So far this week I’ve covered artists who came just short of a #1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 without quite reaching the milestone.
Today’s band never even got close. Their highest ranking song on the chart peaked at #23 and they’ve had only two other titles in the top 40. But I’m including them because they managed that while releasing the second highest-selling album in music history.
How many bands can put out a string of Platinum or multi-Platinum albums in a row, lose their lead singer and replace him in less than a year, then release one of the top-selling albums of all-time? That list starts and ends with AC/DC.
Bon Scott fronted the Australian rock band for five years, culminating with the massive 1979 hit album Highway to Hell. Then he died in the back seat of a car after a night of heavy drinking. The band held auditions for a new lead singer, landing on Brian Johnson, whose distinctive shrieking rasp helped make 1980’s Back in Black an all-time classic.
Frequent commenter Dana suggested last week that looking at commercial hits rather than critically acclaimed albums might produce more palatable results. Several of the albums I’ve featured so far have been best sellers as well as critics darlings, but none to the degree of today’s selection.
AC/DC’s Back in Black is considered one of the best rock albums of all time, and has sold more copies worldwide than anything but Michael Jackson’s Thriller. Embarrassingly, I don’t own it.
Meet Me In Montauk 