The US Billoard Hot 200 album chart

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Album chart US Billoard Hot 200

The "Hot 200" chart from Billboard lists the top albums sold. There were various charts of albums published before 1963 but starting on 17th August a chart was published every week. The data listed here covers the period from August 1963 to June 2016.

Here are some statistics we have generated from the Hot 200 listing:

  • artist: The artists
  • artist weeks: How long artists have been in the charts
  • weeks: How long albums have been in the charts

artist

There are a wide range of ways to assign scores to artists in order to work out which artists are most significant. You can easily download the spreadsheet and try your own approach. We've included one listing, of the top five artists of each decade within the Hot200 chart that combines position and number of albums for each decade:

Decade Number 1 Artist Number 2 Artist Number 3 Artist Number 4 Artist Number 5 Artist
1960s The Beatles Elvis Presley Frank Sinatra The Rolling Stones The Beach Boys
1970s Elvis Presley Elton John Neil Diamond Barbra Streisand The Rolling Stones
1980s Kenny Rogers Prince Billy Joel The Rolling Stones Barbra Streisand
1990s Garth Brooks Prince Mariah Carey George Strait Reba McEntire
2000s Kidz Bop Kids Bill & Gloria Gaither & Their Homecoming Friends Toby Keith Pearl Jam George Strait
2010s Kidz Bop Kids Grateful Dead Blake Shelton Luke Bryan Justin Bieber

Some surprising names (at least to us) in that list.

artist weeks

Only one artist has managed more than 2,000 weeks in the album charts (The Beatles of course). A total of 34 artists have managed more than 1,000 weeks in the Hot 200:

# Artist Total Weeks
1 The Beatles 2519
2 The Rolling Stones 1834
3 Barbra Streisand 1813
4 Elvis Presley 1720
5 Elton John 1630
6 Pink Floyd 1578
7 Michael Jackson 1437
8 George Strait 1405
9 Eminem 1371
10 Herb Alpert 1334
11 Neil Diamond 1288
12 Alan Jackson 1286
13 Rod Stewart 1283
14 The Beach Boys 1282
15 Garth Brooks 1275
16 Tim McGraw 1271
17 Led Zeppelin 1261
18 The Temptations 1233
19 Journey 1206
20 U2 1199
21 Frank Sinatra 1143
22 Chicago 1138
23 Bob Dylan 1126
24 Metallica 1111
25 Aerosmith 1104
26 Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band 1095
27 Kenny Rogers 1074
28 Madonna 1051
29 Eric Clapton 1044
30 Eagles 1042
31 Fleetwood Mac 1019
32 Bee Gees 1015
32 Prince 1015
34 Kenny Chesney 1000
35 Johnny Cash 978

Two acts have managed more than 300 weeks in the top 10. The 38 acts that have more than 100 weeks in the top 10 will, by the time you read this, have been joined by Justin Bieber, both him and Adele will have added more weeks after the end of June 2016 (when the numbers were calculated):

# Artist Weeks in top 10
1 The Beatles 374
2 The Rolling Stones 304
3 Barbra Streisand 256
4 Mariah Carey 216
5 Herb Alpert 210
6 Garth Brooks 202
7 Michael Jackson 190
8 Taylor Swift 168
9 Bruce Springsteen 162
10 Billy Joel 161
11 Chicago 154
12 Elton John 152
13 Whitney Houston 146
14 Celine Dion 143
15 Fleetwood Mac 142
16 Santana 142
17 Madonna 139
18 Def Leppard 133
19 Eminem 132
20 Janet Jackson 130
21 Led Zeppelin 129
22 Eagles 128
23 Prince 127
23 Disney 127
25 Rod Stewart 118
25 Adele 118
27 Stevie Wonder 116
28 Van Halen 115
29 Eric Clapton 113
30 Bob Dylan 110
30 Lionel Richie 110
32 Richard Rodgers 109
33 Britney Spears 106
34 Pink Floyd 103
35 Guns n' Roses 102
36 Neil Diamond 101
36 Foreigner 101
38 Shania Twain 100
39 Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers 99
39 The Monkees 99
41 Justin Bieber 98

Two acts have managed more than a year in the number one slot, with 18 others having more than 6 months at the top:

# Artist Weeks at Number 1
1 The Beatles 132
2 Garth Brooks 52
3 Michael Jackson 51
4 Whitney Houston 46
5 Elton John 39
6 The Rolling Stones 38
7 Fleetwood Mac 38
8 The Monkees 37
9 Taylor Swift 35
10 Prince 34
11 Adele 34
12 Eminem 31
13 Bee Gees 31
14 Mariah Carey 30
15 Eagles 30
16 Disney 30
17 Bruce Springsteen 29
18 Led Zeppelin 29
19 Herb Alpert 26
20 Simon & Garfunkel 26
21 Santana 24
22 Pink Floyd 23
23 Chicago 22
24 U2 21
25 MC Hammer 21
26 Barbra Streisand 20
27 Madonna 19
28 Carole King 19

weeks

The album "Dark Side of the Moon" at 908 weeks has more than double the next album's time. Most of the 20 albums with more than 5 years in the charts never reached the number one slot:

# Artist Album Title Peak Weeks First Peak Year
1 Pink Floyd Dark Side Of The Moon 1 908 1973
2 Journey Journey's Greatest Hits 10 417 1989
3 Metallica Metallica 1 387 1991
4 Guns N' Roses Greatest Hits 3 361 2004
5 Original London Cast Phantom Of The Opera Highlights 46 331 1992
6 Nirvana Nevermind 1 328 1992
7 Carole King Tapestry 1 317 1971
8 Bob Marley Legend: The Best Of Bob Marley And The Wailers 5 313 2014
9 Eminem Curtain Call: The Hits 1 298 2005
10 Zac Brown Band The Foundation 9 289 2010
11 Bruno Mars Doo-wops & Hooligans 3 284 2010
12 Adele 21 1 282 2011
13 Enigma MCMXC AD 6 282 1991
14 Eminem The Eminem Show 1 276 2002
15 Taylor Swift Taylor Swift 5 275 2008
16 Led Zeppelin Four Symbols (Led Zeppelin 4) 2 272 1971
17 AC/DC Back In Black 4 271 1980
18 Michael Jackson Thriller 1 268 1983
19 The Rolling Stones Hot Rocks - The Greatest Hits 1964-1971 4 262 1972
20 Queen Greatest Hits 11 261 1992

"21" by Adele has recently claimed the second slot in the albums with most weeks in the top 10. 18 albums have more than a year in the top 10:

# Artist Album Title Peak Top 10 Weeks First Peak Year
1 Richard Rodgers The Sound Of Music 1 109 1965
2 Adele 21 1 84 2011
3 Michael Jackson Thriller 1 78 1983
4 Def Leppard Hysteria 1 76 1988
5 Alanis Morissette Jagged Little Pill 1 72 1995
6 Maurice Jarre Doctor Zhivago 1 71 1966
7 Bruce Springsteen Born In The U.S.A. 1 70 1984
8 Paula Abdul Forever Your Girl 1 64 1989
9 Herb Alpert Whipped Cream & Other Delights 1 61 1965
10 Celine Dion Falling Into You 1 61 1996
11 Taylor Swift 1989 1 59 2014
12 Taylor Swift Fearless 1 58 2008
13 Lionel Richie Can't Slow Down 1 58 1983
14 Hootie Cracked Rear View 1 55 1995
15 Shania Twain Come On Over 2 53 1997
16 Fleetwood Mac Rumours 1 52 1977
17 Wilson Phillips Wilson Phillips 2 52 1990
18 MC Hammer Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em 1 52 1990
19 Peter Frampton Frampton Comes Alive 1 51 1976
20 Lady GaGa The Fame 2 50 2010
20 Guns n' Roses Appetite For Destruction 1 50 1988
20 Garth Brooks Ropin' The Wind 1 50 1991
20 Blood Sweat & Tears Blood, Sweat & Tears 1 50 1969
20 Britney Spears Baby One More Time 1 50 1999

The albums with the most weeks at number one are:

# Artist Album Title Weeks at Number 1 First Peak Year
1 Michael Jackson Thriller 37 1983
2 Fleetwood Mac Rumours 31 1977
3 Adele 21 24 2011
3 Bee Gees Saturday Night Fever 24 1978
5 Prince Purple Rain 23 1984
6 MC Hammer Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em 21 1990
7 Whitney Houston The Bodyguard 20 1992
8 Garth Brooks Ropin' The Wind 18 1991
8 Original Soundtrack Dirty Dancing 18 1987
8 The Monkees More Of The Monkees 18 1967
11 Billy Ray Cyrus Some Gave All 17 1992
11 The Police Synchronicity 17 1983
13 Vanilla Ice To The Extreme 16 1990
13 Celine Dion & James Horner Titanic 16 1998
15 Carole King Tapestry 15 1971
15 The Beatles Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band 15 1967
15 Men At Work Business As Usual 15 1982
15 REO Speedwagon Hi Infidelity 15 1981
15 Pink Floyd The Wall 15 1980
20 Disney Mary Poppins 14 1965
20 Whitney Houston Whitney Houston 14 1986
20 Stevie Wonder Songs In The Key Of Life 14 1976
20 The Beatles A Hard Day's Night 14 1964

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