Billboard 200: Chart-topping albums of 2025
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Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience.
Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Generate Key Takeaways
The Billboard 200 albums chart measures the top releases during the weekly tracking period every Friday through Thursday. While it used to be determined strictly by record sales, the ever-changing landscape of music consumption led Billboard to update its methodology for the 21st century.
In 2014, Billboard started considering multiple metrics of music success, including online streams and individual track sales, in addition to the traditional album sales that previously made up the entirety of the Billboard 200's chart determinations. An album sale currently counts as one album unit. Sales of 10 individual tracks also counts as one unit. But an artist needs 3,750 ad-supported streams or 1,250 paid subscription streams to equal one unit. Then in 2020 Billboard began counting music videos on platforms like YouTube.
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The Beatles hold the record for the most No. 1 albums with 19; they also have the most No. 1 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 with 20. But Beatles alumnus Paul McCartney has 27 top albums when you add in his solo efforts and those he recorded with his subsequent band, Wings. Jay-Z and Taylor Swift rank second with 14 No. 1 albums. Barbra Streisand is the only artist to claim the top spot in six different decades.
The big story of 2024 was Swift's latest album The Tortured Poets Department, which ended up spending 17 nonconsecutive weeks atop the list. It was ultimately named the Billboard 200 album of the year at the Billboard Music Awards, while Swift was named Billboard's top artist of the year and top Billboard 200 artist of the year. Perhaps surprisingly, Tortured Poets was the only one of the top five albums of 2024 that was actually released in 2024. Other blockbusters Zach Bryan by Zach Bryan, For All the Dogs by Drake, and Swift's own 1989 (Taylor's Version) came out in 2023, while Noah Kahan's long-lasting Stick Season dropped in 2022.
Who's making history this year? See the full list below, updating throughout 2025.
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Ken Carson, More Chaos
One week at No. 1
April 26
Rapper Ken Carson scored his first No. 1 album as More Chaos moved 59,500 equivalent album units in the United States for the week ending April 18, the majority of which came via streaming. Carson's previous two charting albums were 2023's A Great Chaos (reaching No. 11) and 2022's X (reaching No. 115).
Playboi Carti, Music
Three weeks at No. 1
March 29; April 5; April 19
Playboi Carti returned to the No. 1 slot after slipping behind Ariana Grande's Eternal Sunshine Deluxe. Music had 64,000 equivalent album units for the week ending April 10, according to Luminate. Elton John and Brandi Carlile's collaboration Who Believes in Angels? debuted at No. 9, and the vinyl release of Ethel Cain's 2022 album Preacher's Daughter sold enough to debuts at No. 10 in a slow week.
The buzzy Music became Carti's second chart-topping album, debuting on March 14 with 298,000 equivalent album sales to become the biggest rap debut of the year. Music held the position in its second week, with 131,000 in sales, to beat out the Selena Gomez-Benny Blanco collab, I Said I Love You First, which moved 120,000.
Ariana Grande, Eternal Sunshine Deluxe: Brighter Days
One week at No. 1
April 12
Ariana Grande's wicked run continues as her Eternal Sunshine Deluxe: Brighter Days ahead hit No. 1 in its first week, repeating the feat of the original version released in 2024 (it spent two weeks at No. 1). The upgraded version, which features six previously unreleased tracks and a short film, accounted for 137,000 album units. (All versions of the album are combined for tracking and charting purposes and will be aggregated as Eternal Sunshine.)
Lady Gaga, Mayhem
One week at No. 1
March 22
Lady Gaga's latest achieved 219,000 equivalent album units in its debut week. It's the seventh No. 1 album of her career, following Born This Way, Artpop, Cheek to Cheek (with Tony Bennett), Joanne, A Star Is Born, and Chromatica. It was the best week for an album by a female artist since Sabrina Carpenter's Short n' Sweet. It was also the best streaming week of Gaga's career.
Tate McRae, So Close to What
One week at No. 1
March 8
Tate McRae achieved her first ever No. 1 album on the Billboard 200. So Close to What racked up 177,000 equivalent album units, which includes personal best sales and streaming stats. That's almost triple the number achieved by her last album, Think Later, which launched at No. 4 in 2023 with 66,000 units. And her album before that, I Used to Think I Could Fly, launched at No. 13 in 2022. So she's continuing her upward career trajectory.
Drake and PartyNextDoor, $ome $exy $ongs 4 U
One week at No. 1
March 1
The chart-topping collection earned 246,000 equivalent album units for the tracking week that ended Feb. 20. It also launched two top-10 singles on the Billboard Hot 100: "Gimme a Hug" at No. 6 and "Nokia" at No. 10. This is the first No. 1 album for PartyNextDoor, but it's the 14th for Drake, which ties him with Taylor Swift and Jay-Z for the most No. 1 albums among solo artists. The Beatles lead the way among all artists with 19 chart leaders.
Kendrick Lamar, GNX
Two weeks at No. 1 in 2025 (three weeks total)
Feb. 22; March 15
Lamar returned to No. 1 with GNX for the first week since the album was released in November. It achieved 236,000 equivalent album units thanks in large part to its release on physical formats. Of course, Lamar's notoriety following his five Grammy wins and his performance at the Super Bowl halftime show contributed to his gains. Two of his earlier albums, Damn and Good Kid, M.A.A.D City, also returned to the top 10 the week GNX retook the top spot.
The Weeknd, Hurry Up Tomorrow
One week at No. 1
Feb. 15
This is the fifth No. 1 album of The Weeknd's career, following After Hours (2020), My Dear Melancholy (2018), Starboy (2016) and Beauty Behind the Madness (2015). It achieved 490,500 equivalent album units in its first week, the strongest week on the chart since Taylor Swift's The Tortured Poets Department debuted with more than two million units in 2024. The Weeknd's Billboard chart victory follows a surprise performance at the Grammys, which the artist had boycotted in response to the total shutout of his After Hours album. It was preceded by the top-10 single "Timeless" with Playboi Carti.
Bad Bunny, Debí Tirar Más Fotos
Three weeks at No. 1
Jan. 25 - Feb. 8
The album debuted on a Sunday (Jan. 5) instead of Friday as it typical for new album releases, so it only had five days of activity to measure, resulting in its No. 2 bow on the chart dated Jan. 18. But then the album jumped to No. 1 with 203,500 equivalent album units, a 67-percent jump from week-to-week. It's Bad Bunny's fourth chart-topping album, following Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana (in 2023), Un Verano Sin Ti (2022) and El Último Tour del Mundo (2020).
Lil Baby, WHAM
One week at No. 1
Jan. 18
WHAM was released Jan. 3 and became the fourth chart-topping album of Lil Baby's career, following My Turn (2020), The Voice of the Heroes with Lil Durk (2021) and It's Only Me (2022). It achieved 140,000 equivalent album units in its first week, narrowly outperforming Bad Bunny's newest collection Debí Tirar Más Fotos.
SZA,
SOS
Two weeks at No. 1 in 2025 (12 total)
Jan. 4 - Jan. 11
R&B star SZA has had blockbuster success with her second studio album SOS, which spent the entirety of its run in the top 20 from its original Dec. 9, 2022, release to its Dec. 20, 2024, deluxe reissue, subtitled Lana, which added 15 tracks to the set's preexisting 23 songs. It shot back up to the top of the chart for the first time in 22 months, giving it an 11th and 12th total week at No. 1. It's the longest-running R&B chart-topper since Whitney Houston's The Bodyguard soundtrack, which led the way for a whopping 20 weeks from 1992 to 1993.
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