What year is this?
Decades old albums by Madonna, Mariah Carey and Janet Jackson have all entered the iTunes top 10. Two of them have even reached the peak position.
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It's all thanks to social media campaigns organized by fans, who urged others to buy and stream the albums. Apparently, lots of people were listening. And had the time while sitting at home.
Carey's 2008 album "E=MC2" went to No. 1 on iTunes earlier this week. Even she was taken aback by the news.
"What is going on?????" Carey tweeted. "#JusticeForEMC2!!!!! So OVERWHELMED by this moment! Thank you #lambily for always lifting my spirits and giving me life. Love you forever."
Woke up yesterday to find out that E=MC2 is somehow the #1 album on iTunes!! On its 12th anniversary no less đ Lambily, you are the friggin' BEST! I hope you enjoy this impromptu version of Last Kiss â¤ď¸â¤ď¸â¤ď¸ #JusticeForEMC2 #eternally12 https://t.co/Z5FasE8DaV pic.twitter.com/AhfuE1kI7y
â Mariah Carey (@MariahCarey) April 28, 2020
She then posted a snippet of herself singing "Last Kiss," a nonsingle from the album, in celebration of the achievement.
"E=MC2" features the No. 1 single "Touch My Body" and the top 20 hit "Bye Bye." It's a solid album, and the real jam here is "Side Effects."
Not to be outdone, Madonna fans followed suit, sending her 1994 opus "Bedtime Stories" to the top of the iTunes album chart Thursday morning. That's 25 years after its original release.
"Bedtime Stories" was hailed as a return to form for Madonna after the explicit, underappreciated "Erotica" and features "Take a Bow," one of the biggest singles of her career, along with second No. 1 "Secret," "Bedtime Story" and "Human Nature."
Jackson's "Control" is the latest classic pop album to reemerge into the iTunes top 10. It was released in 1986 and was hailed as Jackson's breakthrough after two modestly received albums, 1982's self-titled debut and 1984's "Dream Street."
"Control" spawned a series of dynamic singles: "What Have You Done for Me Lately," "Nasty," "Control," the No. 1 "When I Think of You," "Let's Wait Awhile" and "The Pleasure Principle." It set Jackson on the course to superstardom and made her one of the first artists to maximize the use of extravagant music videos.
So should we get this going for Whitney Houston's "My Love is Your Love?"
Joey Guerra is the music critic for the Houston Chronicle. Follow him on Twitter. Get expertsâ picks for concerts, kidsâ stuff, fine arts, movies and more by subscribing to the Preview entertainment newsletter.