Albums That Have Recharted A Decade After (Pre-Nielsen)

[WolfSpear]

With Marvin Gaye's Let's Get It On reappearing on the Billboard 200 this week, it got me thinking about other "old" albums that have returned to the charts. Since it's become a somewhat natural phenomenom, this list will be narrowed down to the pre-Nielsen era, but it will still provide an interesting look of the power of longevity.

The dates proceeding the album title and artist are the chart debut and final appearance dates. The titles are ordered by their debut date on the Billboard 200, dating back to its earliest form. Plenty of thanks to Hanboo for providing the chart runs that helped put this together... Feel free to add or correct anything here.


Merry Christmas - Bing Crosby (1945/1962)
Perry Como Sings Merry Christmas Music - Perry Como (1946/1959)
South Pacific - Original Broadway Cast (1949/1962)

My Fair Lady - Original Broadway Cast (1956/1966)
Elvis' Christmas Album - Elvis Presley (1957/1985)
Johnny's Greatest Hits - Johnny Mathis (1958/1968)
Elvis' Golden Records, Vol. 1 - Elvis Presley (1958/1978)

Neil Sedaka Sings His Greatest Hits - Neil Sedaka (1963/1975)
Elvis' Golden Records, Vol. 3 - Elvis Presley (1963/1978)
Monster Mash - Bobby "Boris" Pickett (1963/1973)
The Sound Of Music - Original Soundtrack (1965/1976)
The Early Beatles - The Beatles (1965/1986)
Rubber Soul - The Beatles (1965/1981)
Pet Sounds - The Beach Boys (1966/1990)
The Monkees - The Monkees (1966/1987)
More Of The Monkees - The Monkees (1967/1987)
The Doors - The Doors (1967/1981)
Headquarters - The Monkees (1967/1986)
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - The Beatles (1967/1987)
Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones LTD - The Monkees (1967/1986)
Magical Mystery Tour - The Beatles (1967/1987)
Days Of Future Passed - The Moody Blues (1968/1987)
The Birds, The Bees And The Monkees - The Monkees (1968/1986)
The Beatles - The Beatles (1968/1987)
Beggar's Banquet - The Rolling Stones (1968/1980)
Yellow Submarine - The Beatles (1969/1987)
Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin (1969/1979)
Abbey Road - The Beatles (1969/1988)
Led Zeppelin II - Led Zeppelin (1969/1979)
Let It Bleed - The Rolling Stones (1969/1980)

Let It Be - The Beatles (1970/1987)
John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band - John Lennon (1970/1981)
Sticky Fingers - The Rolling Stones (1971/1981)
What's Going On - Marvin Gaye (1971/1984)
Imagine - John Lennon (1971/1981)
Led Zeppelin IV - Led Zeppelin (1971/1987)
Hot Rocks: 1964-1971 - The Rolling Stones (1972/1990)
Fragile - Yes (1972/1984)
The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust - David Bowie (1972/1990)
The Dark Side Of The Moon - Pink Floyd (1973/1988)
The Beatles/1962-1966 - The Beatles (1973/1984)
The Beatles/1967-1970 - The Beatles (1973/1984)
Let's Get It On - Marvin Gaye (1973/1984)
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road - Elton John (1973/1987)
The Singles 1969-1973 - The Carpenters (1973/1983)
Anthology - Marvin Gaye (1974/1984)
Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ - Bruce Springsteen [1973] (1975/1986)
Born To Run - Bruce Springsteen (1975/1987)
Chronicle - Creedence Clearwater Revival (1976/1987)
The Monkees' Greatest Hits - The Monkees (1976/1986)
Live Bullet - Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band (1976/1986)
Boston - Boston (1976/1987)
Christmas Portrait - The Carpenters (1977/1991)
The Wall - Pink Floyd (1979/1990)

Back In Black - AC/DC (1980/1991)
Greatest Hits - The Doors (1980/1991)

A Christmas Album - Barbra Streisand [1967] (1981/1990) *
The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground [1969] (1985) *
Cold Spring Harbor - Billy Joel [1971] (1984) *

[imbondz]

What was the reason Let's Get It On recharted?

[Deleted]

Feb 21, 2015 19:53:27 GMT -5 imbondz said:

What was the reason Let's Get It On recharted?

His death.

[Caviar]

Feb 21, 2015 19:53:27 GMT -5 imbondz said:

What was the reason Let's Get It On recharted?

-- Marvin Gaye, Let's Get It On - No. 52 -- The album, which re-enters at No. 52, was sale priced for the rock bottom price of just 99 cents during the week in the Google Play store, sparking the bulk of its 11,000 sales for the week (up from basically nothing the week previous). Let's Get It On has been absent from the chart since 1984.

[jebsib]

Older posters: Any insights into the reasons for the various re-entries?

Obviously celebrity deaths account for Elvis, Marvin, & John Lennon.

Hot comebacks account for Monkees, Boston, Yes and Neil Sedaka.

Huge ratings for the Sound of Music network presentation in 1976.

Springsteen's enormous live album in '86 probably accounted for his re-entry.

Doors' greatest hits attributed to the 1991 film.

Monster Mash re-charted in 1973.

Any other ideas on what cultural / technological reasons these others came back?

[WolfSpear]

The release of their catalog on CD was the reason behind most of the Beatles' re-entries.
The 1984 re-entries for the Red and Blue albums were tied into John's posthumous "Milk And Honey"
The 1986 re-entry of "The Early Beatles" is linked to Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

And Elvis' Christmas Album re-entry was due to the 50th anniversary celebration that year that concluded with special colored vinyl for this album.

[imbondz]

Wonder if Neilsen / Soundscan entering in 1991 had something to do with those.

[WolfSpear]

Feb 22, 2015 20:37:19 GMT -5 imbondz said:

Wonder if Neilsen / Soundscan entering in 1991 had something to do with those.

Actually Nielsen did the opposite: Any album that was 2 years or older and hadn't appeared on the charts for 3 straight months was barred from returning.

Once the catalog rule was dropped in 2009, slowly but surely, old albums returning became a common phenomenon.