Republic Records Rules Top 3 on Billboard 200 Albums Chart, Led by Drake, Florence + The Machine & Post Malone

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The last time one label had Nos. 1-3 on the tally was back on the list dated May 31, 2003. That week, Interscope Records was king with Marilyn Manson’s The Golden Age of Grotesque (Nothing/Interscope), 50 Cent’s Get Rich or Die Tryin’ (Shady/Aftermath/Interscope) and Cold’s Year of the Spider (Flip/Geffen/Interscope).

Before that, the last time a label held the top three was back in 1996, when Interscope -- again -- locked up the entire top four. On the Dec. 7, 1996, chart, Nos. 1-4 were: Bush’s Razorblade Suitcase (Trauma/Interscope), Snoop Doggy Dogg’s Tha Doggfather (Death Row/Interscope), No Doubt’s Tragic Kingdom (Trauma/Interscope) and Makaveli’s The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory (Death Row/Interscope).

It’s worth noting that since 2003, there was a label group that monopolized the top three. On Sept. 23, 2006, the Sony Music Label Group (combining Columbia Records and Epic Records' sales and distribution departments into one entity) had the top three with Beyoncé’s B’Day (Columbia/Sony Music), Audioslave’s Revelations (Interscope/Epic/Sony Music) and Bob Dylan’s Modern Times (Columbia/Sony Music). The Sony Music Label Group (which began after the Sony/BMG merger in 2004) eventually morphed into the Columbia/Epic Label Group and then dissolved in 2011, letting the two labels stand alone once again.