Bon Jovi is an incredibly successful band. In their imperial phase, three of their successive albums, 1986’s “Slippery When Wet, ” 1988’s “New Jersey,” and 1992’s “Keep the Faith” each went on to sell more than 10 million copies across the globe, according to All Music. In the 1990s, they found themselves still able to attract an audience at the height of the grunge movement with the release of solid albums like 1995’s “These Days.” Nevertheless, their continued success was met by critics with back-handed compliments, such as a contemporary review in Rolling Stone that describes the band as a “guilty pleasure.”
By 2000, Bon Jovi had been one of the biggest stadium acts in the world for more than a decade, and began the new millennium with the platinum-selling album “Crush,” featuring the international hit single “It’s My Life.” And their live credentials similarly diminished little: with more than $1.35 billion in ticket sales revenue as of 2019, per Pollstar, Bon Jovi’s tours have remained among some of the highest-grossing on the planet in the 21st century.
By the time of Bon Jovi’s 20th anniversary in 2004, the band was such a commercial juggernaut that they were in a position to name their rarities and outtakes boxset, which came out that year, “100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can’t Be Wrong,” in reference to the estimated 100 million units the band had shipped by then. Surely such numbers would put Bon Jovi at rock music’s top table?
