Rumours is the eleventh studio album by the British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, released on 4 February 1977 in the United States and on 11 February 1977 in the United Kingdom by Warner Bros. Records. Largely recorded in California in 1976, it was produced by the band with Ken Caillat and Richard Dashut. The recording sessions took place as band members dealt with breakups and used drugs heavily, both of which shaped the album's direction and lyrics.
Recorded with the intention of making "a pop album" that would expand on the commercial success of the 1975 album Fleetwood Mac, the music of Rumours has a mix of electric and acoustic instrumentation, accented rhythms, guitars, and keyboards; its lyrics concern personal and often troubled relationships. Its release was postponed by delays in the mixing process. The band promoted the album with a worldwide concert tour. Rumours became the band's first number-one album on the UK Albums Chart and also topped the US Billboard 200. The songs "Go Your Own Way", "Dreams", "Don't Stop", and "You Make Loving Fun" were released as singles, all of which reached the US Top 10, with "Dreams" reaching number one.
Rumours was a commercial success, selling 13 million copies worldwide by 1980. It garnered wide acclaim from critics, who praised its production quality and the vocal harmonies of the band's three singers, which since have inspired musical acts in various genres. It won Album of the Year at the 1978 Grammy Awards and received Diamond certifications in several countries, including the UK, Canada, Australia, and in the US where it is certified 21× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). As of February 2023, Rumours had sold over 40 million copies worldwide.
Often considered Fleetwood Mac's magnum opus, Rumours has frequently been cited as one of the greatest albums of all time. It was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2003, and in the following year was remastered and reissued with the addition of "Silver Springs", which had been excluded from the original release, and a bonus CD of outtakes from the recording sessions. It was selected for preservation in the National Recording Registry in 2017, being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress. In 2020, Rumours was ranked 7th in Rolling Stone's list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time". (Full article...)