1971 Smash Ranked One of the ‘Best Albums’ of All Time Still Holds a No. 1 Record 55 Years Later

This 1971 album still holds a Billboard record no female solo artist has broken.

By Andrea Reiher News Writer, Parade

More than five decades after its release, Carole King’s smash-hit album Tapestry, still holds a record that no female solo artist has broken.

Released on Feb. 10, 1971, the landmark album spent 15 consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200—a streak that remains the longest ever by a female solo artist.

Fifty-five years later, that record still stands.

Photo by Jim McCrary Courtesy of Ode/Lou Adler

Produced by Lou Adler and recorded at A&M Studios in Los Angeles, Tapestry marked a turning point in King’s career. Though she had already written hits for a decade—including “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” and “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman”—the album cemented her as one of the most important singer-songwriters in modern music.

The lead single, “It’s Too Late,” paired with “I Feel the Earth Move,” spent five weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Another track, “You’ve Got a Friend,” later became a chart-topping hit for James Taylor.

“Where You Lead” hit No. 3 on the Adult Contemporary Chart and found new life in the 2000s when King re-recorded it as a duet with her daughter Louise Goffin for the theme song of the hit show Gilmore Girls. In fact, King even had a small recurring role on the show, a music store owner named Sophie Bloom; she reprised the role for the Netflix continuation Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life.

The album went on to win four Grammy Awards in 1972, including Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. King became the first woman to win Song of the Year and the first solo female artist to win Record of the Year. BBC Music Magazine said of the album, “Tapestry feels like a diary left open on the piano – personal yet universal.”

Commercially, Tapestry was unstoppable.

It remained on the Billboard 200 for more than six years and has been certified 14× Platinum by the RIAA. Worldwide sales are estimated at more than 30 million copies, placing it among the best-selling albums of all time.

Critically, it remains just as revered. In 2020, Rolling Stone ranked Tapestry No. 25 on its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. The album has also been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame and selected for preservation in the National Recording Registry.

But its most enduring legacy may be that 15-week run at No. 1—a record that has survived more than half a century of shifting musical eras, streaming revolutions and pop megastars.

Fifty-five years after its release, Tapestry is still woven into the fabric of music history.