Take Me Back: Live From the Gorge becomes one of only a handful of titles by the Dave Matthews Band to miss the top 10 on Billboard’s Vinyl Albums chart. NEW YORK, NEW YORK – NOVEMBER 17: Dave Matthews performs with Dave Matthews Band at Madison Square Garden on November 17, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Astrida Valigorsky/WireImage)
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The Dave Matthews Band remains incredibly popular across the United States, even if the jam rockers aren’t in the spotlight in the same way that they once were. The group has ranked as a consistent seller for decades, though slight cracks in the foundation of its following have been showing for some time.
In 2023, the Dave Matthews Band returned with Walk Around the Moon, its tenth studio album. The project peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard 200, becoming the group’s first set to miss out on No. 1 since 1996, and its lowest-peaking effort since several years before that.
The Dave Matthews-led troupe is back on the Billboard charts, not with a studio release, but with one more live collection. This latest effort – one in a long series of live projects, which have become the kind of drops Dave Matthews followers look forward to – debuts on multiple tallies, and it nearly nets the act another top 10.
Dave Matthews Band Debuts Take Me Back as a Bestseller
On the Vinyl Albums chart, Take Me Back: Live From the Gorge misses out on the highest tier by only a few spaces. The live collection arrives at No. 12.
Dave Matthews Band Rarely Misses the Top 10
A pair of debuts and two comebacks sit higher than Take Me Back: Live From the Gorge, and had the live project been released during another frame, there’s a good chance it would have begun its time on the Vinyl Albums chart within the top 10. U.K.-based singer-songwriter Maisie Peters launches her latest, Florescence, at No. 7, while Bleachers, the alternative pop group fronted by super producer Jack Antonoff, debuts Everyone for Ten Minutes at No. 8.
J. Cole nearly returns to the summit with The Fall Off, which opened at No. 1 and then, appropriately, fell off the Vinyl Albums tally. Now, it returns at No. 2, coming in behind only Michael Jackson’s Thriller. The KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack also bounces back onto the list at No. 10.
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – SEPTEMBER 22: (FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY) J. Cole performs onstage during the 2023 iHeartRadio Music Festival at T-Mobile Arena on September 22, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Denise Truscello/Getty Images for iHeartRadio)
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Dave Matthews Band Usually Hits the Highest Tier
When it comes to the Vinyl Albums chart, the Dave Matthews Band rarely misses the uppermost tier. The group (and its lead singer) claim 16 wins on the format-specific ranking, and all but three – now including Take Me Back: Live From the Gorge – have entered the top 10.
Of the three sets that didn’t spend time between Nos. 1 and 10, the band’s latest is the highest-rising. Listener Supported launched at No. 21 in November 2024, and in the prior decade, another show taped at a concert, Live at Luther College – which is officially credited only to Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds as soloists, not the full band – spent one week at No. 25.
Take Me Back Starts at No. 14 on the Sales List
Take Me Back: Live From the Gorge nearly starts in the same spot on the Top Album Sales chart as on the Vinyl Albums tally, but it doesn’t quite manage that exact showing. The newest Dave Matthews Band release opens at No. 14 on Billboard‘s ranking of the top-selling releases of any genre and via any format, including digital downloads. Throughout the country, according to Luminate, the live set starts with just under 5,400 purchases.
Dave Matthews Band Earns Another Bestseller
The Dave Matthews Band has scored twice as many bestsellers on the Top Album Sales chart when compared to the Vinyl Albums tally. The group has seen 33 releases appear on the roster at least once, and only about half have reached the top 10, so this week’s No. 14 debut is not as surprising as the near-miss on the vinyl roster. Take Me Back: Live From the Gorge matches the No. 14 high that another live collection, The Central Park Concert, managed more than 20 years ago.
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