Reviewing the Top 5 Album Sales According to Billboard
The average person spends close to 26 hours a week listening to music according to Glenn Peoples, of Billboard Magazine. I will be reviewing Billboard's 2020 top 5 selling albums of the year. Though I would never listen to these albums considering I only listen to rap music, I am willing to see if the bestselling albums of the year are legit. Should you give them a listen? We here at the Moeller Crusader have put in the time and research to see how these albums stack up.
#1 Folklore
by: Taylor Swift
Folklore album cover
photographer, Beth Garrabrant
The number one album is Folklore by Taylor Swift. When I first looked at the cover art, I initially got the chills, Taylor looks tiny compared to the trees surrounding her. The cover art is black and white which is why I think I got the chills when I first looked at the art. Taylor was called out for lifting or stealing from the cover art of Norwegian black metal musician Ihsahn.
Taylor does not capitalize any of her song titles in this album, she obviously does not understand the English language and probably failed English in high school. After talking to my sisters’ friend Jeremy, a sophomore in high school, he told me that, “Taylor wrote this whole album in quarantine and she never actually met with her collaborators in person until the time of recording.”
Aaron Dresser, Jack Antonoff, and Justin Vernon were the other major collaborators on the album. Swift and her cowriters wrote the album separately before coming together to record. The first song she wrote for the album was "my tears ricochet", which is also the only song on the album that she wrote entirely by herself. According to Jeremy, “When she wrote it, she knew it would be track 5 (the track reserved on her albums for her most vulnerable songs).”
Most songs on the album tell stories, or folklore, that Swift has created. Jeremy also added, “My favorite story is the love triangle told in three songs from three points of view- "cardigan" from Betty’s point of view, "betty" from James' point of view, and "august" from a girl who Taylor referred to as Augustine.”
The album was kept a whole secret and was not announced until the morning of its release, which is pretty interesting considering it’s hard to keep a secret in 2020.
My favorite song is "cardigan" because of the mixed vibes that the song gives off. I feel like dancing like a ballerina and at the same time crying. The song is somewhat upbeat, yet somehow still a little slow. The instrumental was written by Dresser and the lyrics were by Taylor. It was produced by Dresser. This song was the only single released and debuted number one on the Billboard hot one hundred. It was also nominated for song of the year at the Grammys. Taylor wrote this song from the point of view of Betty and is from 20-30 years in the future looking back on her relationship with James. Overall, I would highly recommend this album if you were having relationship problems or if you are in the mood to cry.
#2 Fine Line
By: Harry Styles
Fine Line album cover
designed by, collaborator, Shona Heath
The number two album is Fine Line by Harry Styles. This cover art is very thoughtful and different. It was created using a fisheye lens. Before I realized that Styles himself was on the cover, I had always thought he looked like Michael Jackson for some reason. The background has pink carpets and a sky-blue draping, and from the corner you can see a gloved hand creep into frame. Turns out it belongs to himself, rather than some mess up while shooting the picture. Harry is wearing all custom Gucci. This album is the first time his face is featured on the album cover.
Styles said that the inspiration for the song "Falling" hit him suddenly when he was leaving the shower. Styles heard his producer, Tom Hull, had started playing the piano. Since artists need to go with an inspiration when it hits, Styles immediately began writing the song at the piano right then and there.
“Watermelon Sugar” reminds me of the summertime and is my favorite song in the album, it makes me feel like I am swimming in watermelons. He wrote this song with producer Tyler Johnson, Tom Hull, and guitar sidekick Mitch Rowland. As with the whole album, Styles prefers recording with his friends and collaborators rather than hired session musicians. Styles says that pros will only be focused on his music for the one or two days that he gets to work with them. He then says that there is no way that the pros care as much about his music than he or his friends do. All the songs are catchy, emotional, and fun to listen too. The album is short with only 12 songs in it, but it is a bigger album for Harry Styles. Lots of different vibes in this album.
Map of the Soul 7 album cover
designed by, A Jihye and Jang Joonoh.
#3 Map of the Soul 7
By: BTS
The number three album is Map of the Soul 7 by BTS. Honestly, this is the worst cover art in the whole top 5 albums by a mile. I mean it is just a picture of the number 7, yeah, I guess it is a cool looking seven, but it was put together with no thought process and therefore is not good enough for me. I assumed that there was a deeper meaning and found that, “Map of the Soul: 7 is meant to symbolize the seven members of the group, as well as the seven years the band has spent together,” according to Aimee Wiencek, a Staff Reporter at The Observer. But to me it was still boring and did not catch my eye.
Starting with the first song of the album, “Intro: Persona”, the singer, RM, does alright, but what is this beat? In this song RM is talking about getting what he has always wanted. The song is said to take the listener into deep reflection, mostly talking about success and the human spirit. The albums songs, “Persona”, “Shadow” and “Ego” are all songs that offer guidance for living and for relating to others and the world at large. It was produced during the pandemic of 2020 and therefore meant to inspire people and to enable them to get through the issues that covid-19 has left for people around the world to deal with.
This South Korean boy band BTS is up and coming in the US. The whole album is over an hour and ten minutes long. None of the songs on this album are fully in English. Many of the songs on this album are in Korean or sometimes in Japanese although some of the songs include English words or phrases. They have multiple singers for different parts and songs. There are 20 tracks that feature other prominent artists like Sia, Halsey, and Zero O’Clock. BTS described five of the songs on the album as "deeply personal". The album is influenced by their journey, reflection, self-acceptance, and growth of seven years since their debut. Overall, I did not enjoy the beat or genre of this music. I could not understand the lyrics without using a translator, most of the lyrics are not in English and therefore, not for me.
After Hours album cover
photographer, Anton Tammi
#4 After Hours
by: the Weeknd
The fourth Album is After Hours by the Weeknd. The cover art is the first thing I noticed when clicking the album. It features a self-portrait of the Weeknd, A Canadian whose real name is Abel Makkonen Tesfaye. The blood around his mouth really stood out but the weird part was that he was smiling. According to ComplexMusics video on After hours His videos and covers are legendary by emulating movies like, “Casino (1995), Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas (1998), Psycho (1960), Joker (2019), Uncut Gems (2019), and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974).” This cover represents the 2019 movie Uncut Gems where the Weeknd has a cameo in the movie.
Metro Boomin, producer for the Weeknd, helped to create the song, “Faith.” The song “Escape from L.A.” is easy to vibe to and is a super chill song. My overall favorite of the album is “Blinding Lights”, where he is talking about his current relationship where he says, "he can’t live without". The song is super upbeat and catchy, it had me dancing when listening to it. "I can’t sleep until I feel your touch" he sings meaning he is trying to find a girl in his life, which is funny that he is singing this while In August 2020, a source told Life & Style that The Weeknd “is one of the pickiest men in Hollywood!” “He'd rather be alone than with the wrong woman,” the insider said at the time. This is an awesome tune but has a rather violent music video to go along with it. Overall, I liked the Weeknd ranking it number one in this top five list. This album is the closest on this list to being considered rap in some of the songs, which may be why I like it the best.
When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? album cover
Photographer, Kenneth Cappello
#5 When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?
by: Billie Eilish.
The fifth album is When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? by Billie Eilish. The album cover gives me a scary movie vibe. Everything is white as you can see in the picture. It looks like a demon is looking at you. She looks possessed to me. It really grabs my attention and makes me wonder, what is going on in this woman’s mind.
Eilish does not capitalize her songs either. Who were Taylor and Eilish’s English teachers? I first listened to, "when the party's over", this song was not what I thought I was going to hear giving the title of the song. It is soothing and has amazing vocals. I also recognized this song from Tik-Tok. Another song on her album, "bad guy,” is a song that I have also heard before. It is a catchy song; It has a catchy whistling tune, upbeat rhythmic finger snapping, and soft deliberate lyrics. Eilish has a way of catching your attention and making the listener stop and concentrate on the music and lyrics. It is crazy how Eilish is only 19 years old making these incredible albums.
This album is a bit different than other popular music you may hear on the radio. Eilish has a distinct sound, and the album is definitely worth listening to.