live albums that have surpassed the band's studio material in terms of popularity

"Cheap Trick At Budokan"

At least back then although now studio albums such as "In Color" and "Heaven Tonight" are probably seen as better.

All the answers here are gonna be from the 70s, I think, that was the only time that a lot of bands' breakthrough and/or most popular album was a live one (Cheap Trick's Live At Budokan xpost, Kiss's Alive, Little Feat's Waiting For Columbus, Allman Brothers Band's Live At Fillmore East), barring maybe some 90s jam bands.

jerry band

MC5, Kick Out The Jams

Alive 2007 has seen such a resurgence for the Daft, I would say it surpasses SOME of their studio material, mainly Human After All.

Les Rallizes Denudes?

... and Fushitsusha, yes.

Kiss--Alive
arguably Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison

"Live" was also Bob Marley's breakthrough although he had even more success with later works.

Arguably James Brown's Live At The Apollo (1962). Definitely his most popular album, but studio singles are more popular.

Geirbaiting.

Live Bullet, of course. And probably a shitload of "MTV Unplugged" albums.

Talking Heads "Stop Making Sense"

Oh yeah, almost forgot about Unplugged. But even the biggest ones (I guess Nirvana, Eric Clapton, and Alicia Keys) weren't the artist's most popular album. I think 10,000 Maniacs was the only Unplugged that might've been more popular than any of the band's studio albums.

I'm tempted to say 'Live & Dangerous'.

Question: Was the record of The Last Waltz the most popular release by The Band? If so, then add it to the pile..

yes.

Hawkwind Space Ritual

the who live at leeds?
that motorhead one?

no sleep till hammersmith, yeah

Tony Bennett-MTV Unplugged

Question: Was the record of The Last Waltz the most popular release by The Band? If so, then add it to the pile..

Nope. Music From Big Pink and The Band are definitely more popular.

the who live at leeds?

I wondered about that too, but I'm pretty sure Who's Next is way more popular.

Humble Pie, Performance Rockin' the Fillmore was not only their most popular but also their best.

This probably doesn't count, coz, like, they were never popular at all, but Live Skull's Don't Get Any on You, besides being the way I was introduced to the band, is also the best expression of what the band was capable of.

And who knows, maybe its miniscule sales were slightly less miniscule than those of Cloud Nine or Bringing Home The Bait

among soul & general purpose pop enthusiasts I think bill withers' live at carnegie hall has definitely surpassed his studio stuff, but as far as mainstream popularity goes it would basically be impossible to surpass bill withers' studio stuff

Humble Pie's Rockin' the Fillmore
Lou Reed's Rock 'n' Roll Animal ?

Dr. Feelgood - Stupidity (also their best, I think)

Jimi Hendrix - Band of Gypsies, since that band didn't really make a studio album?

I think Iron Maiden - Live After Death was one of their best-sellers.

Geirbaiting.

In fact he is right. :)
"Live At The Apollo" is the James Brown album most featured up there in polls.
And it's from 1962, at a time when James Browns music was still about songs to some extent. Boring, blues based ones, yes, but at least they were songs, not just rhythm.

Talking Heads "Stop Making Sense"

A very popular live album indeed. Yet it's no "Remain In Light" artistically, and arguably no "Little Creatures" commercially either.

Beatles live at the BBC

Well, it was obviously very popular, as you cannot hear them actually playing at all because of the audience noise. But it wasn't more popular by any means. Also because the loud audience noise meant their concerts all sounded pretty crappy. :)

No Sleep `Til Hammersmith by Motorhead -- maybe.

You guys are forgetting something.

http://christianfecteau.com/static/listen/yanni.jpg

Deep Purple's Made In Japan, at least in the US, I think.

ramones - it's alive

for a split second i thought that yanni was daniel day lewis

Not that I'm necessarily making an endorsement, but Five Man Acoutical Jam by Tesla is easily their biggest seller.

Piece of Mind, Powerslave, and Somewhere in Time have all outsold Live After Death in the US, while both The Number of the Beast and Seventh Son of a Seventh Son reached # 1 in the UK (As LAD did not). And we all know that Killers represents their creative zenith . . . .

ramones - it's alive

Yeah, so popular it was out of print for 25 years.

The first Hot Tuna album

portishead - pnyc

no

Climax Blues Band - FM Live

'Live At The Harlem Square Club' - Sam Cooke

Oh yeah, 'Sunday at the Village Vanguard', Bill Evans.

well you know, if you look at popularity amongst fans, 'it's alive' ranks with the better studio records

About half of Purple Rain is live, right?

Does it count if it's their only album?
The Quintet-Live at Massey Hall

Elvis at Madison Square Garden
The Weavers at Carnegie Hall

Gil-Scott Heron- Small Talk at 125th and Lenox?
Jerry Lee Lewis- Live at the Star Club