Sgt. Pepper is Britain's favorite number one album.

[Daddy Dee]

I would have guessed Abbey Road, but Sgt. Pepper works o.k. for me. I wore out some vinyl on that one, too.

Tue Aug 29, 11:05 AM ET
AP Wire

LONDON (AFP) - The Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" was voted Britain's favourite chart-topping album.
The British foursome's 1967 album edged out US singer Michael Jackson's "Thriller" by just 201 votes in the BBC's Radio Two Music Club Top 100 Albums chart.

More than 220,000 people voted in the nation-wide survey designed to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the official British album charts.

U2's "Joshua Tree" came in third ahead of "Rumours" by Fleetwood Mac and Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here".

The Beatles had four albums in the top 10 and a fifth at number 11.

In a seperate poll, of the albums that failed to reach the number one spot, Pink Floyd's "Dark Side Of The Moon" came out top with "The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars" by David Bowie as number two.

There have been 787 number one albums -- Snow Patrol's "Eyes Open" became the latest Sunday -- since the Official Album Chart started in 1956.

In a seperate poll, of the albums that failed to reach the number one spot, Pink Floyd's "Dark Side Of The Moon" came out top with "The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars" by David Bowie as number two.

There have been 787 number one albums -- Snow Patrol's "Eyes Open" became the latest Sunday -- since the Official Album Chart started in 1956.

BBC radio presenter Simon Mayo said: "It is a very impressive list and no surprise at all that Sgt. Pepper is at the top.

"It revolutionised music and what we expect from an album. A fine choice indeed."

Top 10:

1 "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" (1967) -- Beatles

2 "Thriller" (1982) -- Michael Jackson

3 "The Joshua Tree" (1987) -- U2

4 "Rumours" (1977) -- Fleetwood Mac

5 "Wish You Were Here" (1975) -- Pink Floyd

6 "Revolver" (1966) -- Beatles

7 "Bridge Over Troubled Water" (1970) -- Simon and Garfunkel

8 "Abbey Road" (1969) -- Beatles

9 "A Night At The Opera" (1975) -- Queen

10 "The Beatles" (1968) -- Beatles

[Parrot]

I don't know, when this guy is #2, what credibility does the poll really have??

[colterphoto1]

So that poll indicates that DSOTM hasn't been number one in England for ANY period in time? That's unbelieveable! Didnt' it stand as One in the US for like a year????

M

[colterphoto1]

Did some research, yup, DSOTM never reached above #2 in G.B., isn't that hard to believe.

Apparently WYWH was the first to hit #1 in G.B. (and the U.S.) Glad it made it on the poll.

Wish You Were Here,

released in 1975, carries an abstract theme of absence: absence of any

humanity within the music industry and, most poignantly, the absence of

Syd Barrett. Well-known for its popular title track, the album includes the largely instrumental, nine-part song suite "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" (sample),

a tribute to Barrett in which the lyrics deal explicitly with the

aftermath of his breakdown. Many of the musical influences in the

band's past were brought together atmospheric keyboards, blues guitar

pieces, extended saxophone solos (by Dick Parry),

jazz fusion workouts and aggressive slide guitar in the suite's

different linked parts, culminating in a funeral dirge played with

synthesised horn and ending with a musical quote from their early

single "See Emily Play" as a final nod to Barrett's early leadership of the band.^[30] The remaining tracks on the album, "Welcome to the Machine" and "Have a Cigar" (sample), harshly criticise the music industry; the latter is sung by British folk singer Roy Harper. It was the first Pink Floyd album to reach #1 on both the UK and the U.S. charts,^[31] and critics praise it just as enthusiastically as The Dark Side of the Moon.^[10]

[RichardP]

So that poll indicates that DSOTM hasn't been number one in England for ANY period in time? That's unbelieveable! Didnt' it stand as One in the US for like a year????

M

From www.pinkfloydonline.com, re DSOTM:

"Its success was so great--legend has it that there was an EMI factory

which did nothing but make "Dark Side of the Moon" CDs--that it enabled

the album's U.S. chart run to top 730 weeks.

It is the fourth best seller rock album of all time. The others are

Thriller, Saturday Night Fever (soundtrack), Rumors by fleetwood mac It

stayed on Billboard's top 200 album chart until April 23, 1988, and

after that they changed the format so that once an album dropped

off, it could not return. It stayed there for 723 weeks, the longest of

any album, ever."

I did not see mentioned if it ever hit #1 in the US. On a related note, if you are a PF fan, especially of DSOTM, you MUST get the new concert DVD "Pulse." DSOTM is played in its entirety on one of the two discs. Simply phenomenal.

[Travis In Austin]

I guess it depends on which GB poll. Every poll out of GB I have seen before this one always had either Sgt. Peppers or Pet Sounds No. 1.

Travis

[whell]

"

Top 10:

1 "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" (1967) -- Beatles

2 "Thriller" (1982) -- Michael Jackson

3 "The Joshua Tree" (1987) -- U2

4 "Rumours" (1977) -- Fleetwood Mac

5 "Wish You Were Here" (1975) -- Pink Floyd

6 "Revolver" (1966) -- Beatles

7 "Bridge Over Troubled Water" (1970) -- Simon and Garfunkel

8 "Abbey Road" (1969) -- Beatles

9 "A Night At The Opera" (1975) -- Queen

10 "The Beatles" (1968) -- Beatles"

I really can't argue with the list at all. While DSOTM is a great album, I've always though that "Wish You Were Here" was the better to the two albums from Pink Floyd.

[oldbuckster]

So that poll indicates that DSOTM hasn't been number one in England for ANY period in time? That's unbelieveable! Didnt' it stand as One in the US for like a year????

M

I also believe it was a BILLBOARD TOP SELLING100 Album for 20+ years......We must also remember this is a British Pop Music List..............not American.....................

I too preferred Abbey Road over Sgt. Pepper's........Abbey Road was the Beatles Crowning Jewel...........in my opinion

[Travis In Austin]

So that poll indicates that DSOTM hasn't been number one in England for ANY period in time? That's unbelieveable! Didnt' it stand as One in the US for like a year????

M

I also believe it was a BILLBOARD TOP SELLING100 Album for 20+ years......We must also remember this is a British Pop Music List..............not American.....................

I too preferred Abbey Road over Sgt. Pepper's........Abbey Road was the Beatles Crowning Jewel...........in my opinion

You have to be very careful with the Billboard charts, there are so many of them I can't keep them all straight. My wife's Uncle works for their parent company and he trys to explain the meaning of all of the different charts but I lose track, maybe somebody can explain it on here. This is from the Billboard site:

"Dark Side of the Moon finally broke Pink Floyd as superstars in the United States, where it made number one. More astonishingly, it made them one of the biggest-selling acts of all time. Dark Side of the Moon spent an incomprehensible 741 weeks on the Billboard album chart. Additionally, the primarily instrumental textures of the songs helped make Dark Side of the Moon easily translatable on an international level, and the record became (and still is) one of the most popular rock albums worldwide."

When you pull the lp up on Billboard it says "Peak Position: The Billboard 200 #110 on April 12, 1986." (http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/discography/index.jsp?aid=61357&pid=61137)

However, if you go to the "Pop Chart" is lists DSOM as being on the chart for 1516 weeks (http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/charts/chart_display.jsp?g=Albums&f=Top+Pop+Catalog). 1516 is close to THIRTY, yes 30, years.

All I know is everytime I bought a Billboard magazine, whether it be in the 80's, 90's or today, DSOM was on one chart or another, and the weeks on the chart were in the thousands, while the most any other lp had was in the hundreds. Eventually, DSOM will have it's own chart, titled something like: "Lp's that have been charted for so long we don't any explanation for why, nor do we have the capacity to track the number of weeks beyond 10 digits, so we have set up this special chart for those Lp's."

By the way, DSOM is a 15 time Riaa Diamond LP, as y'all know, a Diamond represents sales of 10 million units. Which means that DSOM has sold more then 150 millions units!

Travis

[Arky]

Sort of on topic

Today & night I watched Beatles Anthology, yeah i'm worn out but trying to get acclimated to my corns. It was an interesting documentary. These guys were basically prisoners, holed up in a hotel, yacht or obscure house. They state their musicianship suffered because they could never hear themselves playing over the constant screaming of the audience.

JT

[Daddy Dee]

JT,

Interesting thought. To think about what the Beatles did I'm still surprised when I think how compressed, their time was in the few years, they were working together.

[oldbuckster]

Sort of on topic

Today & night I watched Beatles Anthology, yeah i'm worn out but trying to get acclimated to my corns. It was an interesting documentary. These guys were basically prisoners, holed up in a hotel, yacht or obscure house. They state their musicianship suffered because they could never hear themselves playing over the constant screaming of the audience.

JT

The shot's of them performing on the roof top was worth the price of the set, and I found the Let it Be sessions most interesting.....RIP Billy Preston......funny to me, how at the time I never cared for John Lennon, but as the years pass I respect his music more all the time....Let It Be....indeed,John......Imagine all the people............