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NEED TO KNOW
Fleetwood Mac's Rumours was released 49 years ago on Feb. 4, 1977
The classic album has sold more than 40 million copies worldwide, and is still charting today
Rumours was crafted amidst personal turmoil between the group, which led to classics like Go Your Own Way and Dreams
Fleetwood Mac'sRumoursis more than just an album. Nearly 50 years after its release, its sound and story still captivate listeners.
Released in February 1977, the album was created amidst a period of intense emotional upheaval for the band's members.Stevie NicksandLindsey Buckingham's years-long relationship was over, Christine McVie and John McVie were getting divorced, and Mick Fleetwood's marriage was also in jeopardy, leading to an affair with Nicks.
Rumourswent on to become one of the top 10 best selling albums of all time, selling more than 40 million copies to date. This week, it remains on theBillboard200, charting at No. 126.
Richard E. Aaron/Redferns
Beyond the album's personal melodramas, its sound is what made it truly a classic. Buckingham, now 76, wrote the anthemic "Go Your Own Way" about his breakup with Nicks, now 77. In turn, Nicks penned "Dreams," an equally timeless soft ballad.
"The best explanation is: try working with your secretary … in a raucous office … and then come home with her at night. See how long you could stand her," Nicks said in a1977Rolling Stoneprofile.
But Fleetwood, now 78, says recording the album during this intense period was actually helpful to the group. "We refused to let our feelings derail our commitment to the music, no matter how complicated or intertwined they became... it was hard to do, but no matter what, we played through the hurt," wrote Fleetwood in his 2014 memoir,Play On: Now, Then, and Fleetwood Mac.
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Fleetwood Mac was founded in 1967, but the most memorable lineup of Fleetwood, Nicks, Buckingham, John McVie, now 80, andChristine McVie, who died in 2022, formed in 1974 with the addition of Buckingham and Nicks.
In November 2025, music journalist Alan Light releasedDon't Stop: Why We (Still) Love Fleetwood Mac's 'Rumours',which tells the story of the album through conversations with fans and young artists. Lightspoke to PEOPLE about the albumthat month.
"If you sat the rock establishment down on Dec. 31, 1979, and said, 'Here are the biggest albums of the decade:Dark Side of the Moonby Pink Floyd,Hotel Californiaby the Eagles,Led ZeppelinIVandRumours. Pick which one teenagers will be listening to 50 years from now.' Not one person would pickRumours," Light explains. "They'd say, 'Those other albums are statements; they're serious pieces of art.'"
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The investment in the personal lives of the artists may have been a foreshadowing of today, where the personal lives of artists are a key selling point.
"I've always been a firm believer that much of the appeal ofRumourswent beyond the music itself," said Buckingham in a2023 interview. "What we did beyond the music was really tap into the voyeur in the audience. People really were able to invest in us as people."
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