RnB RELEASE: The Temptations - Back to Front

With new acts charting all the time, it's easy to forget about a group with a legacy as long and as strong as the Temptations. But the quintet, once known as the Primes and once part of the Motown family, keeps charting on a regular basis, making itself very present on the Billboard charts.

The latest CD by the Temptations, Back to Front (New Door), entered The Billboard 200 at No. 108. After a gap of more than 10 years, the Temptations last returned to The Billboard 200 in 1998 with Phoenix Rising, an album that peaked at No. 44. Since that return, seven more albums by the group have charted, bringing their career total to 50.

The first of those 50 charted titles was Meet the Temptations, which bowed the week of May 9, 1964. That gives the Temptations an album chart span of 43 1/2 years.

On Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, Back to Front is a new entry at No. 19. It is the third consecutive top 20 album for the Temptations on this chart, following Legacy (No. 18 in 2004) and Reflections (No. 14 in 2006). This is the first time the group has put together a string of three consecutive top 20 albums since 1976. Between their R&B album chart debut in 1965 and 1976, the Temptations had 29 consecutive top 20 albums, 28 of which made the top 10 (House Party, the lone exception, peaked at No. 11 in 1976).