What is the best-selling Tom Petty album?
Most of the biggest artists in the world have gone beyond caring about record sales. It might be nice knowing that a lot of the fans like whatever new stuff you have in the pipeline, but there are just as many times when artists start writing for themselves rather than care about whatever some rock and roll purist wants to hear out of them. Even though Tom Petty made a living out of following his heart, some of the best moments of his career came from him having to shovel through industry bullshit.
Whereas any artist would be lucky to be working in the industry like Petty was in his prime, most industry veterans probably saw him as a thorn in their side. The mentality of any industry suit is to treat their talent like a piece of raw meat for the masses, and Petty was not the kind of person that was going to roll over and accept it when he was told he was getting screwed over.
He had already gone to war with his label to get the copyrights to his songs back, and even when he had time to work on his own outside the Heartbreakers, his label rejected it because they figured ‘Free Fallin’ and ‘I Won’t Back Down’ didn’t have the potential to be a hit. It’s easy to chalk this up to suits that wouldn’t know good music if it hit them upside their head, but their choice to follow the bottom line did have its perks in some cases.
After all, giving Petty time off to work on Southern Accents led to one of the most chaotic albums of his career, but when listening to a record like Let Me Up (I’ve Had Enough), it’s hard not to hear Petty getting even more frustrated. So when he finally got the opportunity to leave MCA in the past, his form of compromise ended up earning him the biggest platinum plaque of his career.
So, what is the best-selling Tom Petty album?
While most of Petty’s best works ranged from good to great saleswise, the thought of doing a greatest hits album never appealed to him. Eagles already had touchy feelings about their best singles being released on a compilation rather than being a part of the albums, but when that one became the best-selling album of the 20th century, chances are Petty’s ears perked up a little bit.
Even though he walked his way through making two songs for the record, no one expected ‘Mary Jane’s Last Dance’ to become one of his greatest hits, practically writing one of his greatest tracks without even realising it. Despite Petty treating the whole thing like a work job, Greatest Hits does hold a fair bit of significance in the story of the Heartbreakers.
Aside from blowing every one of their studio albums out of the water with over 12 million copies sold, it also marked the last time that Stan Lynch performed with the group before leaving to work on his own music. Even though the Heartbreakers were all set to work on Wildflowers around that same time, Lynch’s good-time spirit no longer being there feels like a distinct turning point in the band’s career, as if each of them had finally left their juvenile rock and roll chops behind.
Still, Petty never seemed satisfied with Greatest Hits, eventually putting out records like Anthology: Through The Years to show a sample of the best work he would have wanted to hear. While his first best-of collection might do a better job at compiling all the best songs that made it to radio, any record that tries to encapsulate every classic Heartbreakers song and somehow doesn’t include tunes like ‘Southern Accents’ is committing a musical crime.
