Grateful Dead Topped Album Sales Chart And Broke Elvis Record (2024 In Review)

12-03-2024

The Grateful Dead not only earned a top 24 story of February 2024 but also made history when they claimed the No. 1 spot on Billboard Album Sales chart early in the month and also broke the record for the most top 40 charting albums on the Billboard 200 since its inception almost 68-years ago.

The band's limited-edition release, Dave's Picks, Volume 49, from their archival release series that is named after the band's archivist David Lemieux, had 21,000 equivalent album units sales in the U.S. that week.

That not only gave the band their very first No. 1 on the Billboard Album Sales Chart (which began in 1991), but also debuted at No. 25 on the Billboard 200 chart, giving the legendary band their 59th showing on that chart.

With the No. 25 debut, the Grateful also broke the record for the most Top 40 charting albums in Billboard 200 history, breaking the 58 album record that was previously held by Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra.

Here is an excerpt from the album's synopsis: DAVE'S PICKS 49 features two complete Grateful Dead shows from the Frost Amphitheatre, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA 4/27/85 and 4/28/85. The first shows from '85 in the series, these back-to-back hometown performances couldn't be more different while delivering the same level of passion and precision, five hours of it, in fact.

In 1985, the band were celebrating "20 Years So Far," a feat that found them on these particular nights confident with invention in terms of both setlists and playing. There are old songs renewed, rare covers revived, undeniably nuanced Jerry moments, and a few surprises from Brent Mydland too. While it's impossible to select highlights, we can say with certainty that the overall clarity of these shows is unparalleled, courtesy of Dan Healy's recordings.

Limited to 25,000 numbered copies, DAVE'S PICKS VOLUME 49: FROST AMPHITHEATRE, STANFORD U, PALO ALTO, CA 4/27/85 & 4/28/85 has been mastered to HDCD specs by Jeffrey Norman at Mockingbird Mastering. It has sold out.