Billboard

The late Jimmy Buffett, who died on Sept. 1, returns to the top five of the Billboard 200 albums chart as his best-of collection Songs You Know by Heart: Jimmy Buffett’s Greatest Hit(s) re-enters the Sept. 16-dated list at No. 4. It marks the album’s highest rank ever — and first week in the top 10, or even top 40, dating to its release in 1985 — and Buffett’s 13th top 10-charting album.
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 Sept. 16, 2023-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Sept. 12. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.

In the tracking week ending Sept. 7, Songs You Know by Heart earned 52,000 equivalent album units (up 2,122%) following the singer-songwriter’s death on Sept. 1 at age 76. It marks the 13th top 10-charting album for Billboard’s most famous alumnus. Buffett was a Nashville-based reporter for Billboard in 1969-70, before the release of his first album.

Of Songs You Know by Heart’s 52,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending Sept. 7, SEA units comprise 30,000 (up 1,377%, equaling 40.22 million on-demand official streams of the set’s 13 songs), album sales comprise 15,500 (up 6,826% — making it the top-selling album of the week) and TEA units comprise 6,500 (up 8,813%).

Songs You Know by Heart contains Buffett’s only Billboard Hot 100 top 10-charting hit song, “Margaritaville,” which reached No. 8 in 1977. It also houses the top 40-charting tunes “Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes,” “Cheeseburger in Paradise,” “Come Monday” and “Fins.”

Songs You Know by Heart joins Buffett’s dozen previous top 10s on the Billboard 200: Life On the Flip Side (No. 2 in 2020), Songs From St. Somewhere (No. 4, 2013), Encores (No. 7, 2010), Take the Weather With You (No. 4, 2006), License to Chill (No. 1, 2004), Meet Me in Margaritaville: Jimmy Buffett The Ultimate Collection (No. 9, 2003), Far Side of the World (No. 5, 2002), Beach House On the Moon (No. 8, 1999), Banana Wind (No. 4, 1996), Barometer Soup (No. 6, 1995), Fruitcakes (No. 5, 1994) and Son of a Son of a Sailor (No. 10, 1978).

Though Songs You Know by Heart had a low-profile chart placing in 1985 — peaking at No. 100 on the Billboard 200 and spending 35 weeks on the list until this week’s return — the set was a sturdy seller through the decades. In 1989, the album was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), recognizing 1 million units shipped of the album to retailers in the U.S. And since Luminate started electronically tracking music sales in 1991, the album has earned 8.26 million equivalent album units — of which 7.14 million are in traditional album sales. Thus, if one combines the RIAA certification and the Luminate-era activity, Billboard estimates that through the lifetime of the album in the U.S., it has earned 9.26 million equivalent album units, of which 8.14 million are in pure album sales.

The Billboard 200 may soon welcome another debut from Buffett. Shortly after his passing, it was announced that his final studio album, Equal Strain on All Parts, is due Nov. 3. The album features a notable lineup of collaborators, including Emmylou Harris, Lennie Gallant, Angelique Kidjo, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and Paul McCartney.

Zach Bryan’s self-titled album spends a second week atop Billboard 200 chart (dated Sept. 16), as the set earned 115,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Sept. 7 (down 42%) according to Luminate.
Also in the top 10 of the latest Billboard 200 chart, the late Jimmy Buffett — who died on Sept. 1 — returns to the top five as his best-of collection Songs You Know by Heart: Jimmy Buffett’s Greatest Hit(s) re-enters the list at No. 4. It marks the album’s highest rank ever — and first week in the top 10, or even top 40, dating to its release in 1985 — and Buffett’s 13th top 10-charting album.

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 Sept. 16, 2023-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Sept. 12. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.

Of Zach Bryan’s 115,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending Sept. 7, SEA units comprise 111,000 (down 77%, equaling 144.08 million on-demand official streams of the set’s 16 songs), album sales comprise 3,000 (down 50%), and TEA units comprise 1,000 (down 36%).

Bryan’s genre-blending album is categorized as country, Americana/folk and rock on Billboard’s charts. It is the first rock effort to spend its first two weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in seven years — since the Suicide Squad soundtrack logged its first two weeks at No. 1 (Aug. 27-Sept. 3, 2016 charts). It’s the first Americana/folk project to spend its first two weeks at No. 1 since Chris Stapleton’s Traveller also ruled in its first two frames in 2015 (Nov. 21 and 28). Country, Americana/folk and rock albums are defined as those that are eligible for, or have charted on, Billboard’s Top Country Albums, Americana/Folk Albums and Top Rock Albums charts, respectively.

A pair of former No. 1s trails Bryan, as Morgan Wallen’s One Thing at a Time climbs 3-2 (84,000 equivalent album units; up 1%) and Travis Scott’s Utopia dips 2-3 (72,000; down 21%).

The late Buffett’s first best-of compilation, the 1985 release Songs You Know by Heart: Jimmy Buffett’s Greatest Hit(s), re-enters the Billboard 200 at a new peak of No. 4. The album initially peaked at No. 100 the year of its release.

In the tracking week ending Sept. 7, Songs You Know by Heart earned 52,000 equivalent album units (up 2,122%) following the singer-songwriter’s death on Sept. 1 at age 76. It marks the 13th top 10-charting album for Billboard’s most famous alumnus. Buffett was a Nashville-based reporter for Billboard in 1969-70, before the release of his first album.

Songs You Know by Heart contains Buffett’s only Billboard Hot 100 top 10-charting hit, “Margaritaville,” which reached No. 8 in 1977. It also houses the top 40-charting tunes “Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes,” “Cheeseburger in Paradise,” “Come Monday” and “Fins.”

Like Bryan’s latest album, Buffett’s Songs You Know by Heart is also categorized as a country, Americana/folk and rock album. In turn, with Wallen’s own country set One Thing at a Time at No. 2, there are three country albums in the top four on the Billboard 200 for the first time in over a decade. The feat last happened when the entire top three were country efforts on the Nov. 20, 2010-dated list, with Swift’s Speak Now, Jason Aldean’s My Kinda Party and Sugarland’s The Incredible Machine at Nos. 1-3, respectively.

Taylor Swift’s chart-topping Midnights falls 4-5 on the new Billboard 200 (45,000 equivalent album units; down 8%), SZA’s former leader SOS descends 5-6 (nearly 45,000; down 7%), the Barbie soundtrack drops 6-7 (42,000; down 11%), Peso Pluma’s Génesis slips 7-8 (42,000; down 3%), Swift’s former No. 1 Lover falls 8-9 (41,000; down 3%), and Wallen’s chart-topping Dangerous: The Double Album is a non-mover at No. 10 (nearly 41,000; up 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.