Swift is the only woman on the list, which also includes seven male solo artists, two bands and one choral group.
Taylor Swift performs onstage during “Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour” at Rogers Centre on November 14, 2024 in Toronto, Ontario.
Emma McIntyre/TAS24/Getty Images
When Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department logged its 52nd week on the Billboard 200 a few weeks ago, it became the singer’s 15th album to remain on Billboard’s flagship album chart for a full year. Just one other act in the history of the Billboard 200 has had 15 albums that spent a full year on the chart, and no one has had more. (I could tell you who that other act is, but I’d rather have you scroll down to find out. And besides, you probably can guess.)
Eleven acts have had 10 or more albums that each logged a full year on the Billboard 200. One act on the list may surprise you. Mitch Miller & the Gang sold tons of Sing Along With Mitch albums from 1958-62. The act was rewarded with a weekly TV series that ran from 1961-64. But they became a footnote in music history the minute their TV show was canceled.
Three of the 10 acts come from the world of country music and specifically from a new wave of country stars that emerged in the early 1990s. Two of the 10 acts are from hip-hop.
Swift is the only woman on the list, which also includes seven male solo artists, two bands and one choral group (that would be the Mitch Miller ensemble).
Here are the 11 acts with 10 or more albums that each spent a full year on the Billboard 200. We show the date they made their first appearance on the Billboard 200 and tell you their five albums that had the longest runs on the chart.
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Mitch Miller & the Gang, 10
Image Credit: Alan Singer/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images Billboard 200 Debut: July 14, 1958
5 Longest-Charting Albums: Sing Along With Mitch (204 weeks), More Sing Along With Mitch (171 weeks), Still More! Sing Along With Mitch (130 weeks), Sentimental Sing Along With Mitch (107 weeks), Party Sing Along With Mitch (100 weeks)
Notes: Sing Along With Mitch was a phenomenon of its time, a hit both on the Billboard 200 and in the Nielsen ratings. (You might say it was the Glee of its era.) Mitch Miller & the Gang (not to be confused with Kool & the Gang, which came later and were considerably funkier) didn’t spend a great deal of mental energy coming up with album titles, as you can see.
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Alan Jackson, 10
Billboard 200 Debut: March 31, 1990
5 Longest-Charting Albums: A Lot About Livin’ (and a Little ’Bout Love) (122 weeks), Don’t Rock the Jukebox (118 weeks), Here in the Real World (110 weeks), The Greatest Hits Collection (104 weeks), Precious Memories (101 weeks)
Notes: Jackson was part of a new wave of country stars who arrived in 1990. He hit the Billboard 200 six weeks before the artist who is next on this list. The long chart run for Precious Memories is notable because it’s a gospel collection.
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Garth Brooks, 10
Billboard 200 Debut: May 12, 1990
5 Longest-Charting Albums: Garth Brooks (224 weeks), No Fences (224 weeks), The Ultimate Hits (138 weeks), Ropin’ the Wind (132 weeks), The Hits (110 weeks)
Notes: Brooks’ first two studio albums are tied as the longest-charting albums of his career. The first album featured “The Dance.” The second included “Friends in Low Places.”
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Tim McGraw, 11
Image Credit: Paul Natkin/Getty Images Billboard 200 Debut: April 9, 1994
5 Longest-Charting Albums: Number One Hits (278 weeks), Not a Moment Too Soon (115 weeks), Greatest Hits (106 weeks), Everywhere (104 weeks), Greatest Hits Vol 2: Reflected (92 weeks)
Notes: McGraw has had more albums that spent a year or more on the Billboard 200 than any other country artist.
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Eminem, 11
Billboard 200 Debut: March 13, 1999
5 Longest-Charting Albums: Curtain Call: The Hits (735 weeks), The Eminem Show (443 weeks), Recovery (322 weeks), The Marshall Mathers LP 2 (189 weeks), The Marshall Mathers LP (173 weeks)
Notes: Both editions of The Marshall Mathers LP rank among Eminem’s five longest-charting albums.
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Frank Sinatra, 12
Billboard 200 Debut: March 31, 1956
5 Longest-Charting Albums: Ultimate Sinatra (155 weeks), Nothing But the Best (144 weeks), Come Dance With Me! (141 weeks), Frank Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely (120 weeks), Nice ‘n’ Easy (86 weeks)
Notes: Sinatra debuted on the Billboard 200 for the first time just one week after the chart launched in the March 24, 1956 issue. But the legendary singer also had albums on surveys that predated the inception of the Billboard 200 (when the chart became a consistent weekly feature in the magazine). Come Dance With Me! brought Sinatra his first of three Grammys for album of the year.
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Aerosmith, 12
Billboard 200 Debut: Oct. 13, 1973
5 Longest-Charting Albums: Toys in the Attic (128 weeks), Pump (110 weeks), Get a Grip (92 weeks), Get Your Wings (86 weeks), Greatest Hits (85 weeks)
Notes: Aerosmith has had more albums that spent a year on more on the Billboard 200 than any other hard rock act (though the Boston-based band also released their share of power ballads and punchy pop/rock hits).
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Drake, 13
Image Credit: Prince Williams/Wireimage Billboard 200 Debut: Oct. 3, 2009
5 Longest-Charting Albums: Take Care (636 weeks), Nothing Was the Same (506 weeks), Views (469 weeks), More Life (379 weeks), Scorpion (358 weeks)
Notes: Drake has had more albums that spent a year or more on the Billboard 200 than any other hip-hop act. Of the 11 artists with 10 or more albums that each spent a full year on the chart, Drake is the most recent to make his first appearance on the Billboard 200.
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Elton John, 14
Billboard 200 Debut: Oct. 3, 1970
5 Longest-Charting Albums: Diamonds (391 weeks), Greatest Hits 1970-2002 (145 weeks), Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (111 weeks), Greatest Hits (106 weeks), Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only the Piano Player (89 weeks)
Notes: Elton John has had more albums that spent a year or more on the Billboard 200 than any other male solo artist. The double-album opus Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is widely hailed as his masterwork. Don’t Shoot Me…, his album right before Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, spawned “Crocodile Rock,” his first No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100.
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The Beatles, 15
Image Credit: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images Billboard 200 Debut: Feb. 1, 1964
5 Longest-Charting Albums: 1 (555 weeks), Abbey Road (496 weeks), Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (233 weeks), The Beatles [White Album] (215 weeks), The Beatles 1967-1970 (206 weeks)
Notes: The Beatles had more albums that spent a year or more on the Billboard 200 than any other band. Sgt. Pepper’s brought the group their only Grammy for album of the year. (They deserved more wins in that category. Take a look at their second-longest-charting album.)
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Taylor Swift, 15
Billboard 200 Debut: Nov. 11, 2006
5 Longest-Charting Albums: 1989 (519 weeks), reputation (346 weeks), Lover (298 weeks), Taylor Swift (284 weeks), Fearless (261 weeks)
Notes: Swift is the only woman with 10 or more albums that have each spent a year or more on the Billboard 200. Mariah Carey is close behind with nine such albums, followed by Madonna with eight. Fearless and 1989 brought Swift her first two (of four) Grammys for album of the year.
