Blondie Albums Ranked

Photo: Raph_PH, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Our Blondie Albums Ranked List takes a look at the all the Blondie albums released and puts them in order of our favorites. Blondie was first formed in New York City in the mid-1970s. They soon became a favorite in the New York clubs due to their dynamic lead singer Deborah Harry and their highly energized band. Blondie would release two albums that became a favorite of critics defining them as one of the most exciting new wave bands to lead the way between the years 1976 and 77 when punk and new wave artists were just starting to flourish. Blondie would soon become a household name with the release of their third album entitled Parallel Lines that spawned the massive number one hit single “Heart of Glass.” Between the years 1978 and 1981, Blondie released three big selling albums and celebrated four number one hit singles. Their success during that period would cement their legacy in classic rock history forever.

Blondie broke up in 1982 after the release of The Hunter album. Deborah Harry would pursue a solo career. However, the group reunited in 1999 with the release of their album No Exit. From that point on, Blondie has released four more studio albums for a combined eleven studio album releases throughout their career. Over the years, personnel in the band has changed multiple times with the two constants always being Deborah Harry and her ex-boyfriend and bandleader Chris Stein.

# 11 – Ghosts of Download

We open up our Blondie albums ranked list with an album that a lot of us missed. Ghosts Of Download was a new Blondie album released on May 12th 2014. It came packaged with a greatest hits album and a bonus DVD of a live show at CBGB’s in 1977. Nice package and the new songs were a lot of fun to listen to. Check out the songs “A Rose By Any Name,” and “Sugar On The Side.”

# 10 – Panic of Girls

Continuing with our Blondie albums ranked list we turn to the album Panic Of Girls. The Panic Of Girls album was released in July of 2011. It was the band’s first album since The Curse Of Blondie in 2003. Panic Of Girls was the first Blondie album since their debut not to chart on the US Billboard top 200 albums charts. It’s also the band’s first album without their original keyboardist Jimmy Destri. Standout tracks on the album included the single “Mother,” and the opening song “D-Day.”

# 9 – The Hunter

After the tremendous success of Blondie’s previous three albums Autoamerican, Eat To The Beat and Parallel Lines, The Hunter album was seen as a commercial failure. Blondie’s first five albums had all gone gold with four of them going Platinum. The Hunter became the first Blondie album to fail to even go gold. Blondie would breakup six months after The Hunter was released. The album simply lacked the spark, the energy, and the passion that all of Blondie’s previous albums had contained

# 8 -The Curse of Blondie

We absolutely love the title of Blondie’s eighth studio album called The Curse of Blondie. This was Blondie’s first album with Sony music. The album’s debut single “Good Boys,” enjoyed success in the UK where it was a top 20 hit and in the United States where it broke into the top 10 on the US dance charts.

# 7 – Pollinator

Blondie’s Pollinator album stands as the most recent Blondie album release as of this writing in 2021. The album was released on May 5th 2017. This is a great rocking album that let the world know that Blondie was still alive and well and rocking as hard as they ever were. The album’s opening song “Doom or Destiny,” featured the legendary Joan Jett along with Deborah Harry on lead vocals. What a way to open up an album. We highly recommend this one!

# 6 – No Exit

In 1999, Blondie reunited and released the great new album entitled No Exit. Blondie fans went crazy over this fantastic comeback album. This was a strong effort with fourteen brand new original songs written by the band featuring the hit single “Maria” which went to number one in the United Kingdom. It was the band’s highest-charting album on the UK and US album charts since Autoamerican in 1980 almost 20 years earlier. It was also their first album to go gold in the UK since Autoamerican.

# 5 – Autoamerican

Blondie’s Autoamerican album was a huge hit for the band. The album came pretty close to repeating the success of the 1978 album Parallel Lines. Autoamerican was released in November of 1980. The album spawned two hit singles with the first one entitled “The Tide is High,” hitting number one in the United States and the United Kingdom. The album’s second single entitled Rapture got heavy airplay on MTV and became the first rap song ever to hit number one in the United States. Many people argue that Blondie’s “Rapture,” stands as one of the most important songs in the development and popularity of rap that would begin a few years later. That’s a pretty big deal.

# 4 – Blondie

In 1976, Blondie released theIR first album simply titled Blondie. The album kind of simmered in the underground for a while until it would become extremely popular after the success of Parallel Lines as new fans sought out there earlier work. This is a great rock and roll album that featured some incredible songs such as a “X Offender, In The Flesh and Rip Her To Shreds.” One of the great early new wave records ever released.

# 3 – Plastic Letters

Blondie’s Plastic Letters was Blondie’s second album release. The album was released in September of 1977 one year before Parallel Lines would be released. The album broke in to the U.S. Top 200 albums chart speaking a number 72. Over time, the album would go gold in the Netherlands and platinum in the United Kingdom. Highlights on the album included the songs “Denis,” and “(I’m always Touched By Your) Presence Dear.”

# 2 – Eat To The Beat

Blondie’s Eat To The Beat was a very successful follow-up album to Parallel Lines. While the band faced a monumental task in trying to follow up an album that spawned a number one hit single around the world, Blondie did a very fine job in releasing a record full of great new songs that showed artistic growth and led the way in developing a fresh new rock and roll sound at the end of the decade of the 1970s. 1979 is one of the most underrated years in classic rock history and it’s because of albums like Eat To The Beat that we enjoyed this year so much.

Four singles were released from the Eat To The Beat album starting with the great track “Dreaming,” released in September of 1979. “Dreaming,” was followed up by the singles “Union City Blue, and “The Hardest Part.” While the album was still charting Blondie released a single from the American Gigolo soundtrack entitled “Call Me,” which would become the band’s second number one hit of their career.

# 1 – Parallel Lines

We close out our top 10 Blondie albums list with the band’s most commercially successful album of their career entitled Parallel Lines. Not only was this the band’s most commercially successful album it was the most artistically satisfying record for both the group and their fans. Parallel Lines stands as a hallmark of the new wave, punk era of the late 1970s. It was easily the most successful new wave pop album ever released crossing the genres of so many styles of music between rock, pop, disco, punk and new wave. It was also the band’s major breakthrough album in both the United Kingdom and the United States.

Six singles was released from the Parallel Lines album. The first single entitled “Picture This,” was released on August 26th 1978. The song did not make much of a dent on any of the music tracks around the world. The second single was released just a month later in September entitled “I’m Gonna Love You Too,” which also didn’t make much of a dent in the music charts. We don’t know what the band’s record company was thinking releasing those two songs as the first two singles as there were so many more great songs on the Parallel Lines album. The third single released from the album is the one that we would have released first, the album’s opening track “Hanging On The Telephone.” That was a great song full of energy, passion, great chord changes and a to die for melody and lead vocal by Deborah Harry. Released in October of 1978 the song “Hanging On The Telephone, received a lot of airplay on FM radio and was a top 10 hit in the UK.

Blondie would soon become a household name in January of 1979 with the release of the fourth single from the album entitled “Heart of Glass.” It doesn’t seem that anyone in the band or the group’s management ever expected the success that “Heart of Glass,” would have on the charts. Otherwise they would have released “Heart of Glass,” as the album’s first single. “Heart of Glass,” went straight to number one in the United States on the Billboard Hot 100 music charts. The song “Heart of Glass,” went to number one in the United Kingdom, Switzerland, New Zealand, Germany, Canada, Australia and Austria. It’s sold millions of copies around the world becoming the band’s biggest hit single of their career and and the first of four number one songs the band would celebrate during an amazing run.

Two more singles were released from the Parallel Lines album entitled “Sunday Girl,” and “One Way Or Another.” The album’s final single”One Way Or Another,” would become one of Blondie signature songs. Blondie’s Parallel Lines album would become their highest-charting album of the career as it peaked at number six on the US Billboard top 200 albums charts. In our opinion, it’s an album that stands as one of the best of the decade of the 1970s.