Editing Led Zeppelin II (section)

==Release and reception==
The album was released on 22 October 1969 on [[Atlantic Records]], with advance orders of 400,000 copies.<ref name="Welch">Welch, Chris (1994) ''Led Zeppelin'', London: Orion Books. {{ISBN|1-85797-930-3}}, p. 40.</ref> The advertising campaign was built around the slogans 'Led Zeppelin – The Only Way to Fly' and 'Led Zeppelin II Now Flying'.{{sfn|Lewis|1990|p=47}} In the United States, some commercially duplicated [[reel-to-reel]] copies of ''Led Zeppelin II'' made by [[Ampex]] bore the title ''Led Zeppelin II – The Only Way to Fly'' on their spine. Commercially, ''Led Zeppelin II'' was the band's first album to hit No. 1 in the US, knocking [[The Beatles]]' ''[[Abbey Road]]'' (1969) twice from the top spot, where it remained for seven weeks.{{sfn|Lewis|1990|p=47}} By April 1970 it had registered three million American sales, whilst in Britain it enjoyed a 138-week residence on the LP chart, climbing to the top spot in February 1970.{{sfn|Lewis|1990|p=47}} Meanwhile, the album reached the top spot in 5 other national albums charts (including the Canadian, Australian and Spanish albums charts). In November [[Ritchie Yorke]] reported in ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' that while the album had achieved "staggering" sales, as a [[hard rock]] record it was considered unsuitable for North American [[Top 40]] radio stations, who were "dreary and detached from the mainstream of contemporary rock music".<ref>{{cite magazine |first=Ritchie |last=Yorke |title=Maple Leaf Rock |magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]] |date=14 November 1970 |volume=82 |issue=46 |page=R-16 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sSkEAAAAMBAJ&q=%22Led+Zeppelin+II%22&pg=PP18 |issn=0006-2510}}</ref>

The album also yielded Led Zeppelin's biggest hit, "[[Whole Lotta Love]]". This song reached No. 4 on the [[Billboard Hot 100|''Billboard'' Hot 100]] in January 1970, after Atlantic went against the group's wishes by releasing a shorter version on 45. The single's [[A-side and B-side|B-side]], "[[Living Loving Maid (She's Just a Woman)]]", also hit the ''Billboard'' chart, peaking at No. 65 in April 1970. The album helped establish Led Zeppelin as an international concert attraction, and for the next year, the group continued to tour relentlessly, initially performing in clubs and ballrooms, then in larger auditoriums and eventually stadiums as their popularity grew.<ref>{{Cite web 
|url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/led-zeppelin-mn0000139026/biography |last=Erlewine |first=Stephen Thomas |author-link=Stephen Thomas Erlewine|title=Led Zeppelin: Biography|website=[[AllMusic]] |access-date=11 June 2023}}</ref>

''Led Zeppelin II'' was not well-received by contemporary music critics. [[John Mendelsohn (musician)|John Mendelsohn]] wrote a negative review of the record for ''[[Rolling Stone]]'', in which he mocked the group's heavy sound and white blues, while writing that "until you've listened to the album eight hundred times, as I have, it seems as if it's just one especially heavy song extended over the space of two whole sides".<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Mendelsohn |first=John |date=13 December 1969 |title=Records |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/led-zeppelin-ii-19691213 |magazine=[[Rolling Stone]] |issue=48 |pages=48 |location=San Francisco |publisher=Straight Arrow Publishers, Inc. |access-date=8 November 2016 |archive-date=3 November 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161103011557/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/led-zeppelin-ii-19691213 |url-status=live }}</ref> In ''[[The Village Voice]]'', [[Robert Christgau]] jokingly referred to the band as "the best of the wah-wah [[wikt:mannerism|mannerist]] groups, so dirty they drool on demand", while complaining that "all the songs sound alike", before assigning the album a "B" grade.<ref name="CG">{{cite news |last=Christgau |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Christgau |date=15 January 1970 |url=https://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/cg/cg6.php |title=Consumer Guide (6) |newspaper=[[The Village Voice]] |access-date=21 April 2017 |archive-date=6 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190506230511/https://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/cg/cg6.php |url-status=live }}</ref> He nonetheless conceded in 1970 that "Led Zeppelin simply out-heavied everyone" the previous year, "pitting Jimmy Page's repeated low-register fuzz riffs against the untiring freak intensity of Robert Plant's vocal. This trademark has only emerged clearly on the second album, and more and more I am coming to understand it as an artistic triumph."<ref>{{cite news |last=Christgau |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Christgau |date=12 February 1970 |url=https://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/rock/delaney-70.php |title=Delaney & Bonnie & Friends Featuring Eric Clapton |newspaper=[[The Village Voice]] |access-date=21 April 2017 |archive-date=14 June 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170614222133/http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/rock/delaney-70.php |url-status=live }}</ref>

On 10 November 1969, the album was certified [[RIAA certification|gold]] by the [[Recording Industry Association of America]] and in 1990 it was certified 5× platinum reflecting shipping of five million copies. By 14 November 1999, ''Led Zeppelin II'' had shipped twelve million copies and was certified 12× platinum by the RIAA.<ref name="uscert"/> The 2014 reissue of the album helped itself get back into the ''Billboard'' Top 10 when it got to {{Numero|9}}.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.billboard.com/charts/billboard-200 |title=''Billboard'' 200 |page=1 |magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]] |access-date=14 June 2014 |archive-date=31 December 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151231051424/http://www.billboard.com/charts/billboard-200 |url-status=live }}</ref>