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Billboard 200

The Billboard 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by Billboard magazine to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists. Sometimes, a recording act is remembered for its "number ones" that outperformed all other albums during at least one week. The chart grew from a weekly top 10 list in 1956 to become a top 200 list in May 1967, acquiring its existing name in March 1992. Its previous names include the Billboard Top LPs (1961–1972), Billboard Top LPs & Tape (1972–1984), Billboard Top 200 Albums (1984–1985) and Billboard Top Pop Albums (1985–1992).

This article is about the album chart concerning the United States. For the global song chart, see Billboard Global 200.

The chart is based mostly on sales – both at retail and digital – of albums in the United States. The weekly sales period was Monday to Sunday when Nielsen started tracking sales in 1991, but since July 2015, the tracking week begins on Friday (to coincide with the Global Release Day of the music industry) and ends on Thursday. A new chart is published the following Tuesday, post dated to the Saturday of that week, four days later.[1] The chart's streaming schedule is also tracked from Friday to Thursday.[2] New music is released by the music industry to the American market on Fridays. Digital downloads of albums are included in Billboard 200 tabulation. Albums that are not licensed for retail sale in the United States (yet purchased in the U.S. as imports) are not eligible to chart. A long-standing policy rendering titles that are sold exclusively by specific retail outlets (such as Walmart and Starbucks) ineligible for charting, was reversed on November 7, 2007, and took effect in the issue dated November 17, 2007.[3]


On December 13, 2014, Billboard began to include on-demand streaming and digital track sales (as measured by Nielsen SoundScan) using a new algorithm with data from all major on-demand audio subscription and online music sales services in the U.S.[4][5] Starting on the issue dated January 18, 2020, Billboard updated its method again by incorporating video data from YouTube, along with visual plays from digital platforms like Apple Music, Spotify, Tidal, Vevo and, as of the issue dated March 23, 2021, from Facebook.[6][7]


As of the issue dated April 20, 2024, the number-one album on the chart is Cowboy Carter by Beyoncé.[8]

Year-end charts

Billboard's "chart year" runs from the first week of December to the final week in November. This altered calendar allows for Billboard to calculate year-end charts and release them in time for its final print issue in the last week of December. Prior to Nielsen SoundScan, year-end charts were calculated by an inverse-point system based solely on an album's performance on the Billboard 200 (e.g., an album would be given one point for a week spent at No. 200, two points for a week spent at No. 199, etc., up to 200 points for each week spent at No. 1). Other factors, including an album's total weeks spent on the chart and its peak position, are calculated into an album's year-end total.


Since Billboard began obtaining sales information from Nielsen SoundScan, the year-end charts are now calculated by a very straightforward cumulative total of yearlong sales. This gives a more accurate picture of any given year's best-selling albums, as a title that hypothetically spent nine weeks at No. 1 in March could possibly have sold fewer copies than one spending six weeks at No. 3 in January. Albums at the peak of their popularity at the time of the November/December chart-year cutoff many times end up ranked lower than one would expect on a year-end tally, yet are ranked on the following year's chart as well, as their cumulative points are split between the two chart-years.

As a musician, has the most number-one albums, with 27. This includes 19 albums from his work with the Beatles, three solo albums and five albums as a part of his 1970s group Wings.[21][22][23] John Lennon is in second place with 22, including 19 albums with the Beatles, two solo albums, and one album credited to him and his wife Yoko Ono.[24] George Harrison had 19 number-one albums with the Beatles and two as a solo artist.[25]

Paul McCartney

is the only artist to have number-one albums in six different decades. Her first was the 1964 album People, and her most recent was the 2016 album Encore: Movie Partners Sing Broadway, with a few weeks shy of 52 years between the two hitting number one.[26]

Barbra Streisand

by Carole King holds the record for most consecutive weeks at number one on the Billboard 200 for any one album by a female solo artist with 15 weeks.[88]

Tapestry

The first album to debut at number one was by Elton John.[144] John repeated the same feat with the album Rock of the Westies – the second album to debut at number one – making John the first artist to have two consecutive studio albums debut at number one.[144] Whitney Houston's second album, Whitney, was the first album by a female artist to debut at number one.[145]

Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy

In the early 1960s, accomplished the feat of having the number one and number two albums simultaneously on the Billboard albums chart, with The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart and The Button-Down Mind Strikes Back! This was equaled by the Beatles multiple times: twice in 1964 with Meet The Beatles! and Introducing... The Beatles, and then with A Hard Day's Night and Something New, followed in 1969 by the album The Beatles (commonly known as The White Album) and the soundtrack for the film Yellow Submarine. In 1991, Guns N' Roses held the top two with Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II; in 2004, Nelly's Suit and Sweat; and in 2017, Future's Future and Hndrxx.[146]

Bob Newhart

set the record of 109 non-consecutive weeks in the top 10 from May 1, 1965, to July 16, 1966, but only spent two weeks at number one on the Billboard 200.[147]

The Sound of Music

The first U.K. solo artist to debut at number one with a debut album is on April 26, 2008, with the album Spirit.[157] The first U.K. group to debut at No. 1 with a debut album is One Direction on March 31, 2012, with the album Up All Night.[158]

Leona Lewis

became the first artist in history to have five albums top the Billboard 200 at the age of 18, as Believe Acoustic debuted at number one on February 16, 2013. He also became the youngest solo artist to achieve this feat. Subsequently, Bieber (25 years, 360 days) became the youngest solo artist to achieve seven No. 1 albums on the chart with Changes, breaking a 59-year-old record set by Elvis Presley at the age of 26. He further extended his record, after turning 27, by becoming the youngest soloist to have eight albums top the Billboard 200, following the release of his sixth studio album, Justice, breaking yet another chart record held by Elvis Presley at the age of 29.[159][160]

Justin Bieber

became the oldest male to debut at number one on October 8, 2011 (85 years, 66 days old), with the album Duets II. Bennett, who was born on August 3, 1926, later surpassed his own record when his collaborative album with Lady Gaga, Cheek to Cheek, debuted at number one on October 11, 2014 (88 years, 69 days old).[161]

Tony Bennett

The issue dated July 11, 2009, was the first time any catalog album outsold the number one album on the Billboard 200. Three of 's albums – Number Ones, The Essential Michael Jackson and Thriller – claimed positions 1–3, respectively, on "Top Pop Catalog Albums" and "Top Comprehensive Albums" in the week following Jackson's death.[162][163][164]

Michael Jackson

In 2012, became the first openly gay musician to debut at number one with his album Trespassing.[165]

Adam Lambert

There have been 41 to reach number one on the Billboard 200.[166]

albums released on an independent label

at least for a time, held the record for the most albums to top the Billboard 200 without charting any songs in the top 40 of the Hot 100; five of Gleason's mood music albums topped the Billboard 200 in the mid-1950s.[167]

Jackie Gleason

became the first group to debut at number one with its first three albums when Midnight Memories debuted atop the Billboard 200 chart dated December 14, 2013. It later became the first group to debut at number one with its first four albums when Four debuted atop the chart on November 26, 2014.[168]

One Direction

holds the record for the longest gap between an album returning to the Top 10. Led Zeppelin first hit the Top 10 on the Billboard "Top LP's" chart for the week ending May 17, 1969,[169] and returned 45 years and 35 days later at number 7 on the Billboard 200, for the week ending June 21, 2014.[170]

Led Zeppelin

On November 29, 2015, by Adele registered the highest weekly sales figure for a number one album in the Billboard 200 chart history, with 3.38 million units sold.[171] It also became the first album to sell 1 million copies in different weeks, with 1.11 million sold in its second week and 1.16 million sold in its fifth week on the chart.[172]

25

On May 22, 2016, by Chance the Rapper became the first streaming-only album to chart on the Billboard 200, debuting at number 8, with the album being streamed 57.3 million times in its first week, which was equivalent to 38,000 units sold.[173]

Coloring Book

On March 18, 2017, made history by achieving back-to-back number-one album debuts in successive weeks with Future and Hndrxx for the first time in the chart's history.[146]

Future

On June 2, 2018, became the first Korean artist to reach number one with its album Love Yourself: Tear.[174]

BTS

On January 19, 2019, 's Hoodie SZN became the album with the lowest weekly sales figure for a number-one album, with 1,000 sales. It subsequently did not sell enough to enter the sales-only "Top 100 Album Sales" chart.[175] A week later, the album broke its own record when it stayed at number one for a second week, selling 749 copies.[176]

A Boogie wit da Hoodie

In 2017, became the first artist to debut at the top of the chart with four albums that sold over one million copies within a week, accomplishing the feat with Speak Now, Red, 1989 and Reputation.[177] She extended the record to five with Midnights in 2022,[178] and six with 1989 (Taylor's Version) in 2023.[17]

Taylor Swift

Swift charted 10 of her albums on May 6, 2023, breaking a number of records, including the first living act to chart eight albums in the top 40 simultaneously, the first act to chart 9 albums in the top 50 simultaneously, and the first living act to chart ten albums in the top 100 simultaneously.[72] She is also the first act to chart 10 albums simultaneously for four separate times,[180] and the first living soloist to place four albums in the top 10.[55] The following week Swift became the first act in history to place four albums in the top 10 twice.

[179]

In July 2023, Swift became the first artist since tracking began in 1991 to have nine albums sell over 500,000 copies in pure sales in a single week.[55] In November 2023, Swift extended the record to ten.[17]

Luminate

On August 2, 2023, Swift became the first female, solo and living act to spend 300 cumulative weeks in the top 10.

On September 16, 2023, Swift became the first female artist to have multiple albums to spend at least 40 weeks in the top 5 with and Midnights.[181]

1989

In September 2023, Swift became the first artist to have five albums sell more than 1 million units in a calendar year with (3.810M), Lover (1.350M), Speak Now (Taylor's Version) (1.260M), Folklore (1.190M) and 1989 (1M). In November 2023, she extended the record to six albums with 1989 (Taylor's Version).[17]

Midnights

In October 2023, Swift also became the first artist to have 11 albums charting for at least 100 weeks each after achieved the mark.[182] Swift also became the first artist to have 4 albums charting for at least 40 weeks each in the top 10 after Lover crossed the mark.

Red (Taylor's Version)

On October 23, 2023, Swift became the first artist to have three albums charting for at least 52 weeks (1 full year) in the top 10 of the chart with , 1989 and Midnights - the latter two doing so consecutively. Midnights is the first album released in the 2020s to achieve the mark.[183]

Fearless

On November 4, 2023, became the first act with newly charted top 10 albums in seven different decades (1960s to 2020s), when the band's new studio album Hackney Diamonds debuted at number 3.[184]

The Rolling Stones

The hold the record for the most Top 40 albums on the Billboard 200, with 59 having charted at number 40 or higher.[185]

Grateful Dead

In 2023's year end chart, became the first artist to have 5 of the 10 best selling albums in a calendar year.

Taylor Swift

In January 2024, Swift became the first artist to simultaneously chart four albums in the top 10 on the Billboard 200 on nine occasions. She also became the first artist to chart 4 albums for 50 weeks inside the top 10.

[186]

In March 2024, Swift's became the longest running album by a female artist in the top 50 (158 weeks).[5]

Folklore

In April 2024, Swift became the first artist to chart 3 albums for at least 60 weeks in the top 10 with , Midnights and Lover.[187] She also became the fastest artist in history to surpass 10 million units on the chart in a year doing so in 170 days.[188]

1989

List of Billboard 200 number-one albums

List of highest-certified music artists in the United States

Whitburn, Joel (1991). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Albums (Revised and enlarged 2nd ed.). Billboard Books.  0-8230-7534-6.

ISBN

Whitburn, Joel (2006). The Billboard Albums (6th ed.). Record Research Incorporated.  0-89820-166-7.

ISBN

Additional information obtained can be verified within Billboard's and print editions of the magazine.

online archive services

Current Billboard 200