The discography of American singer Donna Summer includes 17 studio albums and 89 singles, plus several other releases. Her first single, "Wassermann", a German version of the song "Aquarius" from the musical Hair, was released in Europe in 1968 under her maiden name, Donna Gaines. She would become known as Donna Summer from 1974 onwards. Her first full-length album under that name was Lady of the Night.
Summer has sold more than 100 million records worldwide. Billboard list her as the 14th greatest female soloist of all time (51st overall). She has scored three number one albums on the US Billboard 200, sixteen number one hits on the US Dance Club Songs and four chart-topping singles in the Billboard Hot 100, earning her title as the reigning "Queen of Disco". Bad Girls remains the biggest selling album of her career with over 4 million copies sold worldwide. Summer holds the record for most consecutive double albums to hit number one on the Billboard charts (3) and first female to have four number-one singles in a 12-month period; three as a solo artist and one as a duet with Barbra Streisand.
Label associations Summer's debut album, Lady of the Night, was released only in the Netherlands by Groovy Records. This was followed by her first international release, Love to Love You Baby, issued by Giorgio Moroder's Oasis Records in association with Casablanca Records in the United States and Canada. (At this time Summer would again become based in the United States, having lived in Germany for several years previously.) "Love to Love You Baby" was her first single in the US; it was recorded on Oasis Records, which would join with Casablanca Records to release it in the US. Casablanca would assume responsibility for recording and distributing Summer's albums during the 1970s and in the process became one of the premier labels of that decade.
While Casablanca would become the main label responsible for managing Summer, Groovy continued to distribute her work in the Netherlands and other labels were used to distribute her work in other countries, such as GTO in the United Kingdom, Atlantic in Germany and France, Polar in Sweden and Durium in Italy. From 1977's Once Upon a Time... album, Casablanca would take over the distribution of Summer's albums in most countries (though her releases in the Netherlands would be issued by Philips and (until 1978 and 1979 respectively) would continue to be issued by Atlantic in Germany and France). As a result, some of her former labels released hits compilation albums in an attempt to cash in on losing her: GTO even scored a Top 5 placing in the United Kingdom with The Greatest Hits of Donna Summer. Summer remained with Casablanca, who helped make her one of the biggest stars in music and "The Queen of Disco" until the end of 1979, when she left due to personal and professional disputes with them and filed a lawsuit against them.
Summer subsequently became the first ever artist to be signed to David Geffen's Geffen Records and, after refusing to release her second album recorded for them (in 1981), they requested that she no longer work with long-term collaborator Giorgio Moroder, who had produced and co-written the vast majority of her hits in the previous decade. From the following album (issued in 1982), her Geffen work outside North America would be distributed by Warner Bros. Records, the umbrella company to Geffen.
By 1983, Casablanca had been bought out by PolyGram Records, who informed Summer that she still owed them an album as per her legal settlement with Casablanca. She delivered the album She Works Hard for the Money, which PolyGram chose to release on its Mercury Records imprint as opposed to Casablanca, Summer's former label. Following this, she released another album with Geffen a year later, but they reportedly refused to release much of her material in the remainder of the decade and, after they refused to release her album Another Place and Time in 1988, Summer left the label. However, Warner Bros. released the record in Europe the following year where it became a success, resulting in Summer being signed to their Atlantic label in North America. She remained signed to Atlantic and Warner Bros. until the early 1990s.
In 1990, Geffen Records was sold to MCA Records, which was owned by alcoholic beverage-maker Seagram; although Summer was no longer an artist on Geffen Records. In 1998, PolyGram and its imprints were purchased by Seagram, which merged the company with its MCA Records label and imprints to create the gigantic Universal Music Group. This had the result of Summer's MCA, Oasis, Casablanca, Geffen, and Mercury releases now being owned by one conglomerate, Universal Music. This catalogue of Summer's material stretches from 1971 to 1987 for Universal Music Group.
Summer again signed to PolyGram's Mercury label, who released two hits compilation albums, her 1994 Christmas album and the previously unreleased second Geffen album from 1981. Mercury also re-released some of Summer's Warner Bros. albums in the 1990s. By the end of the decade, she was signed to Sony's Epic Records, who released a live album. Her final album, in 2008, was released by Sony's Burgundy Records.
After 1987, Donna Summer owned the masters to her recordings released by Geffen/Warner Bros, Atlantic Records, Epic Records and Burgundy Records releases.
Albums
All albums were released internationally unless otherwise stated. The record labels given are those used to release the records in the US (unless of course they were not released in that country). As explained in the previous paragraph, other labels were sometimes used to distribute Summer's work in other countries (most notably for the Casablanca/Geffen/Atlantic albums). From Once Upon a Time through to the end of the Casablanca albums, this label was used to distribute Summer's work in most nations.
Studio albums Year Title Peak chart positions Certifications Record label US US R&B AUSAustralian chart peaks: Top 100 (Kent Music Report) peaks to June 12, 1988: N.B. The Kent Music Report chart was licensed by ARIA from mid-1983 to June 12, 1988. Top 50 (ARIA) peaks from June 13, 1988: Another Place and Time (ARIA) peak: "Love's About to Change My Heart" (ARIA) peak: Top 100 (ARIA) peaks from January 1990 to December 2010: "Melody of Love (Wanna Be Loved)" (ARIA) peak: N.B. The HP column displays the highest peak reached. All ARIA-era (June 13, 1988, onward) peaks to July 22, 2020: N.B. The High Point number in the NAT column indicates the release's peak on the national chart. CAN GER NL NZ UK 1974 Lady of the Night — — — — — — — — Groovy 1975 Love to Love You Baby 11 6 7 16 23 — — 16 RIAA: Gold BPI: Gold Casablanca 1976 A Love Trilogy 21 16 32 6 24 — — 41 RIAA: Gold BPI: Gold Four Seasons of Love 29 13 — 16 31 — — — RIAA: Gold BPI: Silver 1977 I Remember Yesterday 18 11 4 15 7 6 12 3 RIAA: Gold BPI: Gold Once Upon a Time... 26 13 44 27 — — — 24 RIAA: Gold BPI: Gold MC: Gold 1979 Bad Girls 1 1 6 1 7 24 3 23 RIAA: 2× Platinum BPI: Silver MC: 2× Platinum RMNZ: Gold 1980 The Wanderer 13 12 18 — 54 — 16 55 RIAA: Gold Geffen 1982 Donna Summer 20 6 45 32 37 4 — 13 RIAA: Gold NVPI: Platinum 1983 She Works Hard for the Money 9 5 21 23 14 9 47 28 RIAA: Gold MC: Gold Mercury 1984 Cats Without Claws 40 24 91 84 39 19 — 69 Geffen 1987 All Systems Go 122 53 — — — 72 — — 1989 Another Place and Time 53 71 93 60 49 29 — 17 BPI: Gold Atlantic 1991 Mistaken Identity — 97 — — — — — — 1994 Christmas Spirit — — — — — — — —Mercury 1996 I'm a Rainbow — — — — — — — — 2008 Crayons 17 5 244 — 73 — — — Burgundy "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. Released in the Netherlands only. Love to Love You Baby and A Love Trilogy released by Oasis in North America in association with Casablanca. Love to Love You Baby, A Love Trilogy, Four Seasons of Love and I Remember Yesterday released by various labels outside of North America including Groovy, who continued to distribute Summer's work in the Netherlands, GTO in the United Kingdom and Atlantic in Germany and France. Once Upon a Time... also released by Atlantic in Germany and France. Once Upon a Time... and Bad Girls released by Philips in the Netherlands. Recorded in 1981 but unreleased until 1996 and released in North America and Japan only. Recorded in 1981 while Summer was signed to Geffen (who refused to release it). Eventually released by Mercury in 1996. Released by Warner Bros. outside of North America. Released only in North America.
Live albums YearTitle Peak chart positions Certifications Record label US US R&B AUS CAN GER NL NZ UK 1978 Live and More 1 4 27 2 — 25 4 16 RIAA: Platinum BPI: Gold MC: 2× Platinum Casablanca 1999 Live & More Encore 43 33 112 — 75 — — — Epic "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. Released by Philips in the Netherlands and Atlantic in France.
Compilations Main compilations These compilation albums were issued by the record labels to which Summer was signed at the time of their releases. She had full involvement in the putting together of them and recorded new material for them.
YearTitlePeak chart positions Certifications(sales thresholds) Record label US US R&B AUS CAN GER NL NZ UK 1979 On the Radio: Greatest Hits Volumes I & II 1 4 16 10 42 40 2 24 RIAA: 2× Platinum BPI: Gold MC: Platinum RMNZ: Platinum Casablanca 1994 Endless Summer: Donna Summer's Greatest Hits 90 — 93 — — 75 10 37 BPI: Gold Mercury 2003 The Journey: The Very Best of Donna Summer 88 65 54 64 — 57 — 6 BPI: Gold UTV "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. Released by Philips in The Netherlands; also available there with different artwork under the title Wereldsuccessen.
Other official compilations These compilation albums were also issued by the record labels to which Summer was signed (or had recently left) at the time of their releases. However, some of them were only released in certain countries (particularly if a certain label was used to distribute Summer's work exclusively in that country/those countries) and none contained any new material from Summer (although The Donna Summer Anthology featured two tracks from the then unreleased 1981 I'm A Rainbow album).
YearTitlePeak chart positions Certifications(sales thresholds) Record label US US R&B AUS GER NL UK 1977 Greatest Hits — — — — 30 —Groovy/Atlantic The Greatest Hits of Donna Summer — — — — — 4 BPI: Gold GTO 1978 Lo Mejor De Donna Summer Volume 1 — — — — — — Casablanca Lo Mejor De Donna Summer Volume 2 — — — — — — 1980 Walk Away - Collector's Edition: The Best of 1977-1980 50 54 — — — — 1985 The Summer Collection: Greatest Hits — — — — — — Mercury 1987 The Dance Collection: A Compilation of Twelve Inch Singles — — — — — — Casablanca 1990 The Best of Donna Summer — — 124 76 44 24 BPI: Gold Warner Bros. 1993 The Donna Summer Anthology — — 144 — — — Mercury 1998 Greatest Hits 194 — — — — — 2003 20th Century Masters – The Millennium Collection: The Best of Donna Summer 101 — — — — — 2016 The Ultimate Collection — — — — — 30 BPI: SilverDriven by the Music "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. Released only in The Netherlands and Germany with different artwork by Groovy and Atlantic respectively. These labels were responsible for distributing Summer's earlier work in those countries and released the compilations independently of any other label. Released only in the United Kingdom (with a slightly different track listing to the Dutch/German Greatest Hits releases and similar [but not identical] artwork to the Dutch one) by GTO. This label was responsible for distributing Summer's earlier work in that country and released the compilation independently of any other label. Released only in South America.