Tori Amos is an American singer-songwriter and pianist whose musical career began in 1980, at the age of 17, when she and her brother co-wrote the song "Baltimore". The song was selected as the winning song in a contest for the Baltimore Orioles and was recorded and pressed locally as a 7" single. From 1984 to 1989, Amos fronted the synth-pop band Y Kant Tori Read, which released one eponymous studio album with Atlantic Records in 1988 before breaking up. Shortly thereafter, Amos began writing and recording material that would serve as the debut of her solo career. Still signed with Atlantic, and its UK counterpart East West, Amos' initial solo material was rejected by the label in 1990. Under the guidance of co-producers Eric Rosse, Davitt Sigerson and Ian Stanley, a second version of the album was created and accepted by the label the following year.
Amos' solo career began in October 1991 with the UK release of the Me and a Gun extended play (EP). The following month, after the first track on the EP was receiving more airplay than the title track, the label reissued the EP with the same artwork, but changed the title to Silent All These Years. Although the second version of the EP reached only No. 51 on the UK chart, BBC Radio 1 picked it as "Record of the Week", which helped Amos get her initial exposure. Her debut solo studio album, Little Earthquakes, was released two months later in January 1992. The album peaked at No. 14 on the Australian and UK Albums Chart and at No. 54 on the U.S. Billboard 200. Upon its release, the album received mostly positive reviews and was labeled an important album that kick-started the female singer-songwriter movement of the 1990s. Despite reaching only No. 54 on the Billboard 200, Little Earthquakes was a mainstay on the chart for 38 weeks and remains Amos' highest-selling album in the United States.
Subsequent albums with Atlantic were released at approximately two-year intervals. Amos' sophomore effort, Under the Pink, co-produced with Eric Rosse, debuted in February 1994 at number 12 on the Billboard 200 and number 1 on the UK Albums Chart. Boys for Pele, Amos' third solo album and the first album that was self-produced, debuted in January 1996 at number 2 on both the US and UK charts, making it her highest simultaneous trans-Atlantic debut. From the Choirgirl Hotel, Amos' first album written and recorded with bandmates Matt Chamberlain on drums, Jon Evans on bass and Steve Caton on guitar, and her first album recorded at her in-home recording studio, Martian Engineering, debuted in May 1998 at number 5 on the Billboard 200 and at number 6 on the UK Albums Chart. The following year, To Venus and Back, a double album of studio and live material recorded with Chamberlain, Evans and Caton, debuted in September 1999 at number 12 in the US and at number 22 in the UK. In September 2001, Strange Little Girls, a covers album recorded with Chamberlin on drums, Evans and Justin Meldal-Johnsen on bass and Adrian Belew on guitar, debuted at number 4 on the Billboard 200 and at number 16 on the UK Albums Chart.
Due to professional conflicts, after working with Atlantic for the first 15 years of her career, Amos decided to seek another label. She joined Epic Records and released three albums over the next five years: Scarlet's Walk in October 2002, The Beekeeper in February 2005 and American Doll Posse in May 2007. On all three albums, Amos performed with Chamberlin on drums, Evans on bass and Mac Aladdin on guitar. Each album debuted in the Top 10 of the Billboard 200, placing Amos in an elite group of women who have secured five or more Top 10 album debuts. Amos negotiated an end to her contract with Epic following the release of American Doll Posse, announcing in 2008 that she will be operating independently of record labels. In early 2009, Amos signed a distribution, or joint-venture, deal with Universal Republic Records, a division of Universal Music Group, which granted her greater creative control over her work than traditional recording contracts. Amos released two albums her first year under the contract: Abnormally Attracted to Sin in May 2009 and the seasonal album Midwinter Graces, featuring reworked Christmas carols and some original songs, in November 2009. Abnormally Attracted to Sin is Amos's seventh album to debut on the US Top 10 on the Billboard 200. Amos followed up with her first classical music album, Night of Hunters, recorded with Andreas Ottensamer of the Berlin Philharmonic and the award-winning string quartet, Apollon Musagète. Night of Hunters was released in September 2011, through the Deutsche Grammophon label, the classical music division of Universal Music Group. With Night of Hunters, Amos made Billboard history by being the first female artist to have an album place in the Top 10 of the Classical, Alternative, and Rock charts simultaneously.
To date in her solo career, Amos has recorded and released a total of 16 solo studio albums, multiple live releases, three compilation albums, one of which is a five-disc box set released through Rhino Entertainment, and numerous singles and EPs. Amos has contributed to numerous film soundtracks as well.
Albums Studio albums + List of albums, with selected chart positions Title Album details Peak chart positions Sales Certifications US AUSAustralian (ARIA) peaks: Top 50 peaks: Top 100 peaks to December 2010: "Crucify": N.B. The HP column displays the highest peak reached. "God": "Pretty Good Year": "Caught a Lite Sneeze": "Raspberry Swirl": "Silent All These Years", "Past the Mission" and "Talula": "1000 Oceans": Midwinter Graces: Gold Dust: Unrepentant Geraldines: All chart peaks outside the top 100, to September 20, 2017: N.B. The High Point number in the NAT column represents the release's peak on the national chart. In Times of Dragons: AUT BEL (Fl) CAN FRA GER N.B. Select Album tab to display albums chart peaks. NL SWISwiss chart peaks: Albums: Singles: UK Little EarthquakesReleased: January 6, 1992 Label: Atlantic, East West 54 14 — — 49 43 65 71 — 14WW: 3,000,000 US: 1,900,000 CAN: 60,000 UK: 200,000RIAA: 2× Platinum Note: User must define search parameters, i.e. "Amos, Tori". ARIA: Gold BEA: Gold BPI: Gold MC: Gold NVPI: Gold Under the PinkReleased: January 31, 1994 Label: Atlantic, East West 12 5 6 — 11 20 15 10 11 1WW: 2,000,000 US: 1,400,000 CAN: 42,000RIAA: 2× Platinum ARIA: Platinum BPI: Platinum MC: Gold NVPI: Gold Boys for PeleReleased: January 22, 1996 Label: Atlantic, East West 2 6 9 8 6 33 9 6 14 2WW: 2,000,000 US: 1,000,000RIAA: Platinum ARIA: Gold BPI: Gold MC: Gold From the Choirgirl HotelReleased: May 4, 1998 Label: Atlantic, East West 5 8 11 13 10 30 13 24 31 6US: 778,000RIAA: Platinum BPI: Gold MC: Gold To Venus and BackReleased: September 21, 1999 Label: Atlantic 12 6 17 13 18 31 11 24 27 22US: 458,000RIAA: Platinum Strange Little GirlsReleased: September 18, 2001 Label: Atlantic 4 7 18 6 8 26 11 27 34 16US: 395,000 Scarlet's WalkReleased: October 28, 2002 Label: Epic, Sony Music 7 20 26 15 13 32 9 17 21 26US: 618,000RIAA: Gold The BeekeeperReleased: February 20, 2005 Label: Epic, Sony BMG 5 20 8 11 16 44 8 13 13 24US: 295,000 American Doll PosseReleased: May 1, 2007 Label: Epic, Sony BMG 5 20 14 22 15 48 10 5 15 50US: 152,000 Abnormally Attracted to SinReleased: May 18, 2009 Label: Universal Republic 9 28 12 23 24 61 16 22 14 20US: 92,000 Midwinter GracesReleased: November 10, 2009 Label: Universal Republic 66 152 — — — 133 — 99 — 97UK: 2,619 Night of HuntersReleased: September 20, 2011 Label: Deutsche Grammophon 24 42 22 25 38 70 12 34 33 27US: 18,000 Gold DustReleased: October 1, 2012 Label: Deutsche Grammophon, Mercury Classics 63 60 46 27 — 156 48 24 95 36UK: 3,791 Unrepentant GeraldinesReleased: May 9, 2014 Label: Mercury Classics 7 58 17 23 26 61 15 10 20 13US: 20,000 Native InvaderReleased: September 8, 2017 Label: Decca 39 113 21 19 — 71 18 20 23 16US: 11,392 Ocean to OceanReleased: October 29, 2021 Label: Decca 104 46 23 54 — 200 26 44 15 25US: 10,000 The Music of Tori and the MusesReleased: February 28, 2025 Label: Universal — — — — — — — — — — In Times of DragonsReleased: May 1, 2026 Label: Universal — 56 14 15 — 168 6 36 10 13 "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory.
As Y Kant Tori Read + List of albums, with selected chart positions Title Album details Sales Y Kant Tori Read Released: 1988 Label: AtlanticWW: 7,000
Compilations Title Album details Peak chart positions Sales Certifications US AUS CAN UK More Pink: The B-SidesReleased: November 14, 1994 Label: Atlantic, East West — 44 — — Tales of a LibrarianReleased: November 17, 2003 Label: Atlantic 40 93 86 74US: 239,000ARIA: Gold BPI: Silver A Piano: The CollectionReleased: September 26, 2006 Label: Rhino — — — —US: 26,000 Little Earthquakes – The B-SidesReleased: April 22, 2023 Label: Atlantic 173 — — — "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory.
Live albums Title Album details Peak chart positions Sales Certifications US AUS CAN UK To Venus and BackReleased: September 20, 1999 Label: Atlantic 12 6 18 22US: 458,000RIAA: Platinum Live at Montreux 1991/1992Released: September 22, 2008 Label: Eagle — — — — Diving Deep LiveReleased: December 6, 2024 Label: Decca — — — — "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory.
Official bootlegs Title Album details Sales The Original BootlegsReleased: August 30, 2005 – December 6, 2005 Label: Epic, Sony BMGUS: 6,000 Legs and BootsReleased: October 13, 2007 – December 12, 2007 Label: Epic, Sony BMG From Russia with LoveReleased: December 3, 2010 Label: toriamos.com
Extended plays Although all of Amos' singles released by Atlantic were in an EP-style format, only two of her releases are labeled as such. To date, Scarlet's Hidden Treasures and Christmastide are Amos' only EPs completely comprising non-LP tracks.
Title Details Peak chart positions Sales US CrucifyReleased: May 12, 1992 Label: Atlantic, East West —US: 420,000 Hey JupiterReleased: August 20, 1996 Label: Atlantic, East West94US: 172,000 Scarlet's Hidden TreasuresReleased: May 18, 2004 Label: Epic, Sony BMG — Exclusive SessionReleased: June 7, 2005 Label: Epic, Sony BMG — Flavor (Peter Rauhofer Mixes)Released: December 4, 2012 Label: Deutsche Grammophon — ChristmastideReleased: December 4, 2020 Label: Decca — "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory.
Singles + List of singles, with selected chart positions Title Year Peak chart positions Certifications Album US US Alt US Adult US AAA US Dance AUS CAN FRA IRE UK "Baltimore" 1980 — — — — — — — — — — "Me and a Gun" 1991 — — — — — — — — — — Little Earthquakes "Silent All These Years" — 27 — — — 128 — — — 51 "China" 1992 — — — — — — — — — 51 "Winter" — — — — — 49 — — — 25 "Crucify" — 22 — — — 83 74 17 25 15"Silent All These Years" (UK reissue) — — — — — — — — — 26 "Cornflake Girl" 1994 — 12 — — — 19 30 — 9 4 BPI: Silver Under the Pink "God" 72 1 — — — 65 87 — — 44 "Pretty Good Year" — — — — — 85 — — 26 7 "Past the Mission" — — — — — 116 — — 25 31 "Caught a Lite Sneeze" 1996 60 13 — 3 — 51 20 — 21 20Boys for Pele "Talula" — — — — — 131 — — — 22"Professional Widow" — — — — 1 — 38 — — — BPI: Silver "Hey Jupiter" / "Professional Widow" — — — — — 17 — — — 20 "In the Springtime of His Voodoo" — — — — 6 — — — — —"Professional Widow (It's Got to Be Big)" — — — — — 17 — 35 2 1 ARIA: Gold