Fleetwood Mac Achieved 1 Rare Feat With ‘Rumours’ That Adds to Its Impressive Legacy
Fleetwood Mac created an all-time classic with the album Rumours. The band added guitarist Lindsey Buckingham and singer Stevie Nicks to the fold, the latter despite her interest in joining another band. The quintet created an all-time classic album, and it’s one with a story that’s just as interesting as the music it contains. Forty-five years later, we can look back and see that Fleetwood Mac achieved a rare feat with Rumours’ release in 1977 that adds to the album’s impressive legacy.
‘Rumours’ remains Fleetwood Mac’s defining album
It’s not evident listening to Rumours, but Fleetwood Mac started as a band with deep blues influences. Their earliest work rubs shoulders with The Rolling Stones’ roadhouse-style tunes and Led Zeppelin’s straight blues. The band changed when Buckingham and Nicks joined the group in 1975, and the Mac created their magnum opus two short years later.
The story behind Rumours — fractured relationship and intra-band affairs that nearly broke the band — is interesting, but it would be a footnote if not for the music.
Rumours produced four top-10 Billboard singles and the band’s only No. 1 tune, “Dreams,” which Christine McVie found boring. “Don’t Stop” (No. 3), “You Make Loving Fun” (No. 9), and “Go Your Own Way” (No. 10) also charted.
As Fleetwood Mac’s 11th studio album, Rumours was the band’s biggest success, and it achieved a very rare feat in 1977.
‘Rumours’ helped Fleetwood Mac achieve a rare feat in 1977
There aren’t many years in rock ‘n’ roll history quite like 1977. In addition to Rumours, albums such as The Clash’s self-titled debut, Steely Dan’s Aja, David Bowie’s Heroes, and Pink Floyd’s Animals hit the shelves.
Even with some all-time classic albums, Fleetwood Mac achieved a rare feat with Rumours (and neither of them was for almost thanking their drug dealer in the liner notes).
Rumours was one of just seven albums to reach No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart in 1977. Stevie Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life, Wings’ Wings Over America, the A Star is Born Soundtrack, the Eagles Hotel California, Barry Manilow Live, and Linda Ronstadt’s Simple Dreams were the only other No. 1 records in 1977.
Making it to the top was impressive, but even more jaw-dropping was the album’s longevity at No. 1. Rumours spent 29 weeks atop the Billboard 200 chart in 1977, including 19 consecutive weeks from late July to late November. Fleetwood Mac sat at No. 1 with Rumours for another eight-week stretch earlier in 1977. Only six other albums ever spent more consecutive weeks at No. 1, per Billboard. If you take soundtracks out of the mix, Rumours would be second on the list.
All told, Rumours spent 31 weeks atop the Billboard 200 and lasted an incredible 497 weeks on the charts.
The years keep revealing more about the band’s most famous record
It didn’t take long for listeners to fall in love with Fleetwood Mac’s defining record. Rumours achieved Recording Industry Association of America gold status less than two weeks after its Feb. 4, 1977, release date. It went platinum just over a month after it hit shelves.
The soap opera-like backstory to the album keeps adding new chapters.
McVie felt “Dreams” was a boring song, but Nicks needed only 10 minutes to write Fleetwood Mac’s lone No. 1 single. That was a high point for Stevie Nicks, but she had a low blow on Rumours. Years after the album hit shelves, fans learned she had another one of her tunes cut from the album at the last minute.
Fleetwood Mac achieved a rare feat with Rumours, and no amount of in-fighting or drama surrounding the album will ever take that away.
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