Longest-charting acts on the Billboard 200

[thegreatdivine]

1. The Beatles — 3,300 weeks
2. Drake — 3,211 weeks
3. Taylor Swift — 3,143 weeks
4. Eminem — 2,390 weeks
5. Michael Jackson — 2,189 weeks
6. Elton John — 2,103 weeks
7. The Rolling Stones — 2,065 weeks
8. Elvis Presley — 2,034 weeks
9. Barbra Streisand — 1,885 weeks
10. George Strait — 1,694 weeks
11. Pink Floyd — 1,678 weeks
12. Journey — 1,627 weeks
13. Fleetwood Mac — 1,628 weeks
14. Metallica — 1,587 weeks
15. The Beach Boys — 1,542 weeks
16. Tim McGraw — 1,485 weeks
17. Bob Seger — 1,462 weeks
18. Eagles — 1,441 weeks
19. Frank Sinatra — 1,428 weeks
20. The Weeknd — 1,369 weeks
21. Queen — 1,364 weeks
22. Led Zeppelin — 1,359 weeks
23. Herb Alpert — 1,359 weeks
24. Garth Brooks — 1,355 weeks
25. Alan Jackson — 1,339 weeks
26. Neil Diamond — 1,326 weeks
27. Willie Nelson — 1,323 weeks
28. Kanye West — 1,317 weeks
29. The Temptations — 1,305 weeks
30. AC/DC — 1,289 weeks
31. Rod Stewart — 1,289 weeks
32. Kendrick Lamar — 1,287 weeks
33. Guns N' Roses — 1,280 weeks
34. U2 — 1,272 weeks
35. Creedence Clearwater Revival — 1,271 weeks
36. Aerosmith — 1,213 weeks
37. Billy Joel — 1,213 weeks
38. Bruno Mars — 1,195 weeks
39. Tom Petty — 1,176 weeks
40. Bob Dylan — 1,171 weeks
41. Prince — 1,170 weeks
42. Eric Clapton — 1,156 weeks
43. Bob Marley — 1,155 weeks
44. Chicago — 1,153 weeks
45. Ed Sheeran — 1,149 weeks
46. Johnny Cash — 1,149 weeks
47. Kenny Rogers — 1,145 weeks
48. Bon Jovi — 1,143 weeks
49. Blake Shelton — 1,133 weeks
50. Adele — 1,131 weeks
51. Madonna — 1,119 weeks
52. Zac Brown Band — 1,100 weeks
53. 2Pac — 1,089 weeks
54. Future — 1,079 weeks
55. Kenny Chesney — 1,066 weeks
56. Post Malone — 1,052 weeks
57. Nirvana — 1,028 weeks
58. Toby Keith — 1,017 weeks
59. Bruce Springsteen — 1,010 weeks
60. Johnny Mathis — 1,001 weeks

Some other acts with 500+ weeks charting on the Billboard 200:
Imagine Dragons — 999 weeks
Aretha Franklin — 995 weeks
Whitney Houston — 984 weeks
Andy Williams — 981 weeks
Paul McCartney — 980 weeks
Stevie Wonder — 963 weeks
Rihanna — 955 weeks
Mariah Carey — 955 weeks
J. Cole — 947 weeks
Hall & Oates — 939 weeks
Juice WRLD — 932 weeks
Santana — 929 weeks
Diana Ross — 917 weeks
Lynyrd Skynyrd — 914 weeks
Bee Gees — 912 weeks
Neil Young — 910 weeks
Beyoncè — 907 weeks
The Supremes — 901 weeks
Chris Stapleton — 883 weeks
Linkin Park — 878 weeks
Celine Dion — 870 weeks
Jason Aldean — 868 weeks
Reba McEntire — 866 weeks
Linda Ronstadt — 861 weeks
David Bowie — 856 weeks
Luke Combs — 855 weeks
John Denver — 848 weeks
Nickelback — 846 weeks
Red Hot Chili Peppers — 846 weeks
Luke Bryan — 840 weeks
Van Morrison — 834 weeks
Phil Collins — 827 weeks
Lady Gaga — 821 weeks
Lil Wayne — 816 weeks
James Taylor — 789 weeks
Lana Del Rey — 786 weeks
Rascal Flatts — 786 weeks
Lil Uzi Vert — 783 weeks
Van Halen — 777 weeks
Justin Bieber — 762 weeks
Maroon 5 — 759 weeks
Lil Baby — 758 weeks
Billie Eilish — 757 weeks
Dave Matthews Band — 753 weeks
Travis Scott — 746 weeks
Bad Bunny — 742 weeks
Carrie Underwood — 740 weeks
Chris Brown — 735 weeks
John Mellencamp — 730 weeks
Kenny G — 729 weeks
YoungBoy Never Broke Again — 727 weeks
Simon & Garfunkel — 725 weeks
The Moody Blues — 715 weeks
XXXTentacion — 705 weeks
Foo Fighters — 705 weeks
Ariana Grande — 704 weeks
Def Leppard — 702 weeks
P!nk — 684 weeks
Michael Bublé — 675 weeks
Keith Urban — 675 weeks
Jay-Z — 652 weeks
The Who — 650 weeks
Rod Wave — 648 weeks
Ozzy Osbourne — 646 weeks
Tyler, the Creator — 643 weeks
Doobie Brothers — 643 weeks
Earth, Wind & Fire — 641 weeks
ABBA — 637 weeks
Pearl Jam — 633 weeks
Paul, Peter & Mary — 631 weeks
Morgan Wallen - 621 weeks
Katy Perry — 620 weeks
Frank Ocean — 614 weeks
Lionel Richie — 614 weeks
Bonnie Raitt — 613 weeks
The Notorious B.I.G. — 612 weeks
Michael Bolton — 611 weeks
Motley Crue — 609 weeks
Gloria Estefan — 609 weeks
Cher — 605 weeks
Twenty One Pilots — 604 weeks
Kid Rock — 601 weeks
Metro Boomin - 595 weeks
R. Kelly — 590 weeks
Five Finger Death Punch — 587 weeks
Green Day — 583 weeks
Foreigner — 583 weeks
Janet Jackson — 578 weeks
Miley Cyrus — 576 weeks
Jethro Tull — 573 weeks
Enya — 570 weeks
Coldplay — 551 weeks
Josh Groban — 534 weeks
Heart — 532 weeks
The Monkees — 507 weeks

[jdanton2]

Johnny Mathis Greatest Hits spent 490 weeks on Billboard Top 200 charts which at one time was the longest charting album ever. unfortunately it was released in 1958 before the cutoff for this list which was 1963. he along with Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra would be higher on this list if their albums before the cutoff were added.

[WolfSpear]

I’m just surprised the Beatles are that far ahead. Clearly, a large chunk of those weeks are post-Revolver. Pepper, White Album and Abbey Road along with the compilations tend to hang around for years, rightfully so. You just don’t see the same catalog action for the older albums.

Imagine if you included the Comprehensive Chart data. It would push them even further.

[thegreatdivine]

Feb 27, 2021 9:20:13 GMT -5 WolfSpear said:

I’m just surprised the Beatles are that far ahead. Clearly, a large chunk of those weeks are post-Revolver. Pepper, White Album and Abbey Road along with the compilations tend to hang around for years, rightfully so. You just don’t see the same catalog action for the older albums.

Imagine if you included the Comprehensive Chart data. It would push them even further.

Part of it is because of how many entries they have on the Billboard 200 chart (59). Another reason is how long a bunch of their albums have managed to chart for. These are their longest-charting albums:

1 - 460 weeks
Abbey Road - 400 weeks
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band- 233 weeks
The Beatles [White Album] - 215 weeks
The Beatles 1967-1970 - 182 weeks
The Beatles 1962-1966 - 175 weeks
Magical Mystery Tour (Soundtrack) - 93 weeks
Revolver - 85 weeks
Love - 84 weeks
Meet The Beatles! - 74 weeks

Those 10 albums give them 2,000 weeks exactly. Their remaining 49 albums making up the remaining 1,031 weeks.

[thegreatdivine]

The three most-impressive names on the list (for me) are Eminem, Drake and Taylor Swift. Amongst all the acts who have charted for at least 1,000 weeks, they have the fewest entries (Eminem with 11, Drake with 12 and Taylor Swift with 12).

Drake and Taylor Swift are the youngest acts who have charted for at least 1,000 weeks (Drake is 34 and Taylor Swift is 31).

Adele is also really impressive. She has 907 charted weeks with only 3 entries. If 25 had charted better, she would have crossed the 1,000-week mark and would be the artist with the fewest entries with over 1,000-weeks, something she might very well do the next time she releases an album.

[Soas]

Did not expect Five Finger Death Punch of all bands to have more weeks than Green Day, Coldplay and the Foo Fighters.

[thegreatdivine]

I've updated the OP through this week's chart.

Some observations:
- 2Pac reaches 900 charted weeks.
- The Weeknd surpasses 800 charted weeks.
- Hall & Oates (787 weeks) surpasses Beyoncè (786 weeks). Kendrick Lamar (786 weeks) and Rascal Flatts (783 weeks) are the next in line to surpass Beyoncè.

Interestingly, Justin Bieber has no albums charting currently despite his last album being released just over a year ago.

The only Adele album currently charting is 21 (released in 2011) and not 25, which was released more recently. Same thing with Born to Die (released in 2012) being the only Lana Del Rey album charting despite her having many more recent albums. Bruno Mars also has Doo-Wops and Hooligans (released in 2010) as his only album charting and not any of his more recent albums. Goes to show that fans will only continue to consume their favorite albums long-term and that it isn't easy charting on the Billboard 200 for an extended period of time. 

I also noticed that following the release of the Weeknd's greatest hits album, Beauty Behind the Madness has fallen off the Billboard 200. After Hours, the Highlights and Starboy are the 3 albums he has charting now and with Starboy dropping 84 positions in the last 2 weeks (it went from #103 three weeks ago, to #125 last week to #187 this week), it may not be charting on next week's chart. A consequence of him having a greatest hits album now is that his older albums will suffer as a result.

[HolidayGuy]

Thanks for posting this. I gather this includes soundtracks for which the act is credited, whether initially or retroactively?

Up through late 2009 or so (before catalog albums again became eligible for the Billboard 200), adding weeks charted in the catalog top 50 would be interesting. Acts like Bob Marley, Journey, etc., who have had huge catalog albums, would make big moves.

[thegreatdivine]

Mar 3, 2021 9:36:06 GMT -5 HolidayGuy said:

Thanks for posting this. I gather this includes soundtracks for which the act is credited, whether initially or retroactively?

Up through late 2009 or so (before catalog albums again became eligible for the Billboard 200), adding weeks charted in the catalog top 50 would be interesting. Acts like Bob Marley, Journey, etc., who have had huge catalog albums, would make big moves.

Yes, it includes soundtracks (if any) where the act is credited. 

[HolidayGuy]

Thanks. For instance, Whitney Houston and Madonna were not credited on the charts at the time for The Bodyguard and The Preacher's Wife, and Who's That Girl and Evita, respectively, though Billboard counts those entries among their discographies/stats.

Also- does this info go back to 1956, or does it start with 1963? Billboard often will mention 1956 for Elvis Presley stats and such.

[thegreatdivine]

I counted every album and it's respective charted weeks as it is on Billboard's website for each artist. Many acts were retroactively credited so I felt that was the best way to do it.

[thegreatdivine]

Off the top of my head, there are 2 acts I remember not being able to compile for because they didn't have artist pages on Billboard's website:

Olivia Newton-John and Bob Marley.

They're both very accomplished artists on Billboard's charts so it's surprising to me that they still don't have artist pages.

[HolidayGuy]

When Googling, there are pages for Olivia- though they're apparently broken/not working.

[thegreatdivine]

I've updated the OP.

As I expected, following the release of the Weeknd's greatest hits album, his older charting albums have suffered. Beauty Behind the Madness was the first to leave the Billboard 200 as a result and this week, Starboy leaves as well. Also, this week, After Hours is down to #163 - the lowest it's ever charted since it's release.

[kimberly]

this list is kind of misleading. I take it you're just adding the number of weeks for each project of an artist on Billboard's website. however it makes it look like Drake has been charting on BB200 since 35 years ago and Taylor Swift since 29 years ago. I wonder what the list looks like when you count weeks with multiple albums just once. (aka whose name has appeared on most published BB200 lists without considering how many appearances they had.) do you have access to that data, thegreatdivine?

[thegreatdivine]

kimberly no, I don't and there's nothing misleading about the list. It's pretty straight forward. The total number of weeks each artist's album(s) have charted on the Billboard 200 gets added and that's the total.

What's so confusing about that?

Also, why would you count weeks with multiple albums just once? So if one artist charts 25 albums in one week and another artist only charts 1 album in the same week, it counts as 1 week for both artists? Does that make a lot of sense to you because it doesn't to me. Even Billboard acknowledges when an artist charts multiple albums for a reason. The weeks matter because each album's chart run is separate and has a significance. Artists who chart multiple albums should be recognized and artists with multiple long-charting albums should have it count for something. No one else who has looked at this list has thought it meant, for example, that the Beatles have been charting for literally 3,000+ weeks. You're the first person even saying that.

[kimberly]

Mar 9, 2021 19:26:21 GMT -5 thegreatdivine said:

kimberly no, I don't and there's nothing misleading about the list. It's pretty straight forward. The total number of weeks each artist's album(s) have charted on the Billboard 200 gets added and that's the total.

What's so confusing about that?

to me, "longest-charting artist" means number of unique weeks an artist has appeared on the chart. for example, for a list of "longest-charting artists on the Hot 100," I'd include Drake's record-breaking 431-week streak of appearing on a Hot 100 list from 2009 to 2017 as 431 weeks, not 2,000+ weeks that is a sum of his individual songs' chart lives.

no need to get so defensive.

[thegreatdivine]

Mar 9, 2021 19:33:51 GMT -5 kimberly said:

Mar 9, 2021 19:26:21 GMT -5 thegreatdivine said:

kimberly no, I don't and there's nothing misleading about the list. It's pretty straight forward. The total number of weeks each artist's album(s) have charted on the Billboard 200 gets added and that's the total.

What's so confusing about that?

to me, "longest-charting artist" means number of unique weeks an artist has appeared on the chart. for example, for a list of "longest-charting artists on the Hot 100," I'd include Drake's record-breaking 431-week streak of appearing on a Hot 100 list from 2009 to 2017 as 431 weeks, not 2,000+ weeks that is a sum of his individual songs' chart lives.

no need to get so defensive.

But that makes very little sense for an album chart, no? There's no way to know the weeks an artist had 0 albums charting or not, especially over several years. Billboard doesn't account for that in any way. The only thing you can know is how many weeks each album has charted for and combining the sum total of those weeks shows how consistent certain artists are in keeping albums on the Billboard 200 since it's fairly difficult to keep an album charting for months, talk less of years. That's why Billboard acknowledges when an album hits a milestone like a year/2 years, 150/200/250/300/400/500 weeks charting on the Billboard 200.

I really just wanted to compile a list that celebrated artists whose albums have shown longevity on the Billboard 200. Sorry if the list isn't the way you expected.

[kimberly]

Mar 9, 2021 19:40:17 GMT -5 thegreatdivine said:

Mar 9, 2021 19:33:51 GMT -5 kimberly said:

to me, "longest-charting artist" means number of unique weeks an artist has appeared on the chart. for example, for a list of "longest-charting artists on the Hot 100," I'd include Drake's record-breaking 431-week streak of appearing on a Hot 100 list from 2009 to 2017 as 431 weeks, not 2,000+ weeks that is a sum of his individual songs' chart lives.

no need to get so defensive.

But that makes very little sense for an album chart, no? There's no way to know the weeks an artist had 0 albums charting or not, especially over several years. Billboard doesn't account for that in any way. The only thing you can know is how many weeks each album has charted for and combining the sum total of those weeks shows how consistent certain artists are in keeping albums on the Billboard 200 since it's fairly difficult to keep an album charting for months, talk less of years. That's why Billboard acknowledges when an album hits a milestone like a year/2 years, 150/200/250/300/400/500 weeks charting on the Billboard 200.

I really just wanted to compile a list that celebrated artists whose albums have shown longevity on the Billboard 200. Sorry if the list isn't the way you expected.

yes, that's why I asked. I'm guessing some users here might have all the weekly charts in their database and could figure out what I was expecting. there's no way to see it on the Billboard website, that's correct.

[thegreatdivine]

OP updated.

[thegreatdivine]

OP updated. Drake moves up to #4. AC/DC moves up to 35.

[thegreatdivine]

OP updated. Fleetwood Mac reaches 1,300 weeks. Zac Brown Band ties Aretha Franklin and looks like the next act to enter the 1,000 club.

[thegreatdivine]

OP updated. Billy Joel reaches 1,100 weeks. Lady Gaga reaches 650 weeks.

[thegreatdivine]

Mar 3, 2021 6:30:41 GMT -5 thegreatdivine said:

I've updated the OP through this week's chart.

Some observations:
- 2Pac reaches 900 charted weeks.
- The Weeknd surpasses 800 charted weeks.
- Hall & Oates (787 weeks) surpasses Beyoncè (786 weeks). Kendrick Lamar (786 weeks) and Rascal Flatts (783 weeks) are the next in line to surpass Beyoncè.

Interestingly, Justin Bieber has no albums charting currently despite his last album being released just over a year ago.

The only Adele album currently charting is 21 (released in 2011) and not 25, which was released more recently. Same thing with Born to Die (released in 2012) being the only Lana Del Rey album charting despite her having many more recent albums. Bruno Mars also has Doo-Wops and Hooligans (released in 2010) as his only album charting and not any of his more recent albums. Goes to show that fans will only continue to consume their favorite albums long-term and that it isn't easy charting on the Billboard 200 for an extended period of time. 

I also noticed that following the release of the Weeknd's greatest hits album, Beauty Behind the Madness has fallen off the Billboard 200. After Hours, the Highlights and Starboy are the 3 albums he has charting now and with Starboy dropping 84 positions in the last 2 weeks (it went from #103 three weeks ago, to #125 last week to #187 this week), it may not be charting on next week's chart. A consequence of him having a greatest hits album now is that his older albums will suffer as a result.

More to this point, After Hours leaves the Billboard 200 for the first time this week, leaving The Highlights as the only album by the Weeknd on the Billboard 200 this week. 

[fedep83]

I see that KENNY ROGERS is missing from the main list on the first post, according to Billboard it has 1145 weeks on the Billboard 200.

[thegreatdivine]

Apr 6, 2021 17:15:02 GMT -5 fedep83 said:

I see that KENNY ROGERS is missing from the main list on the first post, according to Billboard it has 1145 weeks on the Billboard 200.

I'm aware. I'm currently compiling a list of (extra) names with 1000+ and 500+ weeks charted on the Billboard 200. I'll make an update to the original list when I feel like I've compiled enough names.

[thegreatdivine]

OP updated. Drake crosses 1,900 weeks. For a second consecutive week, the Weeknd charts only 1 album (The Highlights) and After Hours remains out of the Billboard 200.

[thegreatdivine]

OP updated. Kenny Rogers, Dave Matthews Band, Twenty One Pilots and the Monkees added.

[thegreatdivine]

OP updated.

[thegreatdivine]

OP updated. Zac Brown Band crosses the 1,000-week mark.