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Highest placed albums chart act

As the site generation page explains the list of albums does not reflect the most popular albums of all time since there are variable levels of charts for different historical periods. However, there are a number of reasonable ways to compare artists of different periods, for example by listing the top album artists of each year and tallying up the number of years each artist held the top slot.

#	Artist	Years as Number 1 Artist	Years as Number 2 Artist	Years as Number 3 Artist	Years as Number 4 Artist	Years as Number 5 Artist
1	The Beatles	1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1968, 1973	1967, 1969			1970, 2000
2	Frank Sinatra	1955, 1957, 1958, 1961	1956	1959, 1960, 1962		1966
3	Elvis Presley	1960, 1962	1957, 1977	1958, 1961	1956, 1969	1965
4	Madonna	1989	1984, 1990, 1998	2000	1986	2003, 2005
5	Bruce Springsteen	1984, 1992, 1995			2005	1980
6	The Rolling Stones	1972		1965, 1969, 1971, 1978	1966, 1981	1964, 1967
7	Celine Dion	1996, 1999	1997	1998	2003
8	Bob Dylan	2001	1965	1974	1963, 1975	1979, 1997
9	U2	1987, 1988	2004			1998
10	Miles Davis	1956, 1959			1955	1952, 1957
11	Elton John	1975	1974, 1995	1973		1990
12	Abba		1976, 1981	1975, 1979	1980, 1992	1977
13	Led Zeppelin	1969	1971	1976	1973	1975
14	Michael Jackson	1982	1987, 2001			1995
15	Pink Floyd		1973, 1975, 1979, 1994
16	Eminem	2002	2000	2004
17	Thelonious Monk	1951	1953			1958
18	Nirvana	1993		1991, 1994
19	David Bowie	1983			1977	1972, 1974
20	REM		2003	1992		1991, 1994, 1996, 2001

Unlike the greatest song act chart there is a clear winner in the album acts. There are a number of surprises in the list.

The album didn't really arrive as a recognised format until the 1950s which is why the timespan covered starts in 1950.

Given The Beatles domination of this chart and the marginal lead that Elvis has over them in the singles version it is clear that any combined chart would put The Beatles as the world's greatest overall chart act of all time.

Here are the top five album chart acts for the years 1950 to 2006.

Year	Number 1 Artist	Number 2 Artist	Number 3 Artist	Number 4 Artist	Number 5 Artist
2006	Johnny Cash	Neil Young	Muse	Amy Winehouse	Gnarls Barkley
2005	System Of A Down	Il Divo	Coldplay	Bruce Springsteen	Madonna
2004	Green Day	U2	Eminem	Anastacia	Norah Jones
2003	Linkin Park	REM	Metallica	Celine Dion	Madonna
2002	Eminem	Robbie Williams	Red Hot Chili Peppers	Shania Twain	Coldplay
2001	Bob Dylan	Michael Jackson	Creed	Dido	REM
2000	Santana	Eminem	Madonna	Limp Bizkit	The Beatles
1999	Celine Dion	Andrea Bocelli	The Backstreet Boys	Red Hot Chili Peppers	Suede
1998	James Horner	Madonna	Celine Dion	Shania Twain	U2
1997	Andrea Bocelli	Celine Dion	Radiohead	The Prodigy	Bob Dylan
1996	Celine Dion	The Fugees	Metallica	Spice Girls	REM
1995	Bruce Springsteen	Elton John	Alanis Morissette	Oasis	Michael Jackson
1994	The Cranberries	Pink Floyd	Nirvana	Eric Clapton	REM
1993	Nirvana	Ace Of Base	Bryan Adams	Prince	Mariah Carey
1992	Bruce Springsteen	Whitney Houston	REM	Abba	Eric Clapton
1991	Guns & Roses	Queen	Nirvana	Metallica	REM
1990	New Kids On The Block	Madonna	Iron Maiden	Sinead O'Connor	Elton John
1989	Madonna	Phil Collins	Roy Orbison	Tina Turner	The Cure
1988	U2	Tracy Chapman	Prince	Bon Jovi	Dire Straits
1987	U2	Michael Jackson	Whitney Houston	George Michael	Prince
1986	Bon Jovi	Peter Gabriel	Paul Simon	Madonna	Falco
1985	Dire Straits	Whitney Houston	Phil Collins	Modern Talking	Kate Bush
1984	Bruce Springsteen	Madonna	Prince	Tina Turner	Wham!
1983	David Bowie	The Eurythmics	The Police	Lionel Richie	Men At Work
1982	Michael Jackson	Queen	Roxy Music	Paul McCartney	Dire Straits
1981	Shakin' Stevens	Abba	Phil Collins	The Rolling Stones	The Human League
1980	AC/DC	Barbra Streisand	Madness	Abba	Bruce Springsteen
1979	Frank Zappa	Pink Floyd	Abba	The Village People	Bob Dylan
1978	Blondie	Boney M	The Rolling Stones	Wings	Elvis Costello
1977	Fleetwood Mac	Elvis Presley	Smokie	David Bowie	Abba
1976	The Eagles	Abba	Led Zeppelin	Roger Whittaker	Stevie Wonder
1975	Elton John	Pink Floyd	Abba	Bob Dylan	Led Zeppelin
1974	Deep Purple	Elton John	Bob Dylan	Wings	David Bowie
1973	The Beatles	Pink Floyd	Elton John	Led Zeppelin	Deep Purple
1972	The Rolling Stones	Neil Young	Slade	T Rex	David Bowie
1971	John Lennon	Led Zeppelin	The Rolling Stones	Jimi Hendrix	The Who
1970	Creedence Clearwater Revival	Black Sabbath	Simon & Garfunkel	Santana	The Beatles
1969	Led Zeppelin	The Beatles	The Rolling Stones	Elvis Presley	The Moody Blues
1968	The Beatles	Simon & Garfunkel	Otis Redding	Fleetwood Mac	Jimi Hendrix
1967	The Monkees	The Beatles	Jimi Hendrix	The Doors	The Rolling Stones
1966	The Beatles	The Beach Boys	Herb Alpert	The Rolling Stones	Frank Sinatra
1965	The Beatles	Bob Dylan	The Rolling Stones	The Kinks	Elvis Presley
1964	The Beatles	Jim Reeves	The Beach Boys	John Coltrane	The Rolling Stones
1963	The Beatles	Cliff Richard	The Searchers	Bob Dylan	The Shadows
1962	Elvis Presley	The Shadows	Frank Sinatra	Ray Charles	Chubby Checker
1961	Frank Sinatra	Cliff Richard	Elvis Presley	Bob Newhart	The Shadows
1960	Elvis Presley	The Everly Brothers	Frank Sinatra	Ella Fitzgerald	Johnny Mathis
1959	Miles Davis	Ray Charles	Frank Sinatra	Cliff Richard	Duke Ellington
1958	Frank Sinatra	Johnny Mathis	Elvis Presley	Cannonball Adderley	Thelonious Monk
1957	Frank Sinatra	Elvis Presley	Sonny Rollins	Nat King Cole	Miles Davis
1956	Miles Davis	Frank Sinatra	Sonny Rollins	Elvis Presley	Dizzy Gillespie
1955	Frank Sinatra	Urbie Green	Sarah Vaughan	Miles Davis	Chet Baker
1954	Art Blakey	Chet Baker	Dave Brubeck	Erroll Garner	Ludwig van Beethoven
1953	Peggy Lee	Thelonious Monk	Tom Lehrer	Nat King Cole	Hank Williams
1952	Nat King Cole	Oscar Peterson	Gustav Mahler	Igor Stravinsky	Miles Davis
1951	Thelonious Monk	Paul Lingle	Bud Powell	Erroll Garner	Lester Young
1950	Ella Fitzgerald	Pablo Casals	Charlie Parker	The Ink Spots	Stan Kenton

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