When there is a year written on the front of an album cover, it is fair to assume this was the year the album was released in, or at least recorded. But, the seven artists below released albums that were named after years that they were not actually released in, like Taylor Swift and Prince.
1. Taylor Swift: 1989 (2014)
The album that inspired this list, Taylor Swift's 1989 was named not only after the year Swift was born in, but also as a reference to the album's throwback '80s synthpop style, which was a departure from her typical country pop sound.
2. Prince: 1999 (1982)
Perhaps the most famous album named after a year it was not released in is Prince's 1999, released in 1982. The title, of course, refers to the album's first song "1999," about partying like it is the end of the millennium — as well as the end of the world.
(Sorry, Prince's old songs do not exist on the Internet. Go buy the album, though. It's really good.)
3. Joey Bada$$: 1999 (2012)
It is not clear why Brooklyn rapper Joey Bada$$ decided to title his debut mixtape 1999, especially considering that there is already an incredibly famous album with the same name — see the previous entry. It is not the year he was born in — that would be 1995, which still freaks me out — and the mixtape's throwback production sounds more like '94 than '99 to me, but the songs are so good I can ignore all of this.
4. Flying Lotus: 1983 (2006)
Much like Swift, Flying Lotus titled his 2006 debut album 1983 after the year he was born in. Unlike the throwback sound of Swift's album, however, there was nothing from 1983 that sounded anything like Flying Lotus's brand of abstract instrumental hip-hop.
5. Rush: 2112 (1976)
Seeing as how the year 2112 is nearly 100 years in the future, it should be obvious that Rush's 2112 did not come out in the year it is named after. Instead, the album is named after its opening, 20-minute, prog-rock suite, about a dystopian society in the year 2112.
6. John Cale: Paris 1919 (1973)
The title of John Cale's Paris 1919 is misleading in two ways, seeing as how it was recorded in Los Angeles in 1972. The title refers to the 1919 Paris Peace Conference, where the Treaty of Versailles was developed, which arguably lead to the rise of the Third Reich years later.
7. Deltron 3030: Deltron 3030 (2000)
This one might be cheating a bit, seeing as how it is a self-titled album, but Deltron 3030 is the rare case of artists naming themselves after their album rather than the other way around. The group's self-titled debut is a hip-hop concept album about a dystopian society in the year 3030.
What are some other albums named after years they were not released in? Let us know down in the comments section.
