Taylor Swift earns career-best 12th week at No. 1 on Billboard 200 with 'Tortured Poets Department'

By Taylor Swift Department of Tormented Poets records a 12th consecutive and overall week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 (dated July 20) — beating 1989 and Fearless (each with 11 weeks at No. 1) as her longest-running No. 1 album.

Department of Tormented Poets gained 163,000 equivalent U.S. album units in the week ended July 11 (up 43% — its first gain in seven weeks), according to Luminate. The album debuted at the top of the chart dated May 4 and has yet to reach the No. 1 spot.

Department of Tormented Poets surpasses Whitney Houston's 1987 album Whitney becoming the only album by a woman to spend the first 12 weeks at No. 1. The latter spent all 11 weeks at the top of the chart since her chart debut (June 27, 1987-chart date).

Only two other albums have spent at least their first 12 weeks at No.1: Morgan Wallen's One thing at a time (first 12 weeks at No. 1, out of a total of 19 weeks at No. 1 in 2023-24) and Stevie Wonder's Songs in the key of life (First 13 weeks at No. 1, out of a total of 14 weeks at No. 1 in 1976). (For context, today it's common for albums to debut at No. 1. However, before 1991, when the Billboard 200 began using Luminate's electronically tracked tracking information, only six albums debuted in No. 1, inclusive Whitney and Songs in the key of life.)

Also in the top 10 of the latest Billboard 200 chart, Zach Bryan's The Great American Bar Scene climbs 17-2 in first full week of tracking. Last week's chart recorded the tracking week from June 28 to July 4, and Bryan's album was released on Thursday, July 4. (Albums are usually released on Friday each week, which is the first day of the chart tracking week.)

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the US based on multimetric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units include album sales, track album equivalents (TEA) and streaming album equivalents (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale or 10 individual tracks sold from an album or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 official paid/subscription audio and video streams generated from songs from an album. The new chart dated July 20, 2024 will be posted in full on Advertising signon the user's website on July 16. For all the new charts, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.

Before Swift Department of Tormented Poetsthe last album by a woman to spend at least 12 total weeks at No.1 was by Adele 21, which won 24 non-consecutive weeks at the top in 2011-12. (Overall, the last album to spend at least 12 total weeks at No. 1 was by Morgan Wallen One thing at a time(which recorded a total of 19 weeks at No. 1 in 2023-24, the first 12 of which were consecutive from its debut week.)

The last album by a woman to have at least 12 consecutive weeks at No. 1 was Whitney Houston's soundtrack The Bodyguardwhich spent a combined 13 consecutive weeks at No. 1 (out of a total of 20 non-consecutive weeks at the top of the chart) from December 1992 to March 1993.

Swift adds to her 81st career week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, extending her record among solo artists. (Elvis Presley has the second most among soloists, with 67.) The total includes her 14 No. 1 albums. (He's tied with Jay-Z for most No. 1s among solo artists.)

Of Department of Tormented Poets163,000 units gained in the week ending July 11, album sales total 90,000 (up 154%, making it the best-selling album of the week and No. 1 on Top Albums for a sixth non-consecutive week); SEA Units consist of 72,000 (down 7%, representing 94.83 million official on-demand streams of the deluxe album's 31 songs; falls 1-2 on the Top Streaming Albums chart after 11 weeks at No. 1) and the TEA units consist of 1.00 (7% increase).

Of Swift's total album sales for the week, CD sales comprise 67,000 (up 127%), digital album download sales comprise 19,000 (up 1,266%) and vinyl sales comprise 4,000 (down 10%).

Department of Tormented PoetsThe album's weekly total was boosted in part by sales from Swift's official online store, which restocked seven previously released CD variants of the album (including a signed edition). The refreshed items were available for purchase for a few hours on Sunday, June 7th and shipped shortly thereafter. In addition, Swift released three new digital album download variants of the album on Thursday, July 11, sold exclusively at her online store for $4.99 each and available for purchase that day only. Each contained the original 16-song album tracklist, along with a bonus live acoustic track, recorded during her tour at The Eras in Stockholm (“Guilty as Sin?”, “How Did It End?” or “Peter” ).

Department of Tormented Poets also received a boost in the latter chart's tracking week thanks to activity generated by the July 8 release of two versions of the album's lead single, Post Malone's “Fortnight,” on streaming services and digital retailers: a Cults remix and an acoustic performance. (The latter was previously only available as a bonus track on a limited edition CD version of it poets.)

By Zac Bryan The Great American Bar Scene climbs 17-2 in its second week on the Billboard 200, following its first full week of activity. The set earned 137,000 equivalent album units in the week ending July 11 (up 363% from its first day). Last week's chart recorded the tracking week of June 28-July 4, and Bryan's album was released on Thursday, July 4. The set debuted on last week's list with 32,000 units from the first day of release. (Albums are usually released on Friday each week, which is the first day of the chart tracking week.)

Of The Great American Bar SceneIn the week's second chart sections, SEA units consist of 127,500 (up 390%, accounting for 163.87 million official on-demand streams of the set's 19 tracks; jumps 18-1 on Top Streaming Albums), album sales are up 8,560% (up 6 , was only available for purchase as a digital download album) and TEA units consist of 1,000 (up 113%). The album will be released on CD and vinyl on October 11th.

The album was preceded by a pair of Billboard Hot 100 chart hits: “Pink Skies” (rose to No. 6 in June) and “Purple Gas,” featuring Noeline Hofmann (No. 70).

The Great American Bar Scene marks Bryan's fourth top 10 chart effort on the Billboard 200, following Boys of faith (No. 8, October 2023) set titled (No. 1, two weeks, September 2023) and American Heart Break (No. 5, June 2022).

His former leader Morgan Wallen One thing at a time falls 2-3 with 69,000 equivalent album units earned (down 6%). By Billie Eilish Hit with hard and soft is unmoved at No. 4 with 58,000 (down 8%). and of Chappell Roan's The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess is stagnant at No. 5 with 54,000 (down 10%).

The top of Wallen's graph Dangerous: The Double album holds at No. 6 (40,000, down 8%). By Noah Kahan Stick Season up 9-7 (38,000, down 3%). by Shaboozey Where I've been is not where I'm going is unmoved at No. 8 (36,000, down 10%). and Megan Thee Stallion's Megan falls 3-9 in second week (32,000, down 50%).

Closing out the top 10 is a second Zach Bryan title as his self-titled No. 1 climbs 12-10 with nearly 32,000 equivalent album units (down 12%). It's the second time Bryan has placed two titles in the top 10. He first did so on the chart dated October 7, 2023, when his self-titled set fell 3-5 in its fifth week, while Boys of faith the project bowed out at No. 8.

Luminate, the independent data provider at Advertising sign charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used to compile the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and data authentication. In cooperation with Advertising signdata considered suspicious or unverifiable are removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.