In a world stuffed with albums, solely 23 have ever bought 1,000,000 or extra U.S. copies in a single week — and just one has ever carried out so greater than as soon as, a lot much less 3 times complete.
A minimum of, that’s what could be gathered since Luminate started electronically counting music gross sales in 1991, again when the information monitoring firm was generally known as SoundScan. Luminate’s gross sales, streaming and airplay measurements are what energy Billboard‘s weekly charts to this present day, together with the foremost album rating within the nation, the Billboard 200.
However which artists are a part of the elite few who’ve achieved this elusive feat? Spoiler alert: Taylor Swift, the record-setting album gross sales queen herself, is featured fairly closely on this checklist, as are a handful of well-known boy bands (and sure, that does embrace a sure British quartet whose report for many No. 1 albums of all time continues to be unbeaten greater than 50 years after breaking apart). Plus, look out for Whitney Houston’s contribution (trace: it’s the bestselling film soundtrack of all time) as properly the only real strictly nation artist to ever push a mil in every week (one other trace: he’s bought buddies in low locations).
Just one individual, nevertheless, has plowed previous a million copies greater than as soon as with the identical venture — Adele, whose 25, album of the yr winner on the 2017 Grammys, will solely ever be matched if one other report sometime sells greater than 1,000,000 weekly copies not simply twice, however three separate occasions (you could not wish to maintain your breath on that).
With that in thoughts, maintain studying to see all 25 occasions an artist has bought 1 million or extra album copies in every week under (listed in ascending order primarily based on weekly gross sales).
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Lil Wayne, ‘Tha Carter III’
Chart Date: 6/28/2008
Copies Offered: 1,006,000 -
Norah Jones, ‘Feels Like Residence’
Chart Date: 2/28/2004
Copies Offered: 1,022,000 -
Taylor Swift, ‘Communicate Now’
Chart Date: 11/13/2010
Copies Offered: 1,047,000 -
Limp Bizkit, ‘Chocolate Starfish And The Scorching Canine Flavored Water’
Chart Date: 11/4/2000
Copies Offered: 1,055,000 -
Whitney Houston, ‘The Bodyguard’
Chart Date: 1/9/1993
Copies Offered: 1,061,000 -
Garth Brooks, ‘Double Stay’
Chart Date: 12/5/1998
Copies Offered: 1,085,000 -
Usher, ‘Confessions’
Chart Date: 4/10/2004
Copies Offered: 1,096,000 -
Girl Gaga, ‘Born This Manner’
Chart Date: 6/11/2011
Copies Offered: 1,108,000 -
Adele, ’25’ (Second Time Over a Million)
Chart Date: 12/19/2015
Billboard 200 Rank That Week: No. 1
Copies Offered: 1,112,000 -
Backstreet Boys, ‘Millennium’
Chart Date: 6/5/1999
Copies Offered: 1,134,000 -
Taylor Swift, ‘Midnights’
Chart Date: 11/5/2022
Copies Offered: 1,140,000 -
50 Cent, ‘The Bloodbath’
Chart Date: 3/19/2005
Copies Offered: 1,141,000 -
Adele, ’25’ (Third Time Over a Million)
Chart Date: 1/9/2016
Billboard 200 Rank That Week: No. 1
Copies Offered: 1,158,000 -
Taylor Swift, ‘Purple’
Chart Date: 11/10/2012
Copies Offered: 1,208,000 -
Taylor Swift, ‘Popularity’
Chart Date: 12/2/2017
Copies Offered: 1,216,000 -
The Beatles, ‘1’
Chart Date: 1/6/2001
Copies Offered: 1,259,000 -
Taylor Swift, ‘1989’
Chart Date: 11/15/2014
Copies Offered: 1,287,000 -
Britney Spears, ‘Oops!…I Did It Once more’
Chart Date: 6/3/2000
Copies Offered: 1,319,000 -
Eminem, ‘The Eminem Present’
Chart Date: 6/15/2002
Copies Offered: 1,322,000 -
Taylor Swift, ‘1989 (Taylor’s Model)’
Chart Date: 11/11/2023
Copies Offered: 1,359,000 -
Backstreet Boys, ‘Black & Blue’
Chart Date: 12/9/2000
Copies Offered: 1,591,000 -
Eminem, ‘The Marshall Mathers LP’
Chart Date: 6/10/2000
Copies Offered: 1,760,000 -
*NSYNC, ‘Superstar’
Chart Date: 8/11/2001
Copies Offered: 1,878,000 -
*NSYNC, ‘No Strings Hooked up’
Chart Date: 4/8/2000
Copies Offered: 2,416,000 -
Adele, ’25’ (First Week)
Chart Date: 12/12/2015
Copies Offered: 3,378,000