Pop quiz: which catalogue album sold the most copies in the past decade? Was it Bob Marley's Legend: The Best of Bob Marley and the Wailers? Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon? Number Ones by Michael Jackson, perhaps, or maybe The Beatles' 1?
Those are good guesses, but they're all wrong. The Noughties' biggest selling catalogue record (an album that is more than 18 months old and has fallen below No 100 on the Billboard 200 chart) was Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band's Greatest Hits, which has sold a staggering nine million copies since its release in 1994 and spent 660 weeks on the catalogue chart.
The recent announcement took many observers by surprise.
The reason? Most people outside the US or aged under 45 don't have the faintest idea who Seger is.
If you are not from America and of a certain age, you may have never heard a single song by the blue-collar rocker, who is best known in the US for hits such as Night Moves and Rock 'n' Roll Never Forgets.
Even among the rocknoscenti, Seger's name rarely crops up. In fact, his influence hardly extends beyond a few grizzled hard-rockin' bands from his Detroit hometown and Kid Rock, who released a version of Seger's Turn the Page in the 1990s. So what on earth is going on? How did this 64-year-old gravelly baritone become the most successful back-catalogue artist in the first 10 years of the 21st century? Is it because, as Kid Rock said in 2004, Seger is "the voice of the working man and living proof of the American dream"? Or is there more to it?
Critics have pointed to certain structural reasons for the quiet triumph of Seger.
"The chart is based on all album sales, physical and digital, while that album appeared on Billboard's weekly 50-position catalogue albums chart," says Silvio Pietroluongo, Billboard's director of charts. Because Seger's music is not available online, you have to buy it if you want to listen to it.
Seger also enjoyed his first hit more than five decades ago and remains a core artist on commercial rock radio, particularly in the American Midwest.
But the key driver of his success is the use of his music in television advertisements. Chevrolet trucks used his song Like a Rock in a US commercial that ran for 13 years, the longest-running automotive advertising campaign in history.
"A lot of money was invested in that song and people's attachment to it," says Howard Kramer, the chief curator at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, who helped induct Seger in 2004, 11 years after he became eligible.
For Kramer, Seger's success is about more than just massive TV exposure and radio support. It's about the idea of the Midwest as rock n' roll's heartland.
"I grew up in Detroit so Seger is an integral part of my childhood," says Kramer. "He made pump-your-fist in the air rock 'n' roll and his songs told good stories."
Seger's greatest 1970s hits were about memories of being young, including Night Moves and Turn the Page, which also proved a big 1988 hit for the heavy metal band Metallica. He penned songs for other bands too, including Heartache Tonight, the hit he co-wrote for The Eagles.
Seger took pains to present himself as a rock 'n' roll everyman.
"Bob never surrounded himself with myth," says Kramer. "If you saw him in Michigan at a football game, he would stop and talk to you. He was completely unaffected. When he did his 2007 tour, his first for 10 years, people came."
But Seger could sometimes be a little too American Midwest in his outlook. He last toured the UK in 1984 and allowed his most recent album, Early Seger Volume 1, to be available only at Meijer, an obscure Walmart-style megastore.
"He's a big artist," says Kramer. "I think that decision gives you some idea of how provincial he can be."
Despite the occasional album release, Seger has spent the bulk of the past decade quietly, a devoted family man in his beloved Michigan.
"He decided to stay home to be with his children," says Kramer.
"But then with his money, I guess he can afford to."
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Four-day collections of TOH
Day Indian Rs (Dh)
Thursday 500.75 million (25.23m)
Friday 280.25m (14.12m)
Saturday 220.75m (11.21m)
Sunday 170.25m (8.58m)
Total 1.19bn (59.15m)
(Figures in millions, approximate)
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
If you go...
Etihad flies daily from Abu Dhabi to Zurich, with fares starting from Dh2,807 return. Frequent high speed trains between Zurich and Vienna make stops at St. Anton.
%3Cp%3EThe%20Punishment%20of%20Luxury%3Cbr%3EOMD%3Cbr%3E100%25%20Records%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances