Landslide (Fleetwood Mac song)

"Landslide" is a song by the British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, written and performed by Stevie Nicks. The song was first featured on the band's self-titled album Fleetwood Mac (1975). The original recording also appears on the compilation albums 25 Years – The Chain (1992), The Very Best of Fleetwood Mac (2002) and 50 Years – Don't Stop (2018), while a live version was released as a single 23 years later from the live reunion album The Dance (1997). "Landslide" reached No. 51 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and No. 10 on the Adult Contemporary chart. "Landslide" was certified gold in October 2009 for sales of over 500,000 copies in the United States. According to Nielsen Soundscan, "Landslide" sold 2,093,186 copies in the United States as of 2017.^[2]

"Landslide"
Song by Fleetwood Mac
from the album Fleetwood Mac
Released	July 1975 (1975-07)
Recorded	1975
Genre	Folk rock[1]
Length	3:19
Label	Reprise
Songwriter(s)	Stevie Nicks
Producer(s)	Fleetwood Mac Keith Olsen
Audio sample
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In 2021, the song was listed at No. 163 on Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Songs of All Time".^[3]

The song is written and composed in the key of B-flat major and is set in a ⁴
₄ time signature with a tempo of 80 beats per minute.^[4]

History

Stevie Nicks has said that she wrote the song while contemplating either going back to school or continuing on professionally with guitarist Lindsey Buckingham. Nicks wrote "Landslide" while she was financially supporting both herself and Buckingham by taking up jobs as both a waitress and a cleaning lady.^[5] Following the release of their debut album Buckingham Nicks, they had been dropped from their recording contract by Polydor Records before they could release a follow-up. Nicks wrote the song while visiting Aspen, Colorado, sitting in someone's living room "looking out at the Rocky Mountains pondering the avalanche of everything that had come crashing down on us ... at that moment, my life truly felt like a landslide in many ways."^[6]

Buckingham told The Austin Chronicle in 2007 that the song addressed some of the interpersonal issues that he was having with Nicks at the time. He thought that the song possessed a nice guitar solo while also maintaining that "Landslide" was not a "signature guitar piece". He said that he didn't take much ownership of "Landslide" and instead attributed the song to Nicks.^[7]

The song is one of Fleetwood Mac's most frequently performed during tours. Nicks has sung it on every Fleetwood Mac tour since joining the band, with the exception of the Shake the Cage Tour, and has performed it on all of her own solo tours from 2005's Two Voices Tour onwards.^[8] A live performance of "Landslide" recorded on 27 June 1980 at the London Wembley Arena was included on Live.^[9]

While "Landslide" was never issued as a single on its initial release in 1975, Fleetwood Mac did release a live version from Fleetwood Mac's 1997 album The Dance; it peaked at number 51 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the band's 24th entry on the chart. "Landslide" also reached the top 30 on both the US and Canadian adult contemporary charts. Other live recordings of "Landslide" also appear on Live in Boston (2004), Crystal Visions – The Very Best of Stevie Nicks (2007) (with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra), The Soundstage Sessions (2009), Soundstage (2004) and the Live in Chicago DVD (2009).

Critical reception

In a contemporary review, Rolling Stone wrote that Nicks seemed "lost and out of place" on "Landslide" and that her voice sounded "callow and mannered".^[10] Retrospective reviews have been more positive, with certain publications such as The Guardian and Paste ranking "Landslide" amongst the band's best work.^[11][12] AllMusic described "Landslide" as a traditional song "built on a very simple (and very effective) country-folk-inspired chord progression".^[13]

Personnel

• Stevie Nicks – vocals
• Lindsey Buckingham – guitars

Charts

Weekly charts Weekly chart performance for "Landslide" Chart (1998) Peak position Canada Adult Contemporary (RPM)[14] 21 US Billboard Hot 100[15] 51 US Adult Contemporary (Billboard)[16] 10 US Adult Pop Airplay (Billboard)[17] 26 Chart (2020) Peak position US Hot Rock & Alternative Songs (Billboard)[18] 13 Chart (2021) Peak position US Rock Digital Songs (Billboard)[19] 5

Year-end charts Year-end chart performance for "Landslide" Chart (1998) Position US Adult Contemporary (Billboard)[20] 25 US Adult Top 40 (Billboard)[21] 57

Certifications

Certifications and sales for "Landslide"

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Denmark (IFPI Danmark)[22]	Gold	45,000‡
New Zealand (RMNZ)[23]	5× Platinum	150,000‡
Spain (PROMUSICAE)[24]	Gold	30,000‡
United Kingdom (BPI)[25]	2× Platinum	1,200,000‡
United States (RIAA)[26]	Gold	2,093,186[2]
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Cover versions

The Smashing Pumpkins

"Landslide"
Song by the Smashing Pumpkins
from the album Pisces Iscariot
Released	4 October 1994 (1994-10-04)
Length	3:10
Label	Virgin
Songwriter(s)	Stevie Nicks
Producer(s)	Billy Corgan, Ted de Bono
Music video
"Landslide" on YouTube

Alternative rock band the Smashing Pumpkins recorded an acoustic arrangement of the song that was featured as the B-side to their 1994 single "Disarm" and later on their B-side collection Pisces Iscariot.

The group's arrangement went on to be one of the rock band's most-beloved tracks and even had the approval of Nicks herself. As she told fans during a 1998 online chat with SonicNet, "There's nothing more pleasing to a songwriter than [someone else] doing one of their songs. ['Landslide'] also led me to being friends with Billy Corgan and the possibility that we'll work together," she said of the Smashing Pumpkins frontman. "Over this song, there's been this incredible connection ... he reached out ... I believe that my poetry is really meant for everyone, no matter what age."

The new version was a hit, making it to the top three on the Modern Rock Tracks chart in the United States that year and No. 30 on the US Airplay charts. The song was also featured on the US version of their 2001 greatest hits album Rotten Apples. It was later used in the TV show Alias on season 1 in the 2002 episode "Page 47".

Charts

Weekly chart performance for "Landslide"

Chart (1994)	Peak position
Canada Top Singles (RPM)[27]	47
US Radio Songs (Billboard)[28]	30
US Alternative Airplay (Billboard)[29]	3

Dixie Chicks

"Landslide"
Single by Dixie Chicks
from the album Home
Released	26 August 2002 (2002-08-26)
Genre	Country
Length	3:50
Label	Open Wide Monument Columbia
Songwriter(s)	Stevie Nicks
Producer(s)	Dixie Chicks Lloyd Maines
Dixie Chicks singles chronology
"Long Time Gone" (2002) "Landslide" (2002) "Travelin' Soldier" (2002)
Music video
"Landslide" on YouTube

American country music group Dixie Chicks released a cover of "Landslide" on 26 August 2002 as the second single from their 2002 album, Home. Lead singer Natalie Maines said she was attracted to the song because she was then the same age that Nicks was when she first performed it. The band performed the song with Nicks at VH1 Divas Las Vegas in 2002.^{[citation needed]}

This version, featuring the band's two- and three-part harmonies, reached the top 10 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart.^[30][31] On the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart, it is the band's only number-one single.^[32] After Maines publicly criticised President George W. Bush and the imminent Allied invasion of Iraq, triggering a backlash, it fell to number 43 on the Billboard Hot 100 in one week and left the chart a week later.^[33]

Outside the United States, "Landslide" reached number two in Canada and became the band's only top-10 hit in Australia, where it reached number six.^[34][35] It was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and triple platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA).^[36][37]

Track listings

US and Canadian CD single^[38][39]

1. "Landslide" (album version) – 3:49
2. "Landslide" (the Sheryl Crow remix) – 3:47

Australian CD single^[40]

1. "Landslide" (the Sheryl Crow remix)
2. "Landslide"
3. "Landslide" (live from the Kodak Theater)
4. "Landslide" (video version)

European maxi-CD single^[41]

1. "Landslide" (album version) – 3:49
2. "Long Time Gone" – 4:08
3. "Landslide" (the Sheryl Crow remix) – 3:47
4. "Landslide" (the Sheryl Crow remix—video) – 3:45

UK CD single^[42]

1. "Landslide" (the Sheryl Crow remix) – 3:47
2. "Landslide" (album version) – 3:49
3. "Landslide" (live from the Kodak Theater) – 4:07
4. "Landslide" (the Sheryl Crow remix—video version) – 3:45

Charts

Weekly chart performance for "Landslide" Chart (2002) Peak position Australia (ARIA)[35] 6 Canada (Nielsen SoundScan)[34] 2 Ireland (IRMA)[43] 46 New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[44] 27 Scotland (OCC)[45] 59 UK Singles (OCC)[46] 55 US Billboard Hot 100[30] 7 US Adult Contemporary (Billboard)[32] 1 US Adult Pop Airplay (Billboard)[47] 2 US Hot Country Songs (Billboard)[31] 2 US Pop Airplay (Billboard)[48] 13

Year-end chart performance for "Landslide" Chart (2002) Position Canada (Nielsen SoundScan)[49] 34 US Hot Country Singles & Tracks (Billboard)[50] 48 Chart (2003) Position Australia (ARIA)[51] 42 US Billboard Hot 100[52] 35 US Adult Contemporary (Billboard)[53] 17 US Adult Top 40 (Billboard)[53] 19 US Hot Country Singles & Tracks (Billboard)[54] 66 US Mainstream Top 40 (Billboard)[55] 70

Certifications

Certifications and sales for "Landslide"

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[37]	3× Platinum	210,000‡
New Zealand (RMNZ)[56]	2× Platinum	60,000‡
United States (RIAA)[36]	2× Platinum	2,000,000‡
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Release history

Release dates and formats for "Landslide"

Region	Date	Format(s)	Label(s)	Ref.
United States	26 August 2002	Country radio	Open Wide Monument Columbia	[57]
	28 October 2002	Adult contemporary hot AC triple A radio		[58]
	18 November 2002	Contemporary hit radio		[59]
Australia	24 March 2003	CD		[60]
United Kingdom	7 April 2003		Columbia	[61]

Glee version

In 2011, the cast of Fox Broadcasting Company's musical television program, Glee, performed the song in season 2, episode 15, "Sexy". Gwyneth Paltrow, Naya Rivera, and Heather Morris are featured on vocals for this version. Stevie Nicks attended the filming of the song and stated that it was a "beautiful mix" of the original and the Chicks version.^[62]

Other cover versions

• Anohni recorded the song for the tribute album Just Tell Me That You Want Me: A Tribute to Fleetwood Mac.^[63]
• Harry Styles performed this song with Nicks during his show at the Troubadour in May 2017.^[64]
• The Japanese House recorded a cover of this song for Spotify Singles, released 26 July 2017.^[65]
• Parodied by Lucy Lawless (in character as Stevie Nicks) in a 17 October 1998 season 24 episode of Saturday Night Live.^[66]
• On 12 March 2019, Australian pop singer Conrad Sewell recorded a cover of the song for Australian bank Westpac, in a campaign designed to target families dealing with separation and the resulting financial consequences.^[67][68] Branding in Asia described the rendition as "powerful",^[69] while The Music Network's Jake Challenor praised Sewell's performance as "soulful and emotionally charged".^[68]
• Gus Dapperton released a cover in 2022 to mark his signing to Warner Brothers Records.^[70]
• Brittany Snow (as Bobby-Lynne Parker) and Scott Mescudi (as Jackson Hollis) performed a cover in the Ti West period slasher film X (2022), which is set in 1979, four years after the original song had been released.^[71]

See also

• List of Billboard Adult Contemporary number ones of 2003