Morgan Wallen’s ‘One Thing at a Time’ Spends 10th Week at No. 1 on Billboard 200
Written by djfrosty on May 14, 2023
Morgan Wallen’s One Thing at a Time logs a 10th consecutive, and total, week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart (dated May 20). The album bowed at No. 1 on the chart dated March 18 and has yet to depart the top slot. It equals the No. 1 run of Wallen’s last release, Dangerous: The Double Album, which also spent its first 10 weeks at No. 1 (Jan. 23-March 27, 2021-dated charts).
One Thing at a Time earned 141,000 equivalent album units in the United States in the week ending May 11 (up 2%), according to Luminate.
As One Thing at a Time holds at No. 1, Wallen becomes the first male soloist to spend 10 weeks at No. 1 with back-to-back full-length albums, since the Billboard 200 began publishing on a regular, weekly basis in March of 1956. Only five acts — including Wallen — have notched consecutive No. 1s that ruled for at least 10 weeks. Wallen joins Adele (25, 10 weeks, 2015-16 and 21, 24 weeks, 2011-12), Whitney Houston (Whitney, 11 weeks, 1987 and her self-titled album, 14 weeks, 1986), The Monkees (More of the Monkees, 18 weeks, 1967 and its self-titled album, 13 weeks 1966-67) and The Kingston Trio (String Along, 10 weeks, 1960 and Sold Out, 12 weeks, 1960).
Wallen is now the third solo male artist overall to have at least two albums spend 10 or more weeks at No. 1 each. He joins Elvis Presley and Henry Mancini. The former did it four times with his self-titled album (10 weeks in 1956) and the soundtracks for Loving You (10, 1957), G.I. Blues (10, 1960-61) and Blue Hawaii (20, 1961-62) and the latter did so twice, with the soundtracks The Music From Peter Gunn (10, 1959) and Breakfast at Tiffany’s (12, 1962).
Further, Wallen becomes the only act with at least two country albums to have spent 10 or more weeks at No. 1. (Country albums are those that have charted on, or are eligible for, Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart.)
In total, nine acts — including Wallen — have at least two albums that have spent at least 10 weeks at No. 1. Wallen is now among elite company, standing alongside only The Beatles, Presley (four such albums each); Houston, The Kingston Trio (three each); Adele, Mancini, The Monkees and Taylor Swift (two each).
Also in the top 10 of the new Billboard 200, Ed Sheeran achieves his sixth top 10-charting effort as his new studio set, pronounced Subtract, starts at No. 2, while Korean girl group LE SSERAFIM notches its first top 10 (and second chart entry) with the No. 6 bow of Unforgiven.
The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new May 20, 2023-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on May 16. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
Of One Thing at a Time’s 141,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending May 11, SEA units comprise 134,000 (up 3%, equaling 179.33 million on-demand official streams of the set’s 36 songs), album sales comprise 5,000 (down 6%) and TEA units comprise 2,000 (down 5%).
Sheeran collects his sixth top 10-charting effort on the Billboard 200 as his latest studio album, – (Subtract), debuts at No. 2. The set starts with 112,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, album sales comprise 81,000 (making it the top-selling album of the week), SEA units comprise 29,000 (equaling 38.43 million on-demand official streams of the set’s tracks) and TEA units comprise 2,000.
The album was preceded by its lead single “Eyes Closed,” which debuted and has so far peaked at No. 26 on the Billboard Hot 100 dated April 8. Sheeran’s last three albums (Equals, No. 6 Collaborations Project and Multiply) were each led by top 10-charting singles before the sets dropped: “Bad Habits” (No. 2), “I Don’t Care,” with Justin Bieber (No. 2) and the dual lead singles off Multiply, “Shape of You” (No. 1) and “Castle on the Hill” (No. 6).
Subtract marks Sheeran’s biggest sales week since 2017, thus larger than any week posted by Sheeran’s last two albums (Equals and No. 6 Collaborations Project). Subtract also nets 10th-largest sales week of 2023 for any album, and the fifth-largest for a non-K-pop title.
Subtract’s sales were aided by its availability in both a standard 14-track and 18-track edition (digital download, CD and vinyl). The set was also available in nine vinyl variants (including exclusives for Amazon, Barnes & Noble, independent record stores, Target, Urban Outfitters and Walmart) and multiple CD iterations in collectible packages (including a signed CD, a version with a lenticular cover, a “textured sand” cover and a “Zine” CD package).
A trio of former No. 1s is next on the Billboard 200, as Taylor Swift’s Midnights is a non-mover at No. 3 (60,000 equivalent album units; up 4%), SZA’s SOS is stationary at No. 4 (54,000; down 4%) and Wallen’s Dangerous is steady at No. 5 (49,000; up 4%).
LE SSERAFIM debuts at No. 6 with Unforgiven, marking its first top 10 and second charting effort on the Billboard 200. The Korean pop girl group’s album enters the chart with 45,000 equivalent album units earned (up 691%). Of that sum, 38,500 comprise album sales, 6,500 comprise SEA units (equaling 9.04 million on-demand official streams of the set’s 13 tracks) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum.
The album was released to digital retailers and streaming services on May 1, and earned 6,000 equivalent album units in the week ending May 4 (not enough to debut on the Billboard 200). The set debuts on the chart following the release of its CD edition on May 5.
Like many K-pop releases, the CD edition of Unforgiven was issued in collectible CD packages (11 total, including exclusives for Target, Walmart and the Weverse webstore), each containing a standard set of bonus items and randomized photocards. Effectively all of Unforgiven’s first-week album sales were CDs, with a negligible sum generated by digital download album sales. The set was not available in any other retail format (such as vinyl or cassette).
While LE SSERAFIM has yet to chart on the Billboard Hot 100, the album’s title track — with Nile Rodgers — debuted at No. 61 on the Billboard Global 200 and No. 39 on the Global 200 Excluding U.S. chart (both dated May 13).
Swift’s chart-topping Lover rises 10-7 on the Billboard 200 (37,000 equivalent album units earned; up 8%), Bad Bunny’s former leader Un Verano Sin Ti jumps back to the top 10, climbing 11-8 (36,000; up 8%), Luke Combs’ Gettin’ Old falls 7-9 (nearly 36,000; down 3%) and Metro Boomin’s former No. 1 Heroes & Villains dips 9-10 (34,000; down 1%).
Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.