Morgan Wallen’s One Thing at a Time spends a 12th week in a row, and in total, atop the Billboard 200 albums chart (dated June 3) – the most weeks at No. 1 for a country album in over 30 years. As the album surpasses the 11-week reign of Taylor Swift’s Fearless in 2008-09, Wallen’s set has the most weeks at No. 1 for a country album since Billy Ray Cyrus’ Some Gave All, which notched 17 weeks, all consecutively, atop the list (June 13-Oct. 3, 1992-dated charts). (Country albums are those that have charted on, or are eligible for, Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart.)
One Thing at a Time earned 129,000 equivalent album units in the United States in the week ending May 25 (down 4%), according to Luminate.
One Thing at a Time continues to have the most weeks in a row at No. 1 since the Titanic soundtrack ruled at No. 1 for 16 consecutive weeks in 1998 (its entire run at No. 1, Jan. 24-May 9 of that year). The last album to spend at least 12 weeks in total at No. 1 was Bad Bunny’s Un Verano Sin Ti, which notched 13 nonconsecutive weeks atop the list in May-October 2022.
One Thing at a Time debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart dated March 18 and has yet to yield the top slot. As it has now spent its first 12 weeks at No. 1, One Thing at a Time is just the second album to rule for its first 12 weeks on the chart, after Stevie Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life logged its first 13 weeks at No. 1 (of a total of 14 weeks in the top slot) in late 1976 and early 1977. (For context, today, it’s common for albums to debut at No. 1. However, before 1991, when the Billboard 200 began utilizing Luminate’s electronically monitored tracking information, only six albums debuted at No. 1, including Songs In the Key of Life.)
Wallen has now spent a total of 22 weeks at No. 1 across his two chart-topping albums (One Thing at a Time, with 12 weeks, and his last album, Dangerous: The Double Album, with 10). Among acts with the most weeks at No. 1 this decade (2020-onwards), Wallen pulls further ahead of the act with the second-most weeks at No. 1 in that span of time – Taylor Swift, with 20.
Notably, Swift’s most recent No. 1, Midnights (which spent five weeks atop the list in late 2022), was reissued in multiple formats on May 26 (on vinyl, CD, digital download and via streaming services), with some iterations containing additional bonus tracks. The sales and streaming impact of those new variations will be reflected on next week’s Billboard 200 chart, dated June 10.
Also in the top 10 of the new Billboard 200 albums chart, Dave Matthews Band earns its 14th top 10-charting effort with the debut of Walk Around the Moon at No. 5. Plus, Ghost logs it fourth top 10, and second in a little over a year, as its new five-song covers set Phantomime bows at No. 7.
The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new June 3, 2023-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on May 31 (a day later than usual due to the Memorial Day holiday in the U.S. on May 29). For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
Of One Thing at a Time’s 129,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending May 25, SEA units comprise 121,000 (down 3%, equaling 162.52 million on-demand official streams of the set’s 36 songs), album sales comprise 6,000 (down 30%) and TEA units comprise 2,000 (up less than 1%).
SZA’s chart-topping SOS jumps 5-2 with 77,000 equivalent album units earned (up 52%) following the album’s release on CD and vinyl on May 19. The set sold 29,000 copies across all formats (physical and digital) – up 22,963% from a negligible sum the previous week. SOS was released on Dec. 9, 2022, via streaming services and to purchase as a digital download album.
Swift’s Midnights falls 2-3 with 58,000 equivalent album units (down 4%), while Wallen’s Dangerous climbs 6-4 with 47,000 units (down 2%).
Dave Matthews Band achieves its 14th top 10-charting album on the Billboard 200 as its new studio effort Walk Around the Moon debuts at No. 5. It’s the act’s first new studio set since 2018. The new album earned 44,000 equivalent album units in its first week. Of that sum, album sales comprise 40,000 (making it the top-selling album of the week), SEA units comprise 4,000 (equaling 5.45 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum. The album’s first-week sales were supported by multiple vinyl editions, including exclusive color variants for the band’s fan club and webstore, Barnes & Noble, independent record stores and Target.
Dave Matthews Band notched its first top 10 with Crash (No. 2 in 1996) and has earned at least one new top 10 album in every decade since (three total in the 1990s, eight in the 2000s, two in the ‘10s and one so far in the ‘20s). In addition, Matthews himself has three solo top 10s.
Dave Matthews Band is the 11th group to have tallied a new top 10 in each of those four decades, joining AC/DC, Def Leppard, Foo Fighters, Green Day, Marilyn Manson, Megadeth, Metallica, Pearl Jam, Red Hot Chili Peppers and U2.
Swift’s former No. 1 Lover jumps 10-6 with 38,000 equivalent album units earned (up 1%). That’s the highest rank for the 2019 set since that December, sparked by Swift performing songs from it live for the first time on her ongoing juggernaut The Eras Tour.
Ghost’s five-song covers project Phantomime debuts at No. 7 on the Billboard 200 with 36,000 equivalent album units earned. It’s the fourth top 10 for the band, and second in a little over a year, following Impera, which debuted and peaked at No. 2 (March 26, 2022-dated chart).
Of Phantomime’s 36,000 units earned, album sales comprise 34,000, SEA units comprise 2,000 (equaling 2.67 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum. The set’s first-week sales were bolstered by its availability across a variety of physical formats, including multiple vinyl LPs (including exclusives color variants for independent record stores, Target and Urban Outfitters) and even a cassette tape.
Phantomime boasts covers of Genesis (“Jesus He Knows Me”), Iron Maiden (“Phantom of the Opera”) and the late Tina Turner (“We Don’t Need Another Hero [Thunderdome]”).
Luke Combs’ Gettin’ Old rises 12-8 on the Billboard 200 with 34,000 equivalent album units earned (down 3%), Bad Bunny’s former No. 1, Un Verano Sin Ti, ascends 11-9 with nearly 34,000 (down 4%) and Zach Bryan’s American Heartbreak bumps 15-10 with 32,000 (up 5%).
Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.
This story originally appeared on Billboard
