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| The Monkees |
Michael Nesmith, who died Friday (Dec. 10) at age 78, and his fellow Monkees – Davy Jones, Peter Tork and Micky Dolenz – set a record in 1967 that no other act has equaled: They became the first and only act to have four No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200 in a calendar year.
They were on top as the year began with their debut album, The Monkees, which had spent the last eight weeks of 1966 at No. 1. The Monkees spent the first five weeks of 1967 in the top spot, until it was replaced on Feb. 11 by the group’s sophomore set, More of the Monkees. That album logged 18 consecutive weeks on top.
After a one-week interruption by Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass, The Monkees’ third album, Headquarters, grabbed a week at No. 1 in June before spending the next 11 weeks at No. 2 behind The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. (Hot as The Monkees were in 1967, Sgt. Pepper’s was a watershed album.) The Monkees made it back to the top spot in December with Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones, Ltd., which spent the last five weeks of the year at No. 1.
Since March 1956, when the Billboard 200 began publication on a consistent, weekly basis, no one else has had four No. 1 albums in a calendar year. And only seven acts have had three No. 1 albums in a calendar year. The Beatles achieved this feat three times. Elvis Presley did it twice.
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