Morgan Wallen’s ‘One Thing at a Time’ Breaks Record for Most Weeks at No. 1 on Billboard 200 for a Country Album

Keith Caulfield
·4 min read
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Morgan Wallen’s One Thing at a Time returns to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 (dated March 16), rising 2-1, and captures a 19th nonconsecutive week atop the list, breaking the record for the most weeks at No. 1 by a country album. It surpasses Garth Brooks’ Ropin the Wind, which held the record with 18 weeks, earned nonconsecutively, during its run atop the list in 1991-92. (Country albums are defined as those that have appeared on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart. The list began in 1964.)

One Thing at a Time earned 68,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending March 7 (up less than 1%), according to Luminate.

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One Thing at a Time continues to have the most weeks at No. 1 among all albums since Adele’s 21 logged 24 nonconsecutive weeks atop the tally in 2011-12. One Thing at a Time debuted atop the chart dated March 18, 2023, and spent its first 12 weeks at No. 1 through early June. It revisited the summit for three weeks in a row last June and July, and then posted single-week runs at No. 1 in October, January and February. In the album’s 53 weeks on the list, it has never dipped below No. 6. One Thing at a Time finished 2023 as both the No. 1 year-end Billboard 200 album and Luminate’s year-end top album.

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. The new March 16, 2024-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on March 12. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.

Of One Thing at a Time’s 68,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending March 7, SEA units comprise 65,000 (down less than 1%, equaling 89.63 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs), album sales comprise 2,000 (up 15%), and TEA units comprise 1,000 (up 24%).

Since the Billboard 200 began publishing on a regular, weekly basis in March 1956, only 12 albums have spent at least 19 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. Here’s a recap.

Most Weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200:
Weeks at No. 1, Title, Artist, Year(s)
54, West Side Story, soundtrack, 1962-63)
37, Thriller, Michael Jackson, 1983-84
31, Rumours, Fleetwood Mac, 1977
31, South Pacific, soundtrack, 1958-59
31, Calypso, Harry Belafonte, 1956-57
24, 21, Adele, 2011-12
24, Purple Rain, soundtrack, Prince and The Revolution, 1984-85
24, Saturday Night Fever, soundtrack, 1978
21, Please Hammer Don’t Hurt ‘Em, M.C. Hammer, 1990
20, The Bodyguard, Whitney Houston/soundtrack, 1992-93
20, Blue Hawaii, Elvis Presley/soundtrack, 1961-62
19, One Thing at a Time, Morgan Wallen, 2023-24

At No. 2 on the new Billboard 200, Noah Kahan’s Stick Season hits a new peak, rising 4-2 with 53,000 equivalent album units earned (down 8%). The album previously topped out at No. 3 on the June 24, 2023-dated list, and returned to that rank on the Feb. 24, 2024, tally.

The rest of the top 10 consists of former No. 1s. Ye (formerly known as Kanye West) and Ty Dolla $ign’s Vultures 1 is a non-mover at No. 3 with nearly 53,000 equivalent album units earned (down 18%), SZA’s SOS rises 5-4 (50,000 units; down 1%) and Drake’s For All the Dogs rounds out the top five, climbing 6-5 (42,000; down 4%).

Taylor Swift’s 1989 (Taylor’s Version) steps 7-6 (39,000 equivalent album units earned; down 5%), Swift’s Lover bumps 9-7 (38,000; down 3%) and Zach Bryan’s self-titled set rallies 12-8 (38,000; up 3%). Wallen’s Dangerous: The Double Album ascends 11-9 with nearly 38,000 units (up 1%), for its 138th nonconsecutive week in the top 10. It extends its record for the most weeks in the top 10 among albums by a singular artist. The only album with more weeks in the top 10 is the original cast recording of My Fair Lady, with 173 weeks in the region, beginning in 1956.

Closing out the top 10 on the new Billboard 200 is Travis Scott’s Utopia, which jumps 17-10 with 36,000 equivalent album units earned (up 12%).

Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.

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