Joel Whitburn's Top Country Albums 1964-1997

Rating:
Summary: amazing book
Review: This book, one of the many in a string of Joel Whitburn chart books, provides information about EVERY album that ever charted on the Country Album chart since it's creation in 1964 to 1997 at any position! it doesn't just spotlight the over-rated Top-40 or Top-10 and it shows an album that might have hit #52 for an artist along with the ones that made the Top-40 or higher, to give a more in-depth picture of an artists album career. PLUS, all Top-10 albums also include the song titles listed!! how amazing is that? George Jones once again holds the record, this time for most charted albums with 80 {1997 data} and of those, 73 of them hit the Top-40. the data has expanded since then, of course, but this is a good start for people who study the country charts like i do and want to know how the charts have changed throughout the years. like in the end of the book, they list various record holders. one that's revealing is the list of "Most Weeks Held #1 Position", which indicates how many weeks an artist had their albums at #1. There are quite a few that appear like LeAnn Rimes, Tim McGraw, Garth Brooks, and others of the last 10 years that don't even have over 15 albums out yet!!! But those artists rank high on that weeks at #1 list because of their popularity and staying power at #1...LeAnn had 43 weeks total and she hadn't even been out over a year!! so, this part of the book reveals that an artist doesn't necessarily have to issue album after album to experience mega-success once thought to be awarded to established acts only. There is a few pages that feature some album covers through the years, based on sales figures only, which DOES NOT reflect an acceptance from the now diverse and divided country audience. Since so many people buy country CDs now, it's hard to tell which listener in the check-out line or at Amazon.com is really a country or pop fan...so to say that Shania Twain sells tens of millions of albums is mis-leading when i'll bet 2 or 3 million were actual country buyers in the first place and the other millions were pop fans, galvanized by her erotic MTV style music videos. It's only in the late '80s and on through 1997 that the book starts to turn sad when a person looks back at how great country albums once were, both visually AND musically.

Rating:
Summary: Invaluable For Any Country Music Buff
Review: This is, with the Billboard singles reference book, THE book for any country music buff to own. It lists every album that charted on Billboard's country charts between 1964 (the first year of the chart) to 1996. Although the book needs to be updated for the last five years, the information is invaluable here listing by artist every charted album, week of debut, highest position peaked,and weeks on the chart. Albums that went top ten also have a complete list of song tracks. There is also great lists at the back of the top 25 artists by decade, the top 50 albums by decade, and the 100 top albums and 200 top artists of alltime. These charts, unlike the singles, are wholly based on sales so it could be said this is a better barometer of just how popular many country artists are. You will be shocked how many country superstars never had a number one album!! You will also be stunned how many big stars had only a handful of number one albums while being surprised how well other stars did on the charts. Country legend Tammy Wynette for example, has only had three number one albums - the same number as Connie Smith who is generally not quite ranked on her level of stardom despite her outstanding talent. That puts Tammy though three on Barbara Mandrell and Anne Murray, neither of whom hit #1 on Billboard's country album charts. But Sammi Smith, Jeanne Pruett, and Jeannie C.Riley did!! And Susan Raye, generally thought of as a second-level country star, had more top ten albums (five) than such later CMA female vocalists of the year, Janie Fricke, Pam Tillis, and Kathy Mattea!! The male stars stats are equally shocking. Faron Young, Webb Pierce, and Mel Tillis had remarkably few top ten albums (less than Susan!) while George Jones hit number one just three times in his amazing career.

A bona fide country music trivia buff I turn to this book almost weekly. It is worth every penny.