John Mellencamp discography

The following is a comprehensive discography of John Mellencamp, an American singer-songwriter. During Mellencamp's career in the recording industry, he has released 25 studio albums, two live albums, four compilation albums, 71 singles and 55 music videos.

John Mellencamp discography
Studio albums	24
Live albums	2
Compilation albums	5
Tribute albums	1
Singles	71
Music videos	55
Guest singles	1

Mellencamp's first album to chart on the Billboard 200 was the self-titled John Cougar album in 1979; the album was certified gold by the RIAA. Mellencamp's major commercial breakthrough came in 1982 with American Fool, which reached number one on the Billboard 200 and yielded two singles, "Hurts So Good" and "Jack & Diane", which reached number two and number one respectively on the Billboard Hot 100. American Fool would eventually sell 10 million copies worldwide (five million in the US alone). From 1983 to 1987, Mellencamp released three consecutive albums—Uh-Huh (1983), Scarecrow (1985), and The Lonesome Jubilee (1987)—which were all certified triple platinum by the RIAA. Combined, the three albums spawned sixteen singles, seven of which—"Crumblin' Down", "Pink Houses", "Lonely Ol' Night", "Small Town", "R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A.", "Paper in Fire" and "Cherry Bomb"—became top 10 hits in the US. In 1997, Mellencamp released his first-ever greatest hits collection entitled The Best That I Could Do 1978–1988.

Mellencamp has charted 28 singles on the Billboard Hot 100, including 22 hits in the Top 40, 17 in the Top 20 and 10 in the top 10. He has scored 22 albums on the Billboard 200, including 17 in the Top 20 and 11 in the Top 10. Mellencamp has sold about 30 million albums in the US and over 60 million worldwide.

Studio albums

1970s

Year	Album details	Peak chart positions			Certifications
		US [1]	AUS [2]	CAN [3]
1976	Chestnut Street Incident Release date: October 1, 1976 Label: MCA	—	—	—
1978	A Biography Release date: March 6, 1978 Label: Riva	—	19	19
1979	John Cougar Release date: July 27, 1979 Label: Riva Released as Miami in Australia	64	77	77	RIAA: Gold[4]
"—" denotes releases that did not chart

1980s

Year	Album details	Peak chart positions										Certifications
		US [1]	AUS [2]	CAN [3]	GER [5]	NL [6]	NOR [7]	NZ [8]	SWE [9]	SWI [10]	UK [11]
1980	Nothin' Matters and What If It Did Release date: September 15, 1980 Label: Riva	37	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	RIAA: Platinum[4]
1982	American Fool Release date: April 12, 1982 Label: Riva	1	18	1	—	—	—	—	30	—	37	RIAA: 5× Platinum[4] MC: 5× Platinum[12]
1983	The Kid Inside Release date: January 27, 1983 Label: MainMan	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1983	Uh-Huh Release date: October 23, 1983 Label: Riva	9	57	9	—	—	—	—	24	—	92	RIAA: 3× Platinum[4] MC: 5× Platinum[12]
1985	Scarecrow Release date: July 31, 1985 Label: Riva	2	2	2	—	—	—	14	9	—	—	RIAA: 5× Platinum[4] ARIA: 4× Platinum[13][14] MC: 5× Platinum[12]
1987	The Lonesome Jubilee[A] Release date: August 24, 1987 Label: Mercury	6	2	1	41	34	16	3	6	10	31	RIAA: 3× Platinum[4] ARIA: Platinum[14] MC: 6× Platinum[12]
1989	Big Daddy Release date: May 9, 1989 Label: Mercury	7	1	3	27	33	12	6	6	11	25	RIAA: Platinum[4] ARIA: Platinum[15][14] MC: 2× Platinum[12]
"—" denotes releases that did not chart

1990s

Year	Album details	Peak chart positions										Certifications
		US [1]	AUS [2]	CAN [3]	FIN [16]	GER [5]	NL [6]	NZ [8]	SWE [9]	SWI [10]	UK [11]
1991	Whenever We Wanted Release date: October 8, 1991 Label: Mercury	17	3	8	—	44	—	40	19	16	39	RIAA: Platinum[4] ARIA: Platinum[13] MC: Platinum[12]
1993	Human Wheels Release date: September 7, 1993 Label: Mercury	7	7	6	—	48	87	—	8	18	37	RIAA: Platinum[4] MC: Platinum[12]
1994	Dance Naked Release date: June 21, 1994 Label: Mercury	13	6	17	—	—	—	—	24	32	—	RIAA: Platinum[4] MC: Platinum[12]
1996	Mr. Happy Go Lucky Release date: September 10, 1996 Label: Mercury	9	11	11	26	53	—	36	26	37	82	RIAA: Platinum[4] ARIA: Gold[13] MC: Platinum[12]
1998	John Mellencamp Release date: October 6, 1998 Label: Columbia	41	41	37	—	—	—	—	—	48	108	RIAA: Gold[4]
1999	Rough Harvest Release date: August 17, 1999 Label: Mercury	99	131	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
"—" denotes releases that did not chart

2000s

Year	Album details	Peak chart positions						Certifications
		US [1]	US Rock [17]	AUS [2]	GER [5]	SWE [9]	UK [11]
2001	Cuttin' Heads Release date: October 16, 2001 Label: Columbia	15	—	131	99	—	—	RIAA: Gold[4]
2003	Trouble No More Release date: June 3, 2003 Label: Columbia	31	—	159	—	—	—
2007	Freedom's Road Release date: January 23, 2007 Label: Universal South Records	5	3	145	—	—	—
2008	Life, Death, Love and Freedom Release date: July 15, 2008 Label: Hear Music	7	3	21	—	53	162
"—" denotes releases that did not chart

2010s

Year	Album details	Peak chart positions
		US [1]	US Folk [18]	US Rock [17]	AUS [2]	GER [5]	NL [6]	NOR [7]	SWE [9]	SWI [10]	UK [11]
2010	No Better Than This Release date: August 17, 2010 Label: Rounder	10	—	5	83	62	93	29	33	83	138
2014	Plain Spoken Release date: September 23, 2014 Label: Republic	18	2	5	—	84	—	—	—	58	169
2017	Sad Clowns & Hillbillies Release date: April 28, 2017 Label: Republic	11	1	3	—	52	—	—	—	28	78
2018	Other People's Stuff Release date: December 7, 2018 Label: Republic	7	1	1	—	—	—	—	—	70	—
"—" denotes releases that did not chart

2020s

Year	Album details	Peak chart positions
		US [1]	US Folk [18]	US Rock [17]	GER [5]	SWI [10]
2022	Strictly a One-Eyed Jack Release date: January 21, 2022 Label: Republic	196	5	30	24	6
2023	Orpheus Descending Release date: June 16, 2023 Label: Republic	—	—	—	79	93

Compilation albums

Year	Title	Peak chart positions						Certifications
		US [1]	US Rock [17]	AUS [2]	CAN [3]	NZ [8]	UK [11]
1997	The Collection Release date: 1985 label: Castle	—	—	—	—	—	—	BPI: Silver[19]
1997	The Best That I Could Do 1978–1988 Release date: November 18, 1997 label: Mercury	33	37	5	9	19	25	RIAA: 3× Platinum[4] ARIA: 2× Platinum[20] BPI: Silver[19] MC: Platinum[12]
2004	Words & Music: John Mellencamp's Greatest Hits Release date: October 19, 2004 Label: Island/UTV	13	—	93	—	—	—	RIAA: Platinum[4]
2010	20th Century Masters – The Millennium Collection: The Best of John Mellencamp Release date: January 4, 2010 Label: Universal	—	—	—	—	—	—
	On the Rural Route 7609 Release date: June 15, 2010 Label: Island Def Jam	—	—	—	—	—	—
"—" denotes releases that did not chart

Live albums

Year	Album details
2009	Life, Death, Live and Freedom Release date: June 23, 2009 Label: Hear Music
2014	Performs Trouble No More Live at Town Hall Release date: July 8, 2014 Label: Mercury
2018	Plain Spoken: From the Chicago Theatre Release date: May 11, 2018 Label: Eagle Rock
2021	The Good Samaritan Tour 2000 Release date: August 27, 2021 Label: Republic

Singles

1970s singles

Year	Single	Peak chart positions		Album
		US [21]	AUS [2]
1978	"I Need a Lover"	—	5	A Biography
	"Factory"	—	—
1979	"Miami"	—	31	John Cougar
	"I Need a Lover"	28	—
	"Taxi Dancer"	—	—
"—" denotes releases that did not chart

1980s singles

Year	Single	Peak chart positions										Certifications	Album
		US [21]	US Main [22]	US AC [23]	US Country [24]	CAN [25]	UK [26]	IRE [27]	AUS [2]	NZ [8]	GER [28]
1980	"Small Paradise"	87	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—		John Cougar
	"A Little Night Dancin'"	105	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
	"This Time"	27	—	—	—	—	—	—	43	—	—		Nothin' Matters and What If It Did
1981	"Ain't Even Done with the Night"	17	44	—	—	15 [29]	—	—	—	—	—
	"Hot Night in a Cold Town"	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1982	"Hurts So Good"	2	1	—	—	3 [30]	—	—	5	39	—	RIAA: Gold[4] MC: Platinum[12]	American Fool
	"Jack & Diane"	1	3	—	—	1 [31]	25	7	7	—	—	RIAA: Gold[4] BPI: Silver[19] MC: Platinum[12]
	"Thundering Hearts"	—	36	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
	"Hand to Hold on To"	19	—	—	—	41 [32]	89	26	97	—	—
1983	"Crumblin' Down"	9	2	—	—	9 [33]	—	—	42	—	—		Uh-huh
	"Pink Houses"	8	3	—	—	15 [34]	—	—	69	—	—
1984	"Serious Business"	—	34	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
	"Play Guitar"	—	28	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
	"Authority Song"	15	15	—	—	41 [35]	—	—	93	—	—
1985	"Lonely Ol' Night"	6	1	37	—	7 [36]	138	—	32	50	—		Scarecrow
	"Small Town"	6	2	13	—	13 [37]	53	—	80	40	—
	"Justice and Independence '85"	—	28	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1986	"Minutes to Memories"	—	14	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
	"R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A. (A Salute to '60s Rock)"	2	6	36	—	7 [38]	67	—	18	17	—	MC: Gold[12]
	"Under the Boardwalk"	—	19	—	—	—	—	—		—	—		non-album
	"Rain on the Scarecrow"	21	16	—	—	—	—	—	34	—	—		Scarecrow
	"Rumbleseat"	28	4	—	—	—	—	—	84	—	—
1987	"Paper in Fire"	9	1	—	—	3 [39]	86	—	13	16	—		The Lonesome Jubilee
	"Cherry Bomb"	8	1	12	—	5 [40]	—	—	20	4	—	MC: Gold[12]
	"Hard Times for an Honest Man"	—	10	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
	"The Real Life"	—	3	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1988	"Check It Out"	14	3	—	—	10 [41]	96	—	22	18	—	MC: Gold[12]
	"Rooty Toot Toot"	61	7	—	—	19 [42]	124	—	54	10	—
	"Rave On"	—	17	—	—	18 [43]	—	—	—	7	—		Cocktail soundtrack
1989	"Pop Singer"	15	2	—	—	1 [44]	93	—	8	1	87		Big Daddy
	"Jackie Brown"	48	20	31	82	23 [45]	—	—	47	30	—
	"Martha Say"	—	8	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
	"Let It Out (Let It All Hang Out)"	—	42	—	—	83 [46]	—	—	—	—	—
"—" denotes releases that did not chart

1990s singles

Year	Single	Peak chart positions									Album
		US [21]	US Main [22]	US AC [23]	US Adult [47]	CAN [25]	UK [26]	AUS [2][48]	NZ [8]	GER [28]
1991	"Get a Leg Up"	14	1	—	—	4 [49]	—	21	—	—	Whenever We Wanted
	"Love and Happiness"	—	5	—	—	54 [50]	—	—	—	—
1992	"Again Tonight"	36	1	46	—	8 [51]	—	39	—	—
	"Last Chance"	—	12	—	—	73 [52]	—	—	—	—
	"Now More Than Ever"	—	3	—	—	29 [53]	76	61	—	—
1993	"Human Wheels"	48	2	40	—	3	—	40	—	—	Human Wheels
	"What If I Came Knocking"	—	1	—	—	23 [54]	—	—	—	—
	"When Jesus Left Birmingham"	—	35	—	—	21 [55]	—	—	—	—
1994	"Junior"	—	35	—	—	45 [56]	—	—	—	—
	"Baby Please Don't Go"	—	—	—	—	72 [57]	—	—	—	—	Blue Chips soundtrack
	"Wild Night" (featuring Me'Shell Ndegéocello)	3	17	1	30	1 [58]	34	18	—	55	Dance Naked
	"Dance Naked"	41	21	37	—	7 [59]	—	79	—	—
1996	"Key West Intermezzo (I Saw You First)"	14	10	15	4	1	92	21	35	—	Mr. Happy Go Lucky
1997	"Just Another Day"	46	13	24	13	1	—	81	—	—
	"Without Expression"	—	25	—	—	14	—	—	—	—	The Best That I Could Do
1998	"Your Life Is Now"	—	15	19	23	3	—	136	—	92	John Mellencamp
1999	"I'm Not Running Anymore"	—	37	22	22	—	—	196	—	100
"—" denotes releases that did not chart

2000s singles

Year	Single	Peak chart positions					Album
		US [21]	US Main [22]	US AC [23]	US Adult [47]	US Country [24]
2000	"Yours Forever"	—	—	—	—	—	The Perfect Storm soundtrack
2001	"Peaceful World" (featuring India.Arie)[B]	—	38	27	11	—	Cuttin' Heads
2003	"To Washington"	—	—	—	—	—	Trouble No More
	"Teardrops Will Fall"	—	—	—	—	—
2004	"Walk Tall"	—	—	25	26	—	Words & Music
2006	"Our Country"	88	—	16	—	39	Freedom's Road
2007	"The Americans"	—	—	—	—	55
	"Someday"	—	—	—	—	—
2008	"My Sweet Love"	—	—	25	—	—	Life, Death, Love and Freedom
	"Troubled Land"	—	—	—	—	—
2009	"A Ride Back Home" (featuring Karen Fairchild)	—	—	—	—	—
"—" denotes releases that did not chart

2010s and 2020s singles

Year	Single	Album
2010	"No Better Than This"	No Better Than This
	"Save Some Time to Dream"
2014	"Troubled Man"	Plain Spoken
2020	"A Pawn in the White Man's Game"	non-album
2021	"Wasted Days" (featuring Bruce Springsteen)	Strictly a One-Eyed Jack
	"Chasing Rainbows"
2022	"Did You Say Such a Thing" (featuring Bruce Springsteen)
2023	"Hey God"	Orpheus Descending
	"The Eyes of Portland"

Featured singles

Year	Single	Artist	Peak chart positions	Album
			US Country [24]
1992	"Sweet Suzanne"	Buzzin' Cousins	68	Falling from Grace soundtrack
2004	"What Say You"[C]	Travis Tritt	21	My Honky Tonk History

Other appearances

Year	Song	Album
1987	"I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus"	A Very Special Christmas
1994	"Pink Houses" (live version)	The Unplugged Collection, Volume One[60]
2007	"This Land Is Your Land"	Song of America
2009	"Pink Houses" (live version)	The Official Inaugural Celebration (DVD)

Music videos

Year	Video	Director	Album
1978	"I Need a Lover"	David McMahon	A Biography
1979	"Miami"	Bruce Gowers	John Cougar
1980	"Small Paradise"
	"This Time"		Nothin' Matters and What If It Did
1981	"Ain't Even Done with the Night"
1982	"Hurts So Good"		American Fool
	"Hand to Hold Onto"
	"Jack and Diane"
1983	"Crumblin' Down"	Chris Gabrin	Uh-huh
	"Pink Houses"
1984	"Authority Song"	Jay Dubin
1985	"Lonely Ol' Night"	Jonathan Kaplan	Scarecrow
	"Small Town"
1986	"R.O.C.K. in the USA (A Salute to '60s Rock)"	John Mellencamp
	"Rain on the Scarecrow"	Jonathan Kaplan
	"Rumbleseat"	Faye Cummins
1987	"Paper in Fire"	Jonathan Dark	The Lonesome Jubilee
	"Cherry Bomb"
	"I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus"		A Very Special Christmas
1988	"Check It Out"	Jonathan Dark	The Lonesome Jubilee
	"Rooty Toot Toot"
1989	"Pop Singer"		Big Daddy
	"Jackie Brown"	John Mellencamp
	"Let It Out (Let It All Hang Out)"	Wayne Maser
1991	"Get a Leg Up"		Whenever We Wanted
	"Love and Happiness"
1992	"Again Tonight"	Dennis Virkler
	"Now More Than Ever"
	"Sweet Suzanne" (Buzzin' Cousins)	Marty Callner	Falling from Grace soundtrack
1993	"Human Wheels"		Human Wheels
	"When Jesus Left Birmingham"
1994	"Baby Please Don't Go"		Blue Chips soundtrack
	"Wild Night" (with Meshell Ndegeocello)		Dance Naked
	"Dance Naked"
1996	"Key West Intermezzo (I Saw You First)"		Mr. Happy Go Lucky
	"Just Another Day"
1998	"Your Life Is Now"	Samuel Bayer	John Mellencamp
1999	"I'm Not Running Anymore"	Robert Duffy
2001	"Peaceful World" (with India.Arie)		Cuttin' Heads
2003	"To Washington"		Trouble No More
	"Teardrops Will Fall"
2004	"What Say You" (with Travis Tritt)	Chris Lenz	My Honky Tonk History
	"Walk Tall"		Words & Music
2006	"Our Country"	Deaton Flanigen	Freedom's Road
2007	"The Americans"	Eric de Fino
2008	"My Sweet Love"		Life, Death, Love and Freedom
	"Troubled Land"
2009	"A Ride Back Home" (with Karen Fairchild)	Jamie Anderson
2010	"No Better Than This"	Ian and Kurt Markus	No Betther Than This
2014	"Troubled Man"		Plain Spoken
2017	"Easy Target"		Sad Clowns & Hillbillies
2020	"A Pawn in the White Man's Game"[61]		non-album
2021	"Wasted Days" (with Bruce Springsteen)		Strictly a One-Eyed Jack
2023	"Hey God"		Orpheus Descending
	"The Eyes of Portland"

See also

• Falling from Grace
• Ghost Brothers of Darkland County

Notes

• A^ The Lonesome Jubilee also reached number 63 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart.^[62]
• B^ "Peaceful World" did not enter the Billboard Hot 100, but peaked at number 4 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100; an extension of the Hot 100 chart.^[63]
• C^ "What Say You" did not enter the Billboard Hot 100, but peaked at number 17 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100; an extension of the Hot 100 chart.^[63]