Album
Holy Diver
Holy Diver is the debut studio album from Dio, the American heavy metal band, released on 25 May 1983 through Mercury Records. It sits at the very start of a run of studio albums that stretches from here to Master of the Moon in 2004, and it set the standard for everything that followed. The sound is traditional heavy metal, with a hard rock backbone running through it.
It is also the band's most successful record. The music press received it warmly, and two singles, "Holy Diver" and "Rainbow in the Dark", both got radio play. In the US it was eventually certified double platinum by the RIAA for two million copies sold. If you want to know where Dio began, or which record the band is best remembered for, start here, then move on to The Last in Line, which followed in 1984.
Holy Diver: tracklist, credits and charts
9 tracks · 41:33Tracklist
- 1Stand Up And Shout3:19
- 2Holy Diver5:52
- 3Gypsy3:38
- 4Caught In The Middle4:17
- 5Don't Talk To Strangers4:53
- 6Straight Through The Heart4:34
- 7Invisible5:25
- 8Rainbow In The DarkAppice, Bain, Campbell, Dio4:14
- 9Shame On The Night5:19
- Produced by
- Ronnie James Dio
- Recorded at
- Sound City Studios, Sound City (Van Nuys, California)
- Recorded
- 1983
- Engineered by
- Angelo Arcuri
- Labels
- Mercury Records, Warner Bros.
- Length
- 41:33
Line-up
- Vinny Appice · drums (drum set) · guest
- Jimmy Bain · keyboard, electric bass guitar · guest
- Vivian Campbell · guitar · guest
- Ronnie James Dio · keyboard, lead vocals · guest
Singles
- “Holy Diver” · 12 August 1983
- “Rainbow in the Dark” · 21 October 1983
Peak chart positions
| Chart | Peak |
|---|---|
| UK Albums Chart · 1983 | 13 |
| US Billboard 200 · 1983 | 56 |
| UK Rock & Metal Albums · 2021 | 9 |
| Finnish Albums (The Official Finnish Charts) · 1983 | 15 |
| Swedish Albums · 1983 | 18 |
| New Zealand Albums · 1983 | 43 |
| German Albums · 1983 | 52 |
| Scottish Albums · 2021 | 86 |
| Japanese Albums (Oricon) · 2012 | 176 |
Certifications
| Region | Certification |
|---|---|
| United Kingdom · 1986 | Silver |
| United States · 2022 | 2× Platinum |
From MusicBrainz, Wikipedia and Wikidata. Only what the sources record is shown.
82.2
Popularity (0–100, vs the whole vault)
8.4k
ListenBrainz listeners
136k
Wikipedia views, last 12 months
38k
Deezer fans (all editions)
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More from Dio
Full discography →
The Last in Line
1984
Sacred Heart
1985
The Dio E.P.
1986
Intermission
1986
Dream Evil
1987
Lock Up the Wolves
1990
Diamonds: The Best of Dio
1992
Strange Highways
1993
Angry Machines
1996
DIO's Inferno: The Last in Live
1998
Magica
2000
The Very Beast of Dio
2000
Killing the Dragon
2002
Evil or Divine: Live in New York City
2003
Master of the Moon
2004
Metal Hits
2005
Holy Diver Live
2006
Dio at Donington UK: Live 1983 & 1987
2010
The Very Beast of Dio, Volume 2
2012
Live in London: Hammersmith Apollo 1993
2014
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Releases and pressings
How we know the release date wikipedia + musicbrainz + wikidata
| Source | Date | Note |
|---|---|---|
| MusicBrainz | 25 May 1983 | |
| Wikipedia infobox | 25 May 1983 | |
| Wikidata | 25 May 1983 | |
| US release | 25 May 1983 | earliest US date |
| UK / Europe release | 1983 | earliest UK or European date |
31 editions
| Date | Country | Label | Barcode | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | XE | Warner Records | 075992383622 | other |
| — | CA | Warner Bros. Records | 075992383622 | other |
| — | XE | Mercury Records | 042281102127 | other |
| 1983 | JP | Mercury Records | other | |
| 1983 | NL | Mercury Records | other | |
| 1983 | US | Warner Bros. Records | 020831320825 | other |
| 1983 | JP | Mercury Records | other | |
| 1983 | GB | Vertigo | other | |
| 1983 | US | Warner Bros. Records | other | |
| May 1983 | DE | Mercury Records | 042281102110 | other |
| May 1983 | GB | — | other | |
| 25 May 1983 | US | Warner Bros. Records | 075992383622 | original |
| 25 May 1983 | US | Warner Bros. Records | original | |
| 1984 | JP | Vertigo | other | |
| 5 July 1986 | JP | Vertigo | 4988011301315 | other |
| 21 December 1989 | JP | Mercury Records | 4988011319372 | other |
| 5 December 1991 | JP | Mercury Records | 4988011329524 | other |
| 6 November 1994 | JP | Mercury Records | 4988011343339 | other |
| 13 November 2002 | JP | Vertigo | 4988005317179 | remaster |
| 4 October 2005 | GB | Mercury Records | 602498309940 | other |
| 11 December 2007 | — | Rhino | 603497986576 | other |
| 19 December 2007 | JP | Vertigo | 4988005498878 | other |
| 1 January 2012 | AF | UMC | 600753378359 | deluxe |
| 14 February 2012 | US | Audio Fidelity | 780014213626 | other |
| 19 March 2012 | XE | Universal UMC | 600753378359 | other |
| 27 September 2012 | JP | Mercury Records | 4988005693457 | other |
| 2015 | — | Rhino | other | |
| 9 January 2018 | US | Warner Bros. Records | 603497864508 | other |
| 8 July 2022 | US | Rhino | 00603497837380 | other |
| 8 July 2022 | — | Warner Records | 603497844661 | deluxe |
| 5 May 2023 | XE | Mercury Records | 602567188148 | other |
Cover art sources
coverartarchive · native: native 2560x2560
| Source | Size | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| coverartarchive ✓ | 2560×2560 | native: native 2560x2560 |
| deezer | 1200×1200 | upscaled |
| fanarttv | 1000×1000 | upscaled |