Billboard has kept track of the top Sesame Street albums over the past 50 years and is sharing some of the highlights with us to share with you too!
Check out ‘A History Of ‘Sesame Street,’ Spanning 50 Years, On Billboard’s Charts’
- The first album in the Sesame Street catalog, The Sesame Street Book & Recordsoundtrack, debuted on the Billboard 200 dated July 25, 1970, and reached No. 23 that Oct. 3. The set was released following the show’s first season and won a Grammy Award for best recording for children, the series’ first of 13 Grammys to date.
- 1978’s “Sesame Street Fever” charted, a fun sendup of “Saturday Night Fever” … withRobin Gibb singing alongside the Muppets.
- In Harmony: A Sesame Street Record (No. 156 peak on the Billboard 200; Jan. 24, 1981) took a star-studded turn, as it presents a host of celebrity singers, includingBette Midler, Linda Ronstadt, Carly Simon and James Taylor, as well as “Wynken, Blynken and Nod” by the Doobie Brothers. The track, a musical adaptation of a Eugene Field poem, hit No. 76 on the Hot 100 dated Feb. 7, 1981 (as well as No. 31 on the Adult Contemporary chart a week later).
- The most recent Sesame Street album to reach the Billboard 200 remainsElmopalooza! (No. 166 peak; May 2, 1998), which accompanied the TV special commemorating the series’ 30th anniversary. The set includes Jimmy Buffett, Celine Dion, Gloria Estefan and En Vogue, among others, and won a Grammy for best musical album for children.
- Two classic Muppet songs have hit the Billboard Hot 100’s top 25: Ernie’s “Rubber Duckie” and Kermit’s “Rainbow Connection”
- “Rainbow Connection,” has been covered by countless singers over the last 40-plus years, including the Carpenters, Judy Collins, Dixie Chicks, Debbie Harry, John Legend, Lisa Loeb, Sarah McLachlan, Jason Mraz, Willie Nelson, Ed Sheeran, Gwen Stefani and, in duet form, Weezer and Hayley Williams. Kermit (as performed by Henson) sang it at the 1980 Oscars
- Newer-generation Sesame Street releases have continued the tradition of reaching the charts, including an Elmo-centered set.
