James Taylor, who encouraged King to sing her own songs and who also played on Tapestry, had a number one hit with "You've Got a Friend" later in 1971.
A&M staff photographer Jim McCrary took the cover photograph in the living room of King's home at 8815 Appian Way, Laurel Canyon, California.[10][11][12] It shows her sitting barefoot on a cushion on a bench beside a window, holding a tapestry that she hand-stitched herself, with her cat, named after Telemachus, near her foot.[13][14]
The album was met with widespread critical acclaim; Village Voice critic Robert Christgau felt that her voice, free of "technical decorum", would liberate female singers;[16]Jon Landau of Rolling Stone wrote that King was one of the most creative pop music figures and had created an album of "surpassing personal-intimacy and musical accomplishment".[23]
Carole King's Tapestry is a triumph of mass culture. In less than two years it has sold well over five million copies, putting it in a class with the best-selling albums of all time, and it is still on the charts … Such statistics are so overwhelming that they seem to transform a mere record into some sort of ineluctable cultural presence, and in a sense they do.
Tapestry was a huge commercial success. It spent 15 consecutive weeks at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200.[26][27] It still holds the record for most consecutive weeks at number one by a female solo artist.[28] The album also spent nearly six years charting U.S. Billboard 200 (318 weeks), on which King also spent 302 consecutive weeks. For more than 40 years, Tapestry held the record for the longest-charting album by a female solo artist in the U.S., until Adele's 21 broke the record in 2017.[29][30][31] As of 2021, Tapestry had sold 14 million copies in the U.S.[6][32] and 30 million worldwide.[33]
In Canada, Tapestry spent nine weeks at number one beginning July 3, 1971.[34] It was on the Top 100 chart from April 14, 1971, to January 20, 1973, and again from September 22, 1973, to February 16, 1974.[citation needed] In the United Kingdom, the album debuted at number 32 on UK Albums Chart and eventually rose to number four, spending 136 weeks in the Top 100.[35]
Cultural impact
Several songs from the album were recorded by other artists and became hits while the album was still on the charts: James Taylor's 1971 recording of "You've Got a Friend" hit number one in the U.S.[36] and number four in the U.K.,[37] and Barbra Streisand's 1971 studio recording of "Where You Lead" reached number 40,[38] while a live recording of a medley in which Streisand paired the song with the Sweet Inspirations hit "Sweet Inspiration" reached number 37 the following year.[38]
"My mum loved Carole King's Tapestry. That was always in the house." —Amy Winehouse[39]
"Her songs are like stories or sonic movies", Tori Amos said. "You want to walk into them. With 'I Feel the Earth Move' or 'It's Too Late', you're right there."[40]
Tapestry has appeared on critics' lists of the best albums. In 2003, it ranked 36th on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time,[41] maintaining that rating in a 2012 revised list[42] and moving up to 25th in a 2020 revision.[8] The album was also listed 39th by VH1 on its list of 100 Greatest Albums,[43] and was one of 50 recordings chosen to be added to the National Recording Registry.[44] Recordings added to the National Recording Registry are picked to be preserved in the Library of Congress as they are "culturally, historically, or aesthetically important."[44]
In 2015, for its sixth and final season, American TV series Glee paid tribute to this album, alongside Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill, in its episode "Jagged Little Tapestry". Five songs from Tapestry are performed by various artists. Two of them, "It's Too Late" and "So Far Away", are performed on their own, while the other three are used in a mashup with a song from Jagged Little Pill. "I Feel the Earth Move" is mashed up with "Hand in My Pocket", "Will You Love Me Tomorrow?" with "Head Over Feet", and "You've Got a Friend" with "You Learn". The episode was watched by 1.98 million viewers and received a 0.7/2 in the adult 18-49 demographic.[45]
In March 2016 it was announced that King would perform the album live in its entirety for the first time at the British Summer Time Festival in Hyde Park, London, on July 3, 2016.[46] The performance was released the following year as Tapestry: Live at Hyde Park.[47]
Track listing
All songs written by Carole King except where noted.
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.