Taylor vs Garth - bigger (US)?

[Klein]

Just now, dejmieeen said:

You write this, because you a fan of White mediocrity, but think twice - you could buy CD then and now both, and did you have social media in 90s? 

Oh I see you actually didn't want to actually have a discussion. You are just bitter for some reason. 

 

You can still buy a CD now, but why do you think pure sales are almost extinct? 

 

And maybe learn to read cause I mentioned that social media should be irrelevant in this discussion. 

[Orsay]

Based on the numbers I'm gonna have to say Garth!

[Cheers]

U hoes can't even hum a Garth Brooks song but want to vote for him! Insane!!!

[Cruel Summer]

Taylor.

 

She has more hit singles, obviously, though this is in part a consequence of Garth apparently not releasing CD singles - it seems his label saw fit to focus on country radio promotion, and Billboard still had archaic rules about what was allowed to chart on the Hot 100 at the time. Still, it probably helped drive his album sales since there was no other way to buy his music at the time. If you wanted to hear that Garth Brooks song you liked from the radio that morning, you'd have to go buy the album - so we can't assume that he simply would have had hit singles and still sold as many albums had that strategy not been in place. Taylor doesn't have to worry about that - in part because of changing times, but in part because of cross-format appeal.

 

Taylor also has the benefit of peaking as the touring market surges - the Eras tour will very easily be the biggest concert tour of all time in the US once it wraps, and the current record-holder is her own Reputation tour. Garth's late 90's tour was massive, and had record attendance numbers, but he was actually never really a prolific touring artist until recently with his 2014 and 2019 tours, and in that time frame Taylor has been comfortably ahead overall.

 

Even in terms of albums, though, its clear Taylor wins once you look past questionable RIAA certifications. Her consistent success has now lasted 17 years and she is, against all odds, at a higher peak than ever; Garth indisputably peaked with his second album, just a year after his first. By ten years in, he pulled the Chris Gaines thing and his career never really fully recovered, though his next new studio record under his own name did make it to 5x Platinum (but only 3.2 million actual units sold). Because Taylor has kept up her momentum far better, and because she now regularly charts 9 or 10 albums per week, it's clear she's pulled ahead significantly. He has the benefit of thriving during the peak of American record sales, but she'll surpass him in units moved soon enough, and is already ahead in chart points. I think people see the big numbers next to Garth's albums and allow themselves to be more impressed than reality warrants - the above posts get into that a little more. But at the end of the day, even the raw numbers devoid of context will shake out in Taylor's favor.

 

I would even go so far as to say that at the very end, once her career is over, which may well be fifty years from now, she'll be ahead of artists like Garth even if we only count her country material, and will be recognized as the biggest country artist in American history aside from likely ending up the biggest recording artist (at least commercially). She'll inevitably return to country in some form someday, even if only temporarily once in a while, and by the end of the rerecording process will have created eight huge country records (two versions each of her first four albums). Even Evermore has enough country influences to include it in conversation.

[Jjang]

4 minutes ago, Cheers said:

U hoes can't even hum a Garth Brooks song but want to vote for him! Insane!!!

Well according to the swifties personal feelings don't matter and it's all 100% purely and merely about sales. No one sold more albums in the US. And even his 2022 tour was mega successful too. So what's the truth?

[waylon4ever]

Unless you were there when Garth Brooks toured and dominated radio you have no room to speculate his true dominance. He was one of the first country performers to fly out into the crowd and not just stand in front of the mic. 
 

In 1997 he put on a live show in Central Park drawing an estimated one million fans!   
Garth: Live from Central Park was a concert held by American country pop musician Garth Brooks on August 7, 1997 at Central Park in New York City. Dubbed "Garthstock" (paying homage to Woodstock), the concert was free of charge and became the largest concert ever held in the park, with an estimated audience of over 1,000,000. It was filmed and broadcast live on HBO, as well as later included in Brooks' The Entertainer DVD collection, released in 2006

[dejmieeen]

10 minutes ago, Klein said:

Oh I see you actually didn't want to actually have a discussion. You are just bitter for some reason. 

 

You can still buy a CD now, but why do you think pure sales are almost extinct? 

 

And maybe learn to read cause I mentioned that social media should be irrelevant in this discussion. 

Thank you for bolding facts, first of all.

 

yeah, but there was also streaming mentioned, and It’s the same situation. Was streaming in 90s? It’s obvious that Taylor wins this, because nowadays 90s isn’t as popular that much, nowhere to be found on charts, Just modern hits. And who knows What it would look like if there was YouTube or spotify during this guy peak? Then we could compare them. 

[Taylena]

Are you telling me this man sold 100M albums and he's still completely irrelevant and unknown outside the US? 

[Taylena]

1 hour ago, byzantium said:

Their touring power is about even.

No. 

His tour grossed $360M from 390 shows.  The Eras will gross $600M+ from only 52 shows in NA.

[Avenger]

Brooks is bigger. 

[chiliam]

He might have better album sales. But he never cross over the country scene. Not even a crossover hit. The GP cannot even name 1 of his song .

[skyandground]

11 hours ago, Jjang said:

The biggest male & female artists ever in the US.

Barbra is still the biggest female artist in the US at this point.

Getting #1 albums in her 70s… Will Taylor have this kind of longevity?

[Blue Rose]

4 hours ago, chiliam said:

He might have better album sales. But he never cross over the country scene. Not even a crossover hit. The GP cannot even name 1 of his song .

This is just not true

who do you think is buying his music and tickets despite a glaring lack of social media presence? 

[littlebodybigheart]

garth brooks if you base it on raw numbers. but taylor takes it if you consider a lot of the things taylor has accomplished, garth could only dream of.