Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Albums with the most hit songs?

This is topic Albums with the most hit songs? in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Mike Heenan (Member # 392) on 07-01-2009, 12:07 PM:

Evans Criswell posted an interesting item about MJ in the "passed away" thread. Two of his albums (Thriller and Bad) were released and the majority of songs on both albums were big hits (I think it said 7 of 9 on Thriller were #1 hits). So I wondered, what other group/artist has been able to achieve this? Usually when you buy an album, you get one or two good songs and the rest is "meh".

Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 07-01-2009, 12:18 PM:

wikipedia claims that Bad had the most #1's at 5 of them.

I recall Creed's first album had the most #1's for rock listings at 4.

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 07-01-2009, 04:56 PM:

INXS Kick had quite a few.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 07-01-2009, 06:10 PM:

The soundtrack to Saturday Night Fever had a lot of hits. Don't know how many tracks made it to #1 in the Billboard Magazine singles charts or if it set any record on amount of #1 hits. The album accomplished the feat of selling the most copies. That record stood until Michael Jackson's Thriller sold even more copies.

Dirty Dancing had some big hits on it, and that album sold more copies than Thriller. However, Thriller has the distinction of being the biggest selling album featuring new material from a single recording artist/group. Soundtracks and compilations sort of deserve an asterisk -especially when it concerns this kind of topic (most #1 hits).

Whitney Houston, Madonna and perhaps Phil Collins have to be in the running on this contest of most #1 hits on a single album.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 07-01-2009, 06:13 PM:

Thriller did not have five #1 hits -- it had seven top 10 singles. Just two of them (Billie Jean and Beat It) hit #1 in Billboard, but the others were:

The Girl Is Mine - #2
Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' - #5
Human Nature - #7
P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing) - #10
Thriller - #4

It was the next album, BAD, that had five #1 singles. They were:

I Just Can't Stop Loving You
Bad
The Way You Make Me Feel
Dirty Diana
Man in the Mirror

Jackson is the only artist in history to have five #1 singles from one album and seven top 40 hits from each of two consecutive albums. The "Thriller" album, which came out in 1982, was the 32nd-best selling album in the world in 2008 and last week that album, plus his other two "major" albums of the '80s (Bad and Off the Wall) each sold more than the current #1 album, the latest Jonas Bros. release.

All of this above chart data is from Billboard Hot 100, not the "R&B" or "Catalog" charts.

quote: Bobby Henderson
Whitney Houston, Madonna and perhaps Phil Collins have to be in the running on this contest of most #1 hits on a single album.

No they don't. Whitney Houston had four #1s off of her "Whitney" album, and Madonna had three from "Like a Virgin." Phil Collins had two at the most from his biggest albums.

quote: Bobby Henderson
Dirty Dancing had some big hits on it, and that album sold more copies than Thriller.

Dirty Dancing had some big hits all right, but it sold nowhere near what Thriller did. Thriller is over 100 million copies easily worldwide, and DD would be lucky to have half that. As for Saturday Night Fever - it had four #1 singles, all by the Bee Gees, that originated on that album. Three other songs were #1 hits ("Jive Talkin' and "You Should Be Dancing" by the Bee Gees, and "A Fifth of Beethoven" by Walter Murphy) but they originated on previous albums.

Posted by Mike Heenan (Member # 392) on 07-01-2009, 07:09 PM:

I forgot about the SNF soundtrack... that's another one of those albums where it's great to listen to every single track.

Posted by Chad Souder (Member # 343) on 07-01-2009, 07:57 PM:

Def Leppard's Hysteria was full of hits. I don't care to look up how many or where they ranked, but it was a huge album.

Posted by Cameron Glendinning (Member # 3516) on 07-01-2009, 08:32 PM:

Abba Arrival maybe worth a mention, The number of no 1's may have been an australian specific thing though with this sweedish band.

Posted by Sam Graham (Member # 2889) on 07-01-2009, 11:02 PM:

Huey Lewis and the News "Sports" spawned four top ten hits. A fifth song from the album was a top twenty hit.

Strange, but true.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 07-01-2009, 11:58 PM:

quote: Mike Blakesley
No they don't. Whitney Houston had four #1s off of her "Whitney" album, and Madonna had three from "Like a Virgin." Phil Collins had two at the most from his biggest albums.

Did I say "Whitney had the most #1 hits on a single album?" I only said she was "in the running." Four number 1 hits for one of Whitney's albums compared to MJ's five would definitely put Whitney "in the running." She's at least tied for 2nd place (unless someone can find another act with 5 number 1 hits on a single original album release).

quote: Mike Blakesley
Dirty Dancing had some big hits all right, but it sold nowhere near what Thriller did. Thriller is over 100 million copies easily worldwide, and DD would be lucky to have half that.

It turns out that's the case now. I didn't know that. But I distinctly remember the Dirty Dancing soundtrack passing Thriller in album sales during its original release. I got sick of ordering and stocking tons of the things for the AAFES exchange at Fort Wadsworth in Staten Island (one of the odd jobs I had at the time while in college).

More than 20 years have passed since then. That's been enough time for Thriller to re-take the lead. Dirty Dancing is arguably a dated 1980's movie so I wouldn't expect it to budge much from its 47 million units sold mark. Thriller didn't immediately sell over 100 million copies; it's taken a couple decades for that to happen. It also turns out Eagles: Greatest Hits has also passed the Dirty Dancing soundtrack. With Michael Jackson's death, Thriller is sure to sell a whole lot more copies.

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 07-02-2009, 12:50 AM:

Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours" (1977) held a good lot as well

REO Speedwagon's "Hi InFidelity" (1981) also had a good lot.

Journey's "Escape" (1981) can't be forgotten with it having good hit tunes.

......Monte

Posted by James Westbrook (Member # 3690) on 07-02-2009, 04:06 AM:

Fleetwood Mac's Rumours album netted the following hits:
Go Your Own Way (10), Dreams (1), Don't Stop (3) and You make Loving Fun (9).
REO Speedwagon's Hi Infidility netted Keep On Loving You (1), Take It On the Run (5), Don't Let Him Go (24) and In Your Letter (20).
Journey's Escape netted Who's Crying Now (4), Don't Stop Believin' (9), Open Arms (2), and Still They Ride (19).
Huey Lewis and the News Sports netted Heart and Soul (8), I Want a New Drug (6), The Heart of Rock & Roll (6), If This is It (6), and Walking on a Thin Line (18).
Prince's Purple Rain soundtrack netted When Doves Cry (1), Let's Go Crazy (1), Purple Rain (2), I Would Die 4 U (8) and Take Me With U, with Apollonia (25)
4 singles off a hit album seems to be the standard.
Mike, were you referencing from Top 40 Hits by Joel Whitburn? I was using his Top Pop Singles from 1955 to 2002.

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 07-02-2009, 08:30 AM:

I don't know where you all look up this info (I don't want to take the time)...but...The Beatles have to be up there somewhere.

Most all of their albums have most of the tracks be very popular. Note too, they were in a different era where Singles were where you put your top songs and the LPs are where you put the "not quite good enough to be a single" songs with the "flip side" of the single being the 3rd tier though with The Beatles, they were known for their "double-A sides." Most Beatles singles did not appear on their albums and/or were a different take of the single version. Heck, it wasn't until their later LPs that the US and UK versions of the albums were the same!

Steve

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 07-02-2009, 02:41 PM:

Well the discussion was mostly about #1 hits. There are dozens of albums that have four or five top 40 hits. Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours" album only had one #1 -- "Dreams." It's the only #1 they've ever had, despite having lots of top 40 hits.

Another thought about the Beatles -- their era, albums came too fast (one every six months to a year) to allow many singles from the same album to run their course. Fleetwood Mac was one of the first bands to use the concept of four or five or more singles released after the album came out, simply because it was taking so long for them to create the followup to "Rumours."

James W - I have the Whitburn book you mention but I got all the Michael Jackson figures from the latest issue of Billboard.

Posted by Evans A Criswell (Member # 381) on 07-02-2009, 02:50 PM:

Three that came to mind from high school days...

Billy Joel's Innocent Man had 6 hits:
Tell Her About It, Uptown Girl, An Innocent Man, The Longest Time, Leave A Tender Moment Alone, Keeping The Faith

Bruce Springsteen's Born In The USA had 7 hits:
Dancing In The Dark, Cover Me, Born In The USA, I'm On Fire, Glory Days, I'm Goin' Down, My Hometown

Footloose Soundtrack had 6 hits:
Almost Paradise [Reno, Mike, and Ann Wilson], Dancing In The Sheets [Shalamar], Footloose [Loggins, Kenny], Holding Out For A Hero [Tyler, Bonnie], I'm Free (Heaven Helps The Man) [Loggins, Kenny], Let's Hear It For The Boy [Williams, Deniece]

Billboard Top Pop Singles 1955-2002 and Billboard Top Pop Albums 1955-2001 are my references for all chart-related posts made from the office, and the newest more recent editions for posts made from home.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 07-02-2009, 05:44 PM:

Of course there's a big difference between a song being a "hit" versus it actually reaching the #1 rank on the Billboard Magazine pop singles charts.

The term "hit" is often applied in an arguably subjective manner. How many copies of a single have to be sold for a song to be declared a hit? How high does it have to reach in the Billboard single charts to qualify as being a hit? How much radio airplay must it receive? How much critical acclaim or cult status must the song earn? In some respect lots of people will call a song a "hit" only because they like the song.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 07-02-2009, 06:57 PM:

If you go way back to the top of this thread and look at the original question, to wit:

quote: Mike Heenan
I think it said 7 of 9 on Thriller were #1 hits). So I wondered, what other group/artist has been able to achieve this?

The answer is: None.

Posted by Evans A Criswell (Member # 381) on 07-06-2009, 11:09 PM:

My definition of "hit" is that it charted on the Billboard Top 100 Pop chart. "Top 40 hit" means that it peaked at a position 40 or higher, and "Top 10 hit" -- peaked at 10 or higher. However, peak position alone is not always an indicator of overall long-run popularity or sales.

Let's say an artist has a song that only reached number 5, but was up against four extremely popular, exceptional songs at the time at the 1-4 positions. That song could be way more popular, sell many more copies, and be much more memorable in the long run than a song reaching number 1 at a time when everything on the chart was poor.

Posted by James Westbrook (Member # 3690) on 07-07-2009, 02:47 AM:

Example of a song that everyone knows from the 80s...
I Melt With You by Modern English.
Has been used in commercials as recently as last year.
Was it in the top 10 in the US? No.
Top 40? No.
It peaked at 78 in the Hot 100.
Sometimes, a song's position on the charts really mean nothing.
Some good songs never chart.
Some bad ones soar to the top. (Ring My Bell by Anita Ward)

Posted by Evans A Criswell (Member # 381) on 07-07-2009, 02:22 PM:

Some songs get famous even though they don't chart or were never released as a single. Take "Stairway To Heaven" by Led Zeppelin, their most famous recording. It was never released as a commercial single.

"I Melt With You" is a good example of a song that reached more popularity after its release, although it did chart twice, first entering April 2, 1983 and reaching #78, then a rerecording entered on June 23, 1990 reaching #76. I wish I had my British chart book here too. No 80s compilation would be complete without this song.

The Cure and Depeche Mode have some well-known, popular songs that were hits in the U.K. before they had any hits in the U.S. My favorites by them are the earlier songs, so the U.S. chart positions mean little to me.

I actually love "Ring My Bell" by Anita Ward. (entered May 12, 1979, reached number 1 for 2 weeks).

Posted by James Westbrook (Member # 3690) on 07-07-2009, 03:09 PM:

"All of my love" by Led Zeppelin, released to radio later that same year in a shorter version than on the album In Through The Out Door, was never released as a single. They were never a singles band, really.
I got ragged on for liking Heaven Must Have Sent You, by Bonnie Pointer. I recently found the 12" mix in the Itunes store. I tore Lubbock apart looking for the 12 Inch version in 1979, and Flip Side, Hastings and the others did not have it and the ones that did sold it out fast.
I also found radio extended versions of Star Wars Theme: Cantina Band by Meco and McArthur Park by Donna Summer, both of which I only heard once on X-ROK 80, a border blaster which in the day played top 40 in Cuidad Juarez. The DJ's spoke in English. 150,000 watts night time. The I-Tunes Store is lacking on some classics material, but when they get it right it's wonderful.

Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 07-07-2009, 08:33 PM:

A fair number of hits, and they made albums you could play all the way through: Boston.

Boston, the soundtrack to my life. [thumbsup]

Posted by Geena Phillips (Member # 3726) on 07-20-2009, 11:54 PM:

quote: James Westbrook
Some bad ones soar to the top. (Ring My Bell by Anita Ward)

You shut your filthy mouth! >sobs<

Posted by James Westbrook (Member # 3690) on 07-21-2009, 02:15 AM:

Sorry, Geena.
I was in High School when that song was in "heavy rotation" on the radio. What was first cute became annoying on the 10,000th play, like Rupert Holmes' "Escape: The Pina Colada Song". The later song came out later that same year.
There was a song by Donna Lewis that came out in the 1996 that had the potential to annoy..."I Love You Always Forever" was the "Ring My Bell" of the 90s. And that song too has it's fans...
I am sure someone will show up to defend that one shortly...