Let’s go girls.

I don’t want to jinx anything, but I am feeling a bit of a second wind on The People’s Albums. Maybe it’s the “light at the end of the tunnel” aspect of finally cracking the top ten best-selling albums of all time, but we’ll see if I can keep up the pace of two albums per season.

This entry brings things a bit full circle, since this was the first artist I ever reviewed for The People’s Albums almost exactly ten years ago. I wouldn’t say that that earlier piece is quite as poorly written as I expected, but comparing it to my response to this album, it does illuminate how much more open to frivolous pop music I’ve become in the intervening decade.

Album: Come On Over
Artist: Shania Twain
Release Date: November 4, 1997
Copies Sold in the U.S.: 17.7 million Continue reading →

Well, hello there. Instead of taking a look back at my favorite new music of the last month or so, I figured I’d switch things up and return to an old recurring feature that I’m still technically pretty close to finishing but also feel very far away from finishing. With this entry, I finally break the top 10 of America’s best-selling albums of all time. I can’t promise that I’ll get through the top 10 any quicker than the other 40 albums I’ve reviewed over the last 10 years (Jesus Christ), since these will be especially ubiquitous albums that will be hard to find anything new to say about. Which might explain why it took me so long to get around to writing about this particular album.

Album: Greatest Hits
Artist: Elton John
Release Date: November 1974 (Hard to believe an album can be this popular and also leave no trace of its exact release date on the internet.)
Copies Sold In The U.S.: 17 million Continue reading →

We’re very close to finally breaching the Top 10 People’s Albums and I probably could’ve just skipped doing another bonus entry in order to keep moving forward. But, this is the most drawn-out countdown of all time, so of course I have to do another bonus entry so I can end this thing with an even 50. Also, this particular album is one that I was dreading whether I would have to eventually write about, but I’m choosing to bite the bullet and admit that me and this album have more of a history than I’d like to admit.

Album: Human Clay
Artist: Creed
Release Date: September 28, 1999
Copies Sold In The U.S.: 11.7 million

Continue reading →

Oh god. I keep taking so long in between installments of The People’s Albums that it’s hard for me to know when I’ll ever complete this journey through the best selling albums in the U.S. Guess my only goal is to finish it before I die or before we eventually lose interest in writing for this blog (whichever happens first). I know I’d have to do another one of these bonus installments in order to round it out to an even 50 before starting on the top ten, but maybe I’ll figure out a way to weasel my way out of another bonus entry since I really need to get started on that top 10.

Album: Falling Into You
Artist: Celine Dion
Release Date: March 11, 1996
Copies Sold In The U.S.: 11.8 Million Continue reading →

Well it’s officially Fall. So before this blog starts to turn more spooky as well as toward some exciting upcoming movie releases, I wanted to get this bonus episode of The People’s Albums in. After all, what mega-selling album has a cover that radiates such quintessential Fall vibes?

Album: Tapestry
Artist: Carol King
Release Date: February 10, 1971
Copies Sold In U.S.: 13 million Continue reading →

Holy crap, we’ve almost reached the top 10. Though because the rankings of the top 50 best-selling albums in the U.S. has shifted since I started doing this countdown, the math has worked out that less than 39 albums have been written about. To remedy this, I’ll start doing some bonus entries to make sure I round this out to an even 50. I know, that may sound insane to give myself more work for a project that’s taken me years to finish, but we gotta do this right.

Album: Boston
Artist: Boston
Release Date: August 25, 1976
Copies Sold In U.S.: 17 million Continue reading →