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Artists With Multiple top 5 Albums in one Year (or Decade)

Only two artists have multiple albums in the top of a decade:
-Frank Sinatra (50's)
-The Beatles (60's)
Now for years:
-Elvis Presley (1956)
-Bob Dylan (1965)

It's been a while.

Re: Artists With Multiple top 5 Albums in one Year (or Decade)

You're using exceptionally narrow parameters - out of all the tens of thousands of releases in a decade, the likelihood of one artist gaining enough acclaim to land two top 5 slots is almost farcical if not for the absolute top-level legends. Similarly, nowadays two releases in one year is very rare, let alone for both to be massively loved. I'd look at back to back years for a similar context. Thus, here are some close calls:

David Bowie claims #5 of 1976 and #5/#11 of 1977
Pixies #3 in 1988, then #2 1989
Prince has #2 and #8 of the 80s
Joy Division getting runner-up in 1979 and 1980
Panda Bear at #7 and Animal Collective #12 of 2007
Radiohead #1 of 2000 and #6 of 2001
Oasis both #12 and #14 of the 90s
Bob Dylan at #5 and #6 in the 60s
The White Stripes get #5 and #15 of the 00s
Elliott Smith #9 of 1997 and #10 of 1998
Sonic Youth in 1987 get fifth place but come second in 1988

Most telling, I feel is Radiohead holding both #2 and #11 of the 90s and #3 and #7 of the 00s. This is probably a strong sign that they are the most recent act to be as canonical as the heavyweights of the 60s/70s.

Re: Artists With Multiple top 5 Albums in one Year (or Decade)

This is something I've noticed with a few artists. There are many bands/people who have multiple albums in a top 5 for the year. But how much have that level of sustained excellent to have successive albums reach the top 5? Only a few do (I'm using 3 in a row as my cutoff):

Sonic Youth:
Sister - 1987 - 5
Daydream Nation - 1988 - 2
Goo - 1990 - 5

Beastie Boys
Licensed to Ill - 1986 - 5
Paul's Boutique - 1989 - 4
Check Your Head - 1992 - 5

Radiohead
The Bend - 1995 - 1
OK Computer - 1997 - 1
Kid A - 2000 - 1

The Beatles
Rubber Soul - 1965 - 2
Revolver - 1966 - 2
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - 1967 - 2

Bob Dylan
Bringing it all Back Home - 1965 - 5
Highway 61 Revisited - 1965 - 1
Blonde on Blonde - 1966 - 3

No one has 4 in a row, but there is one person with 5...

Bruce Springsteen
Born to Run - 1975 - 1
Darkness on the Edge of Town - 1978 - 2
The River - 1980 - 5
Nebraska - 1982 - 2
Born in the USA - 1984 - 2

If Amnesiac gets back into the top 5 then Radiohead would have 6 in a row. And all it takes is a few kicks up in the rankings for PJ Harvey and Bjork to make this list as well. LCD Soundsystem will join this list next year when This is Happening gets added to the database, and maybe TV on the Radio will add another quality release soon, but otherwise I don't see more bands being able to do this.

Dylan at one point in the updates had a string with Time Out of Mind/Love and Theft/Modern Times as well. Pretty impressive.

Re: Artists With Multiple top 5 Albums in one Year (or Decade)

VanillaFire1000
LCD Soundsystem will join this list next year when This is Happening gets added to the database, and maybe TV on the Radio will add another quality release soon, but otherwise I don't see more bands being able to do this.

If Neon Bible bumps back into the top 5 for 2007, Arcade Fire could probably have a string of three top 5's when The Suburbs gets added to the database.

Re: Artists With Multiple top 5 Albums in one Year (or Decade)

Ddiamondd
You're using exceptionally narrow parameters - out of all the tens of thousands of releases in a decade, the likelihood of one artist gaining enough acclaim to land two top 5 slots is almost farcical if not for the absolute top-level legends. Similarly, nowadays two releases in one year is very rare, let alone for both to be massively loved. I'd look at back to back years for a similar context. Thus, here are some close calls:

David Bowie claims #5 of 1976 and #5/#11 of 1977
Pixies #3 in 1988, then #2 1989
Prince has #2 and #8 of the 80s
Joy Division getting runner-up in 1979 and 1980
Panda Bear at #7 and Animal Collective #12 of 2007
Radiohead #1 of 2000 and #6 of 2001
Oasis both #12 and #14 of the 90s
Bob Dylan at #5 and #6 in the 60s
The White Stripes get #5 and #15 of the 00s
Elliott Smith #9 of 1997 and #10 of 1998
Sonic Youth in 1987 get fifth place but come second in 1988

Most telling, I feel is Radiohead holding both #2 and #11 of the 90s and #3 and #7 of the 00s. This is probably a strong sign that they are the most recent act to be as canonical as the heavyweights of the 60s/70s.


The top 5 (or 10) counting is not indicative of general acclaim. Phoenix's Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix is #5 of 2009 but would be #30 of 1969. Aretha Franklin's I Never Loved a Man The Way That I Love You is #6 of 1967, but would rank #5 of the entire last decade, behind only Funeral, Is This It, Kid A and Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. It's all about the competition.

Re: Artists With Multiple top 5 Albums in one Year (or Decade)

Jonathon


The top 5 (or 10) counting is not indicative of general acclaim. Phoenix's Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix is #5 of 2009 but would be #30 of 1969. Aretha Franklin's I Never Loved a Man The Way That I Love You is #6 of 1967, but would rank #5 of the entire last decade, behind only Funeral, Is This It, Kid A and Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. It's all about the competition.


Actually comparing year-to-year is more fair. Albums released in the late 60s have had 40+ years to build acclaim and recognition on critics' lists. All-time lists are still incredibly slanted to albums released in the 60s and 70s. Decades from now, I think rankings will be far more balanced across eras. In fact, we might be saying that x top-5 album of 2040 would only be 30th for 2010.

Re: Artists With Multiple top 5 Albums in one Year (or Decade)

Jackson
Jonathon


The top 5 (or 10) counting is not indicative of general acclaim. Phoenix's Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix is #5 of 2009 but would be #30 of 1969. Aretha Franklin's I Never Loved a Man The Way That I Love You is #6 of 1967, but would rank #5 of the entire last decade, behind only Funeral, Is This It, Kid A and Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. It's all about the competition.


Actually comparing year-to-year is more fair. Albums released in the late 60s have had 40+ years to build acclaim and recognition on critics' lists. All-time lists are still incredibly slanted to albums released in the 60s and 70s. Decades from now, I think rankings will be far more balanced across eras. In fact, we might be saying that x top-5 album of 2040 would only be 30th for 2010.


I think the slant is fair; as a whole I consider the 60s and 70s the peak of music.

Re: Artists With Multiple top 5 Albums in one Year (or Decade)

Jonathon
Jackson
Jonathon


The top 5 (or 10) counting is not indicative of general acclaim. Phoenix's Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix is #5 of 2009 but would be #30 of 1969. Aretha Franklin's I Never Loved a Man The Way That I Love You is #6 of 1967, but would rank #5 of the entire last decade, behind only Funeral, Is This It, Kid A and Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. It's all about the competition.


Actually comparing year-to-year is more fair. Albums released in the late 60s have had 40+ years to build acclaim and recognition on critics' lists. All-time lists are still incredibly slanted to albums released in the 60s and 70s. Decades from now, I think rankings will be far more balanced across eras. In fact, we might be saying that x top-5 album of 2040 would only be 30th for 2010.


I think the slant is fair; as a whole I consider the 60s and 70s the peak of music.


Consider Creedence Clearwater Revival in 1969. The 19th and 21st ranking albums. Both albums slot into the top 7 in 8 out of 10 years last decade. The other two years? 8th and 9th. In addition, CCR had a 3rd album that year that is comfortably inside the top 30 every year last decade ... but only 50th in '69.

And no, this is not the example that proves the slant or bias. That's absurd.

It's laughable to speak about most of the albums from the 2000s in the same breath.

Re: Artists With Multiple top 5 Albums in one Year (or Decade)

I do think the period from 1965-1971 has more good music than anything since, but I don't think it's as big a difference as you imply it is, and I think the late 70's are only slightly better on the whole than the 00's. The good newer music is just less well known, and less canonized.

And if you don't count The Beatles, the Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan, the difference is even tinier.

Is this thread about the AM list, or our own personal opinions?

Re: Artists With Multiple top 5 Albums in one Year (or Decade)

BillAdama
I do think the period from 1965-1971 has more good music than anything since, but I don't think it's as big a difference as you imply it is, and I think the late 70's are only slightly better on the whole than the 00's. The good newer music is just less well known, and less canonized.

And if you don't count The Beatles, the Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan, the difference is even tinier.

Is this thread about the AM list, or our own personal opinions?


This became about personal opinions when it was stated that being #5 of a year in the 00s is as important as being #5 in a year in the 60s. That's just not true at all.

Phoenix's Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix will never be as canonized or important as Love's Forever Changes. Same rank, different year.

Re: Artists With Multiple top 5 Albums in one Year (or Decade)

Jonathon
BillAdama
I do think the period from 1965-1971 has more good music than anything since, but I don't think it's as big a difference as you imply it is, and I think the late 70's are only slightly better on the whole than the 00's. The good newer music is just less well known, and less canonized.

And if you don't count The Beatles, the Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan, the difference is even tinier.

Is this thread about the AM list, or our own personal opinions?


This became about personal opinions when it was stated that being #5 of a year in the 00s is as important as being #5 in a year in the 60s. That's just not true at all.

Phoenix's Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix will never be as canonized or important as Love's Forever Changes. Same rank, different year.


My two responses to this:

1. I don't think Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix is as good as Forever Changes, but I think an album from the 60's is more likely to be canonized than an equally good album from the 00's because of the way Clear Channel and MTV ruined popular music, then the internet splintered it's fanbase.

2. You say #5 in a year in the 00s is equal to #30 in a year in the 60s.

I say, my #25 album from 2005-2009, I consider equal to my #34 album from 1965-1969 and my #36 album from 1970-1974. I think a lot of the canonized albums are overrated and the only albums that get critical praise now are alternative/indie albums and rap albums, and the rest are sorely underrated. Yes, the 'classic era' is better, but not as better as you say.

Re: Artists With Multiple top 5 Albums in one Year (or Decade)

BillAdama
Jonathon
BillAdama
I do think the period from 1965-1971 has more good music than anything since, but I don't think it's as big a difference as you imply it is, and I think the late 70's are only slightly better on the whole than the 00's. The good newer music is just less well known, and less canonized.

And if you don't count The Beatles, the Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan, the difference is even tinier.

Is this thread about the AM list, or our own personal opinions?


This became about personal opinions when it was stated that being #5 of a year in the 00s is as important as being #5 in a year in the 60s. That's just not true at all.

Phoenix's Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix will never be as canonized or important as Love's Forever Changes. Same rank, different year.


My two responses to this:

1. I don't think Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix is as good as Forever Changes, but I think an album from the 60's is more likely to be canonized than an equally good album from the 00's because of the way Clear Channel and MTV ruined popular music, then the internet splintered it's fanbase.

2. You say #5 in a year in the 00s is equal to #30 in a year in the 60s.

I say, my #25 album from 2005-2009, I consider equal to my #34 album from 1965-1969 and my #36 album from 1970-1974. I think a lot of the canonized albums are overrated and the only albums that get critical praise now are alternative/indie albums and rap albums, and the rest are sorely underrated. Yes, the 'classic era' is better, but not as better as you say.


It depends what you look for in music. At the risk of being reductionist, I'll say that basically the melodic quality of music from the 60s and 70s far outstrips that of modern bands, save a handful. I think a lot of people confuse a cheap hook with a well written melody.

I think ultimately what makes modern music so appealing is it's presentation, and ultimately that will become dated, just like 90s grunge and 80s synth-pop. A well crafted song lasts forever. I'm not saying that there aren't artists who write great songs, I'm just saying there are less of them these days.

Re: Artists With Multiple top 5 Albums in one Year (or Decade)

And I'm saying, there are more great bands than you think, and you just have to dig a bit more to find them.

Re: Artists With Multiple top 5 Albums in one Year (or Decade)

BillAdama
And I'm saying, there are more great bands than you think, and you just have to dig a bit more to find them.


How many albums from the 00s do you think I've heard? I've listened to quite a few. I don't know how many exactly, but definitely over 200. Probably not quite 300.

The fact that I don't think 00s albums are as good as 70s ones doesn't mean I don't like 00s albums. I love good music in general. All I'm saying (and this is an arbitrary construct I'm falling back on) is that the 00s to me have a lot of 9/10s, but very few 10s for me.

Re: Artists With Multiple top 5 Albums in one Year (or Decade)

Personally, I think it's ludicrous to say with any authenticity that any decade is objectively better than another. In fact, by sheer number of artists alone, I'd say that an argument could definitely be made that there are more great artists today than at any time.

Re: Artists With Multiple top 5 Albums in one Year (or Decade)

Jonathon

I think ultimately what makes modern music so appealing is its presentation, and ultimately that will become dated, just like 90s grunge and 80s synth-pop. A well crafted song lasts forever. I'm not saying that there aren't artists who write great songs, I'm just saying there are less of them these days.


Huh?