Control: The Remixes - released in 1987 in the wake of the album’s success - places eighth. It was the album’s later singles, The Pleasure Principle and Funny How Time Flies, that sent it to a high of Number 8 in July 1987.Ĭontrol ranks as Janet’s fourth biggest album in the UK with approximately 324,000 chart sales (including pre-1994 panel sales).
The album was a slow-burner in the UK, missing the Top 40 in its first week and lingering around the lower half of the Top 100 for much of ’86. The album spawned five Top 40s on the Official Singles Chart: its biggest hits in the UK were lead single What Have You Don’t For Me Lately? and Let’s Wait A While, both of which reached Number 3. It also marked her introduction to who would become her long-time collaborators Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. Control, however, was different the album’s mood was one of strength in the face of adversity, inspired by severing business ties with her family and the annulment of her marriage to singer James DeBarge. Janet’s music career didn’t properly kick into gear until 1986, when she released Control her first two albums – 1982’s Janet Jackson and 1984’s Dream Street – failed to make much of an impression critically or commercially.
Look at Janet's Official UK Chart history in full here. To mark the occasion, we’re revealing Janet’s biggest albums in the UK, based on Official Charts Company sales and streaming data. The fact that she supposedly had no interest in a music career as a child (the story goes that she wanted to be an entertainment lawyer or jockey) almost doesn’t bear thinking about.Ģ019 has seen Janet celebrate her legacy: In March she was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, a Vegas residency called Metamorphosis launched in May, in June she graced the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury and this month sees her reissuing her most celebrated albums on vinyl. With a career spanning four decades that includes era-defining albums and world-conquering singles, Janet Jackson is one of the most well-known popstars in the world.