Which album has topped the charts in most different countries?
What some artists would give to top the charts. We see it every week, the pleas for sales in a bid to climb to that top spot; it’s an elite club, with very few lucky enough to be members.
One of the more common questions that we see dancing around the modern musical world is whether or not the charts actually matter anymore. There are a number of reasons why people ponder over this predicament, which results in a very different music industry that doesn’t necessarily revolve around the charts quite as much as it used to.
The first reason people question the validity of the charts in the modern age is because we don’t listen to music in the same way that we did a couple of decades ago. Previously, if you wanted to listen to music, you had to buy it. That meant buying a vinyl, a CD, or paying for a downloaded version of that piece of music. Whatever age you were listening in, the conversion rate was simple: one sale and one sale only.
In the modern age, of course, our listening habits aren’t so predictable. Sure, people still buy records, but that’s not the most common way that people listen to music. Instead, listeners opt to use streaming services such as Spotify in a bid to check out their favourite artists. This can make working out the charts a bit more difficult, and might also not be a true reflection of a song’s popularity.
Additionally, being a mainstream artist isn’t as necessary anymore. People carve out their own niches, and it’s easy for fans to engage with such a niche as they have access to it on their mobile phones. As such, an artist might have massive success selling out arenas and gaining a huge fanbase, even without their album climbing the charts.
All in all, being a chart-topping artist doesn’t matter quite as much in the modern age as it did a few decades ago; however, the validation that comes with being number one in the statistical archives, as well as the financial gain that could follow it, means a lot of artists still pine for that top spot. Every Wednesday and Thursday night, you’ll see bands and artists take to social media in a bid to beg fans to get their last-minute purchases in. Additionally, the record store tours, which are so popular these days, are done in a bid to boost record sales.
There is no secret to gaining massive record sales, but these are a couple of tactics artists have implemented to try and uncover one. It begs the question, who has been the most successful at dominating the worldwide charts and managed to achieve a number-one album in most countries? And was there a secret behind such success?
So, which album reached number one in most countries?
What is the secret condiment to achieving a number-one album? Well, you could argue it is building hype and anticipation around said album, and this could well be proven right by the artist who claims the top spot for having an album reach number one in most countries, as this feat was achieved by Kanye West (now Ye) with his record Donda. How did the rapper build anticipation for the album? By delaying its release date more times than anyone can count.
Delay after delay after delay, which apparently drew listeners into the myth of what West was cooking up that we all flocked to listen the moment it was made available. Donda currently holds the record for being number one in the most countries, as it topped the charts in 152 of them. Falling second (only just) to this record is West’s musical rival and interruptee, Taylor Swift, as her album Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) went to number one in 126 different countries.
