Pink Floyd discography
The discography of the English rock group Pink Floyd consists of 15 studio albums, four live albums, nine compilation albums, five box sets, six extended plays, and 27 singles. Formed in 1965, Pink Floyd initially earned recognition for their psychedelic or space rock music, and, as they evolved, for their progressive rock music. The group have sold over 250 million records worldwide, including 75 million units sold in the United States. Pink Floyd first achieved success in London's underground music scene, when they were led by singer and guitarist Syd Barrett. The group signed a management  deal with Peter Jenner and Andrew King (Blackhill Enterprises) in October 1966, and recorded a demo shortly afterwards to attract record label interest. They subsequently signed with EMI Columbia and released their first single, "Arnold Layne" on 11 March 1967, followed by the album "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn" in August. Barrett's erratic behaviour led to singer and guitarist David Gilmour joining the group; both appear on the second album, "A Saucerful of Secrets". Barrett officially left on 6 April 1968, before its release. The album was also the first of several to feature cover artwork by  Hipgnosis. The following year, the band released a soundtrack album ("More") and the live / studio hybrid "Ummagumma". The following year's "Atom Heart Mother" was a collaboration with Ron Geesin featuring an orchestra and choir, with "Meddle" and the "Obscured by Clouds" soundtrack following in 1971 and 1972, respectively. The band achieved worldwide commercial success with "The Dark Side of the Moon" (1973), which has sold more than 30 million copies and is one of the best-selling albums in the world. It has been reissued as a Quadrophonic LP and 5.1 surround sound Super Audio CD. "The Dark Side  of the Moon" was followed by "Wish You Were Here" (1975), "Animals" (1977), and "The Wall" (1979); all except "Animals" reached number one in the US, and "The Wall" is the highest-certified multiple-disc album by the Recording Industry Association of America. Pink Floyd released few singles after Barrett's departure, though "Money" was a US top 20 hit, and "Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2" was a number one hit in the UK and US. Bassist and singer Roger Waters gradually became the dominant and driving force in the band from the mid-1970s until his departure from  the group in 1985, declaring Pink Floyd "a spent force". He unsuccessfully sued to dissolve the group's partnership and retire the name. The remaining members, led by Gilmour, continued recording and touring as Pink Floyd, releasing "A Momentary Lapse of Reason" (1987) and "The Division Bell" (1994). A further album, "The Endless River" followed in 2014. In 2010, Pink Floyd sued their label, EMI, for lack of royalty payments and publishing their back catalogue on music streaming services without the group's consent. A settlement was reached the following year, with the publication of the individual tracks on iTunes , and re-releases of "The Dark Side of the Moon", "Wish You Were Here" and "The Wall". In 2016, the band established their own record label, Pink Floyd Records, and launched an extensive reissue programme of their work on vinyl, and a box set "The Early Years 1965–1972" containing a significant amount of previously unreleased material. In 2022, the band released a one-off single "Hey, Hey, Rise Up!" featuring Ukrainian artist Andriy Khlyvnyuk in response to the Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Artwork. All Pink Floyd albums feature distinctive artwork. Most covers do not feature the band members, and  many do not feature the band name or any text either. Waters recommended Hipgnosis for "A Saucerful of Secrets" cover, for which they were paid £110, and they went on to create many of the group's album packages. "Ummagumma" was the last to feature the group on the front cover, with a Droste effect created by multiple photographs, and a breakdown of their musical equipment on the back. "Atom Heart Mother" features a Friesian cow (named Lulubelle III) on the front cover, deliberately chosen as a reaction against the group's psychedelic image. The cover of "The Dark  Side of the Moon" was designed by Hipgnosis in collaboration with graphic designer George Hardie, and features a line drawing of light being refracted in a prism. The inner sleeve shows the graphic of a heartbeat, which can be heard at the start of the album. The original packaging also included additional posters and stickers. It has become one of the most recognisable rock album covers. The cover of "Animals" features an inflatable pig moored to Battersea Power Station that broke free and drifted into airspace. "The Wall" features a minimalist design on the front cover, while the inside sleeve  shows cartoons of the principal characters in the story, both created by Gerald Scarfe. Hipgnosis' Storm Thorgerson returned to produce the cover for "A Momentary Lapse of Reason", which featured a row of beds on Saunton Sands. For "The Division Bell", he photographed two high heads in style of Aku-Aku in a field near Ely, Cambridgeshire. The CD packaging of the live album "Pulse" included a light emitting diode on the spine, powered by batteries. This gave a visual "pulse" when the CD was stored on a shelf, with the battery expected to last up to a year. The  compilation "" features a composite piece of artwork created by Hipgnosis combining several past album covers. Albums. Compilation albums. Pink Floyd rarely appeared on multi-artist compilations, because they believed doing so would cheapen their work as a whole. Singles. Promotional singles. Notes: References. Citations Sources