Timeline history of most popular music artists from 1969 to 2019 ranked by yearly certified record sales.
Numbers are worldwide and adjusted to twelve months trailing average.
Recent years data includes digital singles sales as reported by online music retailers and streaming services.
This data aggregates multiple sources and can serve as popularity indicator across different medias such as album sales, radio broadcasting, digital copies sales and online streaming frequency. (Source: Data Is Beautiful)

Ryan Adams with Neal Casal acoustic.
Performing "Two" from St. James Church, Dingle, County Kerry, Ireland, on June 6, 2007

Feb 25th marks the 40th anniversary of the release of Peter's first solo album.

“This record was my first step as a solo artist, the first step away from being a part of a band. I was uncertain of what I could or couldn't do so went with some of Bob Ezrin's choice of musicians (including Tony Levin) and invited Robert Fripp and Larry Fast to cover my more soundscape orientated / European ambitions. Although it was mainly recorded in a snowy couple of weeks in Toronto I remember the sessions as fast, exciting and hot. Many of the backing tracks were put down live, working to the limitations of the 16-track tape machine.

It was a fun, intense and scary session, with a great band - who later came out to tour with me.” Peter Gabriel, February 2017.