Which album held the number one spot for the longest in 1973?
Whenever the year 1973 is called into question, there is one album that dominates the discourse. While David Bowie delivered Aladdin Sane to the world, and Stevie Wonder provided Innervisions, seemingly nothing topped Pink Floyd’s epic The Dark Side Of The Moon.
Let me qualify that this was a year, in a decade, that celebrated great album after great album, and to claim it dominated the conversation is indeed lofty praise. But this broke ground in ways nothing like it had before. It finally cemented the album as the premier musical format by creating something that allowed ideas to bleed from one song to the next.
The band’s controversial leader claimed that “It’s very well-balanced and well-constructed, dynamically and musically, and I think the humanity of its approach is appealing”, adding “I think it was probably the first completely cohesive album that was made.” And that’s why it was perhaps the definitive 1973 record because Bowie and Wonder, and all the others who populated that year, continued on to create greatness, whereas for Pink Floyd, 1973 was the year that they finally captured lightning in a bottle.
Its impact on music was so strong that it didn’t leave the charts until October 8th, 1988, and while it spent only one week at number one in 1973, it became the best-selling album of that year and holds the record for the most cumulative weeks on the charts of all time.
But that didn’t mean it held the top spot for the longest. No, the very fact that this record grew with every listen, and marvelled every oncoming generation of music listeners, meant that he has smashed chart and sales records, over an extended period of time. But it did not sit on top of the throne for any longer than one week in 1973.
So, what album held the number one spot for the longest in 1973?
Well, another musical icon had a big year in 1973, releasing two albums, which one would easily assume would have granted him the top spot title.
Elton John’s seminal record Goodbye Yellow Brick Road also came out in 1973, along with Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only the Piano Player, which together had a combined total of ten non-consecutive weeks at number one, making them the albums with the most total time at the top spot in 1973.
But they didn’t manage to do it in back-to-back weeks, which meant that Jeanne Pruett’s Satin Sheets took the crowd, having spent eight consecutive weeks at the top. But while the music Pruett wrote was surely worthy of its place at the top of the charts, she adopted a rather clever marketing strategy to ensure it had a chance of dominating the airwaves.
Upon the record’s release in March 1973, Pruett sent 1,600 pink satin sheets that she cut by hand to radio programmers and music executives. Clearly enamoured by either her attention to detail or the actual sheets themselves, radio stations had her record on regular repeat and thus thrust her to the top of the charts for two months.
