Billboard #1 Jazz Albums of 1975

In 1975, Billboard published a Jazz Album list in the second and fourth issues each month with forty albums ranked. Here’s a chart of the #1 jazz albums of 1975:

Week Ending	Album	Artist(s)
January 11	Pieces of Dreams	Stanley Turrentine
January 25	Southern Comfort	The Crusaders
February 8	Pieces of a Dream	Stanley Turrentine
February 22	Bad Benson	George Benson
March 8	Sun Goddess	Ramsey Lewis
March 22
April 12	Mister Magic	Grover Washington, Jr.
April 26
May 10
May 24
June 14
June 28
July 12
July 26
August 9
August 23
September 13
September 27	Chain Reaction	The Crusaders
October 11
October 25	Mellow Madness	Quincy Jones
November 8
November 22	Man-Child	Herbie Hancock
December 13	Feels So Good	Grover Washington, Jr.
December 27

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#1 Jazz Albums:
1970 · 1971 · 1972 · 1973 · 1974 · 1975 · 1976 · 1977 · 1978 · 1979
1980 · 1981 · 1982 · 1983 · 1984 · 1985 · 1986 · 1987 · 1988 · 1989

#1 Contemporary Jazz Albums:
1987 · 1988 · 1989

Billboard #1 Jazz Albums of 1988

Starting in 1987, Billboard switched from having one “Top Jazz Albums” chart with forty chart positions to having two jazz albums charts: 1) the existing “Top Jazz Albums” chart was reduced to 15 chart positions, and 2) a new “Top Contemporary Jazz Albums” chart premiered with 25 positions.  Here’s a chart of the #1 Top Jazz Albums of 1988:

Week Ending	Album	Artist(s)
January 9	Diane Schuur and The Count Basie Orchestra	Diane Schuur and The Count Basie Orchestra
January 23
February 6
February 20
March 5
March 19
April 2
April 16
April 30
May 14
May 28
June 11
June 25	John Patitucci	John Patitucci
July 9	Ella in Rome – The Birthday Concert	Ella Fitzgerald
July 23
August 6
August 20
September 3
September 17	Look What I Got	Betty Carter
October 1
October 15
October 29	Talkin’ ‘Bout You	Diane Schuur
November 12
November 26
December 10
December 24

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#1 Jazz Albums:
1970 · 1971 · 1972 · 1973 · 1974 · 1975 · 1976 · 1977 · 1978 · 1979
1980 · 1981 · 1982 · 1983 · 1984 · 1985 · 1986 · 1987 · 1988 · 1989

#1 Contemporary Jazz Albums:
1987 · 1988 · 1989

Billboard #1 Jazz Albums of 1970

In 1970, Billboard published a Jazz Album list weekly with twenty albums ranked. Here’s a chart of the #1 jazz albums of 1970:

Week Ending	Album	Artist(s)
January 3	Hot Buttered Soul	Isaac Hayes
January 10
January 17
January 24
January 31
February 7	Swiss Movement	Les McCann & Eddie Harris
February 14
February 21
February 28
March 7
March 14
March 21
March 28
April 4
April 11
April 18
April 25
May 2
May 9	The Isaac Hayes Movement	Isaac Hayes
May 16
May 23
May 30
June 6
June 13
June 20
June 27
July 4
July 11
July 18	Bitches Brew	Miles Davis
July 25
August 1
August 8	The Isaac Hayes Movement	Isaac Hayes
August 15
August 22	Bitches Brew	Miles Davis
August 29
September 5	The Isaac Hayes Movement	Isaac Hayes
September 12
September 19	Bitches Brew	Miles Davis
September 26
October 3
October 10
October 17
October 24	The Isaac Hayes Movement	Isaac Hayes
October 31
November 7	Bitches Brew	Miles Davis
November 14	Isaac Hayes Movement	Isaac Hayes
November 21
November 28
December 5	Bitches Brew	Miles Davis
December 12	…To Be Continued	Isaac Hayes
December 19
December 26

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#1 Jazz Albums:
1970 · 1971 · 1972 · 1973 · 1974 · 1975 · 1976 · 1977 · 1978 · 1979
1980 · 1981 · 1982 · 1983 · 1984 · 1985 · 1986 · 1987 · 1988 · 1989

#1  Contemporary Jazz Albums:
1987 · 1988 · 1989

Billboard #1 Jazz Albums of 1987

Starting with the February 28, 1987 issue, Billboard switched from having one “Top Jazz Albums” chart with forty chart positions to having two jazz albums charts: 1) the existing “Top Jazz Albums” chart was reduced to 15 chart positions, and 2) a new “Top Contemporary Jazz Albums” chart premiered with 25 positions.  From the aforementioned issue:

We’ve already looked at the #1 contemporary jazz albums of 1987.  Here’s a chart of the #1 Top Jazz Albums of 1987:

Week Ending	Album	Artist(s)
January 17	Tutu	Miles Davis
January 31	A Nice Place to Be	George Howard
February 14
February 28	The Other Side of Round Midnight	Dexter Gordon
March 14
March 28
April 11
April 25
May 9
May 23
June 6
June 20	Michael Brecker	Michael Brecker
July 4
July 18
August 1
August 15
August 29
September 12
September 26
October 10
October 24
November 7	Diane Schuur and the Count Basie Orchestra	Diane Schuur and the Count Basie Orchestra
November 21
December 5
December 19

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#1 Jazz Albums:
1974 · 1975 · 1976 · 1977 · 1978 · 1979
1980 · 1981 · 1982 · 1983 · 1984 · 1985 · 1986

#1  Contemporary Jazz Albums:
1987

Jazz Albums on the Rolling Stone Album Chart (1979)

In the December 14, 1978 edition of Rolling Stone magazine (issue 280), the magazine began publishing its own album chart “based on a continuous, nationwide phone survey of record sales in contemporary rock-oriented stores.”  Here’s a look at the 28 albums that charted both on the Rolling Stone album chart and the Billboard Jazz album chart in 1979.  Peak chart numbers are provided for those charts. An interesting study in crossover sales.

Album	RS	BB Jazz
Livin’ Inside Your Love George Benson	5	1
Rise Herb Alpert	9	1
Mingus Joni Mitchell	13	3
Street Life The Crusaders	20	1
Touchdown Bob James	24	1
Morning Dance Spyro Gyra	24	2
Mr. Gone Weather Report	26	1
Carmel Joe Sample	26	1
Children of Sanchez Chuck Mangione	27	1
One on One Bob James & Earl Klugh	28	1
Angel of the Night Angela Bofill	34	2
Paradise Grover Washington, Jr.	36	2
Heart String Earl Klugh	36	2
Flame Ronnie Laws	40	1
New Chautauqua Pat Metheny	42	3
Tiger in the Rain Michael Franks	43	6
A Taste for Passion Jean-Luc Ponty	44	4
Lucky Seven Bob James	45	3
Reed Seed Grover Washington, Jr.	52	1
Feets Don’t Fail Me Now Herbie Hancock	53	2
An Evening of Magic Chuck Mangione	53	5
I Wanna Play for You Stanley Clarke	55	5
Follow the Rainbow George Duke	59	3
8:30 Weather Report	60	3
All Fly Home Al Jarreau	62	2
Angie Angela Bofill	65	5
Live Jean-Luc Ponty	71	8
An Evening With Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea	88	8

Billboard #1 Jazz Albums of 1974

In 1974, Billboard published a Jazz Album list sporadically with forty albums ranked. Here’s a chart of the #1 jazz albums of 1974:

Week Ending	Album	Artist(s)
January 12	Spectrum	Billy Cobham
February 9	Head Hunters	Herbie Hancock
March 9
April 13
May 11
June 8
June 29
July 13
July 17
August 10	Body Heat	Quincy Jones
August 24
September 14
September 28
October 12
October 26
November 9
November 23	Thrust	Herbie Hancock
December 14
December 28	Pieces of Dreams	Stanley Turrentine

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#1 Jazz Albums:
1976 · 1977 · 1978 · 1979
1980 · 1981 · 1982 · 1983 · 1984 · 1985 · 1986

Billboard #1 Jazz Albums of 1986

In 1986, Billboard published a Jazz Album list every two weeks with forty albums ranked. Here’s a chart of the #1 jazz albums of 1986:

Week Ending	Album	Artist(s)
January 18	Magic Touch	Stanley Jordan
February 1
February 15
March 1
March 15
March 29
April 12
April 26
May 10
May 24	Love Will Follow	George Howard
June 7
June 21
July 5
July 19	Alone/But Never Alone	Larry Carlton
August 2	Double Vision	Bob James & David Sanborn
August 16
August 30
September 13
September 27	Breakout	Spyro Gyra
October 11	Down to the Moon	Andreas Vollenweider
October 25
November 8
November 22	Tutu	Miles Davis
December 6
December 20

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#1 Jazz Albums:
1976 · 1977 · 1978 · 1979
1980 · 1981 · 1982 · 1983 · 1984 · 1985