Talk:Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan number of records sold, inaccurate info

The number of records Bob Dylan has sold world wide. It's been well documented that he has sold in excess of 125 million records world over. Until recently, wikipedia also had the number at 125 million, for some reason that has changed here in the past few weeks. A more accurate number would be over 130 million, since the number 125 has been around for over ten years. He has certainly sold several million in the past 10 years or so. A quick look at billboard, uk record charts will confirm that, please update with the recent estimates ~2025-32145-99 (talk) 17:50, 8 November 2025 (UTC)

It would be helpful to find some good source that actually has an estimate on his sales. Having us cobble together an estimate from past numbers and recent sales would be kind of original research, which we should avoid. Brianyoumans (talk) 20:26, 8 November 2025 (UTC)

According to the Bob Dylan Center, Tulsa, OK, Dylan has sold 125 million records worldwide. Added to article with cite. Mick gold (talk) 09:20, 13 November 2025 (UTC)

Reverted. bobdylancenter.com isn't an independent or reliable sources for Bob Dylan's record sales TheWikiholic (talk) 18:25, 13 November 2025 (UTC)

Brianyoumans Can you explain why you made this revert? — TheWikiholic (talk) 19:09, 13 November 2025 (UTC)

I reverted because the change wasn't made without discussion, it was discussed as above. And the change was made by Mick gold, who has been for years the principal editor of this article and not at all someone to put in unreliable material. I will leave it up to Mick to discuss how good of a source the Bob Dylan Center is for things like this.Brianyoumans (talk) 15:12, 14 November 2025 (UTC)

The Bob Dylan Center is the official archive of Dylan material, supported by the artist and Columbia Records. Everything they have published has been to the highest editorial and curatorial standards. If they publish an online biography of Dylan (as cited) I think it can be regarded as a WP:RS on the life & work of Dylan. Mick gold (talk) 00:56, 15 November 2025 (UTC)

For this reason I restored the figure 125 million. TheWikiholic If you think the Bob Dylan Center is publishing false or misleading material on Dylan, can you give an example? Mick gold (talk) 10:44, 15 November 2025 (UTC)

Numbers supported by the artist and record labels, like Columbia Records, aren't considered independent or reliable. Record labels are known for inflating artists' sales for promotional purposes, and we don't use sales numbers from such sources on Wikipedia, so you should revert your edit. TheWikiholic (talk) 11:38, 15 November 2025 (UTC)

Before reverting, I shall do some further research to try to find a source we can agree on. Mick gold (talk) 13:17, 15 November 2025 (UTC)

For what it is worth (not much?), this site] gives a total of about 130M sales if you add up albums and "other LPs". (Dylan is on the second page of listings).Brianyoumans (talk) 19:03, 15 November 2025 (UTC)

Chart masters is considered a self-published source and is actually on the list of websites to avoid. TheWikiholic (talk) 20:19, 15 November 2025 (UTC)

The figure of 100 million worldwide sales for Bob Dylan seems to be sourced to this 2016 article in The Irish Times.

An article on PBS/Associated Press in 2020 gives a figure of 125 million worldwide sales for Bob Dylan. I’ve added this cite to the article.

According to WP:RSP “There is consensus that the Associated Press is generally reliable. Syndicated reports from the Associated Press that are published in other sources are also considered generally reliable." PBS is also "considered generally reliable by editors".

TheWikiholic Are you suggesting that a 2016 figure from The Irish Times is more authoritative than a 2020 figure from PBS/Associated Press? Mick gold (talk) 07:32, 16 November 2025 (UTC)

Even though Associated Press is generally reliable, this particular article looks like PR after the sale of his catalogue to UMG, especially since similar articles with identical wording have appeared in multiple media outlets 1,2,3, 4. --TheWikiholic (talk) 15:42, 16 November 2025 (UTC)

I'm not sure it is in our wheelhouse to judge whether NPR, AP, and other generally reliable sources have done proper fact-checking. Shouldn't our assumption be that they do, unless we have a strong reason to think otherwise? I'm not sure why a figure of 125 million in 2025 is super suspicious given 100 million in 2016. Dylan has continued to be in the public eye, has had several albums out, won the Nobel Prize in 2016, etc. Brianyoumans (talk) 17:07, 16 November 2025 (UTC)

Although PBS/Associated Press have been evaluated by Wikipedia Reliable Sources as generally reliable, you make the subjective assertion that "this particular article looks like PR". I would favour an AP report from 2020 over an Irish Times report from 2016 if we're looking for a reliable figure for worldwide record sales by Bob Dylan. Mick gold (talk) 18:11, 16 November 2025 (UTC)

Proposed removal of “article too long” tag

I’d like to request the removal of the “may be too long to read and navigate comfortably” tag from this article. The notice doesn’t seem appropriate for several reasons: The article is not unusually long for a figure of Bob Dylan’s cultural and historical significance.

Featured articles on comparable artists (e.g., major 20th-century musicians, songwriters, or cultural icons) often exceed this length or are roughly comparable in size. Given Dylan’s six-decade career, extensive discography, literary output, and global influence, the current article length is proportional to the subject matter.

The tag creates the misleading impression that the article is unwieldy or poorly structured.

In reality, the page is already well-organized with clear sections, making it easy to navigate even for casual readers. Labelling it as “too long” may discourage readers from engaging with the full content, which is counterproductive on a topic where depth and detail are essential.

Condensing or splitting may actually reduce the article’s clarity.

Most sections are already concise summaries of major periods or themes in Dylan’s life. Splitting off content into sub-articles could fragment the narrative and make the page harder, not easier, to understand. Unless there is a specific section that demonstrably violates WP:SUMMARY, the tag isn’t warranted.

The tag has been present without accompanying discussion.

Since the template suggests the issue should be discussed, it would be preferable to either identify concrete proposals for restructuring or remove the tag. As it stands, the article meets the expectations for a comprehensive page on an artist of Dylan’s scale.

For these reasons, I believe the tag should be removed unless there is clear consensus and specific evidence that the article violates Wikipedia’s content length guidelines. Bchungustwerkgod (talk) 18:38, 13 November 2025 (UTC)

Bchungustwerkgod Discussion of the "Too long" tag has been taking place in this section of Talk page: Talk:Bob_Dylan#Too_long. Mick gold (talk) 00:17, 14 November 2025 (UTC)

New Biography

I'm curious whether people think new biography, After the Flood, reviewed in the Washington Post here has a place in the article. Jameson Nightowl (talk) 01:16, 5 February 2026 (UTC)

I'm Not There

This film was added to the lead; I suppose it *is* an "Oscar-nominated" biopic, but the Oscar nomination it got was for Best Actress, not Best Picture. Should this be reworded? Left out? Opinions? Brianyoumans (talk) 17:42, 12 May 2026 (UTC)

Brianyoumans I'd be happy to drop I'm Not There. It's a remarkable film but A Complete Unknown had a much bigger impact, both critically and at box office. So per Occam's Razor.... Mick gold (talk) 17:49, 22 May 2026 (UTC)

Oh, sorry, you know, life - sick cat, graduating child, all that. I'll go ahead and take out "I'm Not There".Brianyoumans (talk) 15:14, 23 May 2026 (UTC)

It literally says his legal name is Robert Dylan. So why have you deadnamed him in the article?

His name is Bob Dylan. Remove the Zimmerman stuff. Sugarcanedrift (talk) 12:52, 17 June 2026 (UTC)

This isn't a case of a gender transition, this is more similar to someone using a stage name. I don't think there is any indication that Dylan objects to people knowing his original name, is there? Brianyoumans (talk) 15:29, 17 June 2026 (UTC)

"Too long" tag

@Choucas: with this edit you added a "too long" yellow banner to the article. As this is a featured article, do you think the length causes this to no longer meet the FA criteria? Z1720 (talk) 14:18, 28 July 2026 (UTC)

Hello Z1720, I think there are two things here. Regarding FA criteria compliance, I am honestly unsure, because focused on the main topic without going into unnecessary detail on its own is pretty vague to me as I am not familiar with the usual interpretation of these words within the FA process. There is also the fact that this article was promoted more than 20 years ago. All I can say is that in my opinion the article is very clearly WP:TOOLONG (14463 words of prose as of this comment), and in my eyes the main culprit is the Career section, which has enormous weight at the moment. Therefore, I believe It should be split out of the article, while keeping a section in summary style in its place. A lot of the article is actually already in summary style, as we have sub-articles for his songs, discography, bibliography, filmography, awards, and even for the Never Ending Tour as well as several notable moments of his career. In this light, a summarized Career section makes a lot of sense to me, but since it is an FA I was obviously not going to perform a bold split without opening a window for discussion first. EDIT: Template:Bob Dylan is a good indication that there is probably very little in the main article that should not be in summary style, in my opinion. Choucas 🐦‍⬛ 15:31, 28 July 2026 (UTC)

I've been one of the principal editors of the Bob Dylan article for over 20 years. There have been reviews of the WP:FA status of this article, though the last was in 2008. On October 8, 2025, Nikkimaria posted a "very long" tag which was removed on November 30, 2025, by Tpbradbury after much pruning.

In 2025, the Bob Dylan article was #31 in the list of Top 50 Wikipedia articles [] — probably as a consequence of the A Complete Unknown biopic. I think this article stands as a well written account of a creative life that has lasted 66 years. I'm not sure what reducing the Career section to "summary style", as suggested by Choucas, would look like, but I'm willing to discuss. Mick gold (talk) 06:36, 29 July 2026 (UTC)