What was the first album to debut at number one on the Billboard 200?
Developing out of a weekly top ten list in 1956 and then becoming an expansive top 200 list in May 1967, the Billboard 200 has seen many albums climb to its summit. Countless pop culture legends, from Paul McCartney to Barbara Streisand, have reached number one on it with studio-length efforts.
Notably, the chart is based primarily on retail and digital sales of albums in the United States. The weekly sales period was Monday to Sunday when Nielsen started tracking it in 1991; however, that all changed in July 2015. The tracking weeks start on Friday, commencing with the industry’s Global Release Day and ending the following Thursday. Beginning January 18th, 2020, Billboard updated its algorithm, using video data from YouTube and visual plays from streaming sites such as Apple Music, Spotify and Vevo. Since March 23rd, 2021, it has also pulled information from Facebook.
Many artists hold records on the Billboard 200. Paul McCartney has the most number one albums, with an eye-watering 27. Unsurprisingly, this figure includes 19 from his time with The Beatles, five with his hit 1970s project Wings, and three solo efforts. In second place is McCartney’s late songwriting partner, John Lennon, who has 22, comprised of 19 titles with The Beatles, two solo efforts, and one alongside wife Yoko Ono, Double Fantasy, released in November 1980, three weeks before his murder.
Elsewhere, Barbara Streisand is the only artist to have enjoyed a number-one album in six different decades. The inaugural one was 1964’s People, with the most recent 2016’s Encore: Movie Partners Sing Broadway, which occurred nearly 52 years apart. The best-performing album on the chart was Adele’s sleeper hit 21, which arrived in 2011 and spent 24 weeks at the top. This was longer than any album since 1985 and the longest by any female solo artist in the 200’s history.
One of the most surprising records held on the Billboard 200 is the first album to ever debut at number one. This was Elton John’s 1975 effort, Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy. An autobiographical effort tracing the early adventures of Elton John – “Captain Fantastic”, and his lyricist Bernie Taupin, the “Brown Dirt Cowboy”, the project was certified gold before it was even released and reached the top of the 200 within its first week of release. This made it the first studio effort to hold both titles.
Shipping 1.4 million units within just four days of release, the album stayed at the top of the chart for seven weeks. Naturally, John’s ensuing album, Rock of the Westies, which also arrived in 1975, debuted at number one, which was more unprecedented territory.
In another strange twist, an unlikely group would break John’s record decades later. This was none other than the boyband phenomenon One Direction, who entered the chart at number one in 2013 with their third album, Midnight Memories. Then, in 2014, their fourth studio effort, Four, debuted at the top spot, making them the first act in Billboard history to have their first four efforts debut in first.
Listen to Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy below.
