Music (1969). Following the success of Ziggy Stardust the album was rereleased worldwide as Space Oddity, after Bowie's well known song of the same name that opened the album. In 2009, a worldwide release returned the original name to the album.[33]
^ abChart positions for the 1972 re-releases of David Bowie as Space Oddity following the success of Ziggy Stardust.
^ abChart positions for the 1972 re-releases of The Man Who Sold the World following the success of Ziggy Stardust.
^Hunky Dory did not enter the charts until September 1972, following the success of Ziggy Stardust.[35][36]
^The liveandwell.com album was a limited edition live release not available commercially but via subscribing to BowieNet.[69]
^The World of David Bowie was released as Disco de Ouro in Brazil and Bowie in Japan.[76]
^Images 1966–1967 was released as David Bowie Mille-Pattes Series in France, David Bowie in Belgium and Argentina, 20 Bowie Classics in Australia, and reissued in France as Collection Blanche in 1978.[76]
^UK chart position for Sound + Vision is for the 2014 reissue.
^Conversation Piece did not chart in the Netherlands, but did in Wallonia.[86]
^Don't Be Fooled By the Name was released as London Boys in Spain and Early Bowie in Italy; reissued as David Bowie in Spain in 1985; and reissued in the UK as Rare Tracks in 1986, 1966 in 1987, Introspective in 1990 and I Dig Everything: The 1966 Pye Singles in 1999.[88] In 2015 it was reissued as 1966 for Record Store Day 2015, when it entered the charts in UK.[89]
^"Rubber Band" was issued in the USA in June 1967. However, the A-side featured the album version of the track rather than the non-album track of the UK version.[97]
^"The Laughing Gnome" was originally released in the UK in 1967 but did not enter the Official UK Singles Chart Top 100. It was unofficially re-released in 1973, peaking at No. 6.[98]
^"The Laughing Gnome" was originally released in Australia in 1967 but did not enter the ARIA Top 50. It was unofficially re-released in 1973, peaking at No. 57.
^"The Laughing Gnome" was originally released in Ireland in 1967 but did not enter the Official Irish Singles Chart Top 50. It was unofficially re-released in 1973, peaking at No. 5.
^"Space Oddity" was originally released in the UK in 1969, reaching No. 5 in the UK singles chart. It was re-released worldwide in 1975, reaching No. 1 in the UK.
^"Space Oddity" was re-released in 1973, reaching No. 9 in the Australia.
^"Space Oddity" was re-released worldwide in 1975, reaching No. 4 in the Netherlands.
^"Space Oddity" was originally released in the US in 1969 but did not enter the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at No. 124 on the Bubbling Under the Hot 100 chart.[99] It was re-released for the first time in the US in 1973, peaking at No. 15.
^"Changes" did not chart in 1972 in UK, but following Bowie's death in 2016 the song entered these charts peaking at No. 49.
^"Changes" did not chart in 1972 in Australia, but following Bowie's death in 2016 the song entered these charts peaking at No. 80.
^"Changes" was released in the USA in December 1971. While the single peaked at No. 66 in 1972, it re-entered the chart in 1974, peaking at No. 41.
^"Suffragette City" was originally from the 1972 album Ziggy Stardust, but was not released as a single until 1976 to promote the album Changesonebowie.
^Chart position is from the official UK "Breakers List".
^"'Heroes'" was also recorded in German and French language versions. The single version worldwide was an edited cut of the album version, but was released in both Germany and France in two formats: in the original English and in the respective languages. In Germany, the German language version appeared as a single titled "'Helden'"; while in France the French language version was still titled "'Heroes'" but had 'Chanté en Français' on the cover.
Top 100 (Kent Music Report) chart peaks to 19 June 1988: Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (Illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. pp. 43–44. ISBN0-646-11917-6. N.B. The Kent Report chart was licensed by ARIA between 1983 and 19 June 1988.
Top 100 (ARIA Chart) peaks from January 1990 to December 2010: Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010. Mt. Martha, VIC, Australia: Moonlight Publishing.
^"Australian Gold"(PDF). Billboard. 26 October 1974. p. 78. Archived(PDF) from the original on 5 November 2021. Retrieved 3 February 2020 – via American Radio History.
Top 100 (Kent Music Report) chart peaks to 19 June 1988: Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (Illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. pp. 43–44. ISBN0-646-11917-6. N.B. The Kent Report chart was licensed by ARIA between 1983 and 19 June 1988.
Top 100 (ARIA Chart) peaks from January 1990 to December 2010: Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010. Mt. Martha, VIC, Australia: Moonlight Publishing.
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