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After fostering a dour public image for years, U2 visibly loosened up on Achtung Baby, cracking jokes and even letting themselves be photographed in color. "It's a con, in a way," Bono admitted to Rolling Stone in 1992. "We call it Achtung Baby, grinning up our sleeves in all the photography. But it's probably the heaviest record we've ever made." Recorded in Berlin with Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno, the album has lots of uncertainty, irony and distortion. It also has one of the most beautiful songs U2 ever recorded: "One," a ballad in which Bono wonders whether individuality also means eternal loneliness and comes down on the side of hope.
Total album sales: 5,328,000
Peak chart position: 1