Tom Petty By The Numbers: A "Breakdown" Of 40 Years Of Hits (2023)

Tom Petty, hizo subillboarddebuted on the charts in September 1977 along with his backing band The Heartbreakers when their self-titled first album peaked at number 190 on the Billboard 200billboardperformance charts.

Until his deathon Monday(October 2) At the age of 66, Petty garnered 22 Billboard 200 entries and scored dozens of hitsbillboardthe rock and pop charts.

In honor of the late rock icon, let's take a look at Petty's career, by the numbers, inbillboardDiagrams from:

28:Petty achieved a record 28 top 10 hits on the Mainstream RockSongsairplay chart, more than any other act in the chart's 36-year history. (He recorded his Top 10 hit between 1981 and 1999.) The act with the second Top 10 hit, Van Halen, has 26. Petty also had five Top 10 hits as a member of the supergroup Traveling Wilburys.

10:Of Petty's 28 top 10 hits on the Mainstream Rock Airplay chart, 10 reached #1. Only three acts in the chart's 36-year history have held more #1s: Van Halen (13), Three Days Grace (12) and Shinedown (11). He first reached No. 1 in 1981 with "The Waiting," and his last No. 1 in his lifetime, "You Don't Know How It Feels," topped the charts in 1994.

3:The highest position of Petty's highest-charting song on the Billboard Hot 100, "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" featuring Stevie Nicks in 1981. Petty never made it to the top of the Hot 100, but it did make the top 10 three in 1980 with "Don't Do Me Like That" (No. 10), then "Draggin'" and then in 1990's "Free Fallin'" (No. 7).

27:From 1977's "Breakdown" to 2006's "Saving Grace," Petty has a total of 27 entries on the Hot 100. "Breakdown" was his first Hot 100 hit and his first Top 40 hit, which was his peaked at number 40. Tom Petty") while the remaining 19 were with The Heartbreakers. Petty scored two more Hot 100 hits with TravelingWilburys.

11.9 million:As of September 28, 11.9 million digital song downloads of Tom Petty's songs have been sold in the United States, according to Nielsen Music. (That total combines his solo efforts and his work with The Heartbreakers.) Petty also sold 1 million digital tracks with the TravelingWilburys and 116,000 with the band Mudcrutch.

22:Tom Petty received 22 entries on the Billboard 200 albums chart, 12 of which reached the top 10 on the chart. While most of his albums were with The Heartbreakers, Petty recorded three entries: 1989full moon fever(Lace #3), 1994wild flowers(No. 8) and 2006road companion(No. 4), as a solo act. Petty also scored three more chart albums with Wilbury's (two of which reached the top 10) and two more with Mudcrutch (both of which reached the top 10).

1:Perhaps surprisingly, Petty topped the Billboard 200 only once with his final full-length set.hypnotic eyedated in 2014. The album spent a week at the top of the charts16.8based on 131,000 equivalent album units earned in first week.

3:Since launching the Top Rock Albums chart in 2006, Petty has won three No. 1 titles:road companionin 2006,Mojoin 2010 andhypnotic eyein 2014. Each album spent a week at the top of the charts.

31.5 million:Equivalent album units certified by the Recording Industry Association of America. 15 of Petty's albums have been certified Gold by the RIAA. Of those gold sets, eight went platinum and one went platinumGreatest HitsAlbum with The Heartbreakers – was certified Diamond.

20.3 million:Overall, Tom Petty's albums, both solo and with The Heartbreakers, have sold 20.2 million copies in the US as of September 28, according to Nielsen Music since the company began tracking sales in 1991. The Nielsen-era,wild flowers, sold 3.2 million copies. It's also worth noting that Petty sold 1.2 million copies as a member of TravelingWilburys and 250,000 as a member of Mudcrutch.

$60.000.000:The total gross for Petty's 40th anniversary tour, which concluded last week and ran from April through September. Tour attendance exceeded 600,000.