Greatest "Winning Streak" In Music?

[Cosmic Harmony]

What do you feel is the best musical steak in music? That is to say who do you think had the absolute best string of consecutively great albums ever? And for conversations sake how about going into detail to support your choice AND not simply selecting your favorite artist and listing their entire discography.


My pick would be...

*Elton John
*17-11-70
*Tumbleweed Connection
*Madman Across the Water
*Honky Château
*Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player
*Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
*Caribou
*Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy
*Rock of the Westies
*Blue Moves

From Elton John's breakthrough self titled album all the way up through the criminally underrated "Blue Moves" we have what I feel is the most near perfect string of releases that any artist has ever had. Not only was each album a critical and commercial success in their own rights but they also had a very wide range of emotions and tones as well as piano driven explorations of more genres than most artists comb in their entire careers. Not to mention Elton's youthful tenor vocals were at their absolute peak and Bernie Taupin wrote many of his best lyrics. Truly a must have for any music collection.​

 

[aeroplane]

I'll say The Boss from Jersey.

Bruce Springsteen's catalog is varied enough that he never gets stale, even if some of the records don't rock as much as people think they should.

In general, his albums have also been well received by both fans and critics over the course of his career.

Like every artist, he has had downs as well as ups. However, Bruce has had what I consider to be the longest winning streak I can think of.

A couple things that I think work in his favor are that despite his consistent success, his catalog isn't full of cut-and-paste recordings like AC/DC or Motorhead.

He also hasn't had the complete and utter "disaster" of an album, either commercially or critically, the type that can set an artist's career back five years or more.

A LOT of otherwise damn good bands have had that type of album go against them, which I suppose is one of the reasons you started this thread is to see who has been lucky enough to avoid that and stay on the "winning streak."

 

[ladyislingering]

The first group that comes to mind is ABBA. Hailing from Sweden, they were one of the most well-known and loved acts of the 1970s. And they just couldn't stop winning over the masses. Observe.

According to Wikipedia:

They became one of the most commercially successful acts in the history of pop music, topping the charts worldwide from 1972 to 1982. ABBA sold over 375 million records worldwide,[1][2] which made them the fourth best-selling popular music artist in the history of recorded music. They still sell between two to three million albums a year.

A little bit about their records, in order:

Ring Ring (1973)
Highest chart position(s):

#2 (Sweden)
#10 (Norway & Australia)

Certificate(s): 3x platinum (Australia)

Waterloo (1974)
Highest chart position(s):

#1 (Sweden & Norway)
#6 (Germany)

Certificate(s): 2x platinum (Australia), platinum (Germany), silver (UK).

ABBA (1975)
Highest chart position(s):

#1 (Sweden, Australia, and Norway)
#3 (Netherlands & New Zealand)
#13 (UK)

Certificate(s): 10x platinum (Australia), gold (UK).

Arrival (1976) - This album was f***ing HUGE.
Highest chart position(s):

#1 (Sweden, Australia, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, and UK)
#3 (Japan)
#4 (Canada)

Certificate(s): 18x platinum (Australia), 2x platinum (Canada & Germany), gold (UK).

The Album (1977) - Also a very, very big deal.
Highest chart position(s):

#1 (Sweden, Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, and UK)
#2 (Austria & Germany)
#4 (Australia)
#8 (Canada)
#14 (United States - this is the first time ABBA had broken the top 20 in the US with the success of their albums.)

Certificate(s): 2x platinum (Canada), platinum (Germany & UK).

Voulez Vous (1979) - Another massive heart-stealer!
Highest chart position(s):

#1 (Sweden, Germany, Japan, Norway & UK)
#2 (Austria, Netherlands, New Zealand)
#5 (Australia)
#6 (Canada & France)

Certificate(s): 2x platinum (Canada), platinum (Germany), gold (UK).

Super Trouper (1980) - One more winner.
Highest chart position(s):

#1 (Sweden, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, and UK)
#3 (Austria)
#5 (Australia & New Zealand)
#7 (Canada)
#8 (France & Japan)
#17 (US - This would be ABBA's last good run with the states).

Certificate(s): 2x platinum (Germany), platinum (UK).

The Visitors (1981) - ABBA's final album.
Highest chart position(s):

#1 (Sweden, Germany, Netherlands, Norway & UK)
#3 (Austria)
#12 (France & Japan)

Certificate(s): platinum (Germany & UK)

As we know, to get into the massive worldwide success of their tremendously popular singles (in which, many were recorded in various different languages, most notably Spanish) would take days. Not only do I really actually love ABBA (I think I have 5 or 6 of their studio albums on vinyl) but when you look at the numbers, statistics, and influence they had in many areas of pop culture (even fashion, believe it or not) there is absolutely no doubt that they were one of the biggest "winners" of popular music. Benny Andersson is still on the move sharing the wonder of ABBA with the generations (point in case: "Mamma Mia").

 

[TheSound]

Pretty much agree with aeroplane when he says Springsteen - though I have to say for me the streak ended with his most recent Working on a Dream album, which was IMO a total disaster on every conceivable level I can think of, but the streak would still be I think 15 albums.

I'd like to add Van Morrison, for me he's never made a bad record going back to 'Astral Weeks' in 1967, and I have them all, so that streak would be around 40 albums now. His musical perfectionist integrity would make it virtually impossible for him to release a record that he didn't feel was as perfect as he could get it, nobody sets standards higher than he does, he's apparently a complete pain in the ass, but he gets it right 100% of the time.

 

[Groovy Man]

Here's the first three who come to mind, in no particular order....

1) I agree with Cosmic Harmony about Elton John. From 1970 - 1976 Elton John was the ''ELVIS of the 70's'' - album wise and singles wise. 70's Pop-Rock - Elton was King.

2) 1969-1979 Led Zeppelin ruled the rock world with their string of 8 studio albums and one live album. They were ''it'' in the 70's - The Kings of the Rock World. I believe they were the most popular rock band of the 70's - followed closely by The Rolling Stones, The Who and Eric Clapton. Sure there were others like Pink Floyd, Aerosmith, Yes, Allmans, Kiss, Rod Stewart, Bad Company, Chicago, Paul McCartney, Neil Young, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Black Sabbath, Lynyrd Skynyrd and many many others...

And The Grateful Dead maybe not album wise, but I gotta say the combination of albums and concert tours had a pretty grand ''winning streak'' themselves. They became legends in the 70's.

Last, but certainly not least...

3) The Beatles - no explanation needed. They owned the 60's.

 

[LG]

I'll have one for you tomorrow Cosmic...gonna be some pictures too.

 

[Magic]

I would have to say Michael Jackson. He was able to appeal to a wide audience; young and old, all genders, and all races. And his career didn't begin with his solo albums, it includes the Jackson 5!!

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Jackson 5:

ABC
Third Album
Maybe Tomorrow
Lookin' Through The Windows
Dancing Machine
Moving Violation


Solo:

Off The Wall
Thriller
Bad
Dangerous
History: Past, Present, Future
Invincible
This Is It

And this doesn't include the live albums and compilations. Even with all the negative publicity, MJ always came through for his music fans.

Every album he released from Off The Wall on all charted at number 1. His first two released albums both charted in the top 10, where his 3rd and 4th albums didn't do so well.......but Off The Wall onward landed him as a music legend.

 

[LG]

Off The Wall and Thriller are his two best, and the only ones I own. Never a huge fan but can't deny his status in music, it's just too bad his upbringing was such a disaster. I don't know how his father can stand himself after what he did to Michael, which left a psychological scar that lasted his whole adult life.

 

[Prime]

2) 1969-1979 Led Zeppelin ruled the rock world with their string of 8 studio albums and one live album. They were ''it'' in the 70's - The Kings of the Rock World. I believe they were the most popular rock band of the 70's - followed closely by The Rolling Stones, The Who and Eric Clapton. Sure there were others like Pink Floyd, Aerosmith, Yes, Allmans, Kiss, Rod Stewart, Bad Company, Chicago, Paul McCartney, Neil Young, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Black Sabbath, Lynyrd Skynyrd and many many others...

The Who and Pink Floyd are two that I would have chosen as well. Both bands were and are still phenomenal. If I were to choose one though, it'd be The Who. It's one of those bands that you listen to because it has sentimental value to you, for me anyways.

So yeah...

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And the one song that sticks out is this (mainly for the fact that it was the first Who song I had ever heard), granted all of their work is fantastic.

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[lady_barrett2112]

Great choices everybody.

My pick for winning streak would be Rush. Sure they may not have been as commercially successful as Zeppelin or The Who but they have an extremely devoted fan base that is still growing. Instead of fading away from the spotlight like some bands and artists of yesteryear, their popularity continues to increase. Even young kids are getting into them thanks to Rock Band and Guitar Hero.

Per Wikipedia:

Over the course of their career, Rush has come to release 24 gold records and 14 platinum records (3 of which have gone multiplatinum),[102] placing them within the top 3 for the most consecutive gold albums by a rock band.[103] Rush ranks 79th in U.S. album sales according to the RIAA with sales of 25 million units.[103] Total worldwide sales approximate 40 million units

If that's not considered a winning streak, then I don't know what is.