Animals 50

Released in November 1976, James Taylor's best-selling album captured the singer-songwriter at the height of his rise, bringing together classics from Sweet Baby James, Mud Slide Slim And The Blue Horizon and his later Warner Bros. albums.

Graham Parker's second album was one of the most critically acclaimed British rock records of 1976, finishing second in The Village Voice's Pazz & Jop critics' poll. Five decades later, Parker's own reservations about the rushed sessions, his vocals and the production of Robert John "Mutt" Lange give the album a more complicated place in his catalogue.

Released on 22 October 1976, Elton John's ambitious double album broke from the commercial formula of his biggest years, bringing together gospel, orchestral pop, jazz and dance rhythms. Fifty years later, Blue Moves remains one of the records John has singled out as a personal favourite.

Half a century after its release, ELO's sixth album remains the moment Jeff Lynne's songs finally clicked on both sides of the Atlantic and delivered the band's first real commercial lift-off in the UK.

Fifty years after its release, Billy Joel's Turnstiles is being expanded into a 4CD and Blu-ray collection containing 67 audio tracks, including the previously unheard "Oklahoma", the first official audio release of "Handball" and four recordings from an abandoned session with Elton John's rhythm section.

Fifty years after the album changed the scale of Stevie Wonder's ambitions, he will perform Songs In The Key Of Life in full across 18 concerts in the UK, Europe and the United States.

AC/DC's Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap turns 50 this month, marking half a century since the Australian band issued one of the defining albums of its Bon Scott era.