All-Time Top Artists On The Album Chart

Billboard Magazine recently published an article showing the artists who spent the most weeks at #1 on their album chart.  First, we’ll show you the results, and then take a deeper dive.

As you can see, The Beatles have the most weeks at #1 by far, and Taylor Swift has the second most, with a significant lead over Elvis Presley in third place.  Of the nineteen artists on the list, most of them have either died or are unlikely to produce any new music.  Other than possible Greatest Hits or anthology releases, the artists most likely to add to their #1’s through new recordings are Taylor Swift, Adele, Drake, Eminem, and Morgan Wallen.

There are definitely surprises.

Who knew The Kingston Trio (Folk artists from the 1950s) would tun out to be the American group whose albums  spent the most weeks at number one?  Their biggest album, At Large, spent 15 weeks topping the chart.  The only other 1950s solo artist besides Elvis Presley is Harry Belafonte, and who expected that?  His album Calypso accounted for 31 weeks of his 37 at number one.  Other long-running albums were Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours at 31 weeks, and Michael Jackson’s Thriller with 37 weeks.

Besides The Beatles, the only 1960s artists are The Rolling Stones and The Monkees.  The Stones had nine #1 albums from 1965 to 1981.  The Monkees’ time at the top fell within just 13 months, with two albums from November of 1966 to December of 1967.  The lone American Rock band to make the list is the Eagles.  It would be nice to include Fleetwood Mac, but although they were based in America in the 70s, they’re only two-fifths American.

The top two artists, The Beatles & Taylor Swift, not only have the most weeks at #1, they have the most albums that made it to that position.  The Beatles have 19 #1 albums that topped the Billboard 200.

1. Meet The Beatles, 1964
2. The Beatles’ Second Album, 1964
3. A Hard Day’s Night, 1964
4. Beatles ’65, 1964
5. Beatles VI, 1965
6. Help!, 1965
7. Rubber Soul, 1965
8. Yesterday And Today, 1966
9. Revolver, 1966
10. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, 1967
11. Magical Mystery Tour, 1967
12. The Beatles (White Album), 1968
13. Abbey Road, 1969
14. Let It Be, 1970
15. The Blue Album (1967-1970), 1973
16. Anthology 1, 1995
17. Anthology 2, 1996
18. Anthology 3, 1996
19. Beatles 1, 2000

Sgt. Pepper spent 15 weeks at the top.  In England, The Beatles released fewer albums, and had 14 #1’s.  By the way, six more Beatles albums hit #2 in the U.S.

Taylor Swift has 14 albums in a row that reached #1 on the Top 200 album chart…with the certainty that more will follow.  Swift’s 2006 first album, Taylor Swift, “only” hit #5, but it was #1 for 24 weeks on the Country chart.

1. Fearless, 2008
2. Speak Now, 2010
3. Red, 2012
4. 1989, 2014
5. Reputation, 2017
6. Lover, 2019
7. Folklore, 2020
8. Evermore, 2020
9. Fearless (Taylor’s Version), 2021
10. Red (Taylor’s Version), 2021
11. Midnights, 2022
12. Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), 2023
13. 1989 (Taylor’s Version) 2023
14. The Tortured Poets Department, 2024

It was her latest album that spent the most weeks (17) at #1.  Tortured Poets was the most streamed album in the world last year.  Three times more than Billie Eilish, and four times more than Sabrina Carpenter.  Those two had the 2nd & 3rd most streamed albums in the U.S.

These days, it’s easier for well-known artists to get a number one album, because of the rush of streaming and sales the week it comes out.  It used to take time for music listeners to become aware of albums (they had to buy physical copies instead of instantly being able to listen to them).  Normally, the albums would work their way up the charts as the artists toured to support them.  Also, if singles from the albums became hits, people were more likely to take a chance on purchasing the albums.  On the other hand, today’s albums can fade fast unless people find enough good songs to warrant repeat listenings.