What Makes a Concept Album

A concept album carries a single theme or story across the whole record. Frank Sinatra In the Wee Small Hours of 1955 unified songs around heartbreak, and the Beach Boys Pet Sounds of 1966 stretched it into a song cycle.

Sgt. Pepper popularized the idea of the album as a staged work in 1967, and the Who Tommy made the rock opera literal in 1969.

Later landmarks include Whats Going On, Ziggy Stardust and The Wall. The form peaked whenever LPs were the dominant format, and streaming eras keep reviving it..