AC/DC storms the digital charts this week in the wake of the band's belated decision to join the digital revolution. Thirteen songs by the Aussie hard rock band enter the 200-deep Hot Digital Songs chart. (In addition, nine sold enough copies to make the Hot Digital Rock Songs chart but not the all-genre survey.) Nine of the band's albums enter the 200-deep Top Digital Albums chart.
The results confirm what most of us already knew. The band's most popular album is 1980's Back In Black, which was the band's first album with new lead singer Brian Johnson. (He replaced "Bon" Scott, who died of alcohol abuse on Feb. 19, 1980.) Back In Black was AC/DC's first album to reach the top 10 on The Billboard 200. It spawned the band's first two top 40 hits on the Hot 100: "You Shook Me All Night Long" and "Back In Black." The album was voted into the Grammy Hall of Fame this year, a rarity for a hard rock album.
Back In Black sold 15K digital copies this week. Six songs from the album made one or both of the aforementioned digital charts: "Back In Black" (68K), "You Shook Me All Night Long" (64K), "Hells Bells" (39K), "Shoot To Thrill" (28K), "Rock And Roll Ain't Noise Pollution" (9K) and "Have A Drink On Me" (8K).
Still, many fans favor the band's early work, when Scott was still out front. Eleven of the 22 songs that made one or both of the digital charts this week feature Scott. (The other 11 feature Johnson.)
1979's Highway To Hell was AC/DC's last album with Scott (not counting from-the-vaults releases). It was the band's first album to crack the top half of The Billboard 200 (it wound up reaching #17). It also spawned the band's first Hot 100 single, "Highway To Hell." Highway To Hell sold 5K digital copies this week. Three songs from the album made one or both of the aforementioned digital charts: "Highway To Hell" (50K), "Girls Got Rhythm" (9K) and "If You Want Blood (You've Got It)" (6K).
Here's the other Scott material that was most downloaded this week. From the 1975-1976 sessions that became the album '74 Jailbreak: "Jailbreak" (7K). From 1976's Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap: "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap" (37K), "Big Balls" (12K) and "Ride On" (5K). From 1976's High Voltage: "T.N.T." (40K) and "It's A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock 'N' Roll)" (26K). From 1977's Let There Be Rock: "Whole Lotta Rosie" (10K) and "Let There Be Rock" (1977).
Five songs featuring Johnson on lead vocals (in addition to those from Back In Black) made one or both of the digital charts this week. From 1981's For Those About To Rock We Salute You: "For Those About To Rock We Salute You" (31K). From 1986's Who Made Who: "Who Made Who" (20K). From 1990's The Razors Edge: "Thunderstruck" (85K) and "Moneytalks" (19K). From 2008's Black Ice: "Rock N Roll Train" (6K).
("Moneytalks" reached #23 on the Hot 100 in February 1991, making it the band's highest-charting hit to date. Brothers Angus and Malcolm Young, who co-founded the band, wrote the song.)
AC/DC sold 67K albums this week, the vast majority of them digitally. The band's other most popular digital albums, after Back In Black and Highway To Hell, were the new Live At River Plate (4K), High Voltage (first released in 1976, 3K), Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (first released in 1976, 2K), Live (1992, 2K), Iron Man 2 (2010, 2K), Let There Be Rock (1977, 2K) and The Razor's Edge (1990, 2K).