1976-1985: My Favorite Decade: jazz charts

Showing posts with label jazz charts. Show all posts

Thursday, December 19, 2024

Top 50 Jazz Albums of 1983

According to the December 24, 1983 edition of Billboard magazine. Chart peaks are from that publication's jazz, pop, and R&B album charts, respectively. If the album was released in a year prior to 1983, that information is noted following the album title.

	*Album*	*Artist*	*Jazz*	*Pop*	*R&B*
1	Two of a Kind ('82)	Bob James & Earl Klugh	1	44	23
2	Jarreau	Al Jarreau	1	13	4
3	As We Speak ('82)	David Sanborn	1	70	32
4	Offramp ('82)	Pat Metheny Group	1	50	43
5	In Your Eyes	George Benson	1	27	6
6	Breakin' Away ('81)	Al Jarreau	1	9	1
7	December ('82)	George Winston	2	54
8	Incognito ('82)	Spyro Gyra	2	46	39
9	The Best is Yet to Come ('82)	Grover Washington, Jr.	1	50	8
10	Winter Into Spring ('82)	George Winston	14	127
11	Casino Lights ('82)	Various Artists	1	63	32
12	Hands Down ('82)	Bob James	3	72
13	The George Benson Collection ('81)		1	14	5
14	Low Ride	Earl Klugh	2	38	27
15	Dave Grusin & the NY/LA Dream Band ('82)		4	181	54
16	Autumn ('80)	George Winston	7	139
17	The Hunter	Joe Sample	3	125	44
18	Rit/2 ('82)	Lee Ritenour	5	99	53
19	Off the Top ('82)	Jimmy Smith	5
20	Procession	Weather Report	3	96	46
21	Quartet ('82)	Herbie Hancock	5	202
22	Touchstone ('82)	Chick Corea	9	207
23	Star People	Miles Davis	4	136
24	Friends	Larry Carlton	6	126
25	Travels	Pat Metheny Group	3	62

	*Album*	*Artist*	*Jazz*	*Pop*	*R&B*
26	The Genie	Bob James	5	77	43
27	Mirage à Trois	Yellowjackets	7	134
28	We are One ('82)	Pieces of a Dream	4	114	22
29	Think of One	Wynton Marsalis	1	102
30	Learning to Love ('82)	Rodney Franklin	9	190	45
31	Live at The Plugged Nickel ('82)	Miles Davis	16
32	Dreams of Tomorrow	Lonnie Liston Smith	11	193	46
33	Desire ('82)	Tom Scott	5	164
34	Gentle Fire	Wilton Felder	8		55
35	Kenny G ('82)	Kenny G	10
36	Tour de Force - Live ('82)	Al Di Meola	8	165
37	Journey to a Rainbow	Chuck Mangione	10	154
38	Les Fleurs	Ramsey Lewis	10	206
39	Havana Moon	Carlos Santana	13	31	55
40	Finesse	John Klemmer	10
41	Out of the Shadows ('82)	Dave Grusin	4	88
42	Home Again ('82)	Stanley Turrentine	11
43	City Kids	Spyro Gyra	2	66
44	Steps Ahead	Steps Ahead	24
45	Passion, Grace & Fire	John McLaughlin, Al Di Meola & Paco de Lucía	9	171
46	California Here I Come ('82)	Bill Evans	12
47	Winelight ('80)	Grover Washington, Jr.	1	5	2
48	Mr. Nice Guy	Ronnie Laws	6	98	24
49	Crazy and Mixed Up ('82)	Sarah Vaughan	22
50	Crazy for You ('81)	Earl Klugh	2	53	14

Speaking of jazz albums from 1983, why don't you give Dr. Smooth's flashback a listen:

Thursday, March 7, 2024

Top 50 Jazz Albums of 1984

According to the December 22, 1984 edition of Billboard magazine. Chart peaks are from that publication's jazz, pop, and R&B album charts, respectively. If the album was released in a year prior to 1984, that information is noted following the album title.

	*Album*	*Artist*	*Jazz*	*Pop*	*R&B*
1	Backstreet ('83)	David Sanborn	1	81	21
2	Think of One ('83)	Wynton Marsalis	1	102
3	Future Shock ('83)	Herbie Hancock	2	43	10
4	December ('82)	George Winston	2	54
5	Autumn ('80)	George Winston	7	139
6	Wishful Thinking	Earl Klugh	1	69	18
7	What's New ('83)	Linda Ronstadt	5	3
8	Passionfruit ('83)	Michael Franks	4	141
9	In Your Eyes ('83)	George Benson	1	27	6
10	Jarreau ('83)	Al Jarreau	1	13	4
11	Access All Areas	Spyro Gyra	1	59	41
12	Imagine This ('83)	Pieces of a Dream	4	90	16
13	Winter Into Spring ('82)	George Winston	14	127
14	Ghetto Blaster	The Crusaders	3	79	20
15	Individual Choice ('83)	Jean-Luc Ponty	2	134
16	G Force ('83)	Kenny G	6	62	17
17	Decoy	Miles Davis	1	169
18	Rejoicing	Pat Metheny	4	116
19	Foxie ('83)	Bob James	3	106	45
20	Shadowdance ('83)	Shadowfax	13	145
21	Travels ('83)	Pat Metheny Group	3	62
22	In the Heat of the Night	Jeff Lorber	7	106	44
23	City Kids ('83)	Spyro Gyra	2	66
24	Night Lines	Dave Grusin	4
25	Domino Theory	Weather Report	5	136

	*Album*	*Artist*	*Jazz*	*Pop*	*R&B*
26	Bodies and Souls ('83)	The Manhattan Transfer	10	52	38
27	Modern Times	Steps Ahead	11
28	Scenario ('83)	Al Di Meola	8	128
29	Time Exposure	Stanley Clarke	10	149	52
30	Low Ride ('83)	Earl Klugh	2	38	27
31	Now	Patrice Rushen	7	40	4
32	Steppin' Out	George Howard	9	178	39
33	Caverna Magica ('82)	Andreas Vollenwieder	8	149
34	On the Line ('83)	Lee Ritenour	12
35	Love Explosion	Tania Maria	13
36	Target ('83)	Tom Scott	9
37	An Evening with Windham Hill Live ('83)	Various Artists	18
38	Scenes in the City	Branford Marsalis	11	164
39	Banded Together	Lee Ritenour	6	145
40	Third Generation ('83)	Hiroshima	10	142	50
41	Offramp ('82)	Pat Metheny Group	1	50	43
42	Rendezvous	Sadao Watanabe	2		37
43	Marathon	Rodney Franklin	15	187	54
44	Breakin' Away ('81)	Al Jarreau	1	9	1
45	Past Light ('83)	Will Ackerman	20
46	Jammin' in Manhattan	Tyzik	15	172	35
47	The Two of Us	Ramsey Lewis & Nancy Wilson	6	144	42
48	Fill Up the Night ('83)	Sadao Watanabe	19
49	Sound System	Herbie Hancock	7	71	34
50	Come With Me ('83)	Tania Maria	28

Speaking of jazz albums from 1984, why don't you give Dr. Smooth's flashback a listen:

Sunday, July 9, 2023

Top Jazz Albums of July 9, 1983

Let's take a look at what was topping the various jazz album charts on July 9, 1983.

	Billboard	Cash Box	Radio & Records
1	Jarreau Al Jarreau	In Your Eyes George Benson	Low Ride Earl Klugh
2	Low Ride Earl Klugh	Travels Pat Metheny Group	In Your Eyes George Benson
3	The Hunter Joe Sample	Jarreau Al Jarreau	Jarreau Al Jarreau
4	Star People Miles Davis	The Genie Bob James	Journey to a Rainbow Chuck Mangione
5	The Genie Bob James	Low Ride Earl Klugh	The Genie Bob James
6	Friends Larry Carlton	Star People Miles Davis	Les Fleurs Ramsey Lewis
7	Autumn George Winston	Friends Larry Carlton	Friends Larry Carlton
8	Mirage a Trois Yellowjackets	The Hunter Joe Sample	Mirage a Trois Yellowjackets
9	Dave Grusin and the New York/L.A. Dream Band	Mirage a Trois Yellowjackets	Travels Pat Metheny Group
10	In Your Eyes George Benson	Journey to a Rainbow Chuck Mangione	The Hunter Joe Sample

Exclusive MFD meta-analysis of the above charts:

Jarreau (26 points)
Low Ride (25 pts)
In Your Eyes (20 pts)
The Genie (19 pts)
Friends (14 pts)
(tie) The Hunter and Star People (12 pts)
Travels (11 pts)
(tie) Mirage a Trois and Journey to a Rainbow (8 pts)
Les Fleurs (5 pts)
Autumn (4 pts)
Dave Grusin and the New York/L.A. Dream Band (2 pts)

Listen to selected tracks from the above albums and other 1983 releases, courtesy of Dr. Smooth:

Monday, January 9, 2023

Radio & Records Jazz Radio National Airplay Chart: May 1982

On May 21, 1982, Radio & Records magazine introduced their "Jazz Radio National Airplay Chart," a weekly 30 position chart of jazz albums:

WYRS (now WARW) - jazz format 1980-90
KSAX (now KHVN) - jazz format 1979-85
WDBS (now WFXC) - free-form format 1971-84
KTWN (now KQQL) - jazz format 1978-83
WXFM (now WCFS) - jazz format early '80s
KJAZ (now KREV) - jazz format 1959-94
KJZZ (now KXPA) - jazz format 1981-84

Radio & Records had previously been publishing a 10 position "Jazz on AOR" chart and continued to do so. That first Radio National Airplay chart:

Because the chart was based solely on airplay instead of sales, it varied greatly from the jazz albums charts appearing that week in issues of Billboard and CashBox:

Album	R&R	BB	CB
It's a Fact	1	5	6
Old Songs For The New Depression	2	-	-
Live at The Savoy	3	18	20
Straight from the Heart	4	-	-
Fathers and Sons	5	21	21
Mystical Adventures	6	1	4
Dan Siegel	7	30	29
Brotherly Love	8	35	-
Hollywood	9	15	10
Come Morning	10	3	7
Ride Like the Wind	11	46	19
Rio	12	11	12
Dream On	13	9	13
Objects of Desire	14	7	14
Silk	15	34	22
Chariots of Fire	16	1	4
Dan Siegel	17	19	27
Weather Report	18	17	18
Earland's Jam	19	32	24
No Problem	20	27	-
We Want Miles	21	10	2
Nights in Brazil	22	42	-
Taurus	23	-	-
Telecommunication	24	12	8
Breakin' Away	25	2	1
Crazy for You	26	16	16
George Benson Collection	27	6	5
Offramp	28	-	11
Griffith Park Collection	29	41	-
Free & Easy	30	-	-

The chart lasted through the end of 1987. In January 1988, the magazine expanded its jazz charts offerings:

Complete chart information from May 1982 - December 1987 is freely available to peruse and download over at one of our sister websites: albumcharts.wordpress.com/

Sunday, January 8, 2023

Top Jazz Albums on January 8, 1983

Let's take a look at what was topping the various jazz album charts for the week of January 8, 1983.

	Billboard	CashBox	Radio & Records
1	Two of a Kind Earl Klugh & Bob James	Two of a Kind Earl Klugh & Bob James	Two of a Kind Earl Klugh & Bob James
2	Incognito Spyro Gyra	Casino Lights Various Artists	The Best is Yet to Come Grover Washington, Jr.
3	Offramp Pat Metheny Group	The Best is Yet to Come Grover Washington, Jr.	Incognito Spyro Gyra
4	Casino Lights Various Artists	Rit/2 Lee Ritenour	Home Again Stanley Turrentine
5	As We Speak David Sanborn	Incognito Spyro Gyra	Casino Lights Various Artists
6	Rit/2 Lee Ritenour	Offramp Pat Metheny Group	Chance Encounter Ramsey Lewis
7	We are One Pieces of a Dream	Tour de Force - Live Al DiMeola	Touch the Feeling Stix Hooper
8	Tour de Force - Live Al DiMeola	As We Speak David Sanborn	Kenny G Kenny G
9	Touchstone Chick Corea	Learning to Love Rodney Franklin	Rit/2 Lee Ritenour
10	Kenny G Kenny G	Home Again Stanley Turrentine	Learning to Love Rodney Franklin

Exclusive MFD meta-analysis of the above charts:

Two of a Kind (30 pts)
Incognito (23 pts)
Casino Lights (22 pts)
The Best is Yet to Come (17 pts)
Rit/2 (14 pts)
Offramp (13 pts)
As We Speak (9 pts)
Home Again (8 pts)
Tour de Force - Live (7 pts)
Chance Encounter (5 pts)
(tie) We are One, Kenny G, and Touch the Feeling (4 pts)
Learning to Love (3 pts)
Touchstone (2 pts)

Saturday, January 15, 2022

Billboard's Top Jazz Artists 1976-85

Not sure if they still do it, but years ago Billboard would list its top jazz artists in its year-end issues, based on album sales for that year. Here's a sample list from 1982:

I'm guessing the results were based on both chart peak as well as the number of weeks the artists' albums spent on the charts. Regardless, I took the results of the 10 lists from the years 1976-85 and ran them through a simple algorithm. Here's a countdown of the top ten jazz artists for the decade along with albums that placed on the Billboard Jazz Album charts during those years:

CHUCK MANGIONE

Album	Jazz Chart
Bellavia	7
Encore	24
Main Squeeze	4
Chase the Clouds Away	30
Land of Make Believe	21
Feels So Good	1
The Best of Chuck Mangione	23
Children of Sanchez	1
Live at the Hollywood Bowl	5
Fun and Games	1
Tarantella	10
Love Notes	8
70 Miles Young	19
Journey to a Rainbow	10
Disguise	26

DAVID SANBORN

Album	Jazz Chart
Taking Off	19
Sanborn	10
Promise Me the Moon	27
Heart to Heart	16
Hideaway	2
Voyeur	1
As We Speak	1
Backstreet	1
Straight to the Heart	1

SPYRO GYRA

Album	Jazz Chart
Spyro Gyra	14
Morning Dance	2
Catching the Sun	1
Carnaval	2
Freetime	1
Incognito	2
City Kids	2
Access All Areas	1
Alternating Currents	3

BOB JAMES

Album	Jazz Chart
Three	2
BJ4	3
Heads	1
Touchdown	1
Lucky Seven	3
"H"	3
All Around the Town	3
Sign of the Times	2
Hands Down	3
The Genie	5
Foxie	3
12	5

THE CRUSADERS

Album	Jazz Chart
Chain Reaction	1
Those Southern Knights	2
The Best of The Crusaders	18
Free as the Wind	1
Images	1
Street Life	1
Rhapsody and Blues	1
Standing Tall	2
Royal Jam	5
Ghetto Blaster	3

AL JARREAU

Album	Jazz Chart
Glow	9
Look to the Rainbow	5
All Fly Home	2
This Time	1
Breakin' Away	1
Jarreau	1
High Crime	2
In London	10

PAT METHENY

Album	Jazz Chart
Bright Size Life	28
Watercolors	28
Pat Metheny Group	5
New Chautauqua	3
American Garage	1
80/81	4
As Falls Wichita...	1
Offramp	1
Travels	3
Rejoicing	4
First Circle	2

EARL KLUGH

Album	Jazz Chart
Earl Klugh	16
Living Inside Your Love	8
Finger Paintings	6
Magic in Your Eyes	4
Heart String	2
Dream Come True	4
Late Night Guitar	4
Crazy for You	2
Low Ride	2
Wishful Thinking	1
Nightsongs	4
Soda Fountain Shuffle	3
Key Notes	30

GROVER WASHINGTON, JR.

Album	Jazz Chart
Mister Magic	1
Feels So Good	1
A Secret Place	1
Live at The Bijou	1
Reed Seed	1
Paradise	2
Skylarkin'	1
Baddest	5
Winelight	1
Anthology (Motown)	11
Come Morning	1
The Best is Yet to Come	2
Inside Moves	3
Anthology (Elektra)	37

GEORGE BENSON

Album	Jazz Chart
Breezin'	1
Good King Bad	3
The Other Side of Abbey Road	28
Blue Benson	23
In Flight	1
In concert - Carnegie Hall	6
Weekend in L.A.	1
Livin' Inside Your Love	1
Give Me the Night	1
The George Benson Collection	1
In Your Eyes	1
20/20	3

Tuesday, September 21, 2021

Top 25 Jazz Albums Released in 1983

I wanted to check out the best-selling albums released in 1983 that charted on Billboard's Jazz Album Chart. Unfortunately, the magazine's year-end charts were no help as the 1983 year-end chart contained many albums from 1982. So since I had time to burn and I'm more than a little compulsive about such things (I created this jazz chart book, for example), I decided to create my own list of jazz albums that were actually released in 1983. I crunched some numbers and used a formula that took into account both chart peak positions as well as length on the chart. According to Billboard's Jazz Album Chart, here are the top 25 best-selling jazz albums released in the calendar year 1983: