79) Star Time

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So great is Brown's impact that even with seventy-one songs on four CDs, Star Time isn't quite comprehensive -- between 1956 and 1984, Brown placed an astounding 103 singles on the R&B charts. But every phase of his career is well represented here: the pleading, straight-up R&B of "Please, Please, Please"; his instantaneous reinvention of R&B with "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag," where melody is subsumed within the groove; his spokesmanship for the civil-rights movement in "Say It Loud -- I'm Black and I'm Proud (Pt. 1)"; his blueprint for Seventies funk, "Sex Machine"; and his blueprint for hip-hop in "Funky Drummer."

Total album sales: 100,000

Peak chart position: N/A

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