The Conventions of a CD Album Cover

Looking at many different album covers it is clear there is a tried and tested formula to creating a successful and marketable cover.

all Album covers feature a main image.

all album covers have some sort of main image, many artists (especially pop stars) have a close up of their face.  Other alternative and well known artists simply use a more deeper and mysterious image, like a cartoon or like the Pet Shop Boys (middle image) a simple, plain yet effective shape. 

All album covers feature the name of the album but only the majority feature the name of the artist.

I recently saw this post on Facebook and I find it a very interesting point looking at all of the album covers out there now.