The musical TV series Glee premiered May 19, 2009, on Fox and continued for six seasons, ending its run on March 20, 2015, after 121 episodes. The show centered on the New Directions glee club at William McKinley H.S. in Lima, Ohio. Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, and Ian Brennan created the series and wrote every episode in the first two seasons. Murphy and Falchuk also served as the show’s primary directors. The initial cast included Matthew Morrison (Will Schuester), Jane Lynch (Sue Sylvester), Jayma Mays (Emma Pillsbury), and Jessalyn Gilsig (Terri Schuester) as the adults, with Dianna Agron (Quinn Fabray), Chris Colfer (Kurt Hummel), Kevin McHale (Artie Abrams), Lea Michele (Rachel Berry), Cory Monteith (Finn Hudson), Amber Riley (Mercedes Jones), Mark Salling (Noah “Puck” Puckerman), and Jenna Ushkowitz (Tina Cohen-Chang) as the students.
The first season featured the club competing for the first time on the show choir circuit, winning at Sectionals but losing at Regionals in the finale. The season earned 19 Emmy nominations, with wins for actor Jane Lynch, guest star Neil Patrick Harris, and director Ryan Murphy. It also earned four Golden Globe nominations, winning for best musical or comedy TV series, and Grammy nominations for the album Glee: The Music, Volume 1 and the single “Don’t Stop Believin’,” which peaked on the pop charts at #4 and was certified gold on Oct. 13, 2009. In total, the cast had 25 singles on the charts in 2009, the most since The Beatles had 31 in 1964. The cast’s top 10 albums included Glee: The Music, Vol. 1 (#4), Vol. 2 (#3), Vol. 3 Showstoppers (#1), The Power of Madonna (#1), and Journey to Regionals (#1). Below are Emmy winners Harris (with Morrison) in “Dream On” (from Vol. 3) and Lynch in “Vogue” (from The Power of Madonna).
https://youtu.be/TYXYQRU2i7c
The second season added cast members Naya Rivera (Santana Lopez) and Heather Morris (Brittany S. Pierce) as well as Mike O’Malley (Burt Hummel). The club secured wins at Sectionals and Regionals before losing at Nationals in New York during the finale. The season earned six Emmy nominations, with a win for guest star Gwyneth Paltrow, and five Golden Globe nominations, with wins for actors Lynch and Colfer as well as for best musical or comedy TV series. The show also earned a Grammy nomination for the album Glee: The Music, Volume 4. In 2010, the cast had 80 singles on the charts, including “Teenage Dream” (#8) and “Loser Like Me” (#6), as well as the top 10 albums Vol. 4 (#5), The Christmas Album (#3), Vol. 5 (#3), The Warblers (#2), Vol. 6 (#4), and The Rocky Horror Glee Show (#6). Below are Criss singing “Teenage Dream” (from Vol. 4) and the cast singing “Loser Like Me” (from Vol. 5).
Season 3 added Harry Shum Jr. (Mike Chang) and Darren Criss (Blaine Anderson) as new students, while Gilsig was written out of the series. The club once again won Sectionals and Regionals, before winning Nationals in Chicago. In February 2011, Glee surpassed Elvis Presley for the most charted songs. The show’s top 10 albums included The Christmas Album Vol. 2 (#6), Vol. 7 (#9), and The Graduation Album (#8), while the single “Don’t Stop Believin’” was certified platinum. Below is the cast singing “Paradise by the Dashboard Lights” at Nationals.
https://youtu.be/86g_hQBs9gw
The fourth season saw Chord Overstreet (Sam Evans) join the main cast. The club dealt with their loss at Sectionals and subsequent reinstatement, before winning Regionals. In the meantime, Rachel and Kurt navigated life in New York and their relationships with Finn and Blaine. Season 5 continued the school year, with the club placing second at Nationals before being disbanded by Sue Sylvester, now school principal. Monteith had died before the fifth season taped, and his character died in “The Quarterback.” Below is Michele singing “Make You Feel My Love” from that episode. The season ended with the alumni in New York, including Rachel’s Broadway debut.
After Monteith’s death, Murphy announced that the sixth season would be the final one of the series. It focused on Rachel, who returns to McKinley, after her TV pilot fails, and reconstitutes the glee club with Kurt’s help. After the club wins Nationals, Sue is fired and Will is hired as principal, with Sam as new director of the glee club. The finale jumps five years into the future, with Rachel winning a Tony and serving as surrogate for fellow Broadway stars Kurt and Blaine, while Sue is re-elected vice president of the U.S. and McKinley auditorium is renamed after Finn. Below is a mashup of the show’s numerous renditions of “Don’t Stop Believin” over the years.