Classic Rock artists that started about half-a-century ago are still selling albums and getting a lot of streams. Billboard released their end-of-the-year charts for 2025, and the album that topped the Catalog Chart (for albums older than 18 months) was no surprise…Rumours by Fleetwood Mac.
On the overall Top 200 album chart it was at #25 for the year. The album has consistently been among the top albums in recent years, often breaking into the yearly Top 10 for vinyl sales.
Other Classic Rock albums in the Top 100 include Elton John’s Diamonds collection at #35, the always-selling Creedence Clearwater Revival hits album Chronicle is #58, Queen’s Greatest Hits is #64, Journey’s Greatest Hits is #75, and Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ Greatest Hits is #97.
The Classic Rock albums that made the second half of the Top 200 include Lynyrd Skynyrd’s All Time Greatest Hits at #129, Fleetwood Mac’s Greatest Hits #136, Aerosmith’s Greatest Hits #141, Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band’s Greatest Hits #145, and Eagles Greatest Hits #147.
You may have noticed that Rumours is the only one of these albums that’s not a greatest hits collection. It’s just a really strong album with quality tracks that have timeless arrangements and production. The songs are well known, but since most of them weren’t singles they weren’t as overplayed as some hits. The album’s #1 hit, “Dreams” has been a TikTok favorite, and was actually the #62 song for 2025, even though it’s nearly 50 years old…amazing!
One of the big classic releases of 2025 was The Beatles Anthology Collection. It came out too late in the year to be counted for 2025, but the new Anthology 4 was the #6 seller in its first week.
It’s nice to know classic artists are still selling and being streamed. But, it’s a little sad that it appears to be mostly limited to greatest hits collections, instead of their many iconic individual studio albums.