Alittle while ago, for some reason I forget, I had occasion to study the pop singles charts from 1974. I remember this as a good time in music, so I was surprised at how crap most of those charts seemed when I perused them. A few good songs - and a great deal of what I consider absolute tripe.
After a little thought the explanation hit me; at that time I was mostly listening to albums. Most of the "album artists" I was listening to, eg Genesis, Yes, Pink Floyd, Jimmy Webb, either did not issue singles
at all, or their singles did not sell in high volume, though the albums might have been popular.
Before Sgt Pepper, the album as a product was just not a thing, unless you were from the classical world or the jazz world. It was more just a handy way of bundling together a number of songs, more efficiently and cheaply than releasing them all as singles, and hence making for an attractive purchase.
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