The highest-selling albums and EPs in the United States are ranked in the Billboard 200, which is published by Billboard magazine. The data are compiled by Nielsen Soundscan based on each album's weekly physical and digital sales, as well as on-demand streaming and digital sales of its individual tracks.
In 2017, a total of 38 albums claimed the top position of the chart. Beginning with vocal group Pentatonix's Christmas album, A Pentatonix Christmas , issue dated January 7, [1] another one of which, Canadian singer The Weeknd's third studio album, Starboy returned to the top slot a week later after three weeks from the slot, issue dated December 17, 2016. [2]
Ed Sheeran's third studio album, ÷ (Divide) was the most consumed album of 2017 with 2.764 million equivalent album units with 1.1 million of that sum coming from traditional album sales according to Nielsen Music. Kendrick Lamar's fourth studio album Damn was the second best-selling album of 2017 with 2.747 million equivalent album units according to Nielsen Music. Taylor Swift's sixth studio album, Reputation , was the best-selling album of 2017 with 1.9 million sales, and the third most consumed, with 2.336 million units moved in 2017. [3]
Rapper Future also made Billboard history releasing two different albums in a week apart: his fifth self-titled album and sixth follow-up, Hndrxx . Both managed to peak atop the chart. [4] [5] Aside from A Pentatonix Christmas, Starboy, ÷, More Life, Damn and Reputation, the only two number-ones with extended chart runs include: Grateful by DJ Khaled and 4:44 by Jay-Z, four of which spent only two weeks at the top position.
† | Indicates best performing album of 2017 [6] |
Number One Artists
Rank | Artist(s) | Total Weeks at No. 1 | |
---|---|---|---|
The Weeknd (4 weeks at #1)
Kendrick Lamar (4 weeks at #1)
Drake (3 weeks at #1)
Taylor Swift (3 weeks at #1)
Pentatonix (2 weeks at #1)
Future (2 weeks at #1)
Ed Sheeran (2 weeks at #1)
DJ Khaled (2 weeks at #1)
Jay-Z (2 weeks at #1)
Migos (1 week at #1)
Big Sean (1 week at #1)
The Chainsmokers (1 week at #1)
Logic (1 week at #1)
Harry Styles (1 week at #1)
Linkin Park (1 week at #1)
Bryson Tiller (1 week at #1)
Halsey (1 week at #1)
Katy Perry (1 week at #1)
Lorde (1 week at #1)
Lana Del Ray (1 week at #1)
Arcade Fire (1 week at #1)
Kesha (1 week at #1)
Brand New (1 week at #1)
Lil Uzi Vert (1 week at #1)
LCD Soundsystem (1 week at #1)
Thomas Rhett (1 week at #1)
Foo Fighters (1 week at #1)
The Killers (1 week at #1)
Shaina Twain (1 week at #1)
NF (1 week at #1)
Pink (1 week at #1)
Niall Horan (1 week at #1)
Kenny Chesney (1 week at #1)
Sam Smith (1 week at #1)
U2 (1 week See also
Kendrick Lamar Duckworth is an American rapper and songwriter. Regarded as one of the most influential hip hop artists of his generation, and one of the greatest rappers of all time, he is known for his technical artistry and complex songwriting. He was awarded the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Music, becoming the first musician outside of the classical and jazz genres to be honored.
Abel Makkonen Tesfaye, known professionally as the Weeknd, is a Canadian singer-songwriter, record producer, and actor. He is known for his unconventional musical production, artistic reinventions and use of the falsetto register.
Canadian singer-songwriter The Weeknd has released five studio albums, one live album, three compilation albums, three mixtapes, nine extended plays, 79 single releases, and seven promotional singles. According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), he has accumulated 18.5 million certified album-equivalent units and 126 million certified digital single units in the US, based on sales and on-demand streaming, as of August 2024.
Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE) is an American independent record label. Specializing in hip hop and R&B artists, TDE is based in Carson, California. The label was founded in 2004 by record producer Anthony "Top Dawg" Tiffith, who is the chief executive officer. His son, Anthony "Moosa" Tiffith Jr., and Terrence "Punch" Henderson are the presidents of the label.
"Starboy" is a song by the Canadian singer-songwriter the Weeknd featuring the French electronic duo Daft Punk. It was released on September 21, 2016, through XO and Republic Records, as the lead single from his third studio album of the same name (2016). The artists wrote and produced the song with Doc McKinney and Henry "Cirkut" Walter, with Jason "DaHeala" Quenneville receiving additional credits. It is an R&B and electropop song that reflects themes of extravagance and celebrity life.
"Sidewalks" is a song by Canadian singer-songwriter the Weeknd, featuring American rapper Kendrick Lamar, from his third studio album Starboy (2016). The song was written by both artists alongside Doc McKinney, Daniel Wilson, Robert John Richardson, and Ali Shaheed Muhammad, being produced by McKinney, Bobby Raps and Muhammad. The song sampled the song "Fu-Gee-La" by Fugees.
Beauty and the Beast is the soundtrack album to the 2017 film Beauty and the Beast. The album, largely based on material from Disney's 1991 animated version, features songs and instrumental score composed by Alan Menken with lyrics by Howard Ashman and three new songs composed by Menken with lyrics by Tim Rice. The soundtrack album was released by Walt Disney Records on March 10, 2017.
Damn is the fourth studio album by American rapper Kendrick Lamar, released on April 14, 2017, through Top Dawg Entertainment, Aftermath Entertainment and Interscope Records. Lamar assembled numerous artists and producers to produce the album, including executive producer and Top Dawg Entertainment label-head Anthony "Top Dawg" Tiffith, Sounwave, DJ Dahi, Mike Will Made It, and Ricci Riera, as well as further production contributions from James Blake, Steve Lacy, BadBadNotGood, Greg Kurstin, the Alchemist, and 9th Wonder, among others. It features guest appearances from Rihanna, Zacari, and U2.
American rapper Kendrick Lamar has released five studio albums, one compilation album, one extended play (EP), one soundtrack album, and five mixtapes. His records have sold more than 17.9 million album-equivalent units worldwide, 7.5 million of which are certified in the United States. Throughout his career, he has earned four number-one albums on the US Billboard 200.
Top Album Sales is a music chart published by Billboard magazine starting in May 1991, and has existed in its current form since December 2014. It is a weekly chart documenting the best-selling albums on a weekly basis in the United States. Up until December 2014, this had been documented by the Billboard 200 chart, but that chart was altered to factor in music streaming by accounting for album-equivalent units in its tallies to document the effect of the rise of music streaming outlet such as Apple Music and Spotify. Starting in the Top Album Sales chart's debut week of May 25, 1991, Billboard began tabulating charts with electronically monitored piece count information from Soundscan, now known as Luminate. During the week of December 6, 2014, the chart switched to a methodology that blends album sales with track equivalent album units and streaming equivalent album units. The Top Album Sales chart was created to preserve the older methodology of counting pure album sales.