Bob Dylan is a musical genius who's been performing since the 1960s. His first album was released in 1962, titled Bob Dylan, and had 13 tracks on it. For the rest of his career to date, he has kept up the magic and composed life-changing songs. As of today, he has a total of 38 studio albums and 10 live albums. He also has 10 compilation albums and 15 bootlegs, not to mention numerous box sets and vinyl sets.
The times may be a-changin' for us but it's still the same for Mr. Dylan. He's still working and touring and doesn't seem about to stop. Here are 10 of his best-selling albums ranked via certifications from RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America).
10 Highway 61 Revisited - US Platinum, UK & Canada Gold
Highway 61 Revisited may be #10 on this list but it's one of Bob Dylan's best albums based on the popularity of the songs in it and the historical importance it brought to the music industry according to Rolling Stone. The magazine claims that this album closed the book on folk music and ushered in new music for the industry.
The album was released in 1965 and it was Dylan's fifth offering and had nine songs in it. By August, the album achieved gold status from RIAA, selling 1 million copies. Some of the most popular tracks were Desolation Row, Tombstone Blues, and of course, Like A Rolling Stone.
9 Time Out Of Mind - US Platinum, UK, Canada & Australia Gold
Every album on this list has reached at least platinum in the US as certified by the RIAA, Highway 61 Revisited achieved platinum status in 1997 and Time Out of Mind, released in 1997, achieved it in 1998. From the beginning, fans would only have to wait three years at the most for a new Bob Dylan album, this 30th studio album Dylan released came after four long years after his World Gone Wrong album.
Time Out of Mind was released with 11 songs and quickly achieved gold status a month after its release. It also achieved gold in the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia. The top songs on this album are Love Sick and Not Dark yet.
8 The Essential Bob Dylan - US & UK Platinum, Australia 2x Multi-Platinum
Riding on the success of winning the 2016 Nobel Prize for Literature, Columbia Records released a 2-disc Bob Dylan compilation composed of 30 songs from his hits in the sixties up until 2000. This included his single Things Have Changed from the Michael Douglas film Wonder Boys. The Essential Bob Dylan album had two new versions after the 2000 record and then had a classy vinyl version in 2016.
This album reached platinum status in both the US and the UK, and did absolutely sweet in Australia going platinum twice. It peaked on the US Billboard 200 at #67. This is Dylan's 9th compilation album and the first of only three in this top-ten list.
7 Slow Train Coming - US and UK Platinum, Canada 2x Multi-Platinum
One of Bob Dylan's sons is Jakob Dylan, the vocalist of the band The Wallflowers. The band was popular in the nineties but it's really hard to make it in the same industry as your father who's cast a huge shadow. Speaking of Bob Dylan's life, he is going to be portrayed again in a film that's being directed by Ford v Ferrari director James Mangold.
The film is said to be focused on the time Dylan changed the landscape of music and rock and roll. And on that note, Slow Train Coming is a rock album, Dylan's 19th studio offering that went platinum in the US and UK, and 2x multi-platinum in Canada. This album contains nine songs including Gotta Serve Somebody.
6 Modern Times - US, UK & Canada Platinum, Australia Gold
Ever wonder who the producer named Jack Frost really is that listed on the Modern Times album? It's actually Dylan's pseudonym, and Jack Frost also produced Dylan's earlier album Love and Theft. The Modern Times album was released in 2006, sold records here and everywhere, getting platinum certifications in the US, UK, and Canada.
This 32nd studio album entered the charts at #1 in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, Denmark, Ireland, Denmark, and Norway. The 10-track album had Dylan's Grammy-winning song Someday Baby. The album also got a Grammy for Best Folk/Americana album. That Jack Frost has really made a lot of money producing Bob Dylan's music, eh?
5 Blonde on Blonde - US 2x Multi-Platinum, UK Platinum
Real music geniuses can play multiple musical instruments with ease. We may have only known or seen Bob Dylan playing the guitar, harmonica, and piano, but according to NSF magazine, he knows how to play a total of 18 instruments. He knows how to play acoustic and bass guitar, drums, mandolin, flute, saxophone, trumpet, and other folksy musical instruments like the didgeridoo.
Some of these instruments he played in his album Blonde on Blonde which was released in 1966. His seventh studio album contains 14 songs, and it's loaded with best-of hits like Just Like a Woman, I Want You, and the timeless classic Rainy Day Women #12 & 35. It was platinum in the UK and 2x platinum in the US.
4 Desire - US 2x Multi-Platinum, UK Gold, Canada Platinum
The seventeenth studio album of Bob Dylan is also his 4th highest-grossing album of all-time. Desire was released in 1976 with nine songs, the most popular were Isis, Mozambique, and Hurricane. According to Music Canada, Desire did very well and was awarded a platinum certification from the Canadians. It did pretty well in the UK with gold but was a runaway success in the US with 2x multi-platinum.
Canada's platinum certification equals 80,000 units sold (100,000 if the album was released before May 1, 2008), UK's platinum is equivalent to 300,000 units sold (100,000 for gold), and US platinum is 1 million records sold. This means that Bob Dylan's Desire sold at least 2,200,000 copies in these three countries.
3 Blood On The Tracks - US 2x Multi-Platinum, UK & Canada Platinum
The 13-year music career had Bob Dylan finishing his 15th album in 1975, and with that, he was averaging more than one album per year. At that rate, one would think the pace of his musical creativity would take a step back, but he kept on coming. With 23 more studio albums, concerts, tours, and performances in the succeeding 40 years, Dylan has somehow found himself the fountain of youth. Blood on The Tracks is Dylan's best-selling studio album of all-time.
It sold at least 2.4 million copies, got platinum in the UK according to the British Phonographic Industry, platinum in Canada and 2x multi-platinum in the US. The most popular tracks on this album are You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go and Tangled Up In Blue. Some critics even said that this is Bob Dylan's finest work.
2 Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Volume II - US 5x Multi-Platinum, Canada 2x Multi-Platinum
Knowing Bob Dylan as a musician is appreciating his songs from that first self-titled album in 1962 to his last studio album Triplicate (2017). But what better way is there to enjoy the man's music than to listen to his greatest hits album? Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Volume II was compiled and released in 1971. It was a follow-up to the first volume of compilation but contained more songs.
This second compilation album contained 21 tracks. It was mostly songs from his previous albums, but there were at least six previously unreleased songs included. There's also a different way of enjoying Dylan's genius. Read his book titled The Nobel Lecture, as reported by the New York Times.
1 Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits - US 5x Multi-Platinum, Canada 2x Multi-Platinum
Of course, the #1 best-selling album of Bob Dylan is the first compilation album he would release after his amazing run in the sixties. The man that changed the landscape of folk music and rock and roll might have a song or two in his collection that would warrant a ‘best-of’ album. The best he had in those first 5 years were 10 songs.
It's just a short list of Dylan's greatest songs that include Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 and Like A Rolling Stone. This album racked up 2x multi-platinum in Canada and 5x multi-platinum in the US, the same sales records as the Volume 2 Best-Of album. Currently, Dylan is preparing for his Japan tour coming in April 2020.
