This section looks at the 'Hysteria' album reaching Number One in the USA in July 1988. The first time the band had reached the top spot on the Billboard album or singles charts during the most successful period of their career.
it's about f**king time!
Def Leppard's classic Hysteria album reached Number One on the US Billboard Top 200 chart on this day in 1988.
The band's fourth studio album was released on 3rd August 1987 and took 49 weeks to reach the top spot.
It replaced Van Halen's 'OU812' at the top of the US charts.
It would go on to spend 6 weeks at number one (including a 3 week stint in September) and 133 weeks in total on the chart.
On 16th March 1999 the band received a Diamond Award for over 10 million sales of the album in the USA alone.
Billboard Advert
Hysteria Album - Weeks At Number One in USA
- 23rd July 1988 - 1 - (Number One after 49 weeks on chart)
- 30th July 1988 - 1
- 6th August 1988 - 2
- 13th August 1988 - 1
- 20th August 1988 - 2
- 27th August 1988 - 2
- 3rd September 1988 - 1
- 10th September 1988 - 1
- 17th September 1988 - 1
The album had already gone to Number One in the UK on 29th August 1987 and spent a total of 101 weeks on the UK charts.
'Hysteria' remained in the Top 10 for almost all of 1988 - 48 weeks out of 52. In the four weeks it went outside the Top 10 it was at #11 for three weeks and #12 for one.
Due to the continued success of the singles 'Armageddon It' and 'Rocket' it also spent the first 11 weeks of 1989 in the Top 10.
In all a total of 77 weeks were spent in the Top 10 out of its total of 133 weeks on the chart. Over half of its chart run.
The 'Pour Some Sugar On Me' single reached Number Two on the Hot 100 chart on the same day.
News Article 23rd July 1988
Def Leppard's 'Hysteria' Sets In At No.1
Def Leppard's 'Hysteria' finally hits No. 1 in its 49th week on the Top Pop Albums chart.
This makes it the third-slowest climbing No. 1 album of the past 20 years following 'Fleetwood Mac', which reached the top in its 58th week in September 1976.
And 'Whitney Houston' which rang the bell in its 50th week in March 1986.
Each of Def Leppard's four studio albums has now climbed higher on the chart than the one preceding it.
'On Through The Night' peaked at No. 51 in 1980.
'High 'n' Dry' reached No. 38 in 1981, and 'Pyromania' hit No. 2 in 1982.
The last-mentioned album was kept off the top spot by Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' as were such hot releases as Stray Cats; 'Built For Speed' and Culture Club's 'Colour By Numbers'.
But unlike those groups, Def Leppard has managed to comeback and top the chart with its very next album.
Last year, a lot was made of the "rematch" between Jackson and Def Leppard.
It's now clear that in that rematch, both acts are winners.
The only difference is that Jackson hit No. 1 his first week out, and Def Leppard took nearly a year to reach the top spot.
The 'Hysteria' Singles (click to enlarge)
Phil Collen - 'Hysteria' Postcards from 'Work It Out' Single 1996
"Our most popular album to date."
"It was Mutt's idea to make a rock version of 'Thriller' - rock songs that were hit singles. We were fortunate enough to have seven strong singles from this record."
"Mutt Lange was very influential here. We seemed to be making a video every few weeks."
"We were in the top ten all over the world at one time or another."
Phil Collen - 27th July 2015 Interview Quote - Read More
"I do think Hysteria was a kind of a sparkling star on our career. You know, icing on the cake and all that. But I think this is the best thing we've done since then. It's called Def Leppard. It's really diverse."
Vivian Campbell - August 2014 Interview Quote - Read More
"I actually bought 'Hysteria' twice, I wore out the cassette I played it so often and then I bought one of those new fangled compact discs."
Def Leppard 1988
Joe Elliott 2012
"When you've spent that long making a record. Whatever got done at the beginning, you tend to forget you've done it!. And you're hearing it as though it's somebody else which was actually quite exciting and very unusual. We weren't that close to it. So we were listening to the album as though it was actually - as fans!. We were listening to it thinking, that's actually us!. Listen to it, that's us."
Phil Collen 2012
"Love Bites. I remember hearing Love Bites, the finished mix. And I thought this is our biggest shot at a Number One single. And then it came out and it didn't do well initially."
Joe Elliott 2012
"It opened at three million didn't it?. Which was a massive failure compared to Pyromania."
Def Leppard 1988
Phil Collen 2012
"Yeah, we thought that was as well as it was gonna do. And we was playing kind of half empty arenas. It wasn't great you know. But I remember thinking if it didn't sell any copies at all that we'd be totally satisfied with it because it was the best album I'd ever heard. Until PSSOM came out and then it just kicked it into another stratosphere."
Joe Elliott 1987
"We're very happy and somewhat relieved. We were a bit concerned that people may have forgotten us, that some new bands might have come along to take our place. We're very happy that people still like our music and we're very excited about the chance to get out on the road again. A lot of new talent has come along, so it's much more competitive out there in the rock world but we love it! We want to come back and prove to everyone that Def Leppard is still the best rock band in the world!."
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