Billboard 200
Billboard 200
Billboard 200
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:
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
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
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.
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.
Uses
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]
Album milestones
Note that totals are for the main albums chart only, catalog chart totals
are not factored in.
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.
• 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.
• The only band to have four number one albums in the same year is
The Monkees.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billboard_200