The Blondie albums in order run to 16 studio records, from the 1976 debut through to Pollinator in 2017, and that count only makes sense once you know the Debbie Harry solo albums are sitting in the same sequence. Eleven of them are Blondie records. Five carry her name alone. I plotted all 16 as stations on a discography tube map, with every credited musician drawn as their own line calling at the albums they actually played on.
Studio records only. That is the editorial rule I hold to across the whole catalogue, so there are no live albums, compilations or soundtracks on this one.
Blondie Albums in Order, 1976 to 2017
The band records in two bursts with a seventeen year gap in the middle. Six albums between 1976 and 1982, then nothing until No Exit in 1999.
| Year | Album | Credited band line-up |
|---|---|---|
| 1976 | Blondie | Debbie Harry, Chris Stein, Clem Burke, Gary Valentine, Jimmy Destri |
| 1977 | Plastic Letters | Debbie Harry, Chris Stein, Clem Burke, Jimmy Destri |
| 1978 | Parallel Lines | Debbie Harry, Chris Stein, Clem Burke, Jimmy Destri, Nigel Harrison, Frank Infante |
| 1979 | Eat to the Beat | Debbie Harry, Chris Stein, Clem Burke, Jimmy Destri, Nigel Harrison, Frank Infante |
| 1980 | Autoamerican | Debbie Harry, Chris Stein, Clem Burke, Jimmy Destri |
| 1982 | The Hunter | Debbie Harry, Chris Stein, Clem Burke, Jimmy Destri |
| 1999 | No Exit | Debbie Harry, Chris Stein, Clem Burke, Jimmy Destri, Leigh Foxx, Paul Carbonara |
| 2003 | The Curse of Blondie | Debbie Harry, Chris Stein, Clem Burke, Jimmy Destri, Leigh Foxx, Kevin Topping |
| 2011 | Panic of Girls | Debbie Harry, Chris Stein, Clem Burke, Leigh Foxx, Matt Katz-Bohen |
| 2014 | Ghosts of Download | Debbie Harry, Chris Stein, Clem Burke, Leigh Foxx, Tommy Kessler, Matt Katz-Bohen |
| 2017 | Pollinator | Debbie Harry, Chris Stein, Clem Burke, Leigh Foxx, Matt Katz-Bohen, Tommy Kessler |
Debbie Harry's Five Solo Records Sit in the Same Sequence
Most Blondie lists leave these out, or file them separately. On the map they are interleaved by release date, which is the only way the shape of the thing becomes readable.
| Year | Album | Names that stand out in the credits |
|---|---|---|
| 1981 | KooKoo | Nile Rodgers, Bernard Edwards, Tony Thompson, Chris Stein |
| 1986 | Rockbird | Seth Justman |
| 1989 | Def, Dumb and Blonde | Chris Stein, Mike Chapman, Gary Valentine, Leigh Foxx |
| 1993 | Debravation | Chris Stein, Anne Dudley |
| 2007 | Necessary Evil | Barb Morrison, Charles Nieland |
Chris Stein Is on All 16, Including the Ones With Only Her Name on the Sleeve
This is the finding that changed how I drew the map. Debbie Harry and Chris Stein are the two lines that run the entire length without a break, across the band records and the solo records alike.
Clem Burke and Jimmy Destri are the test case. Both run through the classic era, and both drop out at every solo station. Interleaving the albums is what makes that visible: the band lines simply stop, while Harry and Stein carry straight on to the next stop.
So the solo albums are not really solo. They are the same two people with a different set of players around them.
Robert Fripp Plays on Parallel Lines and Nowhere Else
Parallel Lines is the album everyone owns, and it carries one of the shortest branch lines on the early half of the map. Robert Fripp plays guitar on it, and appears on no other record in the sequence.
That single station branch is the kind of credit I go looking for when I research a discography. A name that big, calling once and never again, tells you more about a record than a sales figure does.
Autoamerican in 1980 goes the other way and pulls in a full session cast for The Tide Is High and Rapture, including Tom Scott on saxophone and Jimmie Haskell's arrangements, with Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman of the Turtles singing on T-Birds.
KooKoo Is Effectively a Chic Record With a Dog on It
The 1981 solo debut has Nile Rodgers on guitar and vocals, Bernard Edwards on bass and Tony Thompson on drums. Three quarters of Chic, on a Debbie Harry album, in the year after Rapture.
Two members of Devo are credited as Pud and Spud. Chuck Martin is credited for a dog bark. I plotted that one too, because the credit exists and the rule is that credited musicians get a line.
The Later Albums Are Where the Guest Spurs Get Strange
Coolio raps on No Exit in 1999. Elliot Easton of The Cars and Zach Condon of Beirut both turn up on Panic of Girls in 2011.
Pollinator in 2017 closes the sequence and brings in Joan Jett, Johnny Marr and Nick Valensi of The Strokes. Because Marr is on that record, the Blondie map and the Johnny Marr map share a name, which is the sort of crossing I only find by working through the credits myself.
Choosing It as a Gift for a Blondie Fan
The people this suits are the ones who already own the records. There is nothing on the map they can learn from the sleeves alone, but there is a great deal they have never seen laid out in one sequence.
A2 works on a shelf or in a hallway. A1 is the one to pick if they will stand and read it, which most people do, because the guest spurs reward a closer look.
| Size | UK | US equivalent | From |
|---|---|---|---|
| A2 landscape | 594 x 420 mm | 24 x 18 in | £42 |
| A1 landscape | 841 x 594 mm | 36 x 24 in | See product page |
Every print is a Giclée on 230gsm premium fine art paper, textured matte, archival and acid-free. Unframed, or supplied in a black wood frame ready to hang.
Blondie Discography Tube Map Art Print
All 16 studio albums in order, 1976 to 2017, with every credited musician drawn as their own line. A2 and A1, framed or unframed, from £42.
Blondie Albums in Order: The Questions I Get Asked
How many studio albums did Blondie make?
Eleven under the Blondie name, from the 1976 debut to Pollinator in 2017. The map runs to 16 stations because Debbie Harry's five solo studio albums are interleaved in release order alongside them.
What is not on the map?
Live albums, compilations and soundtracks. I map studio records only, right across the catalogue, so releases like the live and greatest hits titles are left off by editorial rule rather than by oversight. Anything released after Pollinator in 2017 postdates the map.
Why are the solo albums mixed in with the band albums?
Because Chris Stein plays on all of them. Separating them would hide the single most interesting thing in the credits, which is that the two central lines never break while everything around them changes.
Which album has the most credited musicians?
Autoamerican and KooKoo are the two that swell, both for the same reason: outside session players brought in for specific tracks. The 1970s band records are comparatively lean, usually four to six names.
Do producers get a line on the map?
Only if they are also credited playing something. Mike Chapman produced the run of albums that made the band famous, and appears where he has a playing credit rather than as a producer alone.
Related Music Maps
Because Johnny Marr plays on Pollinator, the Johnny Marr Discography Map Art Print is the natural companion piece. For the same New York scene and era, the Ramones Discography Map Art Print sits alongside it well.
The full range sits in the Punk and Post-Punk collection and the wider Music Wall Art Prints collection.
All 16 studio albums, one map
1976 to 2017, every credited musician as their own line, deeply researched and plotted in CAD by me in East Sussex.
See the Blondie Discography Map Art Print, or if you are not sure which map they would want, an art print gift card lets them choose.
