Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814

***Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814*** (sometimes shortened to ***Rhythm Nation 1814***) is the fourth studio album by American recording artist Janet Jackson, released on September 19, 1989, by A&M Records. The album themes include various tragedies reported through the news at the time, exploring racism, poverty, and substance abuse. In 1990 Jackson went on her first head line tour called "Rhythm Nation Tour 1990". Since its release, the album has sold nearly 20 million copies worldwide.

## Accolades

|Organization|Country|Award|Year|Source|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|Parents' Choice Foundation|United States|Parents' Choice Award|1989||
|American Music Awards|United States|Favorite Dance Artist, Favorite Pop/Rock Female Artist, Favorite Soul/R&B Female Artist, Favorite Dance Single ("Miss You Much"), Favorite R&B Single ("Miss You Much")|1990-91||
|_Billboard_ Music Awards|United States|Top Hot 100 Singles Artist of the Year, Top Selling Album of the Year, Top Selling R&B Album of the Year, Top Selling R&B Albums Artist of the Year, Top Selling R&B Artist of the Year, Top Dance Club Play Artist of the Year, Top Hot Dance 12" Singles Sales Artist of the Year|1990||
|_Billboard's_ Tanqueray Sterling Music Video Awards|United States|Best Female Video Artist, Black/Rap, Best Female Artist, Dance, Director's Award, Black/Rap (_Rhythm Nation 1814 Film_), Director's Award, Dance ("Alright"), Tanqueray Sterling Music Video Award for Artistic Achievement (_Rhythm Nation 1814 Film_)|1990||
|MTV Music Video Awards|United States|Best Choreography ("Rhythm Nation"), Video Vanguard Award|1990||
|Grammy Awards|United States|Best Music Video, Long Form (_Rhythm Nation 1814 Film_)|1990||
|_Rolling Stone_|United States|"Women In Rock: The 50 Essential Albums" — #27|2002||
|Quintessence Editions Ltd.|United Kingdom|_1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die_|2003||
|_Rolling Stone_|United States|_The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time_ — #275|2003||
|_Rolling Stone_|United States|_The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time_ — #277|2012||
|_Entertainment Weekly_|United States|The 100 Best Albums of the Past 25 Years — #54|2007||
|_Slant Magazine_|United States|"Best Albums of the '80s" — #43|2012||
|_Spin_|United States|"The 300 Best Albums of the Past 30 Years (1985-2014)" — #54|2014||

## Track listing

- Notes
- All songs except interludes and "Black Cat" are co-produced by Janet Jackson.
- All songs except interludes and "Black Cat" are produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis.
- "Black Cat" is produced by Janet Jackson and Jellybean Johnson.

## Personnel

- Herb Alpert – trumpet, horn, brass
- Julie Ayer – violin
- Stephen Barnett – conductor
- Steve Barnett – conductor
- David Barry – electric and 12-string guitar
- Lee Blaske – arranger
- Chris Brown – bass
- Carolyn Daws – violin
- Hanley Daws – violin
- David Eiland – programming
- Rene Elizondo – background vocals
- Richard Frankel – art direction, cover design
- Johnny Gill – percussion, special effects, finger snaps
- James Greer – background vocals
- Guzman (Constance Hansen & Russell Peacock) – photography
- Steve Hodge – background vocals, engineer
- Peter Howard – cello
- Janet Jackson – arranger, keyboards, vocals, background vocals, producer
- Jimmy Jam – percussion, piano, drums, keyboards, programming, producer
- Jellybean Johnson – guitar, drums, vocals, background vocals, producer
- Jesse Johnson – guitar
- Lisa Keith – background vocals

- Kathy Kienzle – harp
- Joshua Koestenbaum – cello
- Jamila Lafleur – background vocals
- Terry Lewis – bass, percussion, arranger, background vocals, producer
- Tshaye Marks – background vocals
- John McClain – background vocals, executive producer
- Tamika McDaniel – vocals
- Tarnika McDaniel – background vocals
- John McLain – guitar, background vocals
- Shante Owens – background vocals
- Amy Powell – vocals
- Randy Ran – background vocals
- Nicholas Raths – guitar, classical guitar
- Sonya Robinson – background vocals
- Clarice Rupert – background vocals
- Warlesha Ryan – background vocals
- Tamas Strasser – viola
- John Tartaglia – viola
- Reshard Taylor – background vocals
- Romuald Tecco – concert master
- Anthony Thomas – background vocals
- Hyacinthe Tlucek – concert master
- Steve Wilson – background vocals

### Weekly charts

|Chart (1989–91)|Peak position||
| --- | --- | --- |
|Australian Albums (ARIA)|align="center"|1|
|Canadian Albums (Billboard)|align="center"|5|
|Dutch Albums (MegaCharts)|align="center"|28|
|German Albums (Official Top 100)|align="center"|39|
|Japanese Albums (Oricon)|align="center"|8|
|New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)|align="center"|9|
|South Africa (RiSA)|align="center"|1|
|Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)|align="center"|24|
|Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)|align="center"|23|
|United Kingdom Albums (OCC)|align="center"|4|
|US _Billboard_ 200|align="center"|1|
|US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums|align="center"|1|

### Year-end charts

|align="left"|End of year chart (1990)|align="center"|Position|
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
|US _Billboard_ 200|align="center"|1||
|Australian Albums Chart|align="center"|13||

## Certifications

**Notes:**
- ***** As of December 2009, the album has sold 8,500,000 copies in the U.S. according to Nielsen SoundScan, which does not count albums sold through clubs like the BMG Music. Combined, it has sold over 8,600,000 copies in the U.S. with additional 1.10 million copies sold at BMG Music Clubs. Nielsen SoundScan does not count albums sold through clubs like the BMG Music Service, which were significantly popular in the 1990s.

## Infobox (album)

- **name**: Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814
- **type**: studio
- **artist**: Janet Jackson
- **recorded**: September 1988 – May 1989
- **label**: A&M Records, A&M
- **prev title**: Control: The Remixes
(1987)
- **next title**: janet.
(1993)