Carole King’s Masterpiece Is A Top 10 Smash Again
Hugh McIntyre - Senior Contributor
Hugh McIntyre covers music, with a focus on the global charts.
Carole King’s ‘Tapestry’ is a top 10 bestseller again this week after the airing of the documentary Just Call Out My Name.
Carole King spent years writing hits for other artists before she finally scored a blockbuster of her own. When she released Tapestry, the music industry changed, and countless singer-songwriters have followed her lead in the decades since that set arrived.
Tapestry remains not only one of the most important albums of all time, but also one of the best. The set is a bestseller again in the United Kingdom this week, thanks to the recent airing of a film about the star—along with one of her most famous friends and collaborators. It’s clear that British listeners are still in love with the many hits featured on the album, no matter how old it may be.
King’s classic returns to two charts in the U.K. this frame. It even manages to break into the highest tier on one of the pair, which is an incredible feat for a set that was initially shared with the public back in 1971.
Tapestry is back at No. 9 on the Official Album Downloads chart, ranking as one of the 10 most-downloaded full-lengths in the country. King’s behemoth is also present inside the top 40 on the Official Albums Sales roster, where it comes in at No. 36 after not appearing on the roster for a year.
The Grammy-winning project almost returns to its all-time peak on the Official Albums Sales chart, missing that position by just one space. Tapestry has previously risen to No. 5 on the list of the top-selling full-lengths on platforms like iTunes and Amazon, and it doesn’t quite approach that slot this time around.
As Tapestry reappears, another one of King’s successful releases is also back in a big way. Live At The Troubadour with James Taylor, which celebrated the anniversary of the venue and also the two singer-songwriters’ longstanding friendship, returns to the Official Physical Albums chart at No. 55.
Live At The Troubadour also debuts on one other tally, adding to King’s list of winners, which hasn’t improved in some time. The joint live recording with Taylor is new at No. 20 on the Official Album Downloads chart, where it gives the female star her second career smash.
The music of both King and Taylor is surging in the U.K., thanks to a film titled Carole King & James Taylor: Just Call Out My Name. The documentary recently aired on BBC Two, and apparently, it must have had a large enough audience to influence the charts, bringing more than one of King’s collections—as well as several of Taylor’s albums—to the weekly rankings.
