Billboard 200

The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums

and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is
frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists.
Often, a recording act will be remembered by its "number ones", those of
their albums that outsold all others during at least one week.

The chart is based solely on sales (both at retail and digitally) in the
United States. The sales tracking week begins on Monday and ends on
Sunday. A new chart is published the following Thursday with an issue
date of the following Saturday.

Example:

Monday 1 January — sales tracking week begins

Sunday 7 January — sales tracking week ends
Thursday 11 January — new chart published, with issue date of Saturday
20 January.

Normally new product is released to the American market on Tuesdays.

Digital downloads are included in Billboard 200 tabulation, as long as the
entire album is purchased as a whole. Albums that are not licensed for
retail sale in the United States (yet purchased in the U.S. as imports) are
not eligible to chart. A long-standing policy which made ineligible titles
that are sold exclusively by specific retail outlets, such as Wal-Mart or
Starbucks, was reversed on November 7, 2007, and took effect in the
issue dated November 17.[1]

The current number-one album (as of the issue dated February 7, 2009)
on the Billboard 200 is Fearless by Taylor Swift.[2][3]

Contents

• 1 History
o 1.1 Catalog albums
o 1.2 Holiday albums
• 2 Nielsen SoundScan
• 3 Year-end charts
• 4 Uses
• 5 Limitations
• 6 Artist milestones
o 6.1 Most top-ten albums[5]
o 6.2 Most number-one albums
o 6.3 Most cumulative weeks at number one
• 7 Album milestones
o 7.1 Most weeks at number-one
o 7.2 Most weeks on the top ten
 o 7.3 Most weeks on the chart
• 8 Additional milestones
• 9 Sources
• 10 References
• 11 See also
• 12 External links

History

Billboard began publishing an album chart in 1945. Initially only five

positions long, the album chart was not published on a weekly basis,
sometimes three to seven weeks passing before it was updated. A
biweekly (though with a few gaps), 15-position Best-Selling Popular
Albums chart appeared in 1955. With the explosion of rock and roll music,
Billboard premiered a weekly Best-Selling Popular Albums chart on March
24, 1956. The position count varied anywhere from ten to thirty albums.

The first number-one album on the new weekly list was Belafonte by Harry
Belafonte. The chart was renamed to Best-Selling Pop Albums later in
1956, and then to Best-Selling Pop LPs in 1957.

Beginning on May 25, 1959, Billboard split the ranking into two charts,
Best-Selling Stereophonic LPs for stereo albums (thirty positions) and
Best-Selling Monophonic LPs for mono albums (fifty positions). These were
renamed to Stereo Action Charts (thirty positions) and Mono Action Charts
(forty positions) in 1960. In January 1961, they became Action Albums—
Stereophonic (15 positions) and Action Albums—Monophonic (25
positions). Three months later, they became Top LPs—Stereo (50
positions) and Top LPs—Monaural (150 positions).

On August 17, 1963 the stereo and mono charts were combined into a
150-position chart called Top LPs. On April 1, 1967, the chart was
expanded to 175 positions, then finally to 200 positions on May 13, 1967.
In 1972 the album chart's title was changed to Top LPs & Tapes; in 1984 it
was retitled Top 200 Albums; in 1985 it was retitled again to Top Pop
Albums; in 1991 it became The Billboard 200 Top Albums; and it was given
its current title of The Billboard 200 on March 14, 1992.

Catalog albums

In 1960, Billboard began concurrently publishing album charts which

ranked sales of older or mid-priced titles. These Essential Inventory charts
were divided by stereo and mono albums, and featured titles that had
already appeared on the main stereo and mono album charts. Mono
albums were moved to the Essential Inventory—Mono chart (25 positions)
after spending forty weeks on the Mono Action Chart, and stereo albums
were moved to the Essential Inventory—Stereo chart (20 positions) after
twenty weeks on the Stereo Action Chart.
In January 1961, the Action Charts became Action Albums—Monophonic
(24 positions), and Action Albums—Stereophonic (15 positions). Albums
appeared on either chart for up to nine weeks, then were moved to an
Essential Inventory list of approximately 200 titles, with no numerical
ranking. This list continued to be published until the consolidated Top LPs
chart debuted in 1963.

In 1982, Billboard began publishing a Midline Albums chart which ranked

older or mid-priced titles. The chart held fifty positions and was published
on a bi-weekly (and later tri-weekly) basis.

On March 25, 1991 Billboard premiered the Top Pop Catalog Albums chart.
Current criteria for this chart are albums that are more than eighteen
months old and have fallen below position 100 on the Billboard 200.[4] An
album need not have charted on the Billboard 200 at all to qualify for
catalog status.

Holiday albums

Billboard has adjusted its policies for holiday albums several times.
Holiday albums were eligible for the main album charts until 1963, when a
Christmas Albums list was created. Albums appearing here were not listed
on the Top LPs chart. In 1974 this rule was reverted and holiday albums
again appeared within the main list.

In 1982 the Christmas Albums chart was resurrected, but a title's

appearance here did not disqualify it from appearing on the Top Pop
Albums chart. In 1994 the chart was retitled Top Holiday Albums. As of
2006 the chart holds fifty positions and is run for several weeks during the
end-of-calendar-year holiday season. Its current policy allows holiday
albums to concurrently chart on the Top Holiday Albums list and the
Billboard 200, but only during the album's first year of release. After a
holiday album's first year, it can return to Top Holiday Albums in future
years but then is only eligible to concurrently appear on the Top Pop
Catalog Albums chart.

Nielsen SoundScan

Since May 26, 1991, the Billboard 200's positions have been derived from
Nielsen SoundScan sales data, as of 2008 contributed by approximately
14,000 music sellers. Because these numbers are supplied by a subset of
sellers rather than record labels, it is common for these numbers to be
substantially lower than those reported by the Recording Industry
Association of America when Gold, Platinum and Diamond album awards
are announced (RIAA awards reflect wholesale shipments, not retail sales).

Year-end charts
Billboard’s "chart year" runs from the first week of December to the final
week in November. This altered calendar allows for Billboard to calculate
year-end charts and release them in time for its final print issue on the
last week of December. Prior to Nielsen SoundScan, year-end charts were
calculated by an inverse-point system based solely on an album's
performance on the Billboard 200 (for example, an album would be given
one point for a week spent at position 200, two points for a week spent at
position 199… up to 200 points for each week spent at number one).
Other factors including the total weeks on the chart and at its peak
position were calculated into an album's year-end total.

After Billboard began obtaining sales information from Nielsen SoundScan,

the year-end charts are now calculated by a very straightforward
cumulative total of yearlong sales. This gives a more accurate picture of
any given year’s best-selling albums, as a title that hypothetically spent
nine weeks at number one in March could possibly have sold fewer copies
than one spending six weeks at number three in January. Interestingly,
albums at the peak of their popularity at the time of the
November/December chart-year cutoff many times end up ranked lower
than one would expect on a year-end tally, yet are ranked on the following
year's chart as well, as their cumulative points are split between the two
chart-years.

Uses

The Billboard 200 can be helpful to radio stations as an indication of the

types of music listeners are interested in hearing. Retailers can also find it
useful as a way to determine which recordings should be given the most
prominent display in a store. Other outlets, such as airline music services,
also employ the Billboard charts to determine their programming.

Limitations

The chart omits unit sales for listed albums and total recorded sales,
making it impossible to determine, for example, if the number one album
this week sold as well as the number one from the same period in the
prior year. It is also impossible to determine the relative success of albums
on a single chart; there is no indication of whether the number one album
sold thousands more copies than number fifty, or only dozens more. All
music genres are combined, but there are separate Billboard charts for
individual market segments. The complete sales data broken down by
location is made available, but only in the form of separate SoundScan
subscriptions. Declining CD sales and the widespread sale of singles via
the internet further reduce the relevance of the Billboard 200.

Artist milestones
Most top-ten albums[5]

• The Rolling Stones (36)

• Frank Sinatra (32)
• The Beatles (31)
• Barbra Streisand (29)
• Elvis Presley (28)

Most number-one albums

• The Beatles (20)

• Elvis Presley (10) (tie)
• Jay-Z (10) (tie)
• The Rolling Stones (9)
• Barbra Streisand (8) (tie)
• Garth Brooks (8) (tie)
• Bruce Springsteen (8) (tie)

Most cumulative weeks at number one

• The Beatles (132)

• Elvis Presley (67)
• Garth Brooks (51)
• Michael Jackson (50)
• Whitney Houston (50)
• The Kingston Trio (46)

Album milestones

Most weeks at number-one

• (54 weeks) West Side Story — Soundtrack (1961-1962)

• (37 weeks) Thriller — Michael Jackson (1983-84)
• (31 weeks) Calypso — Harry Belafonte (1956)
• (31 weeks) South Pacific — Soundtrack (1958)
• (31 weeks) Rumours — Fleetwood Mac (1977)
• (24 weeks) Saturday Night Fever — Soundtrack (1978)
• (24 weeks) Purple Rain — Prince and the Revolution (1984)
• (21 weeks) Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em — MC Hammer (1990)
• (20 weeks) The Bodyguard — Soundtrack (1992)
• (20 weeks) Blue Hawaii — Elvis Presley (1961)

Most weeks on the top ten

• (153 weeks) Music for Lovers Only — Jackie Gleason (1953)

• (130 weeks) Glenn Miller — Glenn Miller & His Orchestra
• (84 weeks) Peter, Paul and Mary — Peter, Paul and Mary (1962)
• (84 weeks) Born in the U.S.A. — Bruce Springsteen (1984)
 • (78 weeks) Thriller — Michael Jackson (1982)
• (78 weeks) Hysteria — Def Leppard (1987)
• (77 weeks) The Student Prince — Mario Lanza (1954)
• (72 weeks) Merry Christmas — Bing Crosby (1955)
• (72 weeks) Jagged Little Pill — Alanis Morissette (1995)
• (64 weeks) Forever Your Girl — Paula Abdul (1988)

Most weeks on the chart

Note that totals are for the main albums chart only, catalog chart totals
are not factored in.

• (741 weeks) The Dark Side of the Moon — Pink Floyd

• (490 weeks) Johnny's Greatest Hits — Johnny Mathis
• (480 weeks) My Fair Lady — Original Cast
• (331 weeks) Highlights from the Phantom of the Opera — Original
Cast
• (302 weeks) Tapestry — Carole King
• (295 weeks) Heavenly — Johnny Mathis
• (283 weeks) Oklahoma! — Soundtrack
• (282 weeks) MCMXC a.D. — Enigma
• (281 weeks) Metallica — Metallica
• (277 weeks) The King and I — Soundtrack
• (277 weeks) Hymns — Tennessee Ernie Ford

Additional milestones

• The first number one album of the SoundScan era (1991 to present)
is Time, Love & Tenderness by Michael Bolton.

• The only album to attain the pole position before and after the May
25, 1991 introduction of SoundScan is R.E.M.'s album Out of Time.

• The first album to debut at number one was Captain Fantastic and
the Brown Dirt Cowboy by Elton John. John repeated the same feat
with the album Rock of the Westies - the second album to debut at
number one - making John the first artist to have two consecutive
studio albums debut at number one. Whitney Houston's second
album Whitney was the first album by a female artist to debut at
number one.

• In the early 1960s, Bob Newhart had the accomplishment of having

the number one and number two albums simultaneously on the
Billboard 200, with The Button-Down Mind and The Button-Down
Mind Strikes Back! This feat was equaled in 1991, with Guns N'
Roses Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II, and in 2004, with
Nelly's Suit and Sweat.
 • As of 2008, Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon has been on the
charts for over 1,630 weeks, or about thirty-one years. The album
spent a record 741 of those weeks on the Billboard 200. The other
weeks were spent on the Top Pop Catalog Albums chart. Its closest
rival is Bob Marley's Legend, checking in at over 975 weeks
(Billboard 200 and Top Pop Catalog Albums combined).

• Forever Your Girl by Paula Abdul spent sixty-four consecutive weeks

on the Billboard 200 before hitting number one, making it the
longest time for an album to reach the number one spot.

• At one point in early 1980s, all nine albums released to that date by
Led Zeppelin were on the Billboard 200 chart, at the time it was the
most albums by a single artist to chart at the same time. The record
was beaten by Pearl Jam when they began releasing the majority of
their concerts to the public.

• Skid Row's Slave to the Grind was the first heavy metal album to
ever debut at #1.

• The only EP's to reach number one on the chart are Alice in Chains's
Jar of Flies in 1994 and Linkin Park and Jay-Z's collaboration EP,
Collision Course in 2004.

• The first Rap/Hip-Hop album to hit number one on the Billboard 200
was Licensed to Ill by The Beastie Boys in 1987.

• The only artists to have three different albums hit number one in the
same year are The Beatles and The Monkees. The only artists to
have two different albums hit number one in the same year are Led
Zeppelin, DMX, Jay-Z, Garth Brooks, 2Pac, and System of a Down.

• Only seven bands have achieved three consecutive number one

debuts with studio albums on the Billboard 200: Van Halen, U2,
Metallica, Pearl Jam, Dave Matthews Band, Staind, and most
recently Disturbed.

• The only band to have five consecutive albums debut at number

one is heavy metal band Metallica.

• The only band to have four number one albums in the same year is
The Monkees.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billboard_200