Top Country Albums
Designed by Lyanne Natividad
Morgan Wallen’s One Thing at a Time logs its 48th week at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart (dated May 25), which ups Wallen’s career tally of weeks at No. 1 to 147 – a total topped by only one artist in the chart’s more than 60-year history. You can probably guess who it is, but we’re going to make you scroll through the list to find out for sure.
Wallen’s achievement is especially impressive because he has amassed this hefty total of weeks at No. 1 in such a short amount of time: He first topped the chart on Aug. 15, 2020.
Top Country Albums originated as Hot Country Albums in the Jan. 11, 1964 issue of Billboard. Johnny Cash’s Ring of Fire (The Best of Johnny Cash) headed the inaugural chart. The compilation was well-timed: “Ring of Fire” had headed Hot Country Songs for seven weeks the previous summer and had crossed over to reach the top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The chart was named Hot Country LP’s from 1968 to 1984, when vinyl LPs were king.
Twenty-one artists have logged 50 or more weeks at No. 1 on Top Country Albums. Male solo artists dominate, as you might expect, though three female solo artists have achieved the feat, as have two groups. (One of those groups is an all-female group.) Only one Black artist has amassed 50 or more weeks at No. 1, though that may change as country becomes more inclusive.
Here’s a look at all artists who have topped Top Country Albums for 50 or more weeks.
-
Kenny Chesney (50 weeks)
Image Credit: J.Sciulli/WireImage for CMT: Country Music Television/Getty Images -
LeAnn Rimes (50 weeks)
First week at No. 1: July 27, 1996
Most recent week at No. 1: Feb. 17, 2001
Longest-running No. 1: Blue (28 weeks in 1996-97)
Notes: Rimes’ total includes a 1997 compilation of early recordings, Unchained Melody: The Early Years. Rimes was just 14 in February 1997 when she won a Grammy for best new artist. She remains the youngest winner ever in that category.
-
Eddy Arnold (51 weeks)
First week at No. 1: Aug. 14, 1965
Most recent week at No. 1: May 4, 1968
Longest-running No. 1: My World (17 weeks in 1965-66)
Notes: My World was the first country album to receive a Grammy nod for album of the year. The album included the crossover hit “Make the World Go Away,” which all but defined the “countrypolitan” sound.
-
Glen Campbell (51 weeks)
First week at No. 1: Feb. 10, 1968
Most recent week at No. 1: May 7, 1977
Longest-running No. 1: Wichita Lineman (20 weeks in 1968-69)
Notes: Wichita Lineman is tied with Johnny Cash at San Quentin for the longest run at No. 1 of any album in the 1960s. Campbell’s tally of No. 1 albums also includes Bobbie Gentry & Glen Campbell, a collab with the singer of “Ode to Billie Joe.” The 1968 album was the first collaborative album to reach No. 1 on the chart.
-
Merle Haggard (51 weeks)
First week at No. 1: Dec. 10, 1966
Most recent week at No. 1: June 20, 2015
Longest-running No. 1: Pancho & Lefty (with Willie Nelson) (eight weeks in 1983)
Notes: Haggard’s tally of No. 1s includes eight albums on which his backing group, The Strangers, was also credited. Hag’s tally includes three live albums, Okie From Muskogee (1970), The Fightin’ Side of Me (1970)and I Love Dixie Blues … So I Recorded ‘Live’ in New Orleans (1973). It also includes two collabs with Willie Nelson, Pancho & Lefty and Django and Jimmie (2015).
-
Johnny Cash (57 weeks)
Image Credit: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images First week at No. 1: Jan. 11, 1964
Most recent week at No. 1: April 12, 2014
Longest-running No. 1: Johnny Cash at San Quentin (20 weeks in 1969)
Notes: Cash’s No. 1 albums spanned more than 50 years. Johnny Cash at San Quentin (which received a Grammy nod for album of the year) has had the longest run at No. 1 of any live album. It is also tied with Glen Campbell’s Wichita Lineman as the longest-running No. 1 album of the 1960s. Cash also reached No. 1 with two other live albums – Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison (1968) and The Johnny Cash Show (1970), which was recorded at the Grand Ole Opry. He also topped the chart with a 1985 collab LP with Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and Kris Kristofferson and with two posthumous albums – American V: A Hundred Highways (2006) and Out Among the Stars (2014).
-
Buck Owens (60 weeks)
First week at No. 1: Jan. 25, 1964
Most recent week at No. 1: April 20, 1968
Longest-running No. 1: I’ve Got a Tiger by the Tail (15 weeks in 1965)
Notes: Owens’ first No. 1 album, Buck Owens Sings Tommy Collins (1964), was a tribute album to the singer/songwriter whose biggest hits included “You Better Not Do That” and “If You Can’t Bite, Don’t Growl.” Owens’ tally of No. 1 albums includes two live albums, Carnegie Hall Concert (1966) and Buck Owens and His Buckaroos in Japan! (1967).
-
George Strait (61 weeks)
First week at No. 1: Feb. 18, 1984
Most recent week at No. 1: April 13, 2019
Longest-running No. 1s: Ocean Front Property (six weeks in 1987) and Carrying Your Love With Me (six weeks in 1997)
Notes: Strait made this list the hard way – without a single album that logged more than six weeks at No. 1. Strait’s tally of No. 1 albums includes the 1992 soundtrack to Pure Country, in which he starred.
-
The Chicks (73 weeks)
First week at No. 1: Jan. 30, 1999
Most recent week at No. 1: Aug. 8, 2020
Longest-running No. 1: Fly (36 weeks in 1999-2000)
Notes: The Chicks, formerly Dixie Chicks, are the second-highest ranking group on this list. Three of the group’s No. 1 albums – Fly, Home and Taking the Long Way – received Grammy nods for album of the year. The latter album won the award. The group’s most recent No. 1 album, Gaslighter, was bumped from the top spot by the debut album by a promising newcomer named Morgan Wallen.
-
Waylon Jennings (76 weeks)
First week at No. 1: Sept. 6, 1975
Most recent week at No. 1: June 14, 1986
Longest-running No. 1: Greatest Hits (16 weeks in 1979)
Notes: Jennings’ tally of No. 1 albums includes three collabs with Nelson – one just with Nelson; one that also included Jessi Colter and Tompall Glaser; and one that included Johnny Cash and Kris Kristofferson as well. His tally also includes a 1976 live album, Waylon Live.
-
Tim McGraw (76 weeks)
Image Credit: Paul Natkin/Getty Images First week at No. 1: April 9, 1994
Most recent week at No. 1: Sept. 5, 2020
Longest-running No. 1: Not a Moment Too Soon (29 weeks in 1994)
Notes: McGraw’s tally includes a 2017 collab with his wife, Faith Hill, The Rest of Our Life. That title should probably be The Rest of Our Lives, but we’re not going to correct the grammar of someone who has logged 76 weeks at No. 1.
-
Randy Travis (80 weeks)
First week at No. 1: Aug. 9, 1986
Most recent week at No. 1: Nov. 24, 1990
Longest-running No. 1: Always & Forever (43 weeks in 1987-88)
Notes: Always & Forever had the longest run at No. 1 of any album in the 1980s.
-
Charley Pride (85 weeks)
First week at No. 1: May 18, 1968
Most recent week at No. 1: May 17, 1980
Longest-running No. 1s: Charley Pride Sings Heart Songs (16 weeks in 1972) and The Best of Charley Pride, Volume 2 (16 weeks in 1972).
Notes: The albums referenced above were No. 1 back-to-back and spent a combined total of 32 consecutive weeks at No. 1. Now, that’s what you call dominating a chart. Both albums contained Pride’s signature song, “Kiss an Angel Good Mornin.’” Pride’s final No. 1 album, There’s a Little Bit of Hank in Me (1980), was a tribute to Hank Williams. Pride is the only Black artist on this list so far.
-
Luke Combs (89 weeks)
First week at No. 1: June 24, 2017
Most recent week at No. 1: July 9, 2022
Longest-running No. 1: This One’s for You (50 weeks in 2017-18)
Notes: This One’s for You had the longest run at No. 1 of any album in the 2010s.
-
Shania Twain (97 weeks)
Image Credit: Margaret Norton/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images First week at No. 1: July 22, 1995
Most recent week at No. 1: Oct. 21, 2017
Longest-running No. 1: Come on Over (50 weeks in 1997-2000)
Notes: Twain is the second-highest ranking female solo artist on this list. Come on Over had the longest run at No. 1 of any album in the 1990s. The hit-studded blockbuster spent time at No. 1 in four consecutive years – 1997 through 2000. It received a Grammy nod for album of the year, and spawned two song of the year nominees, “You’re Still the One” and “You’ve Got a Way.”
-
Kenny Rogers (99 weeks)
First week at No. 1: May 21, 1977
Most recent week at No. 1: April 4, 2020
Longest-running No. 1: Kenny (25 weeks in 1979-80)
Notes: Kenny, which housed the hit “You Decorated My Life,” had the longest run at No. 1 of any album in the 1970s. Rogers’ tally includes a 1978 collab with Dottie West, Every Time Two Fools Collide, and a 2018 compilation, The Best of Kenny Rogers: Through the Years, which hit No. 1 following his death in March 2020.
-
Taylor Swift (101 weeks)
First week at No. 1: Aug. 4, 2007
Most recent week at No. 1: July 29, 2023?
Longest-running No. 1: Fearless (35 weeks in 2008-09)
Notes: Swift is the highest-charting female solo artist on this list, which is especially impressive given her mid-career pivot to pop. Her tally includes both the original and Taylor’s Version’s editions of Fearless, Speak Now and Red. With Fearless, Swift became the youngest Grammy winner for album of the year to that point, a title now held by Billie Eilish.
-
Willie Nelson (107 weeks)
First week at No. 1: Oct. 4, 1975
Most recent week at No. 1: May 20, 2017
Longest-running No. 1: Always on My Mind (22 weeks in 1982)
Notes: Nelson’s tally includes a collab with Waylon Jennings, Jessi Colter and Tompall Glaser; another with Jennings, Johnny Cash and Kris Kristofferson; another with just Jennings, and two with Haggard. It also includes two live albums, Willie and Family Live (1979) and the Honeysuckle Rose soundtrack (1980).
-
Alabama (125 weeks)
Image Credit: CBS via Getty Images First week at No. 1: May 23, 1981
Most recent week at No. 1: Nov. 11, 2006
Longest-running No. 1s: Feels So Right (28 weeks in 1981-82) and Mountain Music (28 weeks in 1982-83).
Notes: Alabama is the highest-ranking group on this list. Feels So Right (in May 1981) was the first No. 1 by a group that wasn’t named after its leader. (So, we’re discounting Merle Haggard and the Strangers, Sonny James and the Southern Gentlemen and The Charlie Daniels Band.) Alabama’s tally of No. 1 albums includes a 1988 live album, Alabama Live.
-
Morgan Wallen (147 weeks)
First week at No. 1: Aug. 15, 2020
Most recent week at No. 1: May 25, 2024
Longest-running No. 1: Dangerous: The Double Album (97 weeks in 2021-23)
Notes: Dangerous: The Double Album had the longest run at No. 1 in the chart’s history.
-
Garth Brooks (173 weeks)
First week at No. 1: Oct. 13, 1990
Most recent week at No. 1: Dec. 23, 2017
Longest-running No. 1: No Fences (41 weeks in 1990-91)
Notes: Brooks’ tally of No. 1 albums includes a double-disc live album, Double Live (1998); a pair of Christmas albums, Garth Brooks & the Magic of Christmas (1999) and Christmas Together (2016), the latter a collab with his wife, Trisha Yearwood; and a remarkable four box sets – The Limited Series (1998), Blame It All on My Roots: Five Decades of Influences (2013), The Ultimate Collection (2016) and The Anthology Part I: The First Five Years (2017).