As any musician knows, it’s a tough task to score a top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. The feat requires some blend of the following key ingredients: a strong song; a charismatic artist; consistent promotion and marketing effort,; an engaged fan base; and maybe even a viral live performance, meme or other stroke of luck. To rise (and stay) at the top of the game, then, demands a consistency that few artists ever achieve. But when an artist catches fire, they can run off a string of hits in rapid succession.
To celebrate those artists, Billboard compiled a roll call of artists who cemented their pop dominance by landing five or more top 10 hits from a single album. Not only does such a feat rely on the same qualities listed above, but for an album to sustain, it needs to recreate those moments for a mass audience over the course of months.
It should come as little surprise, then, that the first album to house five top 10s was Michael Jackson’s Thriller, the best-selling album of all time. Since then, 30 albums have followed in the legendary LP’s footsteps. At the time, Jackson set a high of seven top 10s from one album, a mark later matched by Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the USA (1984-85), Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation 1814 (1989-91) and Drake’s Scorpion (2018) for the highest total from any set, before Drake’s Certified Lover Boy scored nine top 10 successes in 2021, and Taylor Swift’s Midnights upped the record to 10 in 2022.
Check out our rundown of albums that have produced five or more top 10 hits on the Hot 100. The who’s-who covers a cross-section of genres, including pop, rock, R&B and hip-hop and includes superstars such as Bon Jovi, Whitney Houston and Katy Perry.
(Note that this list only covers original editions of albums, though three albums – Usher’s Confessions (2004), Rihanna’s Good Girl Gone Bad and Taylor Swift’s Fearless – did accomplish five top 10s through deluxe editions and reissues.)
Michael Jackson, ‘Thriller,’ 1982-84
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Jackson had already become the first solo artist to earn four Hot 100 top 10s from an album with Off the Wall, but follow-up Thriller nearly doubled its output. Jackson’s magnum opus landed a groundbreaking seven top 10s during its 1982-84 heyday, including two No. 1 classics.
Top 10s: “The Girl Is Mine” (with Paul McCartney), No. 2; “Billie Jean,” No. 1 (seven weeks); “Beat It,” No. 1 (three weeks); “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’,” No. 5; “Human Nature,” No. 7; “P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing),” No. 10; “Thriller,” No. 4
Lionel Richie, ‘Can’t Slow Down,’ 1983-84
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While the boy band’s 1986 self-titled debut album went largely unnoticed (at first), sophomore album Hangin’ Tough soared, as the Boston quintet became the first teen act to earn five Hot 100 top 10 hits from an album. (The act’s debut, meanwhile, rebounded to reach No. 25 on the Billboard 200 in 1989.)
Top 10s: “Please Don’t Go Girl,” No. 10; “You Got It (The Right Stuff),” No. 3; “I’ll Be Loving You (Forever),” No. 1 (one week); “Hangin’ Tough,” No. 1 (one week); “Cover Girl,” No. 2
Bon Jovi, ‘New Jersey,’ 1988-89
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Rockers Bon Jovi followed the success of Slippery When Wet with this album, whose title serves as a tribute to their home state. Like its predecessor, New Jersey contained two tickets to No. 1 on the Hot 100, in “Bad Medicine” and “I’ll Be There for You.”
Top 10s: “Bad Medicine,” No. 1 (two weeks); “Born to Be My Baby,” No. 3; “I’ll Be There for You,” No. 1 (one week); “Lay Your Hands on Me,” No. 7; “Living in Sin,” No. 9
Bobby Brown, ‘Don’t Be Cruel,’ 1988-89
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Before an infamous lip-sync scandal revealed that Milli Vanilli never sang on its album, duo Fabrice Morvan and Rob Pilatus scored five hit singles. Girl’s success led to a best new artist Grammy, although it was later revoked after the controversy.
Top 10s: “Girl You Know It’s True,” No. 2; “Baby Don’t Forget My Number,” No. 1 (one week); “Girl I’m Gonna Miss You,” No. 1 (two weeks); “Blame It on the Rain,” No. 1 (two weeks); “All or Nothing,” No. 5
Janet Jackson, ‘Rhythm Nation 1814,’ 1989-91
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After Janet’s fourth album tied the record of seven top 10s set by brother Michael and Bruce Springsteen, she surpassed them: Each of this set’s singles reached the top five, an achievement still unmatched. She may have extended her record to eight, as “State of the World” was a top five airplay hit in 1991, but the song was never released as a commercially available single and was therefore ineligible to chart on the Hot 100 under chart rules at the time.
Top 10s: “Miss You Much,” No. 1 (four weeks); “Rhythm Nation,” No. 2; “Escapade,” No. 1 (three weeks); “Alright,” No. 4; “Come Back to Me,” No. 2; “Black Cat,” No. 1 (one week); “Love Will Never Do (Without You),” No. 1 (one week)
Janet Jackson, ‘janet.,’ 1993-94
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For her next move, Janet pulled a hat trick. Six top 10s from janet. made the pop/R&B superstar the first act to notch five or more top 10 hits from three albums. Of her last 19 Hot 100 entries over the three sets, only one (“The Pleasure Principle”) missed the top 10 (and it still rose to No. 14).
Top 10s: “That’s the Way Love Goes,” No. 1 (eight weeks); “If,” No. 4; “Again,” No. 1 (two weeks); “Because of Love,” No. 10; “Any Time, Any Place”/”And On and On,” No. 2; “You Want This”/”70’s Love Groove,” No. 8
‘Waiting to Exhale’ Soundtrack, 1995-96
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It’s fitting that the soundtrack to a film rooted in sisterhood required multiple women to gather a quintet of top 10 hits. Houston, in her first release since 1992’s The Bodyguard, provided two (one with CeCe Winans), while Brandy, Mary J. Blige and Toni Braxton added one each. (The album’s “Let It Flow” by Braxton was originally included on the soundtrack and later released as a double-sided single with “You’re Makin’ Me High,” from Braxton’s album Secrets.)
Top 10s: Whitney Houston: “Exhale (Shoop Shoop),” No. 1 (one week); “Count on Me” (with CeCe Winans), No. 8; Mary J. Blige: “Not Gon Cry,” No. 2; Brandy: “Sittin’ Up in My Room,” No. 2; Toni Braxton: “Let It Flow,” No. 1 (one week)
Fergie, ‘The Dutchess,’ 2006-08
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Fergie was no stranger to hits as one-fourth of the Black Eyed Peas, and that attention heled her Fergalicious debut solo set The Dutchess make her chart royalty on her own.
Fergie’s solo success must have sparked magic in the Black Eyed Peas camp, as the group’s next project equaled her solo run of five top 10s. “Boom Boom Pow” and “I Gotta Feeling” locked up the No. 1 on the Hot 100 for 12 and 14 weeks, respectively, making the Peas’ the first act to command the top slot for 26 straight weeks, or half of 2009.
Talk about a dream come true. For 23 years, no artist had matched Michael Jackson’s record of five No. 1s from a single album (Bad). Until Katy Perry. With “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.),” Teenage Dream became the first set by a female to house five chart-topping hits. (The set’s deluxe release edition, Teenage Dream: The Complete Confection, launched two more top 10s: “Part of Me” and “Wide Awake.”)
Top 10s: “California Gurls” (featuring Snoop Dogg), No. 1 (six weeks); “Teenage Dream,” No. 1 (two weeks); “Firework,” No. 1 (four weeks); “E.T.” (featuring Kanye West), No. 1 (five weeks); “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.),” No. 1 (two weeks); “The One That Got Away,” No. 3
Taylor Swift, ‘1989,’ 2014-15
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The now-pop superstar became only the second woman, after Janet Jackson, to double up in this club, thanks to her blockbuster 1989 album.
Drake’s Scorpion became only the fourth album – and first in 27 years – to produce seven Hot 100 top 10s. Upon its arrival, the set’s record-breaking streaming start of 745.9 million on-demand audio streams of its songs in its debut week, according to Nielsen Music, spurred five new top 10s to join two others already in the tier. With seven tracks in the top 10 at once, Drake unseated The Beatles as the act with the most simultaneous top 10 hits, a record the Fab Four had held since 1964.
Top 10s: “God’s Plan,” No. 1 (11 weeks); “In My Feelings” (No. 1, 10 weeks); “Nice for What,” No. 1 (eight weeks); “Nonstop” (No. 2); “I’m Upset,” (No. 7); “Emotionless” (No. 8); “Don’t Matter to Me” (featuring Michael Jackson; No. 9)
Post Malone, ‘Hollywood’s Bleeding,’ 2019
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As with Drake, streaming giant Post Malone gained entry into the five top-10s club with his third album, Hollywood’s Bleeding. Beyond the wild streaming success almost expected of the album, the tracklist capitalizes on an array of sounds: It includes his pop and hip-hop fare, but also expanded his alternative and rock palate through such hits as “Allergic” and “Take What You Want,” the latter of which features Ozzy Osbourne, as well as Travis Scott.
Top 10s: “Sunflower (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse)” (with Swae Lee; No. 1, one week); “Circles” (No. 1, three weeks); “Wow.” (No. 2); “Goodbyes” (featuring Young Thug; No. 3); “Take What You Want” (featuring Ozzy Osbourne and Travis Scott; No. 8)
Juice WRLD, ‘Legends Never Die,’ 2020
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Chicago rapper/singer Juice WRLD etched his name on this landmark list as fans rallied around the artist’s first posthomous release after his death in December 2019. Friends and collabators Marshmello, Halsey and others lend their talents to the album, which crisscosses hip-hop, pop and alternative rock.
Top 10s: “Come & Go” (with Marshmello, No. 2), “Wishing Well” (No. 5), “Conversations” (No. 7), “Life’s A Mess” (with Halsey, No. 9), “Hate The Other Side” (with Marshmello, featuring The Kid Laroi and Polo G, No. 10)
A sixth top 10, “Smile,” (with The Weekend, No. 6) added to album after initial release.
J. Cole, ‘The Off-Season,’ 2021
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A three-year wait between studio albums didn’t weaken any enthusiasm among the rapper’s dedicated base, who rallied after the album was announced with just a couple weeks’ notice, and scored his sixth No. 1 set as a result.
Top 10s: “interlude” (No. 8), “my.life,” with 21 Savage and Morray (No. 2), “amari” (No. 5), “pride.is.the.devil,” with Lil Baby (No. 7), “95.south” (No. 8)
Drake, ‘Certified Lover Boy,’ 2021
Image Credit: Courtesy of Republic Records
Following Scorpion and its seven top 10s would be a tough task for any artist, but leave it to Drake to outdo his own success. Despite several false stars, his 2021 set only re…certified his streaming dominance, leading a parade of songs onto the Hot 100, including nine of the chart’s top 10 simultaneously.
Top 10s: “Way 2 Sexy,” featuring Future and Young Thug (No. 1), “Girls Want Girls,” featuring Lil Baby (No. 2), “Fair Trade,” featuring Travis Scott (No. 3), “Champagne Poetry” (No. 4), “Knife Talk,” featuring 21 Savage and Project Pat (No. 4), “In the Bible,” featuring Lil Durk and Giveon (No. 7), “Papi’s Home” (No. 8), “TSU” (No. 9) and “Love All,” featuring Jay-Z (No. 10)
Taylor Swift, ‘Midnights,’ 2022
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Taylor Swift became only the second woman (after Janet Jackson) to join the 5+ club with multiple albums thanks to her 2022 album, Midnights. The blockbuster, though, set new bars for every artist: With 10 top 10s, it reset the record for the most top 10 Hot 100 hits from any album, and – even more – all 10 hits occurred in the same week, the first Hot 100 top 10 shutout in history.
Top 10s: “Anti-Hero” (No. 1, eight weeks), “Lavender Haze” (No. 2), “Karma,” featuring Ice Spice (No. 2), “Maroon” (No. 3), “Snow by the Beach” (No. 4), “Midnight Rain” (No. 5), “Bejeweled” (No. 6), “Question…?” (No. 7), “You’re on Your Own, Kid” (No. 8), “Vigilante Shit” (No. 10)
Drake & 21 Savage, ‘Her Loss,’ 2022
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A top 10 collaboration in 2021 (“Knife Talk”) and a Hot 100 champ the following year (“Jimmy Cooks”) foretold the collective might of Drake and 21 Savage ahead of the pair’s joint album, Her Loss. The streaming juggernaut – as is the case with virtually every Drake LP – sparked eight total top 10s: seven for the pair together and another standalone success (“BackOutsideBoyz”) for Drake.
Image Credit: Courtesy of Big Loud/Mercury Records/Republic Records
After his 2021 album, Dangerous: The Double Album, went on a historic tear – breaking the record for the most weeks at No. 1 on the Top Country Albums chart and earning the second-most top 10 weeks on the Billboard 200 as just two highlights – his follow-up, One Thing at a Time, was always going to be an event. It indeed expanded the country superstar’s reign, with “Last Night” a standout as a rare country Hot 100 champ in the 21st century.
Top 10s: “Last Night” (No. 1, 16 weeks), “You Proof” (No. 5), “Don’t Think Jesus” (No. 7), “Thought You Should Know” (No. 7), “Thinkin’ Bout Me” (No. 9), “One Thing at a Time” (No. 10)
SZA, ‘SOS,’ 2022-23
Image Credit: Courtesy of RCA Records
After SZA’s meteoric Ctrl breakthrough, the buzz for a follow-up grew each passing year, with flickers of hope from singles such as “Good Days” and “I Hate U” only swelling anticipation. When the long-awaited SOS arrived in December 2022, it not only met, but blew beyond commercial expectations, with 10 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and five top 10 singles spread out over more than two years. The era solidified her standing atop the R&B market, with SOS the genre’s first album to produce five top 10 hits in 30 years.
Top 10s: “Kill Bill” (No. 1, one week), “I Hate U” (No. 7), “Good Days” (No. 9), “Nobody Gets Me” (No. 10), “Snooze” (No. 10)
