RUNNERS-UP: Number Two Albums Of 1979

Over at The CD Project this week, Mark is featuring #1 albums from his favorite decade in music: 1976-1985.  The hook is that all of the albums are new to his ever-growing CD collection.  HERC thought it would be fun to take a gander at the also-rans to those albums, the runners-ups.  Using his handy-dandy Top 10 Album Charts book (above), HERC tracked all the #1 and #2 albums from 1976-1985 and presents his findings in the chart below.  

	year	#1 albums	#2 albums
	1976	11	5
	1977	6	7
	1978	8	4
	1979	10	4
	1980	12	3
	1981	10	1
	1982	8	5
	1983	5	3
	1984	4	1
	1985	12	1
	totals	86	34

Turns out only three albums peaked at #2 behind the albums Mark's featuring while the rest of the albums merely rested at the #2 spot on their way to the top of the chart. These are those rare breed #2 albums, the ones who couldn't make it all the way.

In it's two-part reign at the top, Minute By Minute actually held two albums at bay: 

The self-titled debut from Dire Straits during the week ending April 14, 1979.  Although he was seduced by the understated pickin' of Knopfler and Company, HERC held off on picking this one up himself until around Christmas 1980 when he picked the band's Making Movies album.  

And the aptly named 2 Hot! by Peaches & Herb from May 5-18, 1979.  HERC didn't have to buy this one as HERC SR. brought home the 8-track.  Make all the jokes you want about the title and chorus, "Shake Your Groove Thing" is a funky, funky joint.  And "Reunited" is definitely in the Top 5 Slow Jams of All -Time.

During the Eagles nine week (long) run at the top of the charts, spanning the end of 1979 and the beginning of 1980, three albums nestled beneath them at #2.  The first was the #1 album they kicked out of the roost, Led Zeppelin's In Through The Out Door while the last was Donna Summer's double album hits collection On The Radio.  In between, during the week ending November 24, 1979, Styx's Cornerstone held down the second spot.  In HERC's ranking of Styx albums, Cornerstone enjoys a somewhat lower position.  How low?  Let's just say it's below Kilroy Was Here and leave it at that.

Earlier in the year, A&M Records sponsored a contest for retailers in which the grand prize was the tricked out Styx van (below) which featured artwork from their previous two albums, Pieces Of Eight and The Grand Illusion. Interestingly, both of those albums were still on the Top 200 the week that Cornerstone peaked at #2.