The
Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists. Often, a recording act will be remembered by its "number ones", those of their albums that outsold all others during at least one week.
The chart is based solely on sales (both at retail and digitally) of albums in the United States. The sales tracking week begins on Monday and ends on Sunday. A new chart is published the following Thursday with an issue date of the Saturday of the following week.
Artist milestones
Most number-one albums
The Beatles (19)
Jay-Z (12)
Elvis Presley (10)
The Rolling Stones (9) (tie)
Bruce Springsteen (9) (tie)
Barbra Streisand (9) (tie)
Most top-ten albums
The Rolling Stones (36)
Frank Sinatra (33)
The Beatles (30)
Barbra Streisand (30)
Elvis Presley (27)
Most cumulative weeks at number one
The Beatles (132)
Elvis Presley (67)
Michael Jackson (51) (tie)
Garth Brooks (51) (tie)
Whitney Houston (46) (tie)
The Kingston Trio (46) (tie)
Album milestones
Most weeks at number one
(54 weeks) West Side Story – Soundtrack (1962–63)
(37 weeks) Thriller – Michael Jackson (1983–84)
(31 weeks) Calypso – Harry Belafonte (1956–57)
(31 weeks) South Pacific – Soundtrack (1958–59)
(31 weeks) Rumours – Fleetwood Mac (1977–78)
(24 weeks) Saturday Night Fever – Bee Gees/Soundtrack (1978)
(24 weeks) Purple Rain – Prince and the Revolution (1984–85)
(21 weeks) Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em – MC Hammer (1990)
(20 weeks) The Bodyguard – Whitney Houston/Soundtrack (1992–93)
(20 weeks) Blue Hawaii – Elvis Presley (1961–62)
Most weeks on the chart
(Note that totals are for the main albums chart only, catalog chart totals are not factored in.)
(790 weeks) The Dark Side of the Moon – Pink Floyd
(490 weeks) Johnny's Greatest Hits – Johnny Mathis
(482 weeks) My Fair Lady – Original Cast
(331 weeks) Highlights from the Phantom of the Opera – Original Cast
(306 weeks) Tapestry – Carole King
(295 weeks) Heavenly – Johnny Mathis
(283 weeks) Oklahoma! – Soundtrack
(282 weeks) MCMXC a.D. – Enigma
(282 weeks) Metallica – Metallica
(277 weeks) The King and I – Soundtrack
(277 weeks) Hymns – Tennessee Ernie Ford
Biggest jumps to number-one
(176-1) Life After Death – The Notorious B.I.G. (April 12, 1997)
(173-1) Vitalogy – Pearl Jam (December 24, 1994)
(156-1) In Rainbows – Radiohead (January 19, 2008)
(137-1) Ghetto D – Master P (September 20, 1997)
(122-1) More Of The Monkees – The Monkees (February 11, 1967)
(112-1) MP Da Last Don – Master P (June 20, 1998)
(98-1) Beatles '65 – The Beatles (January 9, 1965)
(61-1) Help! – The Beatles (September 11, 1965)
(60-1) Rubber Soul – The Beatles (January 8, 1966)
(53-1) Ballad of the Green Berets – SSgt. Barry Sadler (March 12, 1966)
Biggest drops from number-one
(1-37) Light Grenades – Incubus
(1-26) Mission Bell — Amos Lee
(1-25) Showroom of Compassion — Cake
(1-24) Christmas – Michael Bublé
(1-24) Blue Slide Park - Mac Miller
(1-21) The Golden Age of Grotesque – Marilyn Manson
(1-19) The Circle – Bon Jovi
(1-18) The Inspiration – Young Jeezy
(1-16) The Fragile – Nine Inch Nails
(1-15) Greatest Hits – The Notorious B.I.G.
(1-14) Born Again – The Notorious B.I.G.
(1-13) Faceless – Godsmack
(1-13) Loyal to the Game – 2Pac
(1-13) Doctor's Advocate – The Game
(1-13) Battle Studies – John Mayer
Additional milestones
• The first number one album of the SoundScan era (1991 to present) is Time, Love & Tenderness by
Michael Bolton.
• The only album to attain the pole position before and after the May 25, 1991 introduction of SoundScan is
R.E.M.'s album Out of Time.
• The first album to debut at number one was Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy by
Elton John. 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.
Whitney Houston's second album Whitney was the first album by a female artist to debut at number one.
• In the early 1960s, Bob Newhart had the accomplishment of having the number one and number two albums simultaneously on the Billboard 200, with The Button-Down Mind and The Button-Down Mind Strikes Back! This feat was equaled in 1991, with
Guns N' Roses Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II, and in 2004, with
Nelly's Suit and Sweat.
• As of 2008,
Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon has been on the charts for over 1,630 weeks, or approximately thirty-one years. Consecutively, the album spent a record 773 weeks on the Billboard 200. The other weeks were spent on the Top Pop Catalog Albums chart. Its closest rival is Bob Marley's Legend, checking in at over 975 weeks (Billboard 200 and Top Pop Catalog Albums combined).
• With 15 weeks at #1 for her album Tapestry, Carole King holds the record for the longest time for a solo album by a female to remain at the top of the Billboard 200. Additionally, she holds the record for the longest time for an album by a female solo artist to remain on the Billboard 200, with nearly six years. King also holds the record for most consecutive weeks at #1 on the Billboard 200 for any one album by a female solo artist with 15 weeks. All records are for her Tapestry album.
• Forever Your Girl by
Paula Abdul spent sixty-four consecutive weeks on the Billboard 200 before hitting number one, making it the longest time for an album to reach the number one spot, while Live's Throwing Copper took 52 weeks to reach number one in 1995 making it the longest run since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking sales.
• At one point in early 1980s, all nine studio albums released to that date by
Led Zeppelin were on the Billboard 200 chart, and is the most studio albums by a single artist to chart at the same time.
• The only EP's to reach number one on the chart are Alice in Chains's Jar of Flies in 1994,
Linkin Park and
Jay-Z's collaboration EP, Collision Course in 2004, the cast of the television series Glee with Glee: The Music, The Power of Madonna and Glee: The Music, Journey to Regionals in 2010, and Bad Meets Evil's Hell: The Sequel.
• The Monkees are only band to have had four number one albums in the same year. Elvis Presley, The Kingston Trio, The Beatles, and the cast of the television series Glee had three different albums hit number one in the same year. Nine artists have had two different albums hit number one in the same year: The Kingston Trio in 1959, Led Zeppelin, DMX, Jay-Z, Garth Brooks, 2Pac, System of a Down, Eminem and Susan Boyle.
• The Kingston Trio is the only artist to have four albums simultaneously in the Top Ten, which occurred for five consecutive weeks in November and December 1959.
• The only artist in history to have his first five albums debut at number one is DMX.
• The only artists to have five consecutive albums debut at number one are Dave Matthews Band, Jay-Z, DMX and
Metallica.
• The most consecutive albums to debut at number one by a solo artist is
Eminem, with six.
•
The Beatles have the most consecutive number one albums with eight.
• Country singer
Garth Brooks has sold more albums than anyone else in the SoundScan era (1991-now).
•
Mariah Carey is the best-selling female artist in the SoundScan era (1991-now).
• In 2001,
Britney Spears became the first female artist in the charts history to have their first three albums debut at number one. She broke this record two years later with a fourth number one debut. With the number one debut of her Circus album in 2008, Spears also became the youngest female artist in history to have five number one albums. She later beat the record when her 7th studio album, Femme Fatale debuted at number one on April, 2011.
• Oldest male to debut at # 1:
Tony Bennett on October 8, 2011 (85 years, 2 months, and 5 days old) with the album Duets II. He was born August 3, 1926.
• Oldest female to debut at # 1:
Barbra Streisand on October 17, 2009 (67 years, 5 months, and 23 days old) with the album Love Is the Answer. She was born April 24, 1942.
• The issue dated July 11, 2009 was the first time any catalog album outsold the number-one album on the Billboard 200. Three of
Michael Jackson'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.
• There have been 16 albums released on an independent label to reach #1 on the Billboard 200.
• Only seventeen artists have topped the Billboard 200 without having had any single appear in the Hot 100: Van Cliburn, Bob Newhart, Judy Garland (who had hit singles which predated the Hot 100), Frank Fontaine, Blind Faith, N.W.A., Soundgarden, Pantera, Makaveli (alter-ego of 2Pac), Bob Carlisle, Slipknot, Vampire Weekend, Arcade Fire, The Decemberists, and Amos Lee.
