Republic Records has a historic week on the Billboard 200 albums chart (dated Dec. 9), as the label holds the top six titles. It is the first time a label has claimed the entire top six, or even top five, since the chart combined its previously separate mono and stereo album charts into one all-encompassing chart in August 1963.
On the Dec. 9 chart, the Nos. 1-6 titles are: Taylor Swift’s 1989 (Taylor’s Version) (rebounding 2-1 for its third non-consecutive week in the lead); Drake’s For All the Dogs (released via OVO Sound/Republic, falling to No. 2); Swift’s Midnights (6-3); Morgan Wallen’s One Thing at a Time (Big Loud/Mercury/Republic, 5-4); and Swift’s Folklore (9-5) and Lover (8-6). (All of the top six albums have spent time at No. 1.)
For good measure, Republic has a seventh title in the current top 10, as Swift’s chart-topping Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) jumps 17-10.
Many albums on the chart, including Swift’s, see gains encouraged by retail promotions for Black Friday and holiday shopping.
Earlier in the week, it was reported that Swift, with five titles in the top 10, became the first living artist with at least five of the top 10 titles in a single week since August 1963.
Republic’s triumph with the top six adds luster to an already big year for the company, as it finished 2023 at No. 1 on Billboard’s three leading year-end label rankings: Top Labels, Billboard 200 Labels and Billboard Hot 100 Labels. It was the third year in a row Republic led all three year-end rankings.
The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.
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