My 335 Day Challenge

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I remember hearing on the radio, sometime in late 1994 or early 1995, that Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumours” had officially become the top selling album of all time, surpassing Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”. That news was stated with no further explanation or context, so it kinda shocked me for a minute. After all, Rumours was seventeen years old, so how could it still be selling?

I had purchased a copy only the year before, so I knew what a great album it was. Then, of course, I realized that it had been around seventeen years and college aged-kids were still buying it. I also came the realization that even people who had purchased a copy in 1977 probably bought it on vinyl (or maybe 8-track), possibly bought a cassette again during the 80’s, and were now upgrading their collections to CD.

And who was still buying Thriller then? Thriller was a good enough album, but Michael Jackson’s appeal had waned considerably by 1994. I don’t have real numbers on this issue, but I just don’t think many people were buying Thriller beyond 1984.

Then again, I appear to be wrong on that. According to just about every list I can find right now, “Eagles: Their Greatest Hits” now tops the all-time charts (I think this album got a huge boost during their reunion) and Thriller is #2. Rumours is now only #8. These albums are enjoying some serious long-tail success. In the top 20 all-time sellers, only one album is less than twenty years old.

Music can last forever. A digitally remastered recording is preserved for eternity; it will never die or be lost. Web sites are stored digitally, too, and just might last forever if they are worthy. WayBackMachine is a web site that holds cached copies of old web sites. I can still go there and read some of the marketing web sites I was building in the late 90’s. Google News has copies of hundreds of Usenet postings I wrote between 1994 and 1996.

Are they worth reading again? Absolutely not, but if someone ever wanted to research my online life thoroughly, they can go back in time and see what a jackass I was to the readers of certain newsgroups. And you can see the hideousness of my ancient web designs.

My 335 Day Challenge is about building websites that will be worth reading 20 years from now. The information may no longer be relevant, any links will probably be long dead, but the writing itself will always hold value. Affiliate links can always be changed. Facts can always be updated. But if the message is still worth reading, the long tail of Internet marketing is the foundation for a true long-term business.