TOP ARTISTS ON BILLBOARD POP CHARTS
| RANK | ALBUMS | SINGLES |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass (19) | Carpenters (29) |
| 2 | Carpenters (15) | Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass (26) |
| 3 | Nazareth (13) | Styx (16) |
| 4 | Joe Jackson (12) | Bryan Adams (15) Cat Stevens (15) |
| 5 | Joan Armadtrading (11) Quincy Jones (11) Soundtracks (11) Cat Stevens (11) | Janet Jackson (14) Police (14) |
| 6 | Baja Marimba Band (10) Rita Coolidge (10) | Captain & Tennille (12) 38 Special (12) |
| 7 | Peter Frampton (9) Supertramp (9) | Joe Cocker (11) Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 (11) Jeffrey Osborne (11) |
| 8 | Joe Cocker (8) Chuck Mangione (8) Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 (8) Styx (8) 38 Special (8) Various Artists (8) Rick Wakeman (8) | Herb Alpert (10) Rita Coolidge (10) Supertramp (10) |
| 9 | Herb Alpert (7) Head East (7) Humble Pie (7) Sandpipers (7) Squeeze (7) Sting (7) Paul Williams (7) | Pablo Cruise (9) |
| 10 | Human League (6) Joe Jackson (6) Brothers Johnson (6) | Billy Preston (8) |
Notice that many of the artists have crossover world music or lite-jazz appeal, especially Billy Preston, Sting/the Police, Quincy Jones, Mangione, the Baja Marimba band (a bald-faced, stereotyped spinoff of the Tijuana Brass), and wildly successful Brazilian singer Sergio Mendes. Commercial success comes from exhausting a formula, balanced with an eye for "the new thing."
2 comments:
I was watching The Simpsons today and they broke into Herb Alpert renditions twice....For some reason I thought of you.
That's because if you make a crossover success, you become a "cultural icon." (See my new post, on Mangione and King of the Hill!)
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