Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours is already one of the bestselling and most successful albums of all time. The set was a massive commercial juggernaut when it was first released nearly 50 years ago, and it’s still performing well to this day.
This week, Rumours rises on five Billboard charts. It also finds its way back to another, different tally, meaning the project is up on half a dozen separate rankings. That’s an impressive showing for any title, let alone one that’s almost a half-century old.
Rumours reappears on this week’s Top Streaming Albums chart. The tally ranks the most-streamed full-lengths and EPs in the United States each frame.
Fleetwood Mac’s masterpiece was nowhere to be found on the Top Streaming Albums last week, but now it’s back. The favorite enters the tally at No. 46, which just so happens to be its best showing.
On the Billboard 200, Rumours returns to the top 40 in an impressive surge of consumption. The set moved another 18,144 equivalent units in the U.S. last tracking period, according to Luminate. That sum is up 5% from the frame before.
Looking specifically at pure purchases–in addition to its streaming success–Rumours is still doing very well. The title lifts from No. 30 to No. 25 on the Top Album Sales chart. This past frame, the set sold another 3,618 copies. It also advances on the Vinyl Albums ranking, where it improves from No. 23 to No. 16.
Rumours appears inside the top 10 on two Billboard charts this week, and it sits higher this frame than it did last turn. Fleetwood Mac’s bestseller is up to No. 7 on the Top Rock & Alternative Albums tally and No. 6 on the Top Rock Albums list.
Our story begins in the late 1970s in Maryland, USA. Fleetwood Mac’s Stevie Nicks and Lindsay Buckingham are hurtling down the freeway, as they often did in those early days; a band used to constant touring. Nicks’ eyes drift up. She sees a sign – literally. It reads “Silver Spring”, the name of a nearby “edge city” in Montgomery County, near Washington. Now, the phrase won’t stop swimming around her mind: Silver Spring, Silver Spring, Silver Spring. “Silver Springs [sic] sounded like a pretty fabulous place to me,” she’d say in 1998, two decades after that drive. “‘You could be my silver springs…’ that's just a whole symbolic thing of what you could have been to me.”
The words became Fleetwood Mac’s “Silver Springs”, a break-up song written by Nicks about the end of a passionate, often tumultuous, on-off relationship with guitarist and singer Buckingham that had began back in high school. It was intended to appear on Rumours, their seminal 1977 album. But the band vetoed it for being too long. “I was so genuinely devastated… because I loved the song and it was one of the Rumours songs,” Nicks told MTV in 1997. “So I never thought that ‘Silver Springs’ would ever be heard of again. My beautiful song just disappeared.”
But it didn’t disappear. Not in the way she thought it might. In 1997, the band performed the song at Warner Bros studio during The Dance tour and it very quickly became a sensation, winning a Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance in the process. And that image, at the song's climactic end point – of Nicks singing the words at Buckingham, her eyes burning into his soul, as if casting a spell, 20 years after writing the lyrics and still meaning them – has become the stuff of legend: “I'll follow you down til' the sound of my voice will haunt you / You'll never get away from the sound of the woman that loves you.”
“Silver Springs” was big in the ‘90s. But in more recent years, the song has gained a surprising amount of renewed traction – particularly among Gen Z, who's parents might not have even been alive when it was written. On YouTube, the performance has a vast 25 million views. And on TikTok, where the collective obsession has reached fever pitch, the search “Silver Springs” has over 100 million views. We're seeing young people lip-syncing the words, mascara running down their cheeks or, as in one clip I saw, kids in class playing the song at their “year 7 exes.” Nicks burning a hole into Buckingham with her words really strikes a chord. As one TikTok user captioned over the clip: “Don't just write a song about your ex, make him play lead guitar and sing it right to his face on stage.”
It's easy to see why it still resonates – it's a captivating, enchanting song that's bolstered by the real-life drama that simmers beneath it. But why now? And why hasn't the hysteria surrounding “Silver Springs” died down? Even I'm guilty of it. It'll pop up on my TikTok and I'll watch it over and over again, on a dopamine loop. It has an addictive quality; the layering of their voices, the pummelling drums, the electric stare-off, how Nicks weaves between vengefulness and vulnerability within the space of a line (“Give me just a chance”). The live version has a particular potency – the recorded “Silver Springs” slaps, but it's not quite the same.
For a lot of people, the “Silver Springs” obsession actually began last year with Daisy Jones & the Six, Amazon's hit show based on the Taylor Jenkins Reid book of the same name which itself was loosely based on Fleetwood Mac. “I remember reading in interviews that Sam Claflin and Riley Keough [who play Daisy and Billie in the show] had been watching ‘Silver Springs’ in preparation, so that got me onto it,” says 19-year-old Eva, who listens to the song when she gets ready for college “at least three times a week.” As she says, “The real thing is even better than the show because it's real, you know?”
This seems to be a running theme. 22-year-old Kai tells me that they wanted to hear the song that “Regret Me” (a song that appears in the show) was based on, which led them to becoming “completely obsessed” with the real thing. Katie, 24, tells me that she didn’t even watch Daisy Jones & The Six, but the song “was all over social media at that time” because of it, which led her down a rabbit hole. “I listened to it so many times that it ended up on my 2023 Spotify Wrapped,” she says. “This was also around the time that my boyfriend and I broke up, so the lyrics held special significance for me.”
Of course the song hits today as much as it always has. But there's something especially 2020s about the romanticisation of drama and pain, the “main character energy” of elevating an on-off relationship to almost mythical status. “Culturally, we’re seeing an obsession with stories about unconventional, years-long relationships (Normal People, Past Lives and One Day),” says Katie. “‘Silver Springs’ has that same theme; Stevie and Lindsay take ‘it’s complicated’ to a whole new level. I think people – especially young people – resonate with this idea of having a relationship like this; a lifelong love. It’s messy, it’s romantic, it’s relatable. I also think there’s something so satisfying about looking your ex in the eye after 20 years and singing your breakup song to them.”
This is also an era in which big, mainstream artists just aren't as open-hearted and unhinged as they used to be. We don't know anything about their private lives beyond what they pretend to let us in on. Even Taylor Swift, a popstar who's forged a billion-dollar empire off writing about her exes, tends to keep her raw emotion behind a shiny, carefully thought-out, manufactured narrative. Harry Styles is one of the biggest artists in the world, yet we know very little about his actual life: his relationships, his hopes, his heartbreaks. There's a truth and authenticity that sits at the heart of “Silver Springs” that might not exist today, at a time when artists don't often allow themselves to step outside of the slick, choreographed version of what a break-up actually feels and looks like (deranged, irrational, messy).
When Nicks wrote “Silver Springs”, who knows whether she really thought that Buckingham would never get away from the sound of the woman that loves him. But it's nearly 50 years later, and the song is still playing, on a loop. Last year, 74-year-old Buckingham posted the “Silver Springs” guitar solo on TikTok alongside the caption: “I hear we're talking about that ‘97 ‘Silver Springs’ again…” “You know damn well that's not the part we mean,” reads the top comment. He's never gotten away. Neither have we.
The Official Top 300 most-streamed songs (in the Uk) from the 70s, 80s and 90s
Greatest Hits Radio has revealed the UK's Official Top 300 most-streamed songs from the 70s, 80s and 90s. Fleetwood Mac have 8 tracks in the tally with two in the top 5.
Songs
#
Title
Artist
Year
3
EVERYWHERE
FLEETWOOD MAC
1987
4
DREAMS
FLEETWOOD MAC
1977
11
THE CHAIN
FLEETWOOD MAC
1977
18
GO YOUR OWN WAY
FLEETWOOD MAC
1976
113
LITTLE LIES
FLEETWOOD MAC
1987
135
LANDSLIDE
FLEETWOOD MAC
1975
138
EDGE OF SEVENTEEN
STEVIE NICKS
1981
250
DON'T STOP
FLEETWOOD MAC
1977
260
RHIANNON
FLEETWOOD MAC
1975
With the first quarter of the year over, The Official Charts in the UK have revealed the biggest albums so far in 2024. "50 Years - Don't Stop" is No.6 and "Rumours" is No.25.
The Top 40 biggest vinyl albums of the year so far.
"Rumours" on vinyl is a constant seller, not surprised to see it place within the top 10. So far this year it's at No.6 on the top 40 best selling vinyl albums in the UK.
Dr. Raven Baxter was 30 years old when she heard Fleetwood Mac for the first time. She says she barely slept for 48 hours afterward.
The molecular biologist, science communicator and podcaster went viral for live tweeting her reactions to Fleetwood Mac's 1977 album "Rumours."
It all began when Baxter took a seat at a bar hotel in Nebraska.
"I was trying to get some work done after I finished the day, and there’s music playing in the background," she tells TODAY.com. "I’m on my second margarita. I’m typing away at my computer, and I’m hearing this (guy) singing his a-- off. I’m like, 'There’s something going on. I gotta like at least look up the song and see who is this person?"
Baxter says this was the first time she actively heard Fleetwood Mac's "Go Your Own Way," a hit led by the band's lead guitarist, Lindsey Buckingham.
To have a better listen, Baxter says she gathered her setup at the bar and went back up to her hotel room.
"I unpacked everything, and I was like, 'OK, we're doing this,'' she explains.
RUMOURS is part of the first wave of releases and comes with Dolby Atmos, DTS HD 5.1, and DTS HD Stereo mixes. Considered by many to be among the greatest albums of all time, winning the Grammy® Award for Album of the Year in 1978. The album includes the band’s first No.1 smash, “Dreams.” RUMOURS has been certified Double Diamond by the RIAA, selling more than 40 million copies worldwide.
Dolby Atmos is revolutionizing audio technology with its immersive, three-dimensional soundscapes. By precisely placing sounds in a space, it creates an unparalleled sense of realism and depth, setting a new standard for audio excellence. Rhino’s Dolby Atmos series will draw upon Warner Music Group’s extensive catalog to create truly extraordinary listening experiences.
Jason Jones, Sr. Rhino Director of A&R, says: “It’s always been crucial for music fans to immerse themselves in what they are listening to. I think of being in my bedroom with my headphones on and being caught up in the swirl of what I was listening to. With the advent of Atmos, I’ve been transported back to that original feeling. They stay true to the original mix’s intention while taking advantage of the full capabilities of the immersive format, with the added bonus of being sourced from the original multi-track master tapes.”
Patrick Milligan, Sr. Director of A&R, stated, “Immersive audio is here to stay, and it's a wonder to hear it on a full surround system. This is our first set of releases of Atmos on Blu-ray, and we're excited that for most of these titles, we are also offering 5.1 Surround Sound mixes. If you've only heard Atmos in your headphones, hearing these releases on a home theater system is dramatic and envelops you gloriously in the music.”
Warner Brothers is releasing limited and exclusive vinyl editions of the three Fleetwood Mac albums in May, June and July.
In case you didn't have enough versions or colored versions of these three legendary Fleetwood Mac's albums... This post is for you.
Urban Outfitters in the US and Canada on May 24, 2024 will release color variations of three Fleetwood Mac albums. Fleetwood Mac and Rumours are both priced at $29.98 with Tusk priced at $46.98. Pre-order at Urban Outfitters
Barnes and Noble in the US will be releasing this colored variation also on May 24th except Rumours, is showing a release date of July 12th (that date could be a typo).
HMV in the UK will release the same colour variation as Barnes & Noble in the US with a release date of June 15, 2024. Fleetwood Mac and Rumours are both priced at £29.99, with Tusk priced at £64.99. Pre-order at HMV
Amazon in the US and Canada will also have exclusives available in 3 different colors. Fleetwood Mac and Rumours are priced at $24.99 while Tusk is priced at $39.98.
Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours is already one of the most successful and beloved albums in U.S. history. If it were to disappear tomorrow, its place in the history books is safe…but Americans aren’t done with the pop-rock set yet. In fact, they’re increasing their consumption of the project, which is hardly fading from popularity, even after decades in the market.
Rumours climbs on three Billboard charts this week. At the same time, it finds its way back to another list, reaching a new high point in the process.
On the Billboard 200, the company’s namesake all-encompassing ranking of the most-consumed albums in the U.S., Rumours jumps from No. 43 to No. 36, returning to the top 40 region once again. The title is, impressively, still climbing, even as it nears 600 weeks on the tally.
In the past tracking period, Rumours moved another 18,445 equivalent units in America, according to Luminate. That’s up a little under 4% from the week prior.
At the same time, Rumours is also lifting on two of Billboard’s rock-only tallies, though its improvement on those lists isn’t quite as notable. On the Top Rock & Alternative Albums chart, Fleetwood Mac’s masterpiece pushes two slots, from No. 9 to No. 7. On the Top Rock Albums roster, it steps up just one space, from No. 7 to No. 6.
Rumours is also back on Billboard’s Top Streaming Albums chart this week. The set returns for only the fifth stint on the ranking of the most-streamed full-lengths in the country. As it reappears, the title hits a new peak of No. 46. That’s not just a new best showing for the album, but also the band.
Fleetwood Mac’s blockbuster full-length only declines on one major Billboard chart. The set falls slightly on the Top Album Sales ranking, slipping from No. 19 to No. 24. Interestingly, while it slides back in terms of position, the project is up more than 3% in sales. Rumours sold 3,521 copies in the past tracking week.
From the information that has been published (10 of 11 shows) for their joint dates, they have done amazing numbers. 10 shows and over 105 million gross. 521 thousand fans.
Fleetwood Mac hasn’t officially broken up, but they’re not really an active band any longer. The pop-rock outfit has not worked together in some time, and following the death of Christine McVie, it seems there are no plans to produce any new music or tour again. While some kind of end may have come for the group, they are still reaching new highs on the Billboard charts with music they made decades ago.
This week, Fleetwood Mac rises to a new peak on a ranking they’re still relatively new to. The band’s Rumours returns to the Top Streaming Albums chart this frame, finding its way back to the ranking of the most-streamed full-lengths in the U.S.
Rumours lands at No. 46 on the Top Streaming Albums chart this week. That’s not a very lofty placement on the 50-spot tally, but it’s the best that Fleetwood Mac has ever managed.
So far, Rumours is the only Fleetwood Mac release to make it to the Top Streaming Albums chart. It has thus far spent five nonconsecutive frames somewhere on the list, and it’s climbing–very slowly, but steadily.
It’s not surprising that Fleetwood Mac–or any band from decades past era–may only be getting started on the Top Streaming Albums chart. The ranking was introduced by Billboard in the past few months, and it’s almost always dominated by current pop stars, rappers, country acts, and rock bands. Newer names usually rule streaming platforms, so it isn’t odd that the list is filled with more contemporary releases, instead of older favorites.
Rumours is on the rise on a number of Billboard charts this week. As it hits a new high on the Top Streaming Albums tally, it also lifts on the Billboard 200, which ranks the most consumed titles across all metrics and genres. This week, it jumps from No. 36 from No. 43 as total consumption of the effort increases by a little more than 3%, according to Luminate.
Fleetwood Mac released Rumours in 1977 to critical and commercial acclaim. The set became the biggest album for the band, and in the decades since it dropped, it’s also been recognized as one of the bestselling and most respected full-lengths in history. The title produced many hits that are still loved to this day, and it won the group the Album of the Year Grammy.
Fans looking to see Stevie Nicks at her huge Co-op Live gig later this year have slammed the ‘too expensive’ prices for tickets during the event’s presale.
Announced earlier this week, the Fleetwood Mac singer will perform at Manchester’s newest music venue on July 9 as part of her first series of shows in the UK and Ireland for seven years. The gig will coincide with shows in Dublin on July 3 and Glasgow on July 6 as well as a headliner slot at BST Hyde Park on July 12
Tickets for the Manchester show are set to go on general sale from 12pm on Friday (March 22) but Co-op members and select fans have been able to sign up for presale tickets since Wednesday.
The pre-sale opportunity has seen some fans criticise the pricing of seats for the show - with tickets for far back areas of the arena, like sections 316 and 317, going for £132.50 each. Tickets a little closer to the stage, in sections including 104 and 112, are priced at £233.50 each.
It’s meant that some fans have said they feel priced out of going to the show. One posted on social media: “wanted to go see stevie nicks but it's too expensive :(“. Another wrote: “Well this was short lived. It would seem I need to be Stevie Nicks to afford Stevie Nicks tickets.”
Another asked: “why does stevie nicks want me to sell my kidney for her concert”. One other person said: “Love you to bits @StevieNicks but your prices are ridiculous!”. Another said: “Why are @stevienicks concerts so expensive! Loved Stevie since 1977 but this makes me sad !! People paying £140 + for rubbish seats - really?”
Members of tribute band Fleetwood Mad also decided to get into the fun of the online reaction by jokingly suggesting they could perform at a Co-op store for a fraction of the cost. Drummer 'Rocksteddie Ed’ posted: “Come and see Fleetwood Mad instead....we will play the Co-Op for far less!”
During the pre-sale this week, there were still some fans who were keen to pay no matter the cost to see their idol Stevie for the first time in years. One wrote: “Ticketmaster kept kicking me out of the queue (on both devices) but managed to get a ticket for Stevie Nicks. Insane prices - as well as 5 years of my life - but worth it.”
Sharing a screenshot of tickets booked for Co-Op Live, another said: “Beyond excited! Been waiting for this for years @StevieNicks.” Another wrote: “Stevie Nicks, you'd better be good after the amount I've just spent on you!!!”
But it’s not just tickets for Stevie Nicks that has opened up a wider discussion amongst fans about the rising cost of attending large-scale concerts. The likes of Eric Clapton and The Eagles have charged up to £300 for tickets to recent shows, whilst Taylor Swift’s shows in Liverpool later this year saw VIP experiences cost as much as £662.40 each.
Tickets for Stevie Nicks at Co-Op Live on July 9 will go on sale at 12pm on Friday
Stevie Nicks has extended her 2024 summer tour to include shows in the UK and Ireland. The announcement comes following news of her upcoming performance in London for the BST Hyde Park series later this summer.
The additional shows begin with a performance in Ireland, where Nicks will headline at Dublin's 3Arena on July 3, followed by a show at Glasgow's OVO Hydro Arena on July 6.
Afterward, she will perform at Manchester's new Co-op Live arena on July 9, just days before her highly anticipated London performance.
Following the UK and Ireland leg, Nicks will continue her tour with dates in Europe, including performances in Antwerp on July 16 and Amsterdam on July 19.
Tickets for these shows will be available for purchase starting this Friday, March 22, at noon. Fans can also access pre-sale options starting Wednesday, March 20, at the same time.
Fleetwood Mac’s heyday was long before the streaming era. Unlike many of their peers, the pop-rock band has been able to somehow find an audience with younger listeners, who make up a large share of users on streaming platforms. Their albums and singles continuously rack up millions upon millions of plays–and their catalog is still selling, as well.
The beloved band’s single “Dreams” stands out as one of their biggest hits. It was a commercial win when it was first released decades ago, and in the past few years, it’s become a success on streaming sites. This week, the tune is back on one specific chart, as Americans are still eager to press play on the cut, even after so many years.
“Dreams” reappears on this week’s Streaming Songs chart. The Billboard ranking tracks the most-played tunes on platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, and many others. It is genre-agnostic, which makes it very competitive. The list usually favors younger, more current acts–but Fleetwood Mac has bucked that trend.
On the latest version of the Streaming Songs chart, “Dreams” returns at No. 49. That’s a fairly low position on the 50-spot tally, but the fact that it’s found space on the ranking at all is impressive.
Even more impressive is the history of “Dreams” on the Streaming Songs chart. The tune once peaked at No. 6 on the tally, becoming not only Fleetwood Mac’s biggest hit on the ranking, but perhaps one of the oldest top 10s on the streaming-only roster. The cut reached an entirely new audience several years ago after going viral on TikTok, propelling the band to new heights on several streaming-focused lists.
As “Dreams” finds its way back to the Streaming Songs chart, it’s also on the rise on another, related list. The tune is up one slot to No. 7 on the current edition of the Rock Streaming Songs chart. As its name suggests, that tally only looks at the most-played titles in the country labeled as rock. In the past, it has conquered that roster.
“Dreams” remains Fleetwood Mac’s only No. 1 hit on the Hot 100, so it’s not surprising that it has managed to stand out for years among a bevy of smashes the group released. The tune gave the band their only placement on the Streaming Songs chart and their only leader on the Rock Streaming Songs ranking. On the latter list, it’s one of their three tunes to find space, as “The Chain” peaked at No. 5 and “Landslide” rose as high as No. 14.
Fleetwood Mac On The Charts
Here's a look at how Rumour and other Fleetwood Mac albums are doing on the charts around the world this week (March 15, 2024).
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