Sometimes, album titles show a great deal of thought. The 1975’s I Like It When You Sleep, For You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware of It is a title of great complexity and beauty. The full title of Fiona Apple’s 1999 album When the Pawn… is an eight-line poem that contains a whopping 444 characters.
But sometimes artists just like to keep it simple. Real simple. Led Zeppelin’s first four albums were titled Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin II, Led Zeppelin III and Led Zeppelin IV.
Chicago titled a long series of albums with just the band’s name and the number of studio albums they had released at that point. They kept this up, with just a couple of exceptions, from Chicago II in 1970to Chicago 18 in 1986.
Adele kept it as simple as could be with the titles of her albums 19, 21, 25 and 30 – her ages when she wrote and recorded them.
Then there are the album titles that are quite literal – they tell you exactly what the album is, with no flourishes whatsoever. The latest example is Jonas Brothers’ The Album, which was released today (May 12). As you’ll see below, it’s not the first time an act has titled an album The Album. (Here’s a ranking of all 12 tracks on the album by Billboard writer Hannah Dailey, who, in the spirit of literal titles, could have titled this piece, The Ranking.)
There have been many other examples of literal album titles over the years, as you’ll see when you scroll through this sampling of albums where it’s all right there in the title – with no frills added. All of these albums made the Billboard 200, with peak positions shown below.
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‘The Album’
Image Credit: Courtesy of YG Entertainment BLACKPINK: Debuted and peaked at No. 2 on Oct. 17, 2020
Teyana Taylor: Debuted and peaked at No. 8 on July 4, 2020
ABBA: Peaked at No. 14 on July 22, 1978
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‘Album’
Joan Jett & the Blackhearts: Peaked at No. 20 on Aug. 13, 1983
Public Image Ltd.: Peaked at No. 115 on April 12, 1986
Girls: Debuted and peaked at No. 136 on Oct. 10, 2009
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‘The Record’
Boygenius: Debuted and peaked at No. 4 on April 15, 2023
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‘Title’
Meghan Trainor: Debuted and peaked at No. 1 on Jan. 31, 2015
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‘Title of Record’
Filter: Debuted and peaked at No. 30 on Sept. 11, 1989
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‘Debut’
Bjork: Peaked at No. 61 on Sept. 11, 1993
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‘LP1’
Joss Stone: Debuted and peaked at No. 9 on Aug. 13, 2011
fka Twigs: Debuted and peakedat No. 30 on Aug. 30, 2014
Liam Payne: Debuted and peaked at No.111 on Dec. 21, 2019
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‘Live’
Alabama: Peaked at No. 76 on July 9, 1988
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‘Live Album’
Grand Funk Railroad: Peaked at No. 5 on Dec. 26, 1970
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‘Double Live’
Garth Brooks: Debuted and peaked at No. 1 on Dec. 5, 1998
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‘Hits’
Joni Mitchell: Debuted and peaked at No. 161 on Nov. 16. 1996
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‘…Hits’
Phil Collins: Peaked at No. 6 on Aug. 4, 2012
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‘The Hits’
Garth Brooks: Peaked at No. 1 on Jan. 7, 1995
Faith Hill: Debuted and peaked at No. 12 on Oct. 20, 2007
REO Speedwagon: Peaked at No. 56 on Sept. 10, 1988
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‘Christmas’
Michael Buble: Peaked at No. 1 on Dec. 10, 2011
Alabama: Peaked at No. 75 on Dec.28, 1985
Francesca Battistelli: Peaked at No. 69 on Dec. 29, 2012
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‘Merry Christmas’
Bing Crosby: Peaked at No. 1 on Dec. 30, 1957
Johnny Mathis: Peaked at No. 3 on Jan. 5, 1959
Mariah Carey: Peaked at No. 3 on Dec. 17, 1994
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‘The Christmas Album’
Neil Diamond: Peaked at No. 8 on Dec. 19, 1992
The Manhattan Transfer: Peaked at No. 120 on Dec. 26, 1992
Johnny Mathis: Peaked at No. 143 on Dec. 21, 2002
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‘The Broadway Album’
Barbra Streisand: Peaked at No. 1 on Jan. 25, 1986
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‘The Movie Album’
Barbra Streisand: Debuted and peaked at No. 5 on Nov. 1, 2003
Ramsey Lewis: Peaked at No. 124 on July 29, 1967