On This Date - Van Halen on the Charts

[Olen]

Because of my inner-geek interest in chart performance of albums and singles/songs, I thought I would try a new theme in posting about Van Halen - and hopefully some of those similarly-minded chart geeks will find this interesting as well.

For the Billboard publishing date of Sept. 15, 1979 . . .

• the band's second LP - Van Halen II - rises to #48 (from #50) in its 23rd week on the Top (200) LPs & Tape Album chart
  
  • VH II had peaked at #6
  • VH II carried the designation of RIAA certified Platinum for 1 million+ units sold
  • (note the black triangle)
  • VH II would later be recognized as 5x Platinum in 2004 - with Soundscan estimating aggregate sales approximating 5.7 million in 2004
  • an individual could own a VH II LP, cassette, or 8-track for the sum of $7.98
  • Billboard competitor Cash Box lists VH II at #34 (down from #31) in its 23rd week on its "Top 100 Albums" chart - Cash Box also lists the band's debut album (Van Halen) at #63 (up from #64) in its 82nd week on the album chart

VH II Top 200 Sept 15 1979.jpeg

• the second (and last) single from the band's second album (Van Halen II) - Beautiful Girls - enters the Billboard's Hot 100 Singles Chart at #89
  
  • the official single was a two-sided single - A: Beautiful Girls; B: DOA
  • Beautiful Girls is the last song on side 2 of the album - therefore, making it the last song of the album - an unusual placement for a single (OTOH: the song Purple Rain was the last song on the eponymous album and managed to peak at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100)
  • Beautiful Girls single is a radio edit of 3:37 (down about 20 seconds from the LP cut)
  • One month earlier, Billboard competitor Cash Box identified Beautiful Girls as one of several "Singles to Watch", stating: "An AOR staple since Van Halen II was first released, [Beautiful Girls] has an air of summer fun that will appeal to Top 40 audiences. David Lee Roth belts out the lead vocal with a sense of good humor rarely seen in heavy metal."
  • on Cash Box, Beautiful Girls was #80 and seemingly stalled after 3 weeks on the "Cash Box Top 100 Singles" chart

Attachment 6916

For the Billboard publishing date of Sept. 15, 1984 . . .

• the band's sixth studio album with DLR - 1984 - drops to #17 on the Top (200) LPs & Tape chart in its 34th week
• 1984 is #29 in its 38th week on Cash Box's Top 100 Albums chart
• 1984 is certified Platinum at this point of its life cycle
• Van Halen had re-entered the Top LPs & Tape chart and was #127 in its 158th week on the chart since debuting in 1978

VH 1984 Top 200 Sept 15, 1984.jpeg

• the band's third single - Panama - was sliding down the Hot 100 Singles chart after peaking at #13 earlier in the summer
• Panama landed at #69 in its 13th week on the Hot 100
• Panama was #57 on Cash Box in its 13th week

VH Panama Top 100 Sept 15 1984.jpeg

[Olen]

Rather than starting individual threads for each date, unless otherwise directed to do so, I will mark each date as a response here.

For the Billboard publishing date of Sept. 16, 1978 . . .

• the band's debut LP - Van Halen - rises to #51 (from #53) in its 28th week on the Top (200) LPs & Tape Album chart
• Van Halen had peaked at #19
• Van Halen carried the designation of RIAA certified Gold for 500k+ units sold
• Van Halen would later be recognized as 10x Platinum in 1999

For the Cash Box publishing date of Sept. 16, 1978 . .

• Van Halen checks-in at #53 (up from #56) in its 30th week on its "Top 100 Albums" chart
• the single Jamie's Cryin' is identified in the "Jukebox Programmer" as #6 for new pop singles (along side now classic rock staples - Who Are You (The Who), Don't Look Back (Boston), and Best of Burden (The Rolling Stones)).

[Olen]

On this date - Sept. 17th - in 1989 . . .

Billboard magazine reports on Van Halen:

• the band's 8th studio album (and 2nd studio album with Sammy Hagar) - OU812 - is firmly ensconced at #7 for the third consecutive week on the "Top 200 Album" chart and has earned double-platinum status in only 14 weeks in release
• OU812 is also #14 on the Top Compact Disk Pop Chart
• soon-to-be third single - Finish What Ya Started - is descending the Album Cut song chart in its 14th week and landing at #6 (down from #3 and its peak #2 position two weeks earlier); current single - When It's Love - is in its final week on the Album Cut song chart, falling to #50 from #42 in its 16th week on the chart
• powerhouse second single - When It's Love - falls from its peak #5 to #6 in its 12th week on the Hot 100 singles chart DESPITE:
  
  • WIL holding the #1 position at Pittsburgh's B-94 FM, the #2 position at Detroit's Z-95.5 FM and Cleveland's 100.7 MMS, the #3 position at Miam's 100.7 FM, and the #5 position at Philadelphia's Eagle 106 FM
  • WIL rising from #8 to #7 in sales and from #5 to #4 in airplay (Bobby McFerrin's Don't Worry Be Happy @ #4 and Taylor Dayne's I'll Always Love you @#5 gaining more to push WIL down from #5 to #6)

Billboard also has a report and photograph of EVH, Brian Setzer, and Richie Sambora from the Les Paul celebration.

[Olen]

On this date - Sept. 18, 1982 . . .

Billboard magazine reports that:

• Diver Down holds at #79 (for the second week) in its 20th week on the Top LPs & Tapes chart, with DD holding a platinum designation
• in support of DD, Van Halen scored four of the top 40 box office receipts for live concerts, including:
• selling out the Seattle Center Coliseum ($11/tix)
• selling out the Pacific National Exhibition Coliseum in Vancouver ($13.50/tix)
• selling out the Portland Coliseum ($12.50/tix)
• selling out Selland Arena - Fresno, CA ($10.75/tix)
• Women and Children First enters the Midline (discount) LP/Tape chart at #23 ($5.98 retail)

Also, Billboard includes an ad for Musician magazine featuring EVH on the cover with Frankie.


Cash Box magazine reports that Diver Down falls to #43 (from #38) in its 20th week on its Top 200 Albums chart.

[Olen]

On this date - Sept. 19, 1981 . . .

Billboard magazine reports that:

• Van Halen's recent LP - Fair Warning - falls to #91 (from #72) in its 17th week on the Top 200 LPs & Tapes chart
• FW also falls to #41 (from #33) in its 18th week on the Top Rock Albums chart
• Van Halen enjoyed three of the top 11 box office hauls that week, with stops in Memphis, Birmingham, and Jackson, Mississippi

Cash Box magazine reports that . . . FW falls to #72 (from #63) in its 17th week on CB's Top Albums chart

[Dave's Dreidel]

Did a quick number check, they grossed $108,919 for their stop in Fresno in 1982, not counting merchandise.

[Olen]

Timed-out on editing the previous post, so . . .

On this date - Sept. 19, 1992 . . .

Billboard magazine reports that:

For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge falls to #177 (from #166) in its 64th week on the Top 200 Albums chart

• Right Now ranks #9 (in its 13th week) on the Album Rock Recurrent chart
• Top of the World ranks #10 (in its 12th week)
• both RN and TotW enjoyed LONG runs on the Album Rock Track chart
• short blurb about Van Halen's Right Now winning "Best Video" at the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards

Cash Box reports that . .. F#CK falls to #173 (from #165) in its 64th week on the CB's Top Albums Chart.

[Dave's Dreidel]

Can still remember Sam ranting about how much he hated the Right Now video during a breakdown of Panama when I say VH.

To be fair, DLR fired the Jump video director.