Billie Eilish Beats Out Ariana Grande for Rolling Stone's Top Album of 2019 with Debut Release
Rolling Stone announced Friday that Billie Eilish's debut album "When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?" took the number spot on the publication's "Top 200 Albums of 2019" list.
Many fans appreciate the album for its top songs like "Bad Guy" and "Bury a Friend."
Her album's success skyrocketed the 18-year-old singer into the coveted ranks of typical chart-toppers like Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande and Post Malone.
Rolling Stone's annual assessment takes into consideration the number of album sales, streams and individual song sales when making the top albums list.
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The album was produced in her bedroom with the help of her brother Finneas.
While it's already surprising Billie Eilish took the top spot as a newcomer, it's even more impressive considering the album's raw home-grown construction.
Billie produced the entire album with some help from her older brother Finneas O'Connell, using his bedroom acoustics in lieu of a typical studio.
"People have put a lot of emphasis on that room as part of our lineage," O'Connell told Prosound News, continuing, "It was lovely to make an album there, but I think it's really important to work wherever you are, or wherever you have your tools."
Billie Eilish fans keep vinyl records alive.
Another curious feature of Billie Eilish sales in 2019 was her high percentage of vinyl sales.
While many people may consider records a thing of the past, Billie Eilish fans prove the old-fashioned way to listen to music isn't out of style just quite yet.
Rolling Stone explains Billie's debut album sold 112,798 vinyl records in 2019. The second highest was The Beatles album "Abbey Road," which sold 101,024 vinyl records in 2019.
The increase in record sales also reflects a trend growing since 2017, where vinyl began to resurge as the new generation garnered appreciation for its sound quality and value.
The last artist to debut at number one was 50 Cent back in 2003.
Rolling Stone also pointed out 50 Cent was the last artist to reach the top of their annual chart with a debut album. And that was back in 2003.
50 Cent's debut "Get Rich or Die Tryin'" album featured songs like "In Da Club" and "21 Questions."
In recent years, the top spot has gone to artists who were already in the game for a few years.
Cardi B's third album "Invasion of Privacy" took the number one spot in 2018, while Kendrick Lamar's fourth album "Damn" was the top album of 2017.
Who else made the Top 200 chart for 2019?
This year, Billie Eilish beat talented chart-topping regulars like Ariana Grande, Taylor Swift and Post Malone.
Ariana Grande received the second spot for her album "Thank U, Next," while T. Swift came in at number three for her album "Lover."
Impressively Post Malone took both the fourth and fifth spots for his albums "Hollywood's Bleeding" and "Beerbongs & Bentleys."
Despite Billie beating Post Malone for the top album spot, he heavily outranked her in the streams category. His overall streams came in at 3.17 billion, while Billie came in next at 2.36 billion streams.
