Studio Album · No. 7
Escape Songwriting Credits by Journey
Produced by Kevin Elson, Mike Stone · Engineered by Mike Stone (recording/mixing), Kevin Elson (recording/mixing)
Holds writing credit on 10 of 10 tracks
Authorship Breakdown 10 / 10 documented
Scored across the 10 tracks with documented writers, by whether Journey carries a lyricist or composer credit.
Share of the 10 tracks where a band member is credited, by role.
By the Numbers
Escape is Journey's commercial masterpiece. Produced by Kevin Elson and Mike Stone, it was the fifth-highest selling album of 1981 and was certified Diamond (10+ million copies) by the RIAA in 2021, a status reached by fewer than 150 albums in RIAA history. Four singles charted on the Hot 100: "Who's Crying Now" peaked at #4, "Open Arms" reached #2, "Don't Stop Believin'" peaked at #9 and later became the best-selling digital single in history before the streaming era (following its use in The Sopranos finale in 2007), and "Still They Ride" reached #19. Escape represents the commercial apex of Journey's Steve Perry era.
Escape is the 1981 seventh studio album by Journey, a rock record on Columbia Records that topped the Billboard 200 and became the band's most successful studio release. The album introduced keyboardist Jonathan Cain alongside Steve Perry on lead vocals, Neal Schon on lead guitar, Ross Valory on bass, and Steve Smith on drums, with Mike Stone and Kevin Elson producing at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley. It produced four Billboard Hot 100 hits in "Who's Crying Now" at number 4, "Open Arms" at number 2, "Don't Stop Believin'" at number 9, and "Still They Ride" at number 19, while "Stone in Love" became a rock radio staple. The album was later certified Diamond by the RIAA in 2021 for more than ten million units sold in the United States. Kerrang! readers voted Escape the greatest AOR album of all time in 1988.