Followup Albums Usually Fall Down

Does a smash-hit debut album guarantee a second?

Here’s a look at some of pop’s biggest debut and breakthrough albums, and how their follow-ups fared. Figures indicate U.S. sales through April 1996:

Carole King: “Tapestry” (1971), 10 million “Music” (1971), 1 million

Boston: “Boston” (1976), 15 million “Don’t Look Back” (1978), 6 million

Peter Frampton: “Frampton Comes Alive” (1976), 6 million “I’m In You” (1977), 1 million

Meat Loaf: “Bat Out of Hell” (1977), 12 million “Dead Ringer” (1981), less than 500,000

Whitney Houston: “Whitney Houston” (1985), 12 million “Whitney” (1987), 9 million

Guns N’ Roses: “Appetite for Destruction” (1987), 13 million “G N’ R Lies” (1989), 5 million

Hammer: “Please Hammer Don’t Hurt ‘em” (1990), 10 million “Too Legit to Quit” (1991), 3 million

Pearl Jam: “Ten” (1991), 9 million “Vs.” (1993), 6 million

Hootie & the Blowfish: “Cracked Rear View” (1994), 13 million “Fairweather Johnson” (April 23, 1996), ??