In a recent post I took a look at Rod Stewart and Bruce Springsteen as part of my countdown of the records in my collection.
It was left knotted up at three each when I judged the two in six categories. It turned out like this (link above explains reasons behind the picks):
Best Song — Rod Stewart
Best Album — Bruce Springsteen
Best Live –Bruce Springsteen
Most diverse body of work — Rod Stewart
Best Voice — Rod Stewart
Best Lyrics — Bruce Springsteen.
And the winner is: Bruce Springsteen with 135 million records sold. Rod has sales of 120 million. (There are discrepancies and wide variations in reporting the sales figures. Explanation in note and links at end of article).
This has translated into a higher net worth for Bruce as well. According to Celebrity Net Worth, Springsteen is worth $500 million. Don’t cry for Rockin’ Rod though. He’s worth $300 million.
Since it is my blog I am entitled to an editorial comment on this:
This is way too much money.
Our teachers, our law enforcement , our bus drivers, our nurses, our construction workers, our miners, our day care workers, our food service folks– these people doing everyday necessary jobs are lucky if they ever crack six figures. Many will never see $50,000 a year after 20 years of work.
I don’t blame Bruce and Rod and the similarly well-strapped movie and sports stars.
They are living the American dream. I know Bruce has been a big donor and organizer of food banks in the various cities where he plays. And Bruce, particularly, has raised awareness of working class America through his songs.
But Bruce doesn’t need $500 million to relive his glory days. And Rod, at $300 million, needn’t steal his daddy’s cue to make a living playing pool.
But that’s the way it is and that’s the way it likely will be.
I am one who will argue that music can be transcendent, life affirming and soul stirring. And that’s priceless.
And you can dance to it.
As sources for record sales, I used a Wikipedia analysis of several sources. For net worth, I used Celebrity Net Worth.