{"id":2913,"date":"2012-03-01T21:25:06","date_gmt":"2012-03-02T03:25:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zimmerscope.com\/Verbisaurus\/?p=2913"},"modified":"2012-03-01T21:25:07","modified_gmt":"2012-03-02T03:25:07","slug":"catch-22-conundrum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zimmerscope.com\/Verbisaurus\/2012\/03\/catch-22-conundrum\/","title":{"rendered":"Catch-22, Conundrum"},"content":{"rendered":"

Monday, 27 February 2012<\/strong><\/p>\n

I keep meaning to talk about this, and I guess now is as good a time as any.<\/p>\n

Adele’s album, 21<\/em>, has now spent (drum roll, please)… 21 weeks at number one on the Billboard charts<\/a>. The fact that the album title and the number of weeks it’s spent at number is amazing enough (maybe as amazing as when Bare Naked Ladies’ “One Week” spent one week at number one). But what’s more amazing is that this is the longest that any album has sat atop the top position since the century began.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Don’t judge an album by its (boring) cover: the music will not make you fall asleep.<\/em><\/p>\n

Actually, you’d have to go all the way back to 1984 to find an album that’s spent more time in the top slot.<\/p>\n

As much as I like this singer and her music, and as much as I feel she deserves the top spot for as long as the buying public will give it to her, I can’t help but feel she’s wrecked something: For the past 19 years the ten albums that have spent the most time at number one could be broken down thusly:<\/p>\n

Two from the 1950s<\/p>\n

Two from the 1960s<\/p>\n

Two from the 1970s<\/p>\n

Two from the 1980s<\/p>\n

Two from the 1990s<\/p>\n

…And now Adele has gone and skunked that up.<\/p>\n

“Hey,” you say, “What are those ten albums that have spent the most time at #1?”<\/p>\n

“Good question,” I said, “Don’t bother guessing. You’ll never figure it out.”<\/p>\n

“Really?” you say, “‘Cause I thought Thriller<\/em> was, like, a monstrous best-seller.”<\/p>\n

“Okay,” I say, “So it appears you will be able to guess one of them. But don’t bother with the other nine. They’re not what you’d think they should be.”<\/p>\n

Okay, enough with the cuteness. Until Adele steamrolled onto this list, here were<\/em> the ten albums that spent the most time in the #1 position:<\/p>\n