Hit Parade: The AC/DC Rule, Part 2

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Music, Tv & Film, Arts

4.2 • 2K Ratings

🗓️ 26 February 2021

⏱️ 77 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In Part 2 of this episode of Hit Parade, Chris Molanphy continues to demonstrate a weird chart phenomenon he calls The AC/DC Rule. Hit Parade episodes are now split into two parts, released two weeks apart. For the full episode right now, sign up for Slate Plus and you'll also get The Bridge, our Trivia show and bonus deep dive. Click here for more info. What was the only No. 1 album by Jimi Hendrix? How about the first No. 1 by Billy Joel? Jackson Browne? Pat Benatar? Pearl Jam? Lady Gaga? In all cases, the answer isn’t obvious—it’s not the album you know best, the one with the most hits on it. It’s the album after that classic that goes to No. 1. And there’s no better example than AC/DC, the Australian-by-way-of-Scotland hard rock band that’s sold more than 20 million copies of Back in Black. But it was their next album (can you name it?) that topped the Billboard album chart. Just as less-good movie sequels open better at the box office than classic first installments, follow-up albums often chart higher than their slow-growing but hit-packed predecessors. Some of the rock and pop legends who fell prey to this chart phenomenon might surprise you…might just leave you shook all night long. Podcast production by Asha Saluja. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	What's up guys, I am Ashley Gavin, and I am your father.
0:03.1	I'm Elena Joy, I am Mommy, and I'm Mackin from your hot teenage brother.
0:08.4	Baby, Mack is baby.
0:09.7	We are your chosen family, because you don't have a gay family, and you need a gay family.
0:14.3	Every week, we bring a topic to the family dinner table from gender dysphoria,
0:17.9	to monogamy, to how to figure out if someone is into you.
0:20.5	Listen to Chosen Family every Wednesday on your favorite podcast app,
0:24.0	or watch full episodes on YouTube to get the full family experience.
0:27.8	Chosen Family is a part of the Forever Dog podcast network.
0:33.1	Hello, Sleep Podcast listeners.
0:35.3	Help us make a better sleep by answering our survey.
0:39.6	It'll only take a few minutes, and you can find it at sleight.com slash survey. Thanks.
0:46.9	Welcome back to Hip Parade, a podcast of Pop Chart History from Slate magazine.
1:01.2	About the hits from Coast to Coast, I'm Chris Mulanfee,
1:04.8	Chart Analyst, Pop Critic, and Writer of Slates Why is the Song No. 1 series.
1:10.2	On our last episode, we talked about the ACDC rule,
1:15.4	a concept I invented to explain why follow-up albums
1:19.5	open bigger or chart higher than their more beloved predecessors.
1:24.4	And I named it after ACDC, a band whose first ever number one LP
1:30.4	was not as well-remembered or strong-selling as its predecessor back in black.
1:36.5	Now, let's apply the ACDC rule to a range of other acts across chart history.
1:43.6	In many cases, their top charting LP might surprise you.
	...

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