As a decade came to a close, its final year had many headlines that continue to resonate. U.S. astronauts walked on the moon. The original Woodstock festival defined a generation. The Miracle Mets improbably won the World Series.
1969 was also a year of significant music achievements. That year, three albums accounted for 33 of the year’s weekly chart toppers. Two were by the same band but neither LP was the year’s longest at #1. And just eight others held the #1 spot on the Record World album chart during the year. [Chart nerds might note that several of the albums failed to reach #1 on fellow trade magazine, Billboard.]
Here’s a recap of the number one albums of 1969; listings are in reverse order, saving the longest-running titles for the end.
Johnny Cash – At San Quentin (1)
The album, recorded at the correctional facility in California on February 24, 1969, was released just months later, on June 4. It yielded a surprising hit, the Shel Silverstein-penned “A Boy Named Sue,” which became Cash‘s only Top 10 pop single at #2. At San Quentin reached #1 on August 30 and went on to earn a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year.
Iron Butterfly – Ball (1)
The hard rock band’s third studio album followed the breakthrough success of the previous year’s In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida and though neither of Ball‘s singles were particularly successful on the pop charts, the band’s momentum led the way to a week at the top on March 22.
Romeo & Juliet (Original Soundtrack) (1)
The Zeffirelli film and its soundtrack, composed and conducted by Nino Rota, were both released in October 1968. The film, targeted to teen audiences, was a big success and earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture. So why did the album not reach #1 until August 1969? Henry Mancini recorded an instrumental of the “Love Theme” and the song became a surprise hit that June.
Blood, Sweat & Tears – Blood, Sweat & Tears (2)
The real surprise here is that the December 1968 release topped the sales chart for only two weeks in early spring, since it yielded no less than three huge singles, each of which hit #2: “You’ve Made Me So Very Happy,” “Spinning Wheel” and “And When I Die.” (And, depending on how old you are, it seemed that every household owned a copy of the LP.) After BS&T’s debut earlier that year, band members Al Kooper, Randy Brecker and Jerry Weiss departed. The key replacement, singer David Clayton-Thomas, put his stamp on the revised sound, resulting in a Grammy for Album of the Year.
Creedence Clearwater Revival – Green River (3)
In terms of quantity and quality, the American band just dominated the year on the charts, releasing three outstanding, top-selling albums, Bayou Country, Green River, and Willy and the Poor Boys. It’s hard to imagine we’ll see such artistry in one year again. The middle title, released on August 3, yielded a pair of #2 hits, “Bad Moon Rising” and the title cut, as well as such favorites as “Lodi,” “Commotion” and “The Night Time is the Right Time.” CCR‘s album topped the chart for three consecutive weeks in October.
Bob Dylan – Nashville Skyline (3)
The photo on its iconic cover was shot by Elliott Landy in early 1969 in… Woodstock, NY. The album, released on April 9, is one of the essential components of Dylan‘s upcoming Bootleg Series Vol. 15, which revisits Dylan’s sessions in Nashville, from 1967 to 1969, focusing on previously unavailable recordings made with Johnny Cash. Thanks in part to the pop success of “Lay Lady Lay,” Nashville Skyline reached the top on May 31, remaining there for two additional weeks. (The LP stalled at #3 on Billboard; it would take a few more years – 1974’s Planet Waves – before he topped that chart.)
Related: In 1974, no less than 25 albums hit #1
The Who – Tommy (3)
Let’s make sure we understand this correctly… A rock opera? About a deaf, dumb and blind boy? Well, the signs were there via 1967’s mini-opera, “A Quick One, While He’s Away.” But a two-record set? How absurd it all seems.
And then, just like that, The Who vaulted to the short list of serious rock bands thanks to the mind of Pete Townshend and this stupendous endeavor.
Related: It wasn’t just about the #1s; 1969 in rock music
Blind Faith – Blind Faith (5)
Supergroup and super album, with such classic rock favorites as “Presence of the Lord,” “Sea of Joy,” “Had to Cry Today” and “Can’t Find My Way Home,” among its six tracks.
They were so young. When the British quartet’s only album was released in August ’69, Steve Winwood was just 21 years-old, Eric Clapton was 24, Ric Grech was 22 and Ginger Baker, the old man, just turning 30. It was an immediate hit, beginning a five-week stretch at the top on September 6.
The Beatles – Abbey Road (9)
The Beatles’ studio masterpiece was released in the U.S. on October 1. On November 1 it topped the album chart, where it remained for the rest of 1969… a total of nine weeks. (It held the #1 spot for 11 weeks on Billboard; it was displaced at the top of Record World‘s chart at the start of 1970 by Led Zeppelin II. Abbey Road subsequently returned to the top of RW for several more weeks.) It was certified 12x Platinum in 2001 by the R.I.A.A. for the U.S. The number sold is likely substantially higher and the new 50th anniversary editions will boost it even further.
The Beatles – The Beatles (aka The White Album) (11)
Well, now… 1969 not only ended with a Beatles‘ sales run, the year also started that way. The White Album, released on November 22, 1968, started the year off with 11 straight weeks at the top. That meant that of the year’s 52 weeks, no less than 20 of them had the Fab Four at #1. We love you Beatles, oh yes we do…
Hair (Original Broadway Cast Recording) (13)
A couple of insane facts: The musical spawned a boatload of hit singles: the Fifth Dimension’s cover of “Aquarius” (coupled with “Let the Sunshine In”), a #1 smash which went on to win the Grammy Award for Record of the Year, the Cowsills’ “Hair” (#1), Oliver’s “Good Morning Starshine” (#3) and Three Dog Night’s “Easy to Be Hard” (#4). Since they were covers, these hit versions were not on the cast album, yet the radio success helped the album earn 13 non-consecutive weeks at #1 during the spring and summer. (How many purchasers thought they were buying the familiar pop versions?) Incredibly, as of September 2019, no Broadway cast album has reached the top of the sales chart, a span of more than 50 years.
Related: The #1 singles of 1969
Related: The top radio hits of 1969
12 Comments
Tommy is the most overated album in the history of rock.
Well, Steve, I guess we all know who the “deaf, dumb and blind boy” REALLY is! Four geniuses of pop/rock music–Townshend, Daltrey, Entwistle and Moon–LONG LIVE THE WHO!!
I totally agree and the movie’s even worse.
you mis- spelled Exile On Main Street 🙂
I would have put Let It Bleed, Rolling Stones on this list
The sole criteria: it needed to reach #1 in the U.S., Tom.
From this distance in time, it’s often difficult to put the timelines of LPs or, more to the point, peaks of bands and recording artists in context with each other. But it’s remarkable to think that The Beatles were winding down with their last record when so many others were just hitting their stride. Somehow, the Beatles seemed more a part of the beginning of what was later termed “Classic Rock,” rather than, more or less, preceding it. I guess it really comes down to the fact that in the span of a few short years, so unbelievably much of the best rock and pop music of all time was created in such a compressed period. Especially when you consider that “Sgt Pepper” just came out a couple of years before in 1967. It was an amazing non-stop time then, in both society and music, and it was exhilarating to be young, as a part of it all. But at the same time it just all felt natural, like the normal order of things. We just never realized how truly incredible a period it was that we were living through, and how monumental so much of the music actually was that we were hearing pretty much on a daily basis. That high was a hard thing to lose slowly over the years, and now it’s hard to slowly lose all the people who made that great music.
You’re missing the 1969/70 Live New Years album by Band of Gypsies. Noted as the best concert ever performed at the Fillmore East by Bill Graham himself. I saw all 4 shows and they were amazing but not on your list….hmmmm.
That’s because the list is for albums that were number 1 in 1969. Band of Gypsys wasn’t released until May 1970. ANd…it never reached number 1. It peaked at 5. So…
Went to actual new years eve late show. Thought Buddy Miles was a drag on the concert sang too long and Jimi not on board.
Da Mick is correct in what he wrote. What a time it was to be a teenager!
Oliver’s Good morning star shine might one of the top 10 World’s most horrible earworms of all time. I can’t imagine a career that consisted of singing “dooby do dibby, shoobee shabby dooby” Over and over and over. Arrgg!