base talk I've been exploring these past 3 weeks Mary J. Blige's discography.

[Bloodflowers.]

 

 

And I think it's time ATRL starts to discuss Mary here more.

 

Her discography is incredible. Her 90s output is amazing as is her 2001 album No More Drama which is my favorite followed by My Life.

 

So far I've heard What's the 411 (1992), My Life (1994), Share My World (1997), Mary (1999), No More Drama (2001), Love & Life (2003) and The Breakthrough (2005). I need to get into Growing Pains (2007) soon!

 

She has great albums, one of the best in the game. When I was learning more about her discography, I was shocked that she sold over 700k albums in first week back in 2005 with The Breakthrough. It was the 5th best selling debut week for a female album of all time!! She was absolutely massive. And that was her 7th album!!!

 

She also had hard life and a lot of her songs discuss all hardships she had to face. She needs to be respected and discussed more on ATRL. Any Mary stans here or at least casual fans?

 

I mean, look at the material babygorls

 

 

And these are not even her best, especially album tracks like Steal Away, MJB da MVP, Destiny, No One Else, Good Woman Down, 2 U, You Bring Me Joy, Beautiful Day, etc.

 

 

[theweekend]

YES

 

share my world is a staple for 90's classic R&B! I was listening to breakthrough yesterday and it feels FRESH. Mary was in her bag in 2005.

[Airhead]

Mary J. Blige debut album is a heavy influence to 90s and present day R&B. 

[Katamari]

my fav mary song is not gon cry. that's a classic 

 

and of course underrated classic Fine

 

 

[SuperCiC1]

The quality never dropped with her, people just stopped listening. 

[Mordecai]

I began exploring Mary's music after she performed at the Super Bowl. It's taken me a while to get through it (I'm only up to Love & Life lol) but part of that is because I've pretty much liked every album of hers I've listened to and I've wanted to sit with each album (sometimes for months) before moving onto the next.

 

She doesn't stray very far from that classic R&B sound but her albums still manage to sound somewhat distinct from each other. My only criticism is that all her albums (except for her debut) suffer from really long and bloated tracklists so for every good song there's also usually a dud/filler. I don't think it's a coincidence her best album is the only one with 11-12 tracks.

 

Favourite Mary album: What's the 411

Favourite songs: basically most of What's the 411 lol, No More Drama, Good Morning Gorgeous, Be Happy, Everything, As and One (in addition to the classics Family Affair and Be Without You ofc)

 

Love me some Mary 

Edited August 8, 2023 by Mordecai

[Jai]

No cause "mary" has always been one of my favorite albums by her!

[politeone]

will give her discography a listen, thanks!

[Babydoll.]

those first three albums..... the classics.... the implications.... the impact. so many legendary tracks <3

[Bloodflowers.]

1 hour ago, Mordecai said:

I began exploring Mary's music after she performed at the Super Bowl. It's taken me a while to get through it (I'm only up to Love & Life lol) but part of that is because I've pretty much liked every album of hers I've listened to and I've wanted to sit with each album (sometimes for months) before moving onto the next.

 

She doesn't stray very far from that classic R&B sound but her albums still manage to sound somewhat distinct from each other. My only criticism is that all her albums (except for her debut) suffer from really long and bloated tracklists so for every good song there's also usually a dud/filler. I don't think it's a coincidence her best album is the only one with 11-12 tracks.

 

Favourite Mary album: What's the 411

Favourite songs: basically most of What's the 411 lol, No More Drama, Good Morning Gorgeous, Be Happy, Everything, As and One (in addition to the classics Family Affair and Be Without You ofc)

 

Love me some Mary 

 

I am the exact opposite of you, I love me some long tracklist albums that I can just press play and have it blasting when I am at work office, or home in my room connecting Blue-Tooth to my radio player and chill. Even those "duds/fillers" are nice. But tbh the only albums with those duds and fillers are Love & Life and The Breakthrough hihihi others have important songs front to back baby

 

 

[GoodGuyGoneGhetto]

The GREATEST Song Of ALL-TIME.

 

Literally. 
 

Nothing compares.

 

 

Spoiler

@Bloodflowers.

 

[eli's_rhythm]

She's a legend and the Queen of Hip-Hop/Soul for a reason!!

[Planet Mars]

The What's the 411? - My Life - Share My World 1-2-3 punch

 

The other R&B girlies were basically playing catch up.

[naval23]

Growing Pains selling 623k in its first week and debuting at #2

 

Her sales were INSANE 

 

Be Without You is still that hymn - Billboard's #1 R&B song of all time 

[Devin]

Underrated and stellar discography.

[RockStarShit101]

Dare I say her best work is in the 2000s>>>>>>

Growing Pains is one of the best r and b albums of that decade 

 

[Bloodflowers.]

1 hour ago, GoodGuyGoneGhetto said:

The GREATEST Song Of ALL-TIME.

 

Literally. 
 

Nothing compares.

 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

@Bloodflowers.

 

 

We stan uplifting bop

 

She has so many uplifting and inspiring songs, you always get a kick out of them! They don't make such songs full of positivity anymore!

 

[Bloodflowers.]

25 minutes ago, naval23 said:

Growing Pains selling 623k in its first week and debuting at #2

 

Her sales were INSANE 

 

Be Without You is still that hymn - Billboard's #1 R&B song of all time 

 

Damn, who blocked poor Mary when she pulled such MASSIVE sales??

 

She also sold almost 300k debut week with No More Drama which were her highest first week sales at the time, but was blocked because she released her album during that unfortunate week when Aaliyah tragically died and her news of death shocked the whole music industry 

 

[Wicked]

It's hard for me to listen to My Life often but it's my favorite album. Most of them are good or better though.

 

 

[Unreachable101]

peep this legendary peformance!

[naval23]

2 hours ago, Bloodflowers. said:

 

Damn, who blocked poor Mary when she pulled such MASSIVE sales??

 

She also sold almost 300k debut week with No More Drama which were her highest first week sales at the time, but was blocked because she released her album during that unfortunate week when Aaliyah tragically died and her news of death shocked the whole music industry 

 

Josh Groban's Christmas album - Noel  But it went #1 after the Xmas frenzy died 

 

Also this is one of her best features:

 

 

[Bloodflowers.]

8 hours ago, naval23 said:

Josh Groban's Christmas album - Noel  But it went #1 after the Xmas frenzy died 

 

Also this is one of her best features:

 

 

 

I have never heard of this man  how did he sell more than Mary?

 

Mary queen of longevity, no frontloaded flops allowed

 

[FreeXone]

A queen of RnB!!! Love her music. Her 2000s work is actually some of my favorite. 
 

Good Woman Down is my ****

[naval23]

30 minutes ago, Bloodflowers. said:

 

I have never heard of this man  how did he sell more than Mary?

 

Mary queen of longevity, no frontloaded flops allowed

 

Gurl it was the best selling album of 2007 with 5 weeks of sales and sold 6 million in the US alone. It was local but huge in North America - bigger than Buble's Christmas album and increased in sales in each of its first 9 weeks

 

Mary had to wait until Xmas was over to go to #1 

 

Week 5: 407k

Week 6: 539k

Week 7: 581k

Week 8: 669k 

Week 9: 757k  the week it blocked Mary

Week 10: OUT (Christmas was over and Mary goes to #1 with 200k sales in its 2nd week)

Edited August 9, 2023 by naval23

[slimfem]

I enjoy some of her music, but ever since I watched her on an awards show preaching about god while have the coke sniffles I just can't take her serious as a person.