Portal:Record production

The Record Production Portal

Noted audio engineer Roger Nichols at a vintage Neve recording console

P:RECORD

This portal is focused on music production within the era of written records through sound recordings, digital downloads, and beyond. Its scope includes articles that document the considerations and mechanisms used by, and consistent with, the purview of the production element. As an art form, music predates transcription and simultaneously transcends descriptive limitations. As an industry, music has demonstrated consistent viability over time. The record producer conjoins these potential, and serves as a broker to bridge the demand (spawned by their aspirations) with supply and satisfaction. The results are measurable and attributable, derived from effort and skillful application of craft, to a manifestation of the art in its melodic form. (Read more)

The music industry consists of the individuals and organizations that earn money by writing songs and musical compositions, creating and selling recorded music and sheet music, presenting concerts, as well as the organizations that aid, train, represent and supply music creators. Among the many individuals and organizations that operate in the industry are: the songwriters and composers who write songs and musical compositions; the singers, musicians, conductors, and bandleaders who perform the music; the record labels, music publishers, recording studios, music producers, audio engineers, retail and digital music stores, and performance rights organizations who create and sell recorded music and sheet music; and the booking agents, promoters, music venues, road crew, and audio engineers who help organize and sell concerts. (Read more)

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Featured articles are displayed here, which represent some of the best content on English Wikipedia.

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Secret of Mana, originally released in Japan as Seiken Densetsu 2, is a 1993 action role-playing game developed and published by Square for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It is the sequel to the 1991 game Seiken Densetsu, released in North America as Final Fantasy Adventure and in Europe as Mystic Quest, and it was the first Seiken Densetsu title to be marketed as part of the Mana series rather than the Final Fantasy series. Set in a high fantasy universe, the game follows three heroes as they attempt to prevent an empire from conquering the world with the power of an ancient flying fortress.

Rather than using a turn-based battle system like contemporaneous role-playing games, Secret of Mana features real-time battles with a power bar mechanic. The game has a unique Ring Command menu system, which pauses the action and allows the player to make decisions in the middle of battle. An innovative cooperative multiplayer system allows a second or third player to drop in and out of the game at any time. Secret of Mana was directed and designed by Koichi Ishii, programmed primarily by Nasir Gebelli, and produced by veteran Square designer Hiromichi Tanaka. (Full article...)
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Portrait by Ernest Walter Histed, c. 1906
Sir Henry Joseph Wood (3 March 1869 – 19 August 1944) was an English conductor best known for his association with London's annual series of promenade concerts, known as the Proms. He conducted them for nearly half a century, introducing hundreds of new works to British audiences. After his death, the concerts were officially renamed in his honour as the "Henry Wood Promenade Concerts", although they continued to be generally referred to as "the Proms".

Born in modest circumstances to parents who encouraged his musical talent, Wood started his career as an organist. During his studies at the Royal Academy of Music, he came under the influence of the voice teacher Manuel García and became his accompanist. After similar work for Richard D'Oyly Carte's opera companies on the works of Arthur Sullivan and others, Wood became the conductor of a small operatic touring company. He was soon engaged by the larger Carl Rosa Opera Company. One notable event in his operatic career was conducting the British premiere of Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin in 1892. (Full article...)
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Fijación Oral, Vol. 1 (English: Oral Fixation, Vol. 1, Spanish: [fi.xaˌsjõn oˌɾal β̞oˌlu.mẽn ˈu.no]) is the sixth studio album by Colombian singer-songwriter Shakira. It was released on 3 June 2005 by Epic Records. After attaining international success in 2001 with her fifth studio album and first English-language record, Laundry Service, Shakira wanted to release a fifth Spanish-language project as a follow-up. In the vein of her earlier work, Fijación Oral, Vol. 1 is a Latin pop album. Shakira enlisted Rick Rubin as executive producer, also working with Gustavo Cerati, Lester Mendez, Luis Fernando Ochoa and Jose "Gocho" Torres.

At its release, Fijación Oral, Vol. 1 received generally favorable reviews from music critics, who complimented Shakira's evolution from her earlier work. The album debuted at number four on the US Billboard 200, with first-week sales of 157,000 copies. It set the record for the highest debut for a full-length Spanish-language album in the country. Internationally, the album topped the charts in Argentina, Germany, Mexico and Spain. Fijación Oral, Vol. 1 was the Best Latin Rock/Alternative Album at the 2006 Grammy Awards, and the Album of the Year and the Best Female Pop Vocal Album at the Latin Grammy Awards. Fijación Oral, Vol. 1 became the highest selling Latin pop album of the decade in the United States and the second highest selling Latin album overall. As of May 2013, over five million copies of the album were sold worldwide and it is the eighth best-selling Latin album in the United States. (Full article...)
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The three Rhinemaidens at play in the waters of the Rhine. Illustration from Stories of the Wagner Opera by H. A. Guerber, 1905.

The Rhinemaidens are the three water-nymphs (Rheintöchter or "Rhine daughters") who appear in Richard Wagner's opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen. Their individual names are Woglinde, Wellgunde and Flosshilde (Floßhilde), although they are generally treated as a single entity and they act together accordingly. Of the 34 characters in the Ring cycle, they are the only ones who did not originate in the Old Norse Eddas. Wagner created his Rhinemaidens from other legends and myths, most notably the Nibelungenlied which contains stories involving water sprites (nixies) or mermaids of the Danube.

The key concepts associated with the Rhinemaidens in the Ring operas—their flawed guardianship of the Rhine gold, and the condition (the renunciation of love) through which the gold could be stolen from them and then transformed into a means of obtaining world power—are wholly Wagner's own invention, and are the elements that initiate and propel the entire drama. (Full article...)
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The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan is the second studio album by the American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. It was released on May 27, 1963, through Columbia Records. The record marks the beginning of Dylan's writing contemporary lyrics to traditional melodies. His debut album Bob Dylan contains only two original songs, whereas eleven of the thirteen songs on Freewheelin are Dylan's compositions. It opens with "Blowin' in the Wind", which became an anthem of the 1960s, and an international hit for folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary soon after the release of the album. The album featured several other songs which came to be regarded as among Dylan's best compositions and classics of the 1960s folk scene: "Girl from the North Country", "Masters of War", "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall" and "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right".

Dylan's lyrics embraced news stories drawn from headlines about the ongoing civil rights movement and he articulated anxieties about the fear of nuclear warfare. Balancing this political material were love songs, sometimes bitter and accusatory, and material that features surreal humor. Freewheelin' showcased Dylan's songwriting talent for the first time, propelling him to national and international fame. The success of the album and Dylan's subsequent recognition led to his being named as "Spokesman of a Generation", a label Dylan repudiated. ('Full article...)
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"Fuck the Millennium", sometimes spelled "***k the Millennium", is a protest song by the band 2K—Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty—better known as the Justified Ancients of Mu Mu (the JAMs) or the KLF. The song was inspired musically by Jeremy Deller's "Acid Brass" project, where a traditional brass band plays acid house classics; these include the KLF's "What Time Is Love?". They were also inspired topically by the then-forthcoming end of the second millennium and the plans to celebrate it.

"Fuck the Millennium" was built around the KLF and Acid Brass' versions of "What Time Is Love?", and premiered at 2K's "1997 (What The Fuck's Going On?)" event at London's Barbican Arts Centre on 17 September 1997. The performance featured, amongst others, Acid Brass, Mark Manning and Gimpo, and was directed by Ken Campbell. 2K's lifespan was billed as the duration of the Barbican performance—23 minutes. (Full article...)
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Paul Celebrating 30 Years Playing Passim
Club Passim
October 17, 2019

Ellis Paul (born Paul Plissey; January 14, 1965) is an American singer-songwriter and folk musician. Born in Presque Isle, Aroostook County, Maine, Paul is a key figure in what has become known as the Boston school of songwriting, a literate, provocative, and urbanely romantic folk-pop style that helped ignite the folk revival of the 1990s. His pop music songs have appeared in movies and on television, bridging the gap between the modern folk sound and the populist traditions of Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger.

Paul grew up in a small Maine town. He attended Boston College on a track scholarship, majoring in English. Injured during his junior year, Paul began playing guitar to help fill his free time and soon began writing songs. After graduating college Paul played at open mic nights in the Boston area while working with inner-city school children. He won a Boston Acoustic Underground songwriter competition and gained national exposure on a Windham Hill Records compilation which helped him choose music as a career. (Full article...)
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Elgar, c. 1900
Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, (/ˈɛlɡɑːr/ ; 2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestral works including the Enigma Variations, the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, concertos for violin and cello, and two symphonies. He also composed choral works, including The Dream of Gerontius, chamber music and songs. He was appointed Master of the King's Musick in 1924.

Although Elgar is often regarded as a typically English composer, most of his musical influences were not from England but from continental Europe. He felt himself to be an outsider, not only musically, but socially. In musical circles dominated by academics, he was a self-taught composer; in Protestant Britain, his Roman Catholicism was regarded with suspicion in some quarters; and in the class-conscious society of Victorian and Edwardian Britain, he was acutely sensitive about his humble origins even after he achieved recognition. He nevertheless married the daughter of a senior British Army officer. She inspired him both musically and socially, but he struggled to achieve success until his forties, when after a series of moderately successful works his Enigma Variations (1899) became immediately popular in Britain and overseas. He followed the Variations with a choral work, The Dream of Gerontius (1900), based on a Roman Catholic text that caused some disquiet in the Anglican establishment in Britain, but it became, and has remained, a core repertory work in Britain and elsewhere. His later full-length religious choral works were well received but have not entered the regular repertory. (Full article...)
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"Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" is a song by American singer Beyoncé from her third studio album, I Am... Sasha Fierce (2008). Columbia Records released "Single Ladies" as a single on October 8, 2008, as a double A-side alongside "If I Were a Boy", showcasing the contrast between Beyoncé and her aggressive onstage alter ego Sasha Fierce. It explores men's unwillingness to propose or commit. In the song, the female protagonist is in a club to celebrate her single status.

"Single Ladies" won three Grammy Awards in 2010, including Song of the Year, among other accolades. Several news media sources named it as one of the best songs of 2008, while some considered it one of the best songs of the decade. Rolling Stone ranked it at number 228 on their list of the 500 greatest songs of all time in 2021. It topped the US Billboard Hot 100 chart for four non-consecutive weeks and received a 11× platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The song charted among the top ten within the singles category in several other countries. Globally, it was 2009's seventh best-selling digital single with 6.1 million copies sold. (Full article...)
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The Basement Tapes is the sixteenth album by the American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan and his second with the Band. It was released on June 26, 1975, by Columbia Records. Two-thirds of the album's 24 tracks feature Dylan on lead vocals backed by the Band, and were recorded in 1967, eight years before the album's release, in the lapse between the release of Blonde on Blonde and the subsequent recording and release of John Wesley Harding, during sessions that began at Dylan's house in Woodstock, New York, then moved to the basement of a house nicknamed Big Pink. While most of these songs had appeared on bootleg albums, The Basement Tapes marked their first official release. The remaining eight songs, all previously unavailable, feature the Band without Dylan and were recorded between 1967 and 1975.

During his 1965–1966 world tour, Dylan was backed by the Hawks, a five-member rock group who would later become famous as the Band. After Dylan was injured in a motorcycle accident in July 1966, four members of the Hawks came to Dylan's home in the Woodstock area to collaborate with him on music and film projects. While Dylan was out of the public's eye during an extended period of recovery in 1967, he and the members of the Hawks recorded more than 100 tracks together, incorporating original compositions, contemporary covers, and traditional material. Dylan's new style of writing moved away from the urban sensibility and extended narratives that had characterized his most recent albums, Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde on Blonde, toward songs that were more intimate and which drew on many styles of traditional American music. While some of the basement songs are humorous, others dwell on nothingness, betrayal and a quest for salvation. In general, they possess a rootsy quality anticipating the Americana genre. For some critics, the songs on The Basement Tapes, which circulated widely in unofficial form, mounted a major stylistic challenge to rock music in the late sixties. (Full article...)
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Nine Inch Nails performing in June 2022; from left to right: Ilan Rubin, Trent Reznor, Alessandro Cortini, Atticus Ross, and Robin Finck.

Nine Inch Nails, an American industrial rock band fronted by Trent Reznor, has toured all over the world since its creation in 1988. While Reznor—the only official member until the addition of Atticus Ross in 2016—controls its creative and musical direction in the studio, the touring band performs different arrangements of the songs. In addition to regular concerts, the band has performed in both supporting and headlining roles at festivals such as Woodstock '94, Lollapalooza 1991 and 2008, and many other one-off performances including the MTV Video Music Awards. Prior to their 2013 tour, the band had played 938 gigs.

Nine Inch Nails' live performances contrast with its in-studio counterpart.
Reznor writes and performs nearly all Nine Inch Nails studio material, with occasional instrumental and vocal contributions from other artists. However, Reznor has typically assembled groups of backing musicians to interpret songs for tours and other live performances. Keyboardist Alessandro Cortini said that "if you see the show and you're used to the CDs it's pretty clear that the studio entity is different from the live entity". (Full article...)
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Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire), often referred to simply as Arthur, is the seventh studio album by the English rock band the Kinks, released on 10 October 1969. It was the first Kinks album to feature bassist John Dalton, who replaced Pete Quaife after the latter's departure. Kinks frontman Ray Davies constructed the concept album as the soundtrack to a Granada Television play and developed the storyline with novelist Julian Mitchell; the television programme was never produced. The rough plot revolved around Arthur Morgan, a carpet-layer, who was based on Ray and guitarist Dave Davies' brother-in-law Arthur Anning. A stereo version was released internationally with a mono version being released in the UK, but not in the US.

The album was met with poor sales but nearly unanimous acclaim, especially among the American music press. Although Arthur and its first two singles, "Drivin'" and "Shangri-La", failed to chart in the UK, the Kinks returned to the Billboard charts after a two-year absence with "Victoria", the lead single in the US, peaking at number 62. The album itself reached number 105 on the Billboard Top LPs chart, their highest position for three years. Arthur paved the way for the further success of the Kinks' 1970 comeback album Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One. (Full article...)

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... that one critic interpreted a SZA song as being about her fears about the growing influence of AI in the music industry?
... that until the release of the documentary Predator: The Secret Scandal of J-Pop, sexual abuse claims involving record producer Johnny Kitagawa went widely unreported in Japanese media?
... that voice actress Rika Hayashi brought a golf club to the recording studio for Tonbo!, a golf-themed anime series?
... that according to Billboard magazine, Laufey created a blueprint for jazz music in the modern music industry and helped push it back into the mainstream?
... that Light Vessel 95 is now a recording studio?
... that to promote the Buffalo Club, Rising Tide Records sent packages of plastic buffalo to music industry executives in Nashville?

Born this day

Birthdays in Music: August 2

Kathy Lennon, American singer; one-fourth of The Lennon Sisters, turns 82.
Massiel, Spanish singer, turns 78.
Chris Bennett, American grammy-nominated singer and dancer, turns 77.
Hank DeVito, American steel guitarist with The Notorious Cherry Bombs, turns 77.
Andy Fairweather-Low, Welsh songwriter and guitarist, turns 75.
Steve Hillage, British guitarist and vocalist with Gong and System 7, turns 74.
Apollonia Kotero, American singer and actress, turns 66.
Neal Morse, American musician with Spock's Beard and Transatlantic, turns 65.
Graham Dye, British singer/songwriter & guitarist for Scarlet Party, also vocalist for The Alan Parsons Project, turns 64.
Lee Mavers, British guitarist for The La's, turns 63.
John Stanier, American drummer with Helmet, turns 57.
Richard Hallebeek, Dutch guitarist, turns 56.
Zelma Davis, Liberian vocalist, member of C+C Music Factory, turns 55.
Justyna Steczkowska, Polish singer, turns 53.
Ben Nichols, American singer of Lucero (band) fame, turns 51.
Devon Glenn, American drummer with Buckcherry, turns 45.
Brittany Hargest, American singer of Jump5 fame, turns 37.
Charli XCX, (born Charlotte Emma Aitchison), English singer, turns 33.

Mojo Nixon (Record production, 1957 –February 7, 2024), American psychobilly singer, would have turned 68 this year.
Andrew Gold (Record production, 1951 –June 3, 2011), American singer-songwriter, would have turned 74 this year.
Jim Capaldi (Record production, 1944 –January 28, 2005), British drummer & vocalist for Traffic, would have turned 81 this year.
Carl Saunders (Record production, 1943 –February 25, 2023), American trumpet player, would have turned 82 this year.
Naná Vasconcelos (Record production, 1944 –March 09, 2016), Brazilian percussionist and vocalist, would have turned 81 this year.
Doris Coley (Record production, 1941 –February 04, 2000), American singer Shirelles, would have turned 84 this year.
Edward Patten (Record production, 1939 –February 25, 2005), worked with Gladys Knight & The Pips, would have turned 86 this year.
Garth Hudson (Record production, 1937 –January 21, 2025), Canadian keyboardist with The Band, would have turned 88 this year.
Hank Cochran (Record production, 1935 –July 15, 2010), American country music singer, would have turned 90 this year.
Roy Crimmins (Record production, 1929 –August 27, 2014), Scottish trombonist, would have turned 96 this year.

Joe Harnell (Record production, 1924 –July 14, 2005), American arranger composer and pianist, would have turned 101 this year.
Werner Müller (Record production, 1920 –December 28, 1998), German arranger and trombonist, would have turned 105 this year.
Karl Amadeus Hartmann (Record production, 1905 –December 05, 1963), German composer, would have turned 120 this year.
Lorenzo Herrera (1896 – 1960), Venezuelan singer and composer, would have turned 129.

List of musical events • Anniversaries • More birthdays...

Selected albums - load new batch

These are all Good articles, which meet a core set of high editorial standards.

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I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One is the eighth studio album by the American indie rock band Yo La Tengo, released on April 22, 1997, by Matador Records. It was produced by Roger Moutenot and recorded at House of David in Nashville, Tennessee. The album expands the guitar-based pop of its predecessor Electr-O-Pura to encompass a variety of other music genres, including bossa nova, krautrock, and electronic music. Most of the songs on the album deal with melancholy emotions and range from short and fragile ballads to long and open-ended dissonance.

Upon release, I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One reached number 19 on the Billboard's Heatseekers Albums chart, becoming the first Yo La Tengo album to enter the charts. Three songs from the album, "Autumn Sweater", "Sugarcube", and the cover "Little Honda", were released as singles. The album received widespread acclaim from music critics, who praised the band's ability to successfully expand the boundaries of nearly any pop style. The album is widely regarded as the band's best work and is frequently included on several publications' best album lists. In 2020, Rolling Stone included it on its list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time as no. 423. (Full article...)
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Evergreen is the seventh studio album by the English rock band Echo & the Bunnymen. It is their first album since reforming after they disbanded in 1993. Vocalist Ian McCulloch and guitarist Will Sergeant had previously worked together as Electrafixion before they were rejoined by bassist Les Pattinson under the name Echo & the Bunnymen in early 1997. The album was recorded at Doghouse Studios in Henley-on-Thames and was produced by McCulloch and the band's manager Paul Toogood but was credited to the whole band.

Following a successful return to live performances and the release of the single "Nothing Lasts Forever", the album was released in July 1997. Two further singles – "I Want to Be There" and "Don't Let It Get You Down" – followed the album's release. The album received good reviews from the music press and was received well by the public, reaching number eight on the UK Albums Chart. The album would eventually reach Gold sales in 2024. (Full article...)
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Fear of a Black Planet is the third studio album by American hip hop group Public Enemy. It was released on April 10, 1990, by Def Jam Recordings and Columbia Records, and produced by the group's production team The Bomb Squad, who expanded on the sample-layered sound of Public Enemy's previous album, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (1988). Having fulfilled their initial creative ambitions with that album, the group aspired to create what lead rapper Chuck D called "a deep, complex album". Their songwriting was partly inspired by the controversy surrounding member Professor Griff's anti-Semitic public comments and his consequent dismissal from the group, amidst the mainstream success of their radically political single "Fight the Power" (1989).

Reflecting its confrontational tone, Fear of a Black Planet features elaborate sound collages that incorporate varying rhythms, numerous samples, media sound bites, and eccentric loops. Recorded during the golden age of hip hop, its assemblage of reconfigured and recontextualized aural sources took advantage of creative freedom that existed before the emergence of a sample clearance system in the music industry. Thematically, Fear of a Black Planet explores organization and empowerment within the black community, social issues affecting African Americans, and race relations at the time. Its critiques of institutional racism, white supremacy, and the power elite were partly inspired by Dr. Frances Cress Welsing's views on color. (Full article...)
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Red Headed Stranger is the eighteenth studio album by American outlaw country singer Willie Nelson, released in 1975. Following the success of his recordings with Atlantic Records, coupled with the negotiating skills of his manager, Neil Reshen, Nelson signed a contract with Columbia Records, the label that gave him total creative control over his works. The concept for the album was inspired by the "Tale of the Red Headed Stranger", a song that Nelson used to play as a disc jockey on his program in Fort Worth, Texas. After signing with Columbia, he decided to record the song, and arranged the details during his return to Austin, Texas, from a trip to Colorado. It was recorded at low cost at Autumn Sound Studios in Garland, Texas. The songs featured sparse arrangements, largely limited to Nelson's guitar, piano, and drums. Nelson presented the finished material to Columbia executives, who were dubious about releasing an album that they at first thought was a demo. However, Nelson had creative control, so no further production was added.

A concept album, Red Headed Stranger is about a fugitive on the run from the law after killing his wife and her lover. The content consists of songs with brief poetic lyrics and arrangements of older material such as Fred Rose's "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain", Wolfe Gilbert's "Down Yonder", and Juventino Rosas' "O'er the Waves". Despite Columbia's doubts and the limited instrumentation, Red Headed Stranger was a blockbuster among country music and mainstream audiences. It was certified multiple-platinum, and made Nelson one of the most recognized artists in country music. The cover of "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain", released as a single before the album, became Nelson's first number-one hit. The title of the album became a lasting nickname for Nelson. It was ranked number 183 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, and number one on CMT's 40 Greatest Albums in Country Music. In 2010, it was inducted to the National Recording Registry. (Full article...)
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All the Way... A Decade of Song is the first English-language greatest hits album by Canadian singer Celine Dion. Released by Sony Music on 12 November 1999, it features nine previously released songs on most editions and seven new recordings on all editions. Dion worked on new tracks mainly with David Foster. Other producers include Max Martin, Kristian Lundin, Robert John "Mutt" Lange, James Horner, and Matt Serletic. It is the best-selling greatest hits album by a female solo artist in the US during the Nielsen SoundScan era. All the Way... A Decade of Song has sold over 22 million copies worldwide, including over nine million in the United States, five million in Europe, two million in Japan and one million units in Canada.

All the Way... A Decade of Song garnered generally mixed reviews from music critics, who praised the included hits but questioned the inclusion of seven new songs. Out of all of the new recordings, the first single "That's the Way It Is" was generally praised. The album became a commercial success throughout the world and peaked at number one in most major music markets. It placed at No. 7 on the US Billboard 200 Year-End Chart in the year 2000 and placed at No. 26 on the US Billboard 200 Decade-End chart. (Full article...)
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Blunderbuss is the debut solo studio album by American musician Jack White. It was released in digital and physical formats beginning April 23, 2012, through Third Man Records, in association with XL Recordings and Columbia Records. Written almost entirely by White, the album was recorded and produced by him at Third Man Studio in Nashville, Tennessee. Various musical styles appear throughout, including blues rock, folk, and country soul.

The album received positive reviews from music critics, who praised White's ambitious songwriting and often compared the record favorably to his work for the White Stripes. It debuted at number one in five countries and reached the top 10 in ten other countries. It was certified platinum in Canada and gold by record industry trade groups internationally. The album was nominated for Album of the Year and Best Rock Album at the 55th Annual Grammy Awards, while the single "Freedom at 21" was nominated for Best Rock Song. In addition, the single "I'm Shakin'" received a nomination for Best Rock Performance at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards. (Full article...)
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Shades of Purple is an album by Norwegian pop duo M2M. Their debut international album under the name M2M and second album by the duo, It was released in the US on 7 March 2000 by Atlantic Records. It reached No. 7 in Norway, No. 89 on the US Billboard 200 and No. 1 on the US Top Heatseekers chart. The single "Don't Say You Love Me", which had already been released as the lead single of the Pokémon: The First Movie soundtrack in October 1999, appears on the album. A further two singles, "Mirror Mirror" and "Everything You Do" were released throughout 2000.

The album received a positive critical response. Robert Christgau gave the album an 'A−', praising the duo's singing. Michael Paoletta from Billboard said it was "poised to be the soundtrack of spring/summer 2000." Shades of Purple sold over 1.5 million units worldwide and was nominated for best pop album at the 2000 Spellemannprisen awards. (Full article...)
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Dance Again... the Hits is the first greatest hits album of American singer Jennifer Lopez. It was released on July 20, 2012, by Epic Records, to coincide with the launch of her first world tour, the Dance Again World Tour. Lopez previously conceived plans for a greatest hits album in 2009, but instead opted to use the material recorded for her seventh studio album, Love? (2011), which was released by Island Records in May 2011 after her departure from Epic Records in 2010. As Lopez owed the label one last album to fulfill her contract, she began work on a new greatest hits album in November 2011. She later became unsure whether she wanted to go along with plans to release a greatest hits album or a new studio album, eventually deciding on the former.

Dance Again... the Hits comprises eleven previously released tracks, and two new recordings: "Dance Again" and "Goin' In". A deluxe edition of the album was also released, featuring three additional previously released tracks, and a DVD featuring a selection of eleven music videos. The album received generally positive reviews from music critics, who praised it as a reflection of Lopez's success. Some critics expressed their disappointment in the absence of several successful singles, but deemed this as impressive, noting that this may have been due to the large volume of hit singles she has released over the years. Dance Again... The Hits was a moderate commercial success, peaking within the top ten in fourteen national charts, and the top twenty in ten national charts. (Full article...)
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Vuelve (transl. Come Back) is the fourth studio album by Puerto Rican singer Ricky Martin. Sony Discos and Columbia Records released it on February 12, 1998. Martin worked with producers KC Porter, Robi Draco Rosa, and Desmond Child to create the album. Following the worldwide success of the song "María" from his previous album, A Medio Vivir (transl. Half Alive) (1995), Martin returned to the studio and began recording material while on tour. Vuelve is a Latin record with Latin dance numbers and pop ballads. "María" caught the attention of FIFA, who asked Martin to write an anthem for the 1998 FIFA World Cup being held in France. Martin subsequently recorded "La Copa de la Vida", composed by Porter, Rosa, and Desmond Child for the World Cup.

Critics' reviews of the album were generally positive; they praised its uptempo tracks and its production, though some criticized it for containing too many ballads. Martin received several accolades, including the Best Latin Pop Performance at the 41st Annual Grammy Awards in 1999. Vuelve debuted at number one on the US Billboard Top Latin Albums chart and peaked at number forty on the Billboard 200. Martin's performance of "La Copa de la Vida" on the Grammy Awards show was credited for boosting the album's sales. Certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), it sold more than 888,000 copies in the United States, standing as the 10th best-selling Latin album in the country. Vuelve reached number one in Norway, Portugal, and Spain, as well as the top 10 in seven other countries, including Australia and Italy. As of 2008, the album had sold over six million copies worldwide. (Full article...)
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Barely Real is a 1992 EP by the American indie rock band Codeine. After releasing their previous album Frigid Stars LP in 1990, the group accepted an invitation from the quartet Bastro to tour in Europe in 1991. Following the tour, the group was invited to record a single for Sub Pop Singles Club and attempted to record their follow-up album The White Birch in 1992. The recording sessions proved to be disastrous for the group since they found themselves often with unusable tracks over several different studios. As Codeine could not record enough material for a full-length album, they decided to release what tracks they had as an EP.

The music on Barely Real continued the slowcore music style of their previous album. Barely Real also featured contributions from guest musicians such as Jon Fine of Bitch Magnet playing additional guitar on the song "Jr" and a piano cover of the song "Wird" performed by David Grubbs. Following the recording sessions, the group's drummer Chris Brokaw left the group being replaced by Doug Scharin. (Full article...)
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Trans-Europe Express (German: Trans Europa Express) is the sixth studio album by German band Kraftwerk. Recorded in 1976 in Düsseldorf, Germany, the album was released in March 1977 on Kling Klang Records. It saw the group refine their melodic electronic style, with a focus on sequenced rhythms, minimalism, and occasionally manipulated vocals. The themes include celebrations of the titular European railway service and Europe as a whole, and meditations on the disparities between reality and appearance.

Trans-Europe Express charted at 119 on the American charts and was ranked number 30 in The Village Voice's 1977 Pazz & Jop critics' poll. Two singles were released: "Trans-Europe Express" and "Showroom Dummies". The album has been re-released in several formats and continues to receive acclaim as one of the best albums of the 1970s and of all time. In 2014, the Los Angeles Times called it "the most important pop album of the last 40 years". (Full article...)
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Streetcleaner is the debut studio album by English industrial metal band Godflesh. It was released on 13 November 1989 through Earache Records and was reissued with a second disc of previously unreleased material on 21 June 2010. The album is widely acclaimed by critics and is often cited as a landmark release in industrial metal; though not the genre's first release, Streetcleaner helped define what industrial metal would become.

Recorded in three distinct sessions and partially refined from pre-Godflesh demos, Streetcleaner is a weighty, bleak album that blends heavy metal with industrial music by means of production-emphasised bass, distorted guitar and, most importantly, machine percussion. Unlike many metal albums, guitar is employed to create screeching noise rather than discrete riffs, and the drums and bass are louder than is typical. Streetcleaner was supported by a series of concerts where Godflesh played alongside Napalm Death, and it was on the North American leg of the tour that the band began to gain significant international traction. (Full article...)

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General images - load new batch

The following are images from various record production-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Mixing desk with twenty inputs and eight outputs (from Multitrack recording)
Image 2Engineers and producers watch a trumpet player from a window in the control room during a recording session. (from Recording studio)
Image 3Neve VR60, a multitrack mixing console. Above the console are a range of studio monitor speakers. (from Recording studio)
Image 4Home studio setup (from Recording studio)
Image 5The Siemens Studio for Electronic Music c. 1956 (from Recording studio)
Image 6Hip hop producer and rapper RZA in a music studio with two collaborators. Pictured in the foreground is a synthesizer keyboard and a number of vinyl records; both of these items are key tools that producers and DJs use to create hip hop beats. (from Hip-hop production)
Image 7Korg D888 eight-track digital recorder (from Multitrack recording)
Image 8The studio at Ridge Radio in Caterham, England (from Recording studio)
Image 9Control room at the Tec de Monterrey, Mexico City Campus (from Recording studio)
Image 10Donna Summer wearing headphones during a recording session in 1977 (from Recording studio)
Image 11A selection of instruments at a music studio, including a grand piano (from Recording studio)
Image 12Scully 280 eight-track recorder at the Stax Museum of American Soul Music (from Multitrack recording)
Image 13The TEAC 2340, a popular early (1973) home multitrack recorder, four tracks on ¼ inch tape (from Multitrack recording)
Image 14Digital audio interface for the Pro Tools computer-based hard disk multitrack recording system. Digital audio quality is measured in data resolution per channel. (from Multitrack recording)
Image 15Danny Knicely records with Furnace Mountain Band in Virginia (2012) (from Recording studio)
Image 16The TASCAM 85 16B analog tape multitrack recorder can record 16 tracks of audio on 1-inch (2.54cm) magnetic tape. Professional analog units of 24 tracks on 2-inch tape were common, with specialty tape heads providing 8, or even 16 tracks on the same tape width (8 tracks for greater fidelity). (from Multitrack recording)

Featured lists - load new batch

Featured lists have been determined by the Wikipedia community to be the best lists on English Wikipedia.

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Sam Hunt set a new record for the longest-running number-one country song when "Body Like a Back Road" spent 34 weeks atop the Hot Country Songs listing.

Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay are charts that rank the top-performing country music songs in the United States, published by Billboard magazine. Hot Country Songs ranks songs based on digital downloads, streaming, and airplay not only from country stations but from stations of all formats, a methodology introduced in 2012. Country Airplay, which was published for the first time in 2012, is based solely on country radio airplay, a methodology which had previously been used for several decades for Hot Country Songs. In 2017, seven different songs topped the Hot Country Songs chart and 34 different songs topped Country Airplay in 52 issues of the magazine.

In the issue of Billboard dated February 25, singer Sam Hunt reached number one with the song "Body Like a Back Road", which would remain in the top spot through the issue dated October 14. In August, the song broke the record for the most weeks spent at number one on the Hot Country Songs listing, surpassing the 24 weeks spent in the top spot by Florida Georgia Line's "Cruise" in 2012 and 2013. Hunt's song was finally knocked from the top of the chart in the issue dated October 21 by "What Ifs" by Kane Brown featuring Lauren Alaina. Two months later, "Meant to Be" by Bebe Rexha and Florida Georgia Line entered the Hot Country chart at number one, only the fourth time a song had debuted in the top position of the Hot Country Songs chart. The song would go on to break Hunt's record the following summer when it spent a 35th consecutive week at number one. On the Country Airplay chart, Dustin Lynch had the longest run at number one of 2017, spending four consecutive weeks at the top with "Small Town Boy". Lynch tied with Blake Shelton for the highest total number of weeks at number one on that chart, both artists spending five weeks in the top spot. Shelton took three different songs to number one, a feat also achieved by Thomas Rhett. No act achieved more than one chart-topper on the Hot Country Songs listing. (Full article...)
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The Latin Grammy Award for Song of the Year is an honor presented annually at the Latin Grammy Awards, a ceremony that recognizes excellence, creates a wider awareness of cultural diversity and contributions of Latin recording artists in the United States and internationally. The award is given to the songwriters of new songs containing at least 51% of lyrics in Spanish or Portuguese language. Instrumental songs or a new version of a previously recorded track are not eligible. Due to the increasing musical changes in the industry, from 2012 the category includes 10 nominees, according to a restructuration made by the academy for the four general categories: Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Best New Artist and Song of the Year.

Seventeen awarded songs have also earned the Latin Grammy for Record of the Year, which unlike this category, is given to songs that were released on a promotional level, and the prize is given to the performer, producer and audio engineer. The exceptions to this were in 2000, 2009 and 2013 when "Corazón Espinado" by Santana featuring Maná, "No Hay Nadie Como Tú" by Calle 13 featuring Café Tacvba and "Vivir Mi Vida" by Marc Anthony, respectively, received the award without a nomination for Song of the Year. (Full article...)
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Will Young had the best-selling single of the 2000s in the UK, "Evergreen"/"Anything Is Possible".

The UK Singles Chart is a music chart compiled by the Official Charts Company that calculates the best-selling singles of the week in the United Kingdom. Since 2005, the chart has been based on the sales of both physical and digital singles, originally on the condition that the single was available in both formats. In 2007, the rules were changed so that legal downloads of all songs, irrespective of whether a physical copy was available, were eligible to chart.

Between 2000 and 2009, ten singles that reached the top of the singles chart sold more than 1 million copies in the United Kingdom. At the end of the decade, a retrospective chart was compiled by the Official Charts Company to determine the best-selling single of this ten-year period. The title was won by Will Young, the winner of the televised talent competition Pop Idol in 2001, with his double A-side single "Evergreen"/"Anything Is Possible", released in 2002. The single sold just under 1.8 million copies and saw Young finish ahead of fellow Pop Idol finalist Gareth Gates, whose debut single "Unchained Melody" sold 1.34 million copies. Young's single included sales of 1,108,269 copies in its first week, at the time a first-week total that had been bettered only by Elton John's "Candle in the Wind 1997". The X Factor winners Alexandra Burke (5th), and Shayne Ward (8th) and the band formed on Popstars in 2001, Hear'Say (9th), also reached the top ten. Kylie Minogue, Shaggy and Tony Christie were the other solo artists who made the top ten of best-selling singles; Christie's best-seller was a charity single recorded for Comic Relief in 2005. Children's television character Bob the Builder's "Can We Fix It?", voiced by Neil Morrissey, and Band Aid 20's cover of "Do They Know It's Christmas?" made up the rest of the top ten singles. (Full article...)
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Enrique Iglesias's debut single "Si Tú Te Vas" became his first song to reach number one on the Latin Pop Airplay chart in 1996. He also had the best-performing song of the year with "Por Amarte".

Latin Pop Airplay is a chart that ranks the top-performing songs (regardless of genre or language) on Latin pop radio stations in the United States, published by Billboard magazine based on weekly airplay data compiled by Nielsen's Broadcast Data Systems. It is a subchart of Hot Latin Songs, which lists the best-performing Spanish-language songs in the country. In 1996, 16 songs topped the chart, in 52 issues of the magazine.

The first number one of the year was "Más Allá" by Gloria Estefan, which had been in the top spot since the issue dated December 30, 1995, and spent a total of three weeks at this position. Enrique Iglesias, Cristian Castro, Luis Miguel, and Soraya were the only acts to have more than one chart-topper in 1996. Iglesias's debut single, "Si Tú Te Vas", became his first chart-topper and spent two weeks at number one. He also had the best-performing Latin pop song of the year with "Por Amarte" despite it only spending one week at number one. Castro's self-penned track, "Amor", held the top spot for the longest in 1996 with 10 weeks. "Sueña", which spent four weeks at number one, is the Spanish-language adaptation of "Someday" from Disney's 1996 film The Hunchback of Notre Dame, which Miguel recorded for the Latin American edition of the movie's soundtrack. Soraya achieved her only number ones with "De Repente" and "Amor en Tus Ojos". (Full article...)
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The Grammy Award for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals was an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to quality country music collaborations for artists who do not normally perform together. Honors in several categories are presented at the ceremony annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without regard to album sales or chart position".

Originally called the Best Country Vocal Performance, Duet, the award was first presented to Kenny Rogers and Ronnie Milsap at the 30th Grammy Awards in 1988 for the single "Make No Mistake, She's Mine". The next year, the category's name was changed to Best Country Vocal Collaboration, a name it held until 1996 when it was awarded as the Best Country Collaboration with Vocals. In 2011, the category was merged with the Grammy Award for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal and the Grammy Award for Best Country Instrumental Performance, forming the Grammy Award for Best Country Duo/Group Performance in order to "tighten the number of categories" at the Grammy Awards. (Full article...)
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John Michael Montgomery had three number ones in 1994.

Hot Country Songs is a chart that ranks the top-performing country music songs in the United States, published by Billboard magazine. In 1994, 30 different songs topped the chart, then published under the title Hot Country Singles & Tracks, in 52 issues of the magazine, based on weekly airplay data from country music radio stations compiled by Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems.

Two artists reached number one with three different songs in 1994. Clay Walker topped the chart with "Live Until I Die", "Dreaming with My Eyes Open" and "If I Could Make a Living", and John Michael Montgomery achieved the feat with "I Swear", "Be My Baby Tonight" and "If You've Got Love". Montgomery also spent the most cumulative weeks at the top of the chart, with seven, one more than Neal McCoy, who spent six weeks at the top with "No Doubt About It" and "Wink". Despite this level of chart success in 1994, the two songs remain McCoy's only number one hits. Clay Walker's three number ones each spent only a single week in the top spot. Other artists to achieve more than one number one in 1994 were Brooks & Dunn, Joe Diffie, Faith Hill and Alan Jackson. (Full article...)
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Brooks & Dunn had three number ones in 1998, one in collaboration with Reba McEntire.

Hot Country Songs is a chart that ranks the top-performing country music songs in the United States, published by Billboard magazine. In 1998, 26 different songs topped the chart, then published under the title Hot Country Singles & Tracks, in 52 issues of the magazine. Chart rankings were based on weekly airplay data from country music radio stations compiled by Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems.

At the start of the year, Garth Brooks was at number one with "Longneck Bottle", which had been in the top spot since the chart dated December 20, 1997. The song remained there for the first chart of 1998 before being replaced by "A Broken Wing" by Martina McBride. Brooks went on to have two further number ones in 1998, "Two Piña Coladas" and a cover version of Bob Dylan's "To Make You Feel My Love". Unrelated singer Kix Brooks and his musical partner Ronnie Dunn, collectively known as Brooks & Dunn, also had three number ones in 1998. The duo topped the listing with "How Long Gone", "Husbands and Wives" and "If You See Him/If You See Her", a collaboration with vocalist Reba McEntire. Other acts to reach number one with more than one song in 1998 were Clint Black, Faith Hill, Hill's husband Tim McGraw, Jo Dee Messina, George Strait, Shania Twain and Dixie Chicks, whose two chart-toppers came from Wide Open Spaces, their first album to feature new vocalist Natalie Maines. (Full article...)
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Hank Williams (third from right) and his Drifting Cowboys band reached number one for the first time in 1949.

In 1949 Billboard magazine published three charts covering the best-performing country music songs in the United States. At the start of the year, the magazine published two charts covering the genre: Most-Played Juke Box Folk Records, which had appeared in Billboard since 1944, and Best Selling Folk Retail Records, which had debuted in 1948. With effect from the issue of the magazine dated June 25, Billboard began using the term "country and western" for the first time in the titles of the charts, renaming the juke box chart to Most-Played Juke Box (Country & Western) Records and the best sellers chart to Best-Selling Retail Folk (Country & Western) Records. In December the magazine added a third country chart when it began publishing the Country & Western Records Most Played By Folk Disk Jockeys listing. All three charts are considered part of the lineage of the current Hot Country Songs chart, which was first published in 1958.

The artist with the most weeks at number one on the juke box chart was Eddy Arnold, who spent a total of twenty weeks in the top spot with five different songs. On the retail chart, singing cowboy actor Jimmy Wakely had the highest number of total weeks at number one, comprising ten weeks in the top spot with two solo singles and a further thirteen with "Slipping Around", a duet with Margaret Whiting. The ten consecutive weeks which "Slipping Around" spent atop the juke box chart from late October until the end of the year tied with "Don't Rob Another Man's Castle" by Eddy Arnold for the longest unbroken run of the year at number one on that chart, and its spell at number one on the retail chart was the longest run in the peak position on that listing. Arnold's song spent a total of twelve non-consecutive weeks at number one on the juke box chart, the highest cumulative total for any one song. On the retail chart, "Lovesick Blues" by Hank Williams and his Drifting Cowboys spent the most total weeks in the top spot, with sixteen non-consecutive weeks at number one. Wakely and Arnold were the only artists to take more than one song to number one in 1949, a feat which they each achieved on both the juke box and retail charts. (Full article...)
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Justin Timberlake scored his first Billboard Hot 100 number-one single with "SexyBack", which stayed at the top spot for seven straight weeks.

The Billboard Hot 100 is a chart that ranks the best-performing singles of the United States. Published by Billboard magazine, the data are compiled by Nielsen SoundScan based collectively on each single's weekly physical and digital sales, and airplay. In 2006, 18 singles reached the top of the chart, the most number-ones in a chart year since 1991. A 19th single, Mariah Carey's "Don't Forget About Us", started its run at number one in 2005.

In 2006, 20 acts achieved their first U.S. number-one single, either as a lead artist or featured guest, including D4L, Paul Wall, Ali & Gipp, Slim Thug, James Blunt, Ne-Yo, Daniel Powter, Rihanna, Chamillionaire, Shakira, Wyclef Jean, Taylor Hicks, Nelly Furtado, Timbaland, Fergie, T.I., and Akon. Krayzie Bone and Justin Timberlake, despite having hit number one with Bone Thugs-n-Harmony and NSYNC respectively, earns their first number one songs as solo acts. Justin Timberlake and Beyoncé each had two number-one singles in this year. During the year, eight collaboration singles topped the chart, breaking the record set in 2003 and 2004, both of which had seven. (Full article...)
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Tex Williams (pictured in later life) spent 15 consecutive weeks at number one with "Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette)".

From 1944 until 1957, Billboard magazine published a chart that ranked the most-played country music songs in jukeboxes in the United States, based on a survey of over 3000 operators "in all sections of the country"; until 1948 it was the magazine's only country music chart. In 1947, nine songs topped the chart, which was published under the title Most Played Juke Box Folk Records with the exception of the issues of Billboard dated September 6 through November 1, when it was titled Most Played Juke Box Hillbilly Records. The Juke Box Folk chart is considered the start of the lineage of the magazine's current country music songs charts.

The number-one position was dominated in 1947 by three artists who each topped the chart for at least 14 weeks. At the start of the year, Merle Travis was at number one with "Divorce Me C.O.D." which had spent 11 weeks in the top spot in 1946, and spent three further non-consecutive weeks atop the chart in 1947, interrupted for a single week by Ernest Tubb's "Rainbow at Midnight". Tubb's song replaced "Divorce Me C.O.D." at number one again in the issue of Billboard dated February 1, but the following week Travis returned to number one with a different single, "So Round, So Firm, So Fully Packed". This song spent fourteen consecutive weeks at number one, giving him a total of seventeen weeks atop the chart in 1947, the most by any artist. Two weeks after Travis relinquished the number-one position, Eddy Arnold achieved the first chart-topper of his career with "What Is Life Without Love". He had two more number ones before the end of the year, making him the only artist with three chart-toppers in 1947. He ended the year atop the listing with "I'll Hold You in My Heart (Till I Can Hold You in My Arms)". Arnold would dominate the Juke Box Folk chart the following year, spending almost all of 1948 at number one, and remain popular into the 1950s before his career went into a decline. He revived his fortunes in the mid-1960s, however, by embracing the "Nashville sound", a newer style of country music which eschewed elements of the earlier honky-tonk style in favor of smooth productions which had a broader appeal, and ended his career with a record total of 28 number-one country singles. (Full article...)