Bryan Adams was still a teenager when he made his recorded debut with the Vancouver-based glam band Sweeney Todd in 1977. Within a couple of years, he and another Canadian songwriter, Jim Vallance, teamed up in a songwriting partnership that has lasted through the decades.
In 1980, Adams released his first solo album, following a 1978 disco single featuring the raspy-voiced singer’s voice sped up to meet dance-club requirements. By mid-decade was one of pop music’s biggest artists, with a No. 1 single and LP.
It didn’t take him long to find his calling, as you’ll see in the list of Bryan Adams Albums Ranked below. At first, a heartland rocker with big guitar-aided radio hooks and sparkling charisma, Adams soon found a penchant for power ballads and, in turn, hit soundtrack songs.
READ MORE: Top 50 Albums of 1984
He’s attempted a few twists to his program over the years, but for the most part, Adams and Vallance have stuck to the music he does best. There’s little deviation from the powerful hooks and arena-ready guitar anthems he’s made since the early ’80s; even in the ’20s, it’s a target he’s often hit.
Adams’ list of commercial achievements is plenty; he’s sold nearly 100 million records around the world, and his name is on four No. 1 songs, including the 1991 Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves hit “(Everything I Do) I Do It for You” — which spent 16 consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the U.K. chart and 17 weeks at the top of Billboard’s sales chart. But his best albums go beyond mere numbers.
Bryan Adams Albums Ranked
Hitmaking Canadian heartland rocker was the king of arena-sized hooks in the mid-’80s through mid-’90s.
Gallery Credit: Michael Gallucci