As a general rule in pop music, an album's big single is usually placed towards the beginning, if not at the very top, of the tracklisting, with the album's last track reserved for something less pop friendly. However, these eight artists broke this trend by sticking huge singles at the very end of the album.
1. The Zombies - Odessey and Oracle (1968)
Though most of the Zombies' 1968 classic Odessey and Oracle is made up of sunny baroque pop, the album's last track "Time of the Season," has a much darker and slinkier atmosphere, driven by Chris White's simple yet effective bassline. It would be the only hit single from the album, and one of the Zombies' most recognizable tunes.
2. Cat Stevens - Teaser and the Firecat (1971)
Cat Steven's 1971 album Teaser and the Firecat contains some of the singer's most popular songs, including "Moonshadow" and "Morning Has Broken," but the album's biggest and perhaps most important song was its closer, the anti-war anthem "Peace Train," which became Stevens' first top 10 single in the US.
3. The Clash - London Calling (1979)
Though "Train in Vain" is the best song on the Clash's London Calling and broke the band in the United States, it almost wasn't included on the album. The song was tacked onto the end of London Calling so late in the album's production that there wasn't even time to include it in the tracklisting. Despite this close call, it became the Clash's first top 30 hit in the US.
4. Dexy's Midnight Runners - Too-Rye-Ay (1982)
If there's one thing most people know about Dexy's Midnight Runners, it's the band's number one single "Come On Eileen," the closing track to its 1982 album Too-Rye-Ay, which became the band's only single to even hit the top 40 in the US, though it was the band's second number one song in its native UK.
5. Slayer - Reign in Blood (1986)
Despite the fact that Reign in Blood was Slayer's third album, it prompted the band's first-ever single release: its closing track "Raining Blood." Though there aren't exactly "big singles" in the world of thrash metal (the song only reached number 64 in the UK, which is actually higher than I expected), there are plenty of classic songs, and "Raining Blood" is an undisputed classic of the genre.
6. Alice in Chains - Dirt (1992)
Originally released on the soundtrack to Cameron Crowe's grunge rom-com Singles, Alice in Chain's "Would?" proved to be so popular that the band ended up tacking it onto the end of its classic 1992 album Dirt. Though it wasn't written for the album, "Would?" nonetheless closes out Dirt perfectly, as it sounds nearly pop when placed after the bone-chilling "Angry Chair," the album's original closer.
7. Adele - 21 (2011)
Adele's 21 was such a massive success (it was the top-selling album of both 2011 and 2012, and the top selling album of the century so far) that there's not just one song that people associate with it. However, the album's stark closing track "Someone Like You," was still a tremendous success, topping the Billboard charts and becoming the first single of the decade to sell one million copies in the UK, proving that all you need for a hit is a piano and a voice.
8. Kanye West - Yeezus (2013)
Due to its incredible/awful music video (I honestly can't decide), Kanye West's "Bound 2" might be more notorious than actually well regarded, but it's still a phenomenal and utterly bizarre track, a hip-hop song with just the faintest trace of a beat. It became the biggest hit from Yeezus, probably because it's the only song from the album without any abrasive industrial elements.
What other albums close with big singles? Let us know in the comments section!
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