Chart Watch Extra: Reeling In The Years
Posted Mon Dec 6, 2010 5:48pm PST by Paul Grein in Chart Watch
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Susan Boyle's I Dreamed A Dream is the #1 album on Billboard's year-end chart for 2010. This is the fourth time in the past five years that a female solo artist has had the #1 album of the year. Taylor Swift's Fearless was cited last year. Alicia Keys' As I Am came out on top in 2008. Carrie Underwood's Some Hearts scored for 2006.
This marks a major change from the way it used to be. From 1956 to 1985, no female solo artist had Billboard's #1 album of the year. In 1986, Whitney Houston's debut became the first album by a female solo artist to come out on top. Since then, this has become fairly commonplace, with albums by Janet Jackson, Mariah Carey and Alanis Morissette also being named the #1 album of the year.
This is the third time in the past five years that a reality TV contestant has had Billboard's #1 album of the year. Boyle rose to fame on Britain's Got Talent. American Idol winner Carrie Underwood had the #1 album of 2006. Daughtry, fronted by Idol contestant Chris Daughtry, had the #1 album of 2007. (Of these three artists, only Underwood actually won the talent show, which shows that winning isn't everything.)
This is the first time that a foreign-born artist has had the year's #1 album since 2001, when the Beatles had the top album with 1, their greatest hits collection.
Boyle's album sold 3,840,000 copies during Billboard's chart year, which ran from Dec. 5, 2009 through Nov. 27. (That corresponds to Nielsen/SoundScan's charts for the weeks ending Nov. 22, 2009 through Nov. 14.) Boyle's album sold 81% of that total in the last six weeks of 2009. It gets the Billboard crown for 2010 because of the magazine's November to November eligibility period (which is necessitated by the time needed to produce its massive year-end issue).
To mark Boyle's achievement, I decided to scroll back through Billboard's #1 albums of the year all the way back to 1956, which was the year the magazine launched its weekly album chart. You can watch as rock, R&B, country and rap take center stage and as Broadway cast albums drop off in popularity. You can watch passing trends (such as calypso, psychedelic rock and disco) come and go. The list is long (with many a winding turn), so let's get to it.
2009: Taylor Swift, Fearless. Swift's sophomore album logged 11 weeks at #1 starting in November 2008. The album spawned five top 10 hits, including "Love Story" and "You Belong With Me." This won a Grammy for Album of the Year.
2008: Alicia Keys, As I Am. Keys' fourth album spent four weeks at #1 starting in December 2007. It spawned the #1 smash "No One" and a top 15 follow-up, "Like You'll Never See Me Again."
2007: Daughtry, Daughtry. The band's debut album spent two weeks at #1 starting in February 2007. It spawned a pair of top 10 hits: "It's Not Over" and "Home." The latter song was subsequently featured as the farewell song on American Idol, the show that gave Chris Daughtry his big break.
2006: Carrie Underwood, Some Hearts. Underwood's debut album peaked at #2 in December 2005. It's one of only three albums to wind up #1 for the year without hitting #1 on any weekly chart. The album housed two top 10 hits: "Before He Cheats" and "Inside Your Heaven," Underwood's American Idol coronation song.
2004: Usher, Confessions. Usher's fifth album logged nine weeks at #1 starting in April 2004. It spawned four #1 hits: "Yeah!" (featuring Lil Jon and Ludacris), "Burn," "Confessions Part II" and "My Boo," a duet with Alicia Keys. It received a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year..
2000: *NSYNC, No Strings Attached. The boy band's second regular studio album logged eight weeks at #1 starting in April 2000. It spawned three top 10 hits: "Bye Bye Bye," "It's Gonna Be Me" and "This I Promise You." (As a solo artist, Justin Timberlake has ranked as high as #5 for the year.)
1999: Backstreet Boys, Millennium. The boy band's sophomore album logged 10 weeks at #1 starting in June 1999. The album spawned two top 10 hits: the silky "I Want It That Way" and the tender "Show Me The Meaning Of Being Lonely." This received a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year. (It did?? Yep.)
1998: Soundtrack, Titanic. The soundtrack logged 16 weeks at #1 starting in January 1998. The movie won 11 Oscars, including one for James Horner's score and another for the instant standard "My Heart Will Go On," which Horner co-wrote with Will Jennings. Celine Dion's recording of the song was a #1 hit.
1997: Spice Girls, Spice. This is the only album by an all-female group to wind up as the #1 album of the year. The album, the group's debut, logged five weeks at #1 starting in May 1997. The album spawned three top 10 hits: "Wannabe," "Say You'll Be There" and "2 Become 1."
1996: Alanis Morissette, Jagged Little Pill. Morissette's first U.S. album logged 12 weeks at #1 starting in October 1995. The album spawned five top 15 hits (counting airplay hits) including "You Oughta Know" and "Ironic." This won a Grammy for Album of the Year.
1994: Ace of Base, The Sign. The debut album by the Swedish pop group spent two weeks at #1 starting in April 1994. The album contained three top 10 hits: "All That She Wants," "The Sign" and "Don't Turn Around." Abba never got this hot, but Ace of Base will probably never inspire a Mamma Mia!-style musical blockbuster.
1993: Whitney Houston/Soundtrack, The Bodyguard. The soundtrack to Houston's first movie logged 20 weeks at #1 starting in December 1992. It contained her chart-topping reinvention of Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You." The album, Houston's fourth, won a Grammy for Album of the Year..
1991: Mariah Carey, Mariah Carey. Carey's debut album logged 11 weeks at #1 starting in March 1991. All four singles from the album, including "Vision Of Love" and "Love Takes Time," hit #1. The album received a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year.
1990: Janet Jackson, Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814. Jackson's fourth album spent four weeks at #1 starting in October 1989. It spawned seven top 10 hits, including the chart-topping "Miss Me Much." Janet and Michael Jackson are the only siblings who each had a #1 album of the year.
1989: Bobby Brown, Don't Be Cruel. Brown's second solo album (after leaving New Edition) spent six weeks at #1 starting in January 1989. The album spawned five top 10 hits, including the chart-topping "My Prerogative."
1988: George Michael, Faith. This is the only solo debut album to wind up as the #1 album of the year. The solo debut by the former Wham! star logged 12 weeks at #1 starting in January 1988. It spawned four #1 hits: "Faith," "Father Figure," "One More Try" and "
Monkey." This won a Grammy for Album of the Year.
1986: Whitney Houston, Whitney Houston. This was the first album by a female solo artist to wind up as the #1 album of the year. The album, Houston's debut, logged 14 weeks at #1 starting in March 1986. It spawned three #1 hits, including "Greatest Love Of All." This received a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year.
1985: Bruce Springsteen, Born In The U.S.A. The Boss' seventh album logged seven weeks at #1 starting in July 1984. It spawned seven top 10 singles, including "Dancing In The Dark." The album received a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year.
1984: Michael Jackson, Thriller. This was only the fourth album to finish #1 for the year twice. And it's the only album by an individual artist or group to so. The three others are a soundtrack (West Side Story) and two original cast albums (The Sound Of Music and My Fair Lady).
1983: Michael Jackson, Thriller. Jackson's second album as an adult pop star logged 37 weeks at #1 starting in February 1983. It spawned an unprecedented seven top 10 hits, including "Billie Jean," "Beat It" and "The Girl Is Mine," a duet with Paul McCartney. It won a Grammy for Album of the Year.
Legend