SWEET 16: As previously reported, Adele‘s “21” tops the Billboard 200 album chart for a 16th week, marking the survey’s longest reign since the “Titanic” soundtrack also led for 16 frames in 1998.
Since the chart began appearing in each issue of Billboard magazine the week of March 24, 1956, just 20 albums have spent as many as 16 weeks at No. 1.
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Here is a look at the elite albums boasting the longest Billboard 200 commands in that span (a list in which Vanilla Ice ranks back-to-back with Andy Williams).
Weeks at No. 1, Title, Artist, Peak Year
54, “West Side Story” soundtrack, 1962
The Leonard Bernstein/Stephen Sondheim songbook infuses the album that includes such standards as “America,” “I Feel Pretty” and “Somewhere.” (The figure of 54 weeks at No. 1 combines the set’s time atop separate stereo and mono LP charts before the Billboard 200 became a singular ranking the week of Aug. 17, 1963).
37, “Thriller,” Michael Jackson, 1983
The set that vaulted Jackson to everlasting superstar status became the first to yield seven Billboard Hot 100 top 10s. At 29-times Platinum, “Thriller” is tied with the Eagles’ “Their Greatest Hits 1971-75” for the most certifications, according to the RIAA.
31, “Rumours,” Fleetwood Mac, 1977
As “Wayne’s World”‘s Mike Myers (in character) once joked about the opus, “I think if you lived in the suburbs, they just issued it to you, man.”
31, “South Pacific” soundtrack, 1958
31, “Calypso,” Harry Belafonte, 1956
24, “Purple Rain,” Prince and the Revolution/soundtrack, 1984
24, “Saturday Night Fever” soundtrack, 1978
A collection that defines the disco era, the soundtrack became the first of nine albums ever to generate four Hot 100 No. 1s: the Bee Gees’ “How Deep Is Your Love,” “Stayin’ Alive” and “Night Fever” and the Bee Gees-penned Yvonne Elliman dance ballad “If I Can’t Have You.”
21, “Please Hammer Don’t Hurt ‘Em,” M.C. Hammer, 1990
20, “The Bodyguard,” Whitney Houston/soundtrack, 1992
20, “Blue Hawaii,” Elvis Presley/soundtrack, 1961
18, “Ropin’ the Wind,” Garth Brooks, 1991
Brooks spearheaded country’s early ’90s popularity boom, thanks in part to this set that included the Country Songs No. 1 “The River” (which Scotty McCreery sang last year en route to his coronation on “American Idol”). With career U.S. album sales of 68.6 million, Brooks is the best-selling album artist dating to the 1991 advent of Nielsen SoundScan data.
18, “Dirty Dancing,” soundtrack, 1987
18, “More of the Monkees,” the Monkees, 1967
17, “Some Gave All,” Billy Ray Cyrus, 1992
The album, which introduced the signature line-dancing anthem “Achy Breaky Heart,” spent its last week at No. 1 the week of Oct. 3, 1992. A month later, Cyrus welcomed daughter Destiny Hope – aka, “Miley.”
17, “Synchronicity,” the Police, 1983
16, “21,” Adele, 2011
Should “Set Fire to the Rain,” which pushes 4-2 on the Hot 100 this week, reach No. 1 while “21” is atop the Billboard 200, the album would become the first to sport three Hot 100 toppers that reigned while their parent sets led the Billboard 200. “Rolling in the Deep” and “Someone Like You” previously dominated the Hot 100 while “21” ruled the album tally.
16, “Titanic” soundtrack, 1998
16, “To the Extreme,” Vanilla Ice, 1990
16, “Days of Wine and Roses,” Andy Williams, 1963
16, “The Sound of Music,” original cast, 1960
A VERY GOOD YEAR (AND TWO WEEKS): As Adele’s “21” logs a momentous 16th week atop the Billboard 200, the album’s “Rolling in the Deep,” the top Hot 100 title of 2011, makes its own headlines.
Dipping 36-40, “Deep” remains on the Hot 100 for a 54th week to become the longest-charting No. 1 song of any year. The song bests the 53-week Hot 100 residence of Faith Hill‘s “Breathe,” Billboard’s top single of 2000.
CHART INK: Van Halen‘s reunion single with longtime (but longtime gone) lead singer David Lee Roth, “Tattoo,” soars onto an array of Billboard charts after its first week of availability.
The song previews the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame band’s Feb. 7 album “A Different Kind of Truth,” its first with Roth since “1984.” The latter set, which has sold 10 million albums, according to the RIAA, debuted on the Billboard 200 the week of Jan. 28, 1984. Coincidentally, this week’s charts are dated Jan. 28, 2012.
“Tattoo” begins at No. 67 on the Hot 100, where it’s the group’s 23rd entry and first since 1995. (Doubly coincidental, Van Halen first appeared on the chart in the Jan. 28, 1978, issue). “Tattoo” launches at No. 1 on Hard Rock Digital Songs with 34,000 downloads sold, according to SoundScan, and No. 16 on Rock Songs with 4.6 million first-week audience impressions on 78 stations, according to Nielsen BDS.
The buzz of Van Halen’s return renews interest in the group’s sole Hot 100 leader, its 1984 (and “1984”) hit “Jump,” which re-enters Hard Rock Digital Songs at No. 11 (7,000 downloads, up 97%).
QUEEN’S BOW: The legendary Queen of Soul debuts her first song on R&B/Hip-Hop Songs in four years, as Aretha Franklin‘s “How Long I’ve Been Waiting” debuts at No. 93.
How long has Franklin been charting on the survey? The track extends her chart span to 51 years and three months, dating to her introduction the week of Oct. 24, 1960, with the No. 10-peaking “Today I Sing the Blues.”
The newly-engaged Franklin has sent 20 titles to No. 1 on R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, a sum that ties her with Stevie Wonder for the top total in the chart’s archives. She first reigned with “I Never Loved a Man (the Way I Love You)” for seven weeks in 1967 and most recently led with “Freeway of Love” (two weeks, 1985).
Franklin’s Otis Redding-penned signature song “Respect” represents her longest penthouse residence (eight weeks, 1968).
VOICES CARRY: R&B radio also welcomes back one the ’90s’ most notable vocal groups.
After a 14-year hiatus from the Adult R&B airplay chart, SWV – Sisters With Voices – returns with “Co-Sign” at No. 36. The song previews the reunited trio’s upcoming as-yet-untitled first album for the eOne label.
SWV – Coko (Cheryl Gamble), Lelee (Leanne Lyons) and Taj (Tamara Johnson-George) – logged nine titles on Adult R&B, including the No. 5 hits “Right Here (Human Nature)” and “Anything,” in 1993-98.
During the group’s lull, Johnson-George apparently missed the sense of competition that jockeying for weekly chart positions elicits. In 2009, she challenged herself to outwit, outplay and outlast her tribe mates on CBS’ “Survivor: Tocantins.”
In what could hardly be called a “weak” performance, she finished fourth.