Rihanna - Rated R

Paramore - Brand New Eyes

Bullet For My Valentine - Fever

Britney Spears - Circus

Basshunter - Now You're Gone

Each album cover has the similarity of placing the artists name in their familiar font that they always use, with the exception of Rihanna's album cover, which hasn't displayed the artists name at all.

A common aspect of albums that have the genre dance, pop or R'n'B is that they have a picture of the artist on the front cover of the album, as within these genres the artists appearance is very important. Whereas the albums which have the genres metal and rock generally have an image that is representing the music of this album or the artists new outlook on music etc.

For example, the Paramore album 'Brand New Eyes', displays a butterfly on the front, which could mean they feel they have grown and matured as a band.

Some of the functions that albums covers show, as said before, is to show the development of artists. For example, with Rihanna's album, 'Rated R', it shows an image of the artist, not looking like her usual self. Other than changing her image, in recent events that we see in gossip magazines etc. this particular artist has been going through a rough patch, which I think shows in this album cover, as her body language is distressed e.g, she has her head in her hand and her expression is an uninterested one.