Carly Simon discography
The discography of Carly Simon, an American singer-songwriter, musician, and children's author, consists of twenty-three studio albums, one live album, nine compilation albums, one Christmas album, four soundtrack albums, one audiobook, and forty-one singles, on Elektra Records, Warner Bros. Records, Epic Records, Arista Records, Rhino Entertainment, Columbia Records, Hear Music, and Iris Records, with special releases on Qwest Records, Angel Records, Walt Disney Records, and Macmillan Audio. These lists include all live and studio albums, and the motion picture soundtracks list includes albums containing more than 50% of music by Simon. She has five Platinum-certified albums, and three Gold-certified albums. All but three of her studio albums have charted on the Billboard 200, with 12 charting in the Top 40, and five in the Top 10. Two of her compilation albums have also charted in the Top 40. Apart from her album successes, she also has amassed 24 Billboard Hot 100 singles, with 13 of them hitting the Top 40, and 28 Billboard Adult Contemporary chart singles, all charting in the Top 40. Four of her singles have been certified Gold by the US RIAA: "You're So Vain", "Mockingbird" (with James Taylor), "Nobody Does It Better", and "Jesse". Two of those singles have also been certified Silver by the UK BPI: "You're So Vain" and "Nobody Does It Better".
| Carly Simon discography | |
|---|---|
 Elektra Records promo photo of Simon | |
| Studio albums | 23 |
| Live albums | 1 |
| Compilation albums | 9 |
| Video albums | 4 |
| Singles | 41 |
| Soundtrack albums | 4 |
| No. 1 singles | 2 |
Simon released her self-titled debut album, Carly Simon, in 1971. It won her the Grammy Award for Best New Artist, and spawned her first Top 10 single, "That's the Way I've Always Heard It Should Be" (No. 10). Her second album, Anticipation, followed later that year and yielded the successful singles "Anticipation" and "Legend in Your Own Time". Anticipation earned Simon another Grammy nomination in 1973 and was later certified Gold by the RIAA. She achieved international fame following the release of her third album, No Secrets, in 1972. The album sat firmly at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 for five weeks, was certified Platinum, and spawned the No. 1 worldwide hit "You're So Vain", which went Gold, and the Top 20 hit "The Right Thing to Do". No Secrets earned four Grammy nominations in 1974, including three for "You're So Vain". Simon's forth album, Hotcakes, was released that same year and became an instant hit, quickly going Gold and spawning the Top 10 singles "Mockingbird" (with James Taylor) and "Haven't Got Time for the Pain". Simon's fifth album, Playing Possum, and its lead single, "Attitude Dancing", appeared in 1975. Later that year, Simon released her first greatest hits collection, The Best of Carly Simon. It achieved Triple Platinum status in the United States and remains her best selling album to date. Another Passenger followed in 1976, to critical acclaim.[1] "Nobody Does It Better", from the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me, became a smash hit in 1977. The single hit No. 1 on the Billboard Easy Listening chart, went Gold, and earned Simon a Grammy nomination. Simon's seventh album, Boys in the Trees, was released the following year and spawned the hit singles "You Belong to Me", which earned Simon another Grammy nomination, and "Devoted to You" (with James Taylor). The album was certified Platinum, and won the Grammy award for Best Album Package the following year. Simon's eighth album and her last for Elektra Records, Spy, was released in 1979. It’s lead single, "Vengeance", earned Simon a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female, the first year to feature this category.[2]
Simon signed with Warner Bros. Records in 1980 and released her ninth studio album Come Upstairs. The lead single from the album, "Jesse", became a major hit: it remained on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart for six months, peaking at No. 11, and went Gold. Also in 1980, Simon appeared in the documentary and concert film No Nukes, and it accompanying soundtrack album of the same name.The standards album Torch followed in 1981, and Hello Big Man followed in 1983. In 1982, she hit the Top 10 in the U.K. with the Nile Rodgers & Bernard Edwards-produced single "Why", from the soundtrack to the film Soup for One.[3] After her contract with Warner Bros. had ended, she signed with Epic Records and released Spoiled Girl in 1985. The album yielded two singles, "Tired of Being Blonde" and "My New Boyfriend", with only the former charting. The album was commercially unsuccessful and her contract with Epic was cancelled. In 1986, Simon signed with Arista Records and released Coming Around Again the following year. The album became a smash hit, spawning four Top 10 Adult Contemporary singles; "Coming Around Again" (written for the film Heartburn), "Give Me All Night", "The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of", and "All I Want Is You", was certified Platinum, and earned Simon another Grammy nomination in 1988. Live from Martha's Vineyard was recorded in 1987, and broadcast as an HBO special. It featured Simon performing a majority of the just released Coming Around Again album, as well as some of her classic hits. Greatest Hits Live was released the following year and went Platinum as well. "Let the River Run" was written for the film Working Girl in 1988, and Simon won the Academy Award for Best Original Song and the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song in 1989, and the Grammy Award for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media in 1990. The Working Girl soundtrack album was released in August 1989 and featured more music by Simon.
Simon released two albums in 1990; the standards album My Romance, which was followed by the HBO special Carly in Concert – My Romance, and Have You Seen Me Lately, which yielded the major Top 10 Adult Contemporary hit "Better Not Tell Her" (No. 4), Simon's biggest hit of the 1990s. She scored another Adult Contemporary hit in 1992 with "Love of My Life" (No. 16), written for the film This Is My Life, and featured on the soundtrack album which also includes more music by Simon. She was jointly commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera Association and the Kennedy Center in 1993 to write a contemporary opera that would appeal to younger people, Romulus Hunt: A Family Opera was the result and was released on Angel Records that year. Letters Never Sent was released in 1994; the album featured "Like A River" in honor of her mother, Andrea Simon, and "Touched By The Sun" for her dear friend, Jackie Onassis,[4] both of whom died from cancer in 1994. Live at Grand Central was an unannounced concert recorded for Lifetime in 1995 and was broadcast latter that year. It featured Simon performing a majority of the just released Letters Never Sent album, as well as some of her classic hits. The three-disc career retrospective Clouds in My Coffee was released that same year. Simon's third standards album, Film Noir, was released in 1997. It featured duets with Jimmy Webb and John Travolta, and earned Simon a Grammy nomination. Simon's twentieth studio album and her last for Arista Records, The Bedroom Tapes, was released in 2000 to critical acclaim.[5]
In 2001, Simon performed on "Son of a Gun" with Janet Jackson on Jackson's album All for You; the song was released as a single and peaked at No. 28 on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2002, Simon released her first Christmas album Christmas Is Almost Here, and the two-disc career retrospective Anthology. The single disc Reflections: Carly Simon's Greatest Hits was released in 2004 to great commercial success; it peaked at No. 22 on the Billboard 200, remained on the chart for 19 weeks, and went Gold. In 2005, Simon signed with Columbia Records and released her fourth album of standards, Moonlight Serenade, which reached No. 7 on the Billboard 200, and earned Simon her fourteenth Grammy nomination the following year. In the fall of 2005, Simon performed two concerts on board the RMS Queen Mary 2. A Moonlight Serenade on the Queen Mary 2 was broadcast on various PBS stations that December and released on DVD. Simon performed with Andreas Vollenweider on four tracks for his 2006 holiday album, Midnight Clear. Simon's fifth collection of covers, Into White, was released to critical acclaim in January 2007 and became Billboard's Hot Shot Debut, entering the chart at No. 15 and peaking at No. 13 in its second week. In Spring 2008, Simon released This Kind of Love on the Starbucks label, Hear Music. In October 2009, Simon released Never Been Gone, an album of acoustic reworkings of some of her classic songs, which is her most recent studio album to date. Songs From The Trees (A Musical Memoir Collection) was simultaneously released as a tie-in to Simon's 2015 autobiography, Boys in the Trees: A Memoir. The two-disc set contained two previously unreleased songs, "Showdown" (originally recorded during the sessions for her 1978 album Boys in the Trees) and "I Can’t Thank You Enough", a brand new song written and performed with her son Ben Taylor.
Albums
Studio albums
| Year | Album | Peak chart positions | Certifications | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US [6] |
AUS [7] |
CAN [8] |
JPN [9] |
UK [10] | ||||||||||
| 1971 | Carly Simon | 30 | 55 | 17 | — | — | ||||||||
Anticipation
|
30 | 12 | 36 | — | — | |||||||||
| 1972 | No Secrets
|
1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | ||||||||
| 1974 | Hotcakes
|
3 | 9 | 7 | 39 | 19 |
| |||||||
| 1975 | Playing Possum
|
10 | 25 | 22 | 70 | — | ||||||||
| 1976 | Another Passenger
|
29 | 44 | 44 | — | — | ||||||||
| 1978 | Boys in the Trees
|
10 | 27 | 4 | — | — |
| |||||||
| 1979 | Spy
|
45 | 33 | 56 | — | — | ||||||||
| 1980 | Come Upstairs
|
36 | 43 | 86 | — | — | ||||||||
| 1981 | Torch
|
50 | 77 | 50 | 56 | — | ||||||||
| 1983 | Hello Big Man
|
69 | — | — | — | — | ||||||||
| 1985 | Spoiled Girl
|
88 | 97 | 96 | — | — | ||||||||
| 1987 | Coming Around Again
|
25 | 24 | 57 | — | 25 | ||||||||
| 1990 | My Romance
|
46 | — | — | — | — | ||||||||
Have You Seen Me Lately
|
60 | — | 64 | — | — | |||||||||
| 1994 | Letters Never Sent
|
129 | — | — | — | — | ||||||||
| 1997 | Film Noir
|
84 | — | — | — | — | ||||||||
| 2000 | The Bedroom Tapes
|
90 | — | — | — | — | ||||||||
| 2005 | Moonlight Serenade
|
7 | — | — | — | — | ||||||||
| 2007 | Into White
|
13 | — | — | — | — | ||||||||
| 2008 | This Kind of Love
|
15 | — | — | — | — | ||||||||
| 2009 | Never Been Gone
|
134 | — | — | — | 45 | ||||||||
| "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. | ||||||||||||||
Compilation albums
| Year | Album | Peak chart positions | Certifications | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US [6] |
AUS [7] |
CAN [8] |
UK [10] | |||||||||||
| 1975 | The Best of Carly Simon | 17 | 42 | 40 | — | |||||||||
| 1995 | Clouds in My Coffee
|
— | — | — | — | |||||||||
| 1999 | The Very Best of Carly Simon: Nobody Does It Better
|
— | — | — | 22 |
| ||||||||
| 2002 | Anthology
|
— | — | — | — | |||||||||
| 2004 | Reflections: Carly Simon's Greatest Hits
|
22 | — | — | 25 | |||||||||
| 2009 | Carly Simon Collector's Edition
|
— | — | — | — | |||||||||
| 2011 | Original Album Series
|
— | — | — | — | |||||||||
| 2014 | Playlist: The Very Best of Carly Simon | — | — | — | — | |||||||||
| 2015 | Songs from the Trees: A Musical Memoir Collection
|
— | — | — | — | |||||||||
| "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. | ||||||||||||||
Live albums
| Year | Album | Peak chart positions | Certifications | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US [6] |
UK [10] | |||
| 1988 | Greatest Hits Live | 87 | 49 | |
Holiday albums
| Year | Album details | Peak positions |
|---|---|---|
| US Holiday | ||
| 2002 | Christmas Is Almost Here | 14 |
Soundtrack albums
| Year | Album | Chart positions |
|---|---|---|
| US | ||
| 1989 | Working Girl (Original Soundtrack Album) | 45 |
| 1992 | This Is My Life (Music from the Motion Picture)
|
— |
| 2003 | Piglet's Big Movie (soundtrack)
|
— |
| 2005 | The Best of Pooh and Heffalumps, Too
|
— |
Other albums
| Year | Album | Chart positions |
Certifications |
|---|---|---|---|
| US | |||
| 1979 | No Nukes: The Muse Concerts for a Non-Nuclear Future | — |
|
| 1980 | In Harmony: A Sesame Street Record
|
156 | |
| 1982 | In Harmony 2
|
— | |
| 1993 | Romulus Hunt: A Family Opera
|
— |
Audiobooks
| Year | Album |
|---|---|
| 1994 | Bells, Bears and Fishermen[15] |
| 2015 | Boys in the Trees: A Memoir[16]
|
Deluxe editions
| Year | Album details | Bonus material |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Spoiled Girl: Deluxe Edition[17]
|
Four bonus tracks: "Black Honeymoon", the 7" single version of "Tired of Being Blonde", and two 12" remixes of "My New Boyfriend". |
| 2015 | The Bedroom Tapes: Special Edition[18]
|
Two bonus tracks: "Grandmother's House" and "When Manhattan Was a Maiden". |
| 2017 | Coming Around Again: 30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition[19]
|
Six bonus tracks, and a second disc consisting of Simon's Greatest Hits Live album, retitled for this set as Carly in Concert – Coming Around Again. |
Singles
| Year | Single | Peak chart positions | Certification | Album | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US BB Pop [6] |
US CB Pop [20] |
US A/C [6] |
AUS [7] |
CAN [8] |
IRE [21] |
UK [10] | |||||||||
| 1971 | "That's the Way I've Always Heard It Should Be" | 10 | 9 | 6 | 62 | 15 | — | — | Carly Simon | ||||||
| "Anticipation" | 13 | 10 | 3 | 64 | 9 | — | — | Anticipation | |||||||
| 1972 | "Legend in Your Own Time" | 50 | 61 | 11 | 86 | 39 | — | — | |||||||
| "I've Got to Have You" | — | — | — | 6 | — | — | — | ||||||||
| "You're So Vain" | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 | No Secrets | |||||||
| 1973 | "The Right Thing to Do"/"We Have No Secrets" | 17 | 10 | 4 | — | 20 | — | 17 | |||||||
| 1974 | "Mockingbird" (with James Taylor) | 5 | 3 | 10 | 8 | 3 | — | 34 |
|
Hotcakes | |||||
| "Haven't Got Time for the Pain" | 14 | 7 | 2 | 74 | 5 | — | — | ||||||||
| 1975 | "Attitude Dancing" | 21 | 25 | 18 | 70 | 21 | — | — | Playing Possum | ||||||
| "Waterfall" | 78 | 76 | 21 | — | — | — | — | ||||||||
| "More and More" | 94 | 90 | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||
| 1976 | "It Keeps You Runnin'" | 46 | 49 | 27 | — | 47 | — | — | Another Passenger | ||||||
| "Half a Chance" | — | — | 39 | — | — | — | — | ||||||||
| 1977 | "Nobody Does It Better" | 2 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 7 | The Spy Who Loved Me | ||||||
| 1978 | "You Belong to Me" | 6 | 9 | 4 | 47 | 5 | — | — | Boys in the Trees | ||||||
| "Devoted to You" (with James Taylor) [A] | 36 | 48 | 2 | — | 50 | — | — | ||||||||
| "Tranquillo (Melt My Heart)" | — | 86 | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||
| 1979 | "Vengeance" | 48 | 52 | — | 90 | 94 | — | — | Spy | ||||||
| "Spy" | — | — | 34 | — | — | — | — | ||||||||
| 1980 | "Jesse" | 11 | 9 | 8 | 4 | 12 | — | — |
|
Come Upstairs | |||||
| "Take Me as I Am" | 102 | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||
| 1981 | "Hurt" | 106 | — | — | — | — | — | — | Torch | ||||||
| 1982 | "Why" | 74 | 73 | — | — | — | 15 | 10 | Soup for One | ||||||
| 1983 | "You Know What to Do" | 83 | — | 36 | — | — | — | — | Hello Big Man | ||||||
| "Kissing with Confidence" (with Will Powers) [B] | — | — | — | — | — | — | 17 | Dancing for Mental Health (by Will Powers) | |||||||
| 1985 | "Tired of Being Blonde" | 70 | 63 | 34 | 95 | — | — | — | Spoiled Girl | ||||||
| "My New Boyfriend" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||
| 1986 | "Coming Around Again" | 18 | 30 | 5 | 29 | 38 | 5 | 10 | Coming Around Again | ||||||
| 1987 | "Give Me All Night" | 61 | 70 | 5 | — | 87 | — | 98 | |||||||
| "The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of" | — | — | 8 | — | — | 28 | 99 | ||||||||
| "All I Want Is You" | 54 | 68 | 7 | — | — | — | — | ||||||||
| 1988 | "You're So Vain" (live version) | — | — | — | — | — | — | 96 | Greatest Hits Live | ||||||
| 1989 | "Let the River Run" | 49 | 51 | 11 | 91 | — | — | 79 | Working Girl (Original Soundtrack Album) | ||||||
| "Why" (extended version) | — | — | — | — | — | — | 56 | Single only | |||||||
| 1990 | "Better Not Tell Her" | — | 103 | 4 | — | 30 | — | — | Have You Seen Me Lately | ||||||
| 1991 | "Holding Me Tonight" | — | — | 36 | — | — | — | — | |||||||
| "You're So Vain" (re-release) | — | — | — | — | — | — | 41 | No Secrets | |||||||
| 1992 | "Love of My Life" | — | — | 16 | — | — | — | — | This Is My Life | ||||||
| 2001 | "Son of a Gun (I Betcha Think This Song Is About You)" (with Janet Jackson featuring Missy Elliott)[C] |
28 | — | — | 20 | — | — | 13 | All for You (by Janet Jackson) | ||||||
| 2005 | "Let It Snow" | — | — | 6 | — | — | — | — | Singles only | ||||||
| 2006 | "Best of Friends" (with Livingston Taylor) | — | — | 39 | — | — | — | — | |||||||
| 2019 | "Touched by the Sun" (Live at Grand Central - newly mixed) [22] |
— | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||
| "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. | |||||||||||||||
Notes
- A "Devoted to You" also peaked at #33 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart, and at #36 on the Cash Box Country chart.
- B Simon sang uncredited co-lead vocals on "Kissing with Confidence".
- C "Son of a Gun (I Betcha Think This Song Is About You)" also peaked at #26 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart and at #7 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart.
Video albums
| Title | Album details | Peak positions |
|---|---|---|
| Music Video Sales | ||
| Live from Martha's Vineyard | 7 | |
| Carly in Concert – My Romance |
|
11 |
| Live at Grand Central |
|
— |
| Live from Martha's Vineyard (re-release) |
|
— |
| A Moonlight Serenade on the Queen Mary 2 |
|
— |
| Live from Martha's Vineyard (re-release) |
|
— |
Music videos
References
- Ken Tucker (August 12, 1976). "Another Passenger | Album Reviews". Rolling Stone. Retrieved August 22, 2020.
- "Rock On The Net: Grammy Awards: Best Rock Vocal Performance - Female". rockonthenet.com. Retrieved August 22, 2020.
- "UK Charts > Carly Simon". Official Charts Company. Archived from the original on February 4, 2013. Retrieved February 20, 2012.
- ultimatejackie.blogspot.com. "Ultimate Jackie". Retrieved May 4, 2014.
- "The Bedroom Tapes". Archived from the original on January 4, 2006. Retrieved March 9, 2013.
- "US Albums and Singles Charts > Carly Simon". Billboard. Retrieved January 3, 2020.
- David Kent (1993). Australian Charts Book 1970—1992. Australian Chart Book Pty Ltd, Turramurra, N.S.W. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
- "CAN Charts > Carly Simon". RPM. Archived from the original on January 4, 2015. Retrieved February 20, 2012.
- Oricon Album Chart Book: Complete Edition 1970-2005. Roppongi, Tokyo: Oricon Entertainment. 2006. ISBN 4-87131-077-9.
- "Official Charts > Carly Simon". Official Charts Company. Retrieved January 3, 2020.
- "US Certifications > Carly Simon". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved January 3, 2020.
- "BPI Citification search". BPI. Retrieved January 3, 2020.
- "CAN Certifications > Carly Simon". Music Canada. Archived from the original on April 17, 2014. Retrieved February 20, 2012.
- RIAA.com. "No Nukes". Retrieved January 17, 2020.
- CarlySimon.com. "Books". Archived from the original on December 17, 2011. Retrieved January 8, 2021.
- CarlySimon.com. "Boys in the Trees: Audiobook". Retrieved June 11, 2019.
- "Spoiled Girl". Cherry Red Records.com. Retrieved January 6, 2018.
- CarlySimon.com. "The Bedroom Tapes". Retrieved January 6, 2018.
- "Coming Around Again: 30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition". Cherry Red Records.com. Retrieved January 6, 2018.
- "Cash Box Top Singles". Retrieved August 27, 2015.
- "Archived copy". Archived from the original on June 3, 2009. Retrieved January 11, 2015.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- "Touched by the Sun". Archived from the original on January 3, 2020. Retrieved January 3, 2020.
- "Carly Simon Official Website - Kissing With Confidence". Archived from the original on March 11, 2005. Retrieved June 11, 2019.
- "Ray Parker Jr.: Ghostbusters". IMDB.com. Retrieved June 11, 2019.
