Soda Stereo’s eponymous debut album was really good, but “Nada Personal” just made them explode into Latin America.
Yep, my first thought, too. Pearl Jam is another one. Ten was huge in alternative rock circles, but Vs,, at least in my estimation, was much better.
I can think of a bunch of other bands where the second album equalled or surpassed a well-regarded first album (probably a high percentage of the bands I listen to), but many are stretching the definition of the first album being a monster hit.
Also, Kanye West’s follow-up to College Dropout (Late Registration) is another one that comes to mind. I prefer the former, it’s nearly a coin-toss. At any rate, no sophomore slump there.
I think there’s going to be some heavy bias here in that bands that have two successful albums are likely to continue to have successful albums and thus go on to be big stars that will be remembered when thinking about things like this. There are probably plenty of bands that had one big album and then never went anywhere; we just don’t remember them very much because they’re overshadowed by all the bands that were bigger.
Foreigner. Every one of their first five albums charted in the top 5: Foreigner, Double Vision, Head Games, 4 (hit #1 on the charts), and Agent Provocateur.