The US Billoard Hot 200 album chart

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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