Once Upon a Time in the Top Spot: America, “Today’s the Day”

Hey, kids, have you been wondering when you could finally celebrate the 26th anniversary of the date when the first single from America’s 1976 album, Hideaway, hit the top of Billboard’s adult-contemporary chart? Well, wonder no more, because…

Oh, forget it. Once you’ve telegraphed a joke that much, why even bother with the punchline?

Seriously, though, today really is the 26th anniversary of “Today’s the Day” topping the AC charts, making for America’s third time in the top spot, having already achieved that pinnacle with “Tin Man” and “Lonely People,” both singles from their 1974 album, Holiday. Unfortunately, the band wouldn’t have another song hit the AC Top Five until 1982’s “You Can Do Magic,” but that certainly doesn’t diminish the accomplishment of having pulled a #1, now, does it?

By the way, if you haven’t gone back and listened to Hideaway recently – or, indeed, if you’ve never listened to it at all – then you might want to remedy that situation. It’s one of the albums that George Martin produced for America, so it’s got that going for it, and it hit #11 on the Billboard Top 200, so it was certainly popular enough in its initial release, yet it’s the first of the semi-forgotten America albums…by which we mean that it was the first America album to come out after the band’s best-of collection, History: America’s Greatest Hits, which has unfortunately come to be seen by many as the only America album anyone needs to own.

In truth, if you’re only going to own one America album, we’d actually recommend the band’s so-called Complete Greatest Hits, which takes you all the way from “A Horse with No Name” to “The Border.” But given that today’s supposed to be about “Today’s the Day,” give Hideaway a spin instead.