John Mellencamp discography

The following is a comprehensive discography of John Mellencamp, an American singer-songwriter. Mellencamp has previously recorded under the names Johnny Cougar, John Cougar and John Cougar Mellencamp. During Mellencamp's more than four decades in the recording industry, he has released 23 studio albums, two live albums, four compilation albums, 65 singles and has appeared on one tribute album and one guest single respectively. His 1976 debut album Chestnut Street Incident (credited to the stage name Johnny Cougar) failed to make any significant impact and was therefore considered a major disappointment for his then record label Mainman. Consequently, Johnny Cougar (the artist) was dropped by Mainman, but his story did not end there. John Mellencamp refused to give up, and was eventually re-signed, (this time to Riva records) although he would continue to record under the John Cougar moniker for several more years. Mellencamp would persevere, gradually evolving as an artist and would later achieve considerable commercial success and widespread critical acclaim (ultimately under his own full name after recording under John Cougar Mellencamp from roughly 1983 until 1991). In all his incarnations, Mellencamp has charted twenty eight singles on the Billboard Hot 100, including twenty two hits in the Top 40, seventeen of which made the Top 20 and ten of those would crack the Top 10. He has scored twenty two albums on the Billboard 200, including seventeen in the Top 20 and eleven in the Top 10. Mellencamp has sold about thirty million albums in the US and over sixty million worldwide. He's best known for such signature songs as the iconic chart topper "Jack And Diane" as well as "Hurts So Good", "R.O.C.K. In The USA", "Small Town" and "Pink Houses". Mellencamp's first Top 40 hit single on the Billboard Hot 100 was "I Need A Lover", which rose as high as number 28 in 1979. His final single (so far) to make the top 40 was "Key West Intermezzo (I Saw You First)", which peaked at number 14 in 1996. Mellencamp is the current record holder for the most number one hits, (seven) on Billboard's Hot Mainstream Tracks chart (as a solo artist). Mellencamp's first album to chart on the Billboard 200 album chart was the (then self-titled) John Cougar album in 1979. "John Cougar" was also his first album to be certified gold. Mellencamp's major commercial breakthrough came in 1982 with his only album, thus far, to top the Billboard 200 album Chart, the classic American Fool album. American Fool yielded two Top 5 smash hits (and a third in the Top 20) and would eventually sell ten million copies worldwide (5 million in the US alone). Mellencamp's all time best selling album worldwide is Scarecrow (1985), which has sold 14 million copies to date (5 million in the US alone). His most successful commercial period as a recording artist was the early to late 1980s, where Mellencamp released four consecutive multi-platinum albums (1982's American Fool, 1983's Uh-Huh, 1985's Scarecrow and 1987's The Lonesome Jubilee) featuring at least two Top Ten hits apiece (with Scarecrow scoring a career record of three top ten hits from a single Mellencamp album). Mellencamp would go on to release several more gold and platinum albums in the following years and score additional hits. In 1997, Mellencamp released his first ever greatest hits collection entitled The Best That I could Do 1978-1988. To date, this best of compilation has sold six million copies worldwide. Mellencamp continues to release new, critically acclaimed material. His most recent is the Top Ten charting, career spanning album of cover songs, which Mellencamp humorously titled Other People's Stuff (2018).

John Mellencamp discography
Mellencamp in 2007
Studio albums	23
Live albums	2
Compilation albums	4
Singles	65
Tribute albums	1
Guest singles	1