It’s an eclectic list, to say the least, encompassing pop, traditional pop, rock, hard rock, R&B, rap, country and reggae.
Bob Marley, John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John, Taylor Swift and Michael Bublé
Designed by Lyanne Natividad
Taylor Swift’s Lover logs its 58th week at No. 1 on Billboard’s Catalog Albums chart this week (dated Aug. 31), extending its record for the longest run by a woman solo artist in the chart’s history. Lover eclipsed Adele’s debut album, 19, in May.
Lover didn’t get all that much love (at least by Swift’s sky-high standards) when it was released. The album spent just one week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and was passed over for a Grammy nod for album of the year (though it did receive a Grammy nod for best pop vocal album). But the belated success of “Cruel Summer,” which topped the Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks starting in October 2023, more than four years after the album’s release, has revived the album. The phenomenal success of the Eras Tour has also kept it high on the charts.
The Catalog Albums chart ranks the week’s most popular catalog albums in the U.S. Catalog albums are titles that are older than 18 months old and have fallen below No. 100 on the Billboard 200 — or holiday albums in their second holiday season. The chart was introduced in Billboard in the issue dated May 25, 1991.
For the first 18 years of Top Catalog Albums, catalog albums weren’t eligible to appear on the Billboard 200. That changed with the Dec. 5, 2009-dated chart, when catalog restrictions were lifted, turning the Billboard 200 into an all-inclusive list of the best-selling albums in the country, regardless of their age. (The adjustment came after Michael Jackson’s death in June 2009, which triggered a sales explosion for his catalog titles. Jackson’s catalog compilation Number Ones was the best-selling album in six of the first seven weeks following his death, yet was ineligible for Billboard’s flagship chart – marking the first time a catalog album had outsold the No. 1 album on the Billboard 200.) Starting with the issue dated Dec. 13, 2014, Billboard shifted from pure sales to a multi-factor consumption formula that also includes on-demand streaming and digital track sales.
We’re going to count down the 17 albums with the longest runs at No. 1 on Catalog Albums from 1991 to the present. It’s an eclectic list, to say the least. It includes two Christmas albums, a film soundtrack and a remarkably wide range of music, including pop, traditional pop, rock, hard rock, R&B, rap, country and reggae.
Eight of the albums on the list were released prior to the 1991 inception of the chart. Impressively, they made the list even though activity prior to the chart’s inception doesn’t count.
Here are the albums with the longest runs at No. 1 on Catalog Albums from 1991 to the present. Each entry includes the album’s release date, the date the album first reached No. 1 on Catalog Albums and the album’s peak position on the Billboard 200.
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Prince, The Very Best of Prince, 18 weeks
Image Credit: Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images Released: July 31, 2001
First reached No. 1: April 10, 2004
Billboard 200 peak: No. 1 for one week (May 7, 2016)
Notes: This is the only album to simultaneously rank No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and the Catalog Albums chart. The compilation initially debuted and peaked at No. 66 on the Billboard 200 in August 2001, but re-entered the chart in the issue dated May 7, 2016, the week following Prince’s death (on April 21, 2016).
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The Righteous Brothers, Unchained Melody: The Best of the Righteous Brothers, 19 weeks
Released: Oct. 2, 1990
First reached No. 1: May 25, 1991
Billboard 200 peak: No. 161 (Nov. 24, 1990)
Notes: This album was released three months after the release of the box-office smash Ghost, which featured the duo’s 1965 smash “Unchained Melody” over the famous pottery wheel scene. Two competing Righteous Brothers recordings of “Unchained Melody” – the original and a re-recording – made the top 20 on the Hot 100 in the wake of Ghost.
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Pink Floyd, The Dark Side of the Moon, 23 weeks
Released: March 1, 1973
First reached No. 1: April 17, 1993
Billboard 200 peak: No. 1 for one week (April 28, 1973)
Notes: This rock classic spawned the band’s first top 20 hit on the Hot 100, “Money.” Pink Floyd did not receive a single Grammy nomination for this album, if you can believe that: The album’s only nomination was best engineered recording (non-classical), for which Alan Parsons got the nod. Note: A separate, high-end audio SACD edition topped the Catalog Albums chart for one week in 2003. That week is not included in the tally for the regular edition.
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Meat Loaf, Bat Out of Hell, 23 weeks
Released: Oct. 21, 1977
First reached No. 1: Aug. 24, 1991
Billboard 200 peak: No. 13 (Feb. 5, 2022)
Notes: The album’s enduring success as a catalog album laid the groundwork for the success of Meat Loaf’s 1993 sequel Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell, which hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200. Bat Out of Hell spawned his first top 20 hit on the Hot 100, “Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad.” This was Meat’s first solo album; he had previously teamed with female singer Shaun Murphy in Stoney & Meatloaf, which released an eponymous album in 1971.
This album initially peaked at No. 14 in September 1978 and re-entered the chart at No. 13 in February 2022, resulting in a new peak position.
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Johnny Cash, 16 Biggest Hits, 26 weeks
Image Credit: Courtesy of Everett Collection Released: February 1999
First reached No. 1: Sept. 27, 2003
Billboard 200 peak: No. 65 (Jan. 12, 2013)
Notes: This is the country album with the longest run at No. 1. The album topped the catalog chart for the first time in the issue dated Sept. 27, 2003, the week following Cash’s death on Sept. 12, 2003.
The album initially peaked at No. 185 on the Billboard 200 in May 1999, but reached its No. 65 peak in January 2013.
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Beastie Boys, Licensed to Ill, 27 weeks
Released: Nov. 15, 1986
First reached No. 1: June 24, 1995
Billboard 200 peak: No. 1 for seven weeks (beginning March 7, 1987)
Notes: This is the hip-hop album with the longest run at No. 1. The album made history in April 1987 as the first hip-hop album to reach No. 1 on the Billboard 200. It bumped Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band out of the top spot, and put the industry on notice that rock’s era of unchallenged supremacy was coming to an end. The album spawned the trio’s only top 10 hit on the Hot 100, “(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!).”
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Kenny G, Miracles: The Holiday Album, 27 weeks
Released: Nov. 1, 1994
First reached No. 1: Nov. 11, 1995
Billboard 200 peak: No. 1 for three weeks (beginning Dec. 10, 1994)
Notes: This is the instrumental album with the longest run at No. 1. Miracles: The Holiday Album was the first Christmas album to top the Billboard 200 since Mitch Miller’s Holiday Sing Along With Mitch, which was released in 1961. Kenny G’s recording of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” which Judy Garland introduced in the 1944 film Meet Me in St. Louis, received a Grammy nomination for best pop instrumental performance.
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Michael Jackson, Number Ones, 31 weeks
Released: Nov. 18, 2003
First reached No. 1: July 11, 2009
Billboard 200 peak: No. 13 (Dec. 6, 2003)
Notes: This is the R&B/pop crossover album with the longest run at No. 1. This topped the catalog chart for the first time in the issue dated July 11, 2009, the week following Jackson’s death on June 25, 2009.
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Eric Clapton, Time Pieces/The Best of Eric Clapton, 37 weeks
Released: May 14, 1982
First reached No. 1: Feb. 22, 1992
Billboard 200 peak: No. 101 (June 12, 1982)
Notes: This collection became a smash on Catalog Albums while “Tears in Heaven” was a hit, on its way to becoming Clapton’s longest-running Hot 100 hit to that point. (“Tears in Heaven” isn’t on the collection, nor is the subsequent “Change the World,” which had an even longer run on the Hot 100.)
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Adele, 19, 41 weeks
Image Credit: Paul Bergen/Redferns Released: Jan. 28, 2008
First reached No. 1: March 5, 2011
Billboard 200 peak: No. 4 (March 3, 2012)
Notes: 19 dominated the Catalog Albums chart while Adele’s sophomore album, 21, set up residency in the No. 1 spot on the Billboard 200, as fans sought to catch up on what they’d missed. 19 brought Adele her first two Grammys — best new artist and best female pop vocal performance for “Chasing Pavements,” which was her first top 30 hit on the Hot 100.
This album initially peaked at No. 10 on the Billboard 200 in February 2009 (following Adele’s first big night at the Grammys), but reached its No. 4 peak in February 2012 (following her second, even bigger night at the Grammys).
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Metallica, Metallica, 45 weeks
Released: Aug. 12, 1991
First reached No. 1: Jan. 17, 1998
Billboard 200 peak: No. 1 for four weeks (beginning Aug. 31, 1991)
Notes: This is the only hard rock/metal album on this list. This was Metallica’s first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 and spawned the band’s first top 20 hit on the Hot 100, “Enter Sandman.” Metallica won a Grammy for best metal performance.
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Various Artists, Grease soundtrack, 52 weeks
Released: April 14, 1978
First reached No. 1: Nov. 2, 1996
Billboard 200 peak: No. 1 for 12 weeks (beginning July 29, 1978)
Notes: This is the soundtrack with the longest run at No. 1. This is also the only album to log 10 or more weeks at No. 1 on both Catalog Albums and the Billboard 200. This album spawned four top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 — the Olivia Newton-John/John Travolta collabs “You’re the One That I Want” and “Summer Nights,” Newton-John’s solo smash “Hopelessly Devoted to You” and Frankie Valli’s “Grease.”
This is the only album on this list that received a Grammy nomination for album of the year. (Feel free to inject here, “You mean to tell me [blank] wasn’t nominated for album of the year?” Nope, it wasn’t.) Newton-John received a second nod for best pop vocal performance, female, for “Hopelessly…”
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Creed, My Own Prison, 54 weeks
Released: Aug. 26, 1997
First reached No. 1: Jan. 22, 2000
Billboard 200 peak: No. 22 (May 2, 1998)
Notes: This the debut album with the longest run at No. 1 on Top Catalog Albums. The band’s next two albums, Human Clay (1999)and Weathered (2001) logged a combined total of 10 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.
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Michael Bublé, Christmas, 56 weeks
Released: Oct. 25, 2011
First reached No. 1: Nov. 17, 2012
Billboard 200 peak: No. 1 for five weeks (beginning Dec. 10, 2011)
Notes: This is the album by a male solo artist with the longest run at No. 1. It’s also the Christmas album with the longest run at No. 1. It was Grammy-nominated for best traditional pop vocal album, but, surprisingly, didn’t win. (It lost to Paul McCartney’s collection of standards, Kisses on the Bottom.)
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Taylor Swift, Lover, 58 weeks
Released: Aug. 23, 2019
First reached No. 1: June 10, 2023
Billboard 200 peak: No. 1 for one week (Sept. 7, 2019)
Notes: This is the album by a woman solo artist with the longest run at No. 1. It exploded thanks to the popularity of “Cruel Summer,” which is Swift’s longest-charting Hot 100 hit to date, and to the phenomenal success of Swift’s The Eras Tour. In addition to its Grammy nod for best pop vocal album, the album’s second single, “You Need to Calm Down,” was nominated for best pop solo performance and the album’s title song was nominated for song of the year.
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Queen, Greatest Hits, 105 weeks
Image Credit: Richard E. Aaron/Redferns Released in the U.K.: Oct. 26, 1981
First reached No. 1: June 2, 2018
Billboard 200 peak: No. 8 (Nov. 28, 2020)
Notes: This is the rock album with the longest run at No. 1. The compilation first hit No. 1 on Catalog Albums five months before the U.S. release of the film Bohemian Rhapsody, which turbocharged Queen’s popularity.
This album initially peaked at No. 14 on the Billboard 200 in December 1981, but finally reached its No. 8 peak in November 2020.
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Bob Marley & the Wailers, Legend, 126 weeks
Released: May 8, 1984
First reached No. 1: May 22, 1993
Billboard 200 peak: No. 5 (Sept. 20, 2014)
Notes: This compilation, consisting of recordings from 1972-81, was released three years after Marley’s death on May 11, 1981. Marley had only one Hot 100 hit as an artist, “Roots, Rock, Reggae,” which reached No. 51 in 1976 — and that song isn’t included on this compilation. Legend does include two songs Marley wrote that became big pop hits for other artists: “Stir It Up,” a No. 12 hit for Johnny Nash in 1973 and “I Shot the Sheriff,” a No. 1 hit for Eric Clapton the following year.
But though they weren’t chart hits for him, many of the songs from Legend have become widely known, including “One Love” (performed with an interpolation of the melody from another all-time classic, The Impressions’ “People Get Ready”), “Three Little Birds,” “Jamming” and “Get Up, Stand Up.”
This compilation initially peaked at No. 54 on the Billboard 200 in October 1984, but finally muscled its way to its No. 5 peak in September 2014. Now that’s more like it for one of the best-selling sets of all time, and one reggae collection that just about everybody knows.
