SZA’s ‘SOS’ Surpasses Adele’s ‘21’ for Most Weeks in Top 10 on Billboard 200 Among Albums by Women
SOS, released in 2022, garners its 85th nonconsecutive week in the top 10 on the chart, where it climbs 4-3. Adele’s 21, released in 2011, was last in the top 10 for its 84th and final (nonconsecutive) week in the region on the Jan. 9, 2016-dated chart.
Both SOS and 21 are former No. 1s, with SOS having spent 12 weeks atop the tally and 21 having logged 24 weeks at No. 1 (a record among albums by women). SOS collected its two most recent weeks at No. 1 in January following its SOS Deluxe: LANA reissue with additional songs.
Further, SOS now ties Peter, Paul and Mary’s self-titled album for the third-most weeks in the top 10 among albums by a singular artist. They both trail two albums by Morgan Wallen (Dangerous: The Double Album, with 158; and One Thing at a Time, with 106).
Since the Billboard 200 began publishing on a regular weekly basis, with the March 24, 1956-dated chart, the album with the most weeks in the top 10 is the original cast recording of stage musical My Fair Lady, with 173 weeks in the top 10 between 1956-60.
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.
