Of all the artists in the last fifty years, there are very few that can almost guarantee a top ten album debut even 30-plus years after their demise.
Led Zeppelin is one of them and it looks like they will keep that record going when the new Album chart is published by Billboard this Thursday. Their new live album, Celebration Day, from the 2007 02 London reunion, sold a projected 98,000 copies last week according to industry site Hits Daily Double, good enough to bring it in at 9 or 10.
Zeppelin's first album peaked at number 10 back in 1969, with six out of their next seven albums going to number 1. Their biggest selling album, Led Zeppelin IV, peaked at number 2 while their final album, Coda, stopped at 6.
Among live albums, The Song Remains the Same went to number 2 and How the West Was Won to the top. Only BBC Sessions failed to make the top ten among all of their albums of original material, studio or live, peaking at number 12.
Overall, though, the band will not have the top selling album by a veteran artist for the week. That title will go to Rod Stewart for the fourth week in a row with Merry Christmas, Baby. That album moved about 115,000 copies, up 37% from the previous week, to put it at 5 or 6.
AC/DC's new one, Live at River Plate, only sold around 18,000 and is on the cusp of the top 50.
An hour-long version is to be shown on BBC2 on 8th December at 10:45pm.
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