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] |
Position | Artist | Weeks at No. 1 |
---|---|---|
1 | The Weeknd | 4 |
Kendrick Lamar | ||
4 | Drake | 3 |
Taylor Swift | ||
9 | Pentatonix | 2 |
Future | ||
Ed Sheeran | ||
DJ Khaled | ||
Jay-Z | ||
13 | Migos | 1 |
Big Sean | ||
The Chainsmokers | ||
Logic | ||
Harry Styles | ||
Linkin Park | ||
Bryson Tiller | ||
Halsey | ||
Katy Perry | ||
Lorde | ||
Lana Del Rey | ||
Arcade Fire | ||
Kesha | ||
Brand New | ||
Lil Uzi Vert | ||
LCD Soundsystem | ||
Thomas Rhett | ||
Foo Fighters | ||
The Killers | ||
Shaina Twain | ||
NF | ||
Pink | ||
Niall Horan | ||
Kenny Chesney | ||
Sam Smith | ||
U2 | ||
Luke Bryan |
The Billboard 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by Billboard magazine to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists. Sometimes, a recording act is remembered for its "number ones" that outperformed all other albums during at least one week. The chart grew from a weekly top 10 list in 1956 to become a top 200 list in May 1967, acquiring its existing name in March 1992. Its previous names include the Billboard Top LPs (1961–1972), Billboard Top LPs & Tape (1972–1984), Billboard Top 200 Albums (1984–1985), Billboard Top Pop Albums (1985–1991), and Billboard 200 Top Albums (1991–1992).
The Digital Songs or Digital Song Sales chart ranks the best-selling digital songs in the United States, as compiled by Nielsen SoundScan and published by Billboard magazine. Although it originally started tracking song sales the week of October 30, 2004, it officially debuted in the issue dated January 22, 2005, and merged all versions of a song sold from digital music distributors. Its data was incorporated in the Hot 100 three weeks later. Since October 2004, digital sales have been incorporated into many of Billboard's music singles charts. The decision was based on the dramatic increase of the digital market while commercial single sales in a physical format were becoming negligible.
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 receive the honor.
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 six 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.
The Billboard Global 200 is a weekly record chart published by Billboard magazine. The chart ranks the top songs globally and is based on digital sales and online streaming from over 200 territories worldwide. First announced in mid-2019, it officially launched in September 2020.
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.