No. 1 this week in 1991, @Metallica's Black Album. @larsulrich told me, "Everyone has one album when everything comes together. This was ours.” More at the link. number1albums.com/metallica__m...

No. 1 this week in 1970, Paul McCartney's "McCartney." While it was displaced from the pole position, ironically, by "Let It Be," it did accomplish what McCartney set out to do: establish the former Beatle as a solo force. More at the link. number1albums.com/mccartney-pa...

No. 1 this week in 1973, "Houses of the Holy" by @ledzeppelin. “The vibe was much the same,” John Paul Jones told me. “We would do the tours, we would do the recordings, then we wouldn’t see each other at all. We weren’t a band that socialized.” More at the link. number1albums.com/houses-of-th...

No. 1 this week in 1964, "The Beatles' Second Album" by The Beatles. “We always objected terribly to what the Americans did to our recordings, but we had no say in it,” said George Martin, the group’s producer. “They just did what they wanted to do.” number1albums.com/the-beatles-...

No. 1 this week in 1980, "Against the Wind" by @BobSeger & the Silver Bullet Band. “I remember my manager calling me up every week while we were on tour and saying, ‘We’re Avis,’ which meant we were still number two,” Seger told me. More at the link. number1albums.com/against-the-...

No. 1 this week in 1976, "Presence" by Led Zeppelin. “It was just after Robert’s car accident,” John Paul Jones told me. “We were in Los Angeles and nobody seemed to want to turn up for rehearsals and for writing sessions.” More at the link. number1albums.com/presence-led...

No. 1 this week in 1987, "The Joshua Tree"by U2. “There was always someone playing an instrument, and everyone else just kind of joined in as they saw fit, including Danny [Lanois] and Brian [Eno],” Adam Clayton told me. More at the link. number1albums.com/the-joshua-t...

No. 1 this week in 1992, "Adrenalize" by Def Leppard. Joe Elliott told me, "After about six weeks, we sat around a coffee table and looked at each other and said, ‘This is bullshit. There’s no soul in what we’re doing. He’s not coming back, he’s dead...'" number1albums.com/adrenalize-d...

No. 1 this week in 1977, "Rumours" by Fleetwood Mac. Mick Fleetwood told me, "John McVie had the best phrase. He said it was literally like living through a musical soap opera, and that’s why we called the album Rumours." More at the link. number1albums.com/rumours_-_fl...

No. 1 this week in 1995, "Me Against the World" by 2PAC. “The first time he played [‘Dear Mama’] for me, I thought it was a hit record,” Tom Whalley told me. “But that was one of the songs that I had to convince 2Pac to put on the record.” More at the link. number1albums.com/2pac-me-agai...

No. 1 this week in 1974, "John Denver's Greatest Hits" by John Denver. “By the time we did 'Greatest Hits,' I had my own band,” John told me. “On those original recordings, I didn’t have a band, I was just playing with session players.” More at the link. number1albums.com/john_denvers...

No. 1 this week in 1985, "No Jacket Required" by Phil Collins. Phil told me, "There was something about ‘1999’ that I liked, but Prince is a Black American and I’m a white Englishman, so it’s going to sound very different." More at the link. number1albums.com/no_jacket_re...

No. 1 this week in 1972, "America" by America. Dewey Bunnell told me, "We had these songs worked out to perfection, three-part harmonies, and we all had our guitar parts. We could play them in our sleep.” More at the link. number1albums.com/america_amer...

No. 1 this week in 1965, the "Goldfinger" soundtrack. John Barry told me, "Anthony [Newley] wanted to know what the hell 'Goldfinger' was. So I told him, 'It's very simple, it's like "Mack the Knife." It's a song about a villain.'" More at the link. number1albums.com/goldfinger-s...

No. 1 this week in 1958, "The Music Man" original cast album. Barbara Cook told me, "The first time I heard the score, I was just bowled over. I’d really never heard that kind of rhythmic, talking thing that Meredith had come up with. It was so unusual.” number1albums.com/the_music_ma...

No. 1 this week in 1973, the "Deliverance" soundtrack. Eric Weissberg told me, "All of a sudden [my lawyer's] eyes got real wide. He put his hand over the mouthpiece and said, ‘Joe says the album’s already out.’ I said that’s impossible. What album?” number1albums.com/dueling_banj...

No. 1 this week in 1974, "The Way We Were" by Barbra Streisand. "It was a nightmare putting the thing together,” producer Tommy LiPuma told me, “because there were numerous performances. I had to listen to all of them to find the right take.” More at the link. number1albums.com/the_way_we_w...

No. 1 this week in 1975, Led Zeppelin's "Physical Graffiti." John Paul Jones told me, "It was recorded at a house, so there was a pretty relaxed vibe about the whole thing. It wasn’t like we went in the studio every-day — we kind of lived in the studio." More number1albums.com/physical-gra...

No. 1 this week in 1961, "Calcutta" by Lawrence Welk. “Instead of the ‘champagne music’ we decided that we would do something a little different,” musical supervisor George Cates told me. “We decided to use a harpsichord.” number1albums.com/calcutta_-_l...

No. 1 this week in 1965, the "Mary Poppins" soundtrack. “We had to have a reason for telling the audience about this magical word, ‘Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious,’ or for the wonderful things about being a chimney sweep," Richard Sherman told me. number1albums.com/mary_poppins...

No. 1 this week in 1963, "Songs I Sing on the Jackie Gleason Show" by Frank Fontaine. ABC A&R man Sid Feller told me, “He would have this crazy look on his face and would wear this dumb hat and then he would sing and out came this big, booming operatic voice. ” number1albums.com/songs-i-sing...

No. 1 this week in 1975, “Have You Never Been Mellow” by Olivia Newton-John. She told me, “I created a controversy in Nashville, because I was an Australian girl, produced by an Englishman and an Australian, singing country music that wasn’t written by me.” number1albums.com/have-you-nev...

No. 1 this week in 1993, "Unplugged" by Eric Clapton. “I want to thank a lot of people, but the one person I want to thank is my son, for the love he gave me and the song he gave me,” Clapton said as he accepted his sixth award of the night at the Grammys. number1albums.com/unplugged_-_...

No. 1 this week in 1976, "Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975" by Eagles. "We thought it would be good to bridge the time between albums,” Don Henley told me. “We knew it was going to take a while to make the next one.” More at the link. number1albums.com/eagles-their...

No. 1 this week in 1966, "The Ballad of the Green Berets" by Ssgt. Barry Sadler. “We found out that it was against Army regulations to use a photo¬graph of a military man in uniform on an album cover without permission from the U.S. government.” number1albums.com/ballads_of_t...

No. 1 this week in 1972, "Harvest" by Neil Young. "We went into the studio and Neil played a couple of songs and we were stunned by how beautiful his songs were and how incredible he was," co-producer, the late Elliot Mazer told me, "It was magic." number1albums.com/harvest_-_ne...

No. 1 this week in 1989, "Electric Youth" by Debbie Gibson. “It was the most nerve-wracking and exciting thing I have ever done,” Gibson told me. “That show really helped me a great deal. People took me a lot more seriously after that." More at the link. number1albums.com/electric-you...

No. 1 this week in 1963, "Jazz Samba" by Stan Getz / Charlie Byrd. “We just talked about it a little bit in a hotel room and then went and recorded the album,” Byrd told me. number1albums.com/jazz-samba-s...

No. 1 this week in 1986, "Whitney Houston" by Whitney Houston. “I was hearing this song that I loved and it was sung by this voice," producer/songwriter Michael Masser told me. "I knew that this was one of the greatest talents I have heard in my life.” number1albums.com/whitney-hous...

No. 1 this week in 1987, "Licensed to Ill" by the Beastie Boys. “If you’re not gonna have as much equipment as AC/DC, you really shouldn’t play instruments,” Mike D. told me. More at the link. number1albums.com/licensed_to_...

No. 1 this week in 1970, "Bridge Over Troubled Water" by Simon & Garfunkel. "It was a tough album to make, but tough is one of the words that leads to great results,” Art Garfunkel told me. More at the link. number1albums.com/bridge_over_...

No. 1 this week in 1966, "Going Places" by @HerbAlpert & the Tijuana Brass. "I never listened to mariachi music,” Alpert told me. “I was just trying to make the music, for the most part, which was just coming out of me." More at the link. number1albums.com/going-places...

No. 1 this week in 1991, @MariahCarey's self-titled album. "I had a lot of the songs before I got my record deal,” she told me, “so the songs remind me of different things in my life while I was growing up." More at the link. number1albums.com/mariah_carey...

No. 1 this week in 1982, "Beauty and the Beat" by @officialgogos. "We didn’t really want to be a punk band,” @BelindaCarlisle told me. “We wanted to play melodic pop, more like the @Buzzcocks or one of those type bands.” More at the link. number1albums.com/beauty_and_t...

No. 1 this week in 1985, "Make It Big" by Wham! Engineer Chris Porter told me, "Andrew was still involved in being a pop star and thinking about other ways he wanted to enjoy himself, while George had his head down in the music." More at the link. number1albums.com/make_it_big_...

No. 1 this week in 1968, "Blooming Hits" by Paul Mauriat & His Orchestra. “Paul only had moderate success in France up to that point, but then ‘Love Is Blue’ caught on,” label exec Lou Simon told me. More at the link. number1albums.com/blooming_hit...

No.1 this week in 1986, "Welcome to the Real World" by Mr. Mister. “We had absolutely no expectations, having had several commercially unsuccessful records before,” singer/bassist Richard Page told me. More at the link. number1albums.com/welcome_to_t...

No. 1 this week in 1975, Bob Dylan's "Blood on the Tracks." Phil Ramone told me, "If anyone takes credit for producing Dylan, it’s an interesting concept… Never turning off the tape machines was part of the way you recorded Dylan." number1albums.com/blood_on_the...

No.1 this week in 1971, "Pearl" by Janis Joplin. “We knew it was going to be an emotionally difficult situation, trying to do a Janis Joplin album without Janis there, but everyone voted to finish," producer Paul A. Rothchild told me. number1albums.com/pearl-janis-...

No. 1 this month in 1971, "Jesus Christ Superstar." Composer Sir Tim Rice told me, “It was quite controversial, which undoubtedly helped the album. A lot of people thought it was blasphemous, but they were usually people who hadn’t heard it.” More at the link. number1albums.com/jesus-christ...

RIP Roberta Flack. Her album “First Take” was No. 1 in April 1972. She told me, "My mom answered the phone and said, ‘Clint Eastwood is on the phone.’ She didn’t know who he was by name, but I did and I was shocked, chagrined, mortified.” number1albums.com/first_take_-...

No. 1 this week in 1973, "The World Is a Ghetto" by War. “When Charles Miller played that sax solo, I cried," producer Jerry Goldstein told me. "I had never heard anybody with that kind of feeling and soul." More at the link. number1albums.com/the-world-is...

No. 1 this week in 1983, "Thriller" by @michaeljackson. “In those four months we did 'E.T.' and 'Thriller,' and it almost put us in the hospital,” @QuincyDJones told me. number1albums.com/thriller__mi...

No. 1 this week in 1994, "Toni Braxton" by Toni Braxton. “She was kind of like a little sister hanging around,” Kenny "Babyface" Edmonds told me. “We finished ['Boomerang'] and then went on to do more things with her.” number1albums.com/toni_braxton...

No. 1 this week in 1959, "The Music From Peter Gunn" by Henry Mancini. “[RCA Victor was] completely overwhelmed,” Mancini told me. “They had only printed 8,000 covers, so they ran out of covers and had to put some out in plain sleeves with no artwork.” number1albums.com/henry-mancin...

No. 1 this week in 1975, "AWB" by the Average White Band. "The very first day we went to the studio, Aretha was in recording and Jerry [Wexler], Arif Mardin, and Tom Dowd were behind the desk,” guitarist Onnie McIntyre told me. “All our heroes were there." number1albums.com/awb_-_averag...

No. 1 this week in 1981, "Hi Infidelity" by REO Speedwagon. Kevin Cronin told me, "We were often compared to Journey and Styx, and usually in a less than complimentary fashion.” number1albums.com/hi-infidelit...

No. 1 this week in 1994, "Kickin' It Up" by John Michael Montgomery. “When we got through ‘I Swear’ and ‘Kick It Up,'” he told me, “we had two songs that went from one extreme to the other. All we had to do was fill in the void.” More at the link. number1albums.com/kickin_it_up...

No. 1 this week in 1974, "Planet Waves" by Bob Dylan. Engineer Rob Fraboni told me, "[The Band] were so in tune with Bob, such great musicians, and so intuitive, they were able to basically just watch Bob’s hands on the chord changes and play along." number1albums.com/planet_waves...

No. 1 this week in 1986, Sade's "Promise." I spoke to co-producer Robin Millar, who told me, "There were great highs and lows, and that brought about intensity in the music. It was a painful record to make, in the best sense of the word.” More at the link. number1albums.com/promise-sade...