Vangelis discography explained

Vangelis (b. 29 March 1943, d. 17 May 2022) was a Greek musician, composer, and producer. He began his music career in the 1960s with the Greek progressive rock band Aphrodite's Child and in the 1970s began composing electronic music. He gained wide mainstream popularity after composing soundtracks to film Chariots of Fire (1981) and Blade Runner (1982).[1] His solo career discography consists of 23 studio albums, 26 compilation albums, 12 soundtrack albums, and roughly 29 singles. The majority of his film, documentary, theatre, and ballet & dance scores weren't released or officially released. He also collaborated with Jon Anderson and as a duo Jon and Vangelis released 4 studio albums, 2 compilations, and 13 singles, and with Irene Papas released two studio albums.

His solo studio album Heaven and Hell (1975) was his UK chart debut (#31), while Albedo 0.39 (1976) his first Top 20 album. His best selling studio albums are China (1979) certified Silver for selling over 60,000 copies by BPI, Voices (1995) selling almost 300,000 certified copies in Germany and Austria, and Mythodea (2001) certified Platinum in Greece and Silver in Portugal. His compilation albums also had good sales, with Themes (1989) selling over 445,000 copies, Portraits (So Long Ago, So Clear) (1996) selling over a million copies in Europe, and (2003) over 110,000 copies. His best selling soundtracks are Opéra sauvage (1979) which reached #42 in the Billboard 200 and stayed in the charts for 39 weeks, Chariots of Fire (1981) which topped the Billboard 200 for 4 weeks and sold 2 million copies worldwide, Blade Runner (1994) sold over 250,000 copies, 1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992) topped the charts in Europe and sold 3 million copies worldwide, and Alexander (2004) certified Platinum in Hungary.

His solo single "Chariots of Fire" in 1982 topped the Billboard Hot 100, "Conquest of Paradise" (1992) topped the charts in Europe and sold over 1.6 million copies, and "Anthem" theme music for 2002 FIFA World Cup reached Top 5 in Japan and was certified Platinum by RIAJ.

Studio albums

YearAlbum detailsPeak chart positions
AUT
FRA
GER
ITA
NLD
[2]
SWE
SWI
[3]
UK
US
1972Fais que ton rêve soit plus long que la nuit (lit. "Make Your Dream Last Longer Than the Night") - - - - - - - - -
1973Earth
  • Released: October 1973
  • Label: Vertigo, # 6499 693 (LP)
  • Format: CD in 1996
- - - - - - - - -
1975Heaven and Hell - - - - - - - 31204
1976Albedo 0.39 - - - - - - - 18 -
1977Spiral
  • Released: 1977
  • Label: RCA #3022 (LP)
  • Format: CD, LP album
- - - - 38 - - - -
1978Beaubourg - - - - - - - - -
1979China
  • Released: 1979
  • Label: Polydor (LP) POLD 5018(CS) 813653-4
  • Format: CD, LP album
- - - - 31 - - - -
1980See You Later - - - - - - - - -
1984Soil Festivities - - - - 45 - - 55 -
1985Mask - - - - - - - 69 -
1985Invisible Connections - - - - - - - - -
1988Direct - - - - - 33 - - -
1990The City - - - - 82 - - - -
1995Voices 6 - 24 - 36503158 -
1996Oceanic 222987 - 986037 - -
1998El Greco - 6674 - - - - 159 -
2001Mythodea: Music for the NASA Mission: 2001 Mars Odyssey - - 4639 - - 75 - -
2016Rosetta
  • Released: 2016
  • Label: Decca
  • Format: CD, LP
58
[4]
31
[5]
5530
[6]
33 - 2940 -
2019
  • Released: 2019
  • Label: Decca
  • Format: CD, LP
- 141 - - 116 - 33 - -
2021Juno to Jupiter
  • Released: 2021
  • Label: Decca
  • Format: CD, LP
- - - - 31 - 21 - -
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or receive certification.

Unofficial albums

Strictly not bootleg recordings as they appeared on a label, but they were released without Vangelis' permission and were later withdrawn from the market.

Soundtracks

Limited release albums

Collaboration albums

Compilation albums

Singles and EPs

YearTitlePeak chart positions[7] Album
UK
[8]
NLD
[9]
JPN
[10]
1970"Djemilla" Sex Power - soundtrack
1973"Come On" Earth
1976"Pulstar"Albedo 0.39
"Thème D'Amour" La Fête sauvage
1977"Ignacio - Part I" Ignacio
"To the Unknown Man" 38Spiral
"Dervish D"
1979"The Long March"China
"The Tao of Love"
"Hymne" Opéra sauvage
"L'Enfant"
1980"Don't Be Foolish"See You Later
"My Love"
1981"Not a Bit - All of It"
"Chariots of Fire - Titles" 121755Chariots of Fire
"Heaven and Hell: 3rd Movement"48Heaven And Hell
1982"Blade Runner - End Title" Blade Runner
1983"Theme from Antarctica" 66Antarctica
1988"The Will of the Wind"Direct
1989"Missing" Themes
1992"Conquest of Paradise" 601
1993"Twenty Eighth Parallel"
1995"Voices" Voices
1996"Ask the Mountains" 77
"Sauvage et Beau"Portraits
"Song of the Seas"Oceanic
1997"March with Me"
2001"Mythodea"
2002"Anthem - 2002 FIFA World Cup Official Anthem"985
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory.

Singles released under pseudonyms

Other work

Film scores

Documentary scores

Theatre music

Ballet & dance music

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Vangelis. IMDb.com. 7 January 2022.
  2. Web site: Discogafie Vangelis. Dutchcharts.nl. nl. 1 October 2021.
  3. Web site: Vangelis – Juno to Jupiter. Hitparade.ch. 4 October 2021.
  4. Web site: Ö3 Austria Top40: Longplay-Charts - Ö3Charts. Oe3.orf.at.
  5. Web site: Le Top de la semaine : Top Albums Fusionnes - SNEP (Week 39, 2016). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique. fr. 4 October 2016. 2013-06-10.
  6. Web site: Album – Classifica settimanale WK 39 (dal 2016-09-23 al 2016-09-29). Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana. it. 1 October 2016.
  7. Web site: Vangelis Songs • Top Songs / Chart Singles Discography • Music VF, US & UK hits charts. Msicvf.com. 7 January 2022.
  8. Web site: UK charts. OfficialCharts.com.
  9. Web site: Dutch Top 100. Dutchcharts.nl.
  10. Web site: Japanese Oricon charts archives. Ukmix.org. 7 January 2022.
  11. Web site: Vangelis – The Tegos Tapes. December 2, 2014. Synthtopia. August 25, 2016.