Release
Due to the extended recording sessions, Living in the Material World was issued at the end of a busy Apple release schedule, with April and May 1973 having already been set aside for the Beatles compilations 1962–1966 and 1967–1970 and for Paul McCartney & Wings' second album, Red Rose Speedway. As Nicholas Schaffner recorded in The Beatles Forever: "For a while there ... album charts were reminiscent of the golden age of Beatlemania." Preceding Harrison's long-awaited release was the radio-friendly acoustic single "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)", his second number 1 hit in the United States. This was accompanied by a billboard and print advertising campaign, including a three-panel poster combining the album's front and back covers, and an Apple publicity photo showing Harrison, now free of the heavy beard so familiar from the All Things Must Pass−Concert for Bangladesh era, with his hand outstretched, mirroring Tom Wilkes' cover image.
Living in the Material World was finally issued on 30 May 1973 in America (with Apple catalogue number SMAS 3410) and on 22 June in Britain (as Apple PAS 10006). As expected, it enjoyed immediate commercial success, entering the Billboard 200 at number 11 and hitting number 1 in its second week, on 23 June, knocking off Wings' album in the process. Material World spent five weeks atop the US charts, having been awarded a gold disc by the RIAA within two days of release, for advance orders. In the UK, the album peaked at number 2, held from the top position by the soundtrack to Starr's movie That'll Be the Day.
Despite such brisk initial sales, its follow-on success was somewhat disappointing, limited by the "anomalous" decision to cancel the release of a second US single, "Don't Let Me Wait Too Long". Nevertheless, with Living in the Material World, Harrison achieved the prestigious Billboard double for a second time when "Give Me Love" hit the top spot during the album's stay at number 1 − the only one of his former bandmates to have done it even once being McCartney, with the recent "My Love" and Red Rose Speedway. Another factor behind the album's comparatively early slide down the US and UK listings was Harrison's failure to carry out any supporting promotion: "pre-recorded tapes" were issued to BBC Radio 1 and played repeatedly on the show Radio One Club, but his only public appearance in Britain was to accompany Prabhupada on a religious procession through central London, on 8 July.
The album is thought to have sold over 3 million copies worldwide.
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