Republic Records Has Longest Streak for a Label Atop Billboard 200 Albums Chart in 25 Years

For the last 16 weeks, one label has topped the Billboard 200 – Republic Records. That marks the longest streak for any label at No. 1 since 1998, when the Titanic soundtrack kept the Sony Classical label afloat at No. 1, also for 16 weeks.

Republic has led the chart since the March 18-dated tally, when Morgan Wallen’s One Thing at a Time (released via Big Loud/Mercury/Republic) debuted at No. 1. That album spent 12 weeks in a row at No. 1, and then stepped aside on the June 10 and 17 charts when Taylor Swift’s Midnights (on Republic) returned to the top and Stray Kids’ 5-STAR (JYP/Imperial/Republic) debuted at No. 1, respectively. One Thing at a Time then returned to No. 1 for the last two weeks (June 24 and July 1 charts). 

Sony Classical was the last label to rule the Billboard 200 for 16 straight weeks – and it did so with just one album: the Titanic soundtrack. From the Jan. 24 through May 9, 1998-dated charts, the Titanic album sailed at No. 1 (the entirety of its run in the top spot). 

Republic could capture a 17th straight week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 (on the July 8 chart, the top 10 of which is slated to be announced Sunday, July 2). The last label to hold the No. 1 spot for 17 weeks was Mercury, in 1992, when Billy Ray Cyrus’ Some Gave All logged 17 consecutive frames at No. 1 (June 13-Oct. 3, 1992, the entirety of its weeks at No. 1).

Mercury Records was founded in 1945 and continued to operate as a label until the late 1990s. It was reactivated in 2007 but went dormant again in the mid-2010s. Most recently, in 2022, it was relaunched as an imprint of Republic Records. As for Republic, the company debuted as a label in 1995, co-founded by brothers Avery and Monte Lipman. Today, they are Republic’s chief operating officer and chief executive officer, respectively.

If Republic can manage a 17th and then an 18th week in a row at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 (on the July 15 chart), it would mark the longest reign for a label since Capitol claimed the top slot for 18 straight frames with M.C. Hammer’s Please Hammer Don’t Hurt ‘Em in 1990 (on the July 7-Nov. 3, 1990-dated lists). Please Hammer spent a total of 21 nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1.

One Thing at a Time recently made news as the album with the most total weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 (14) since Adele’s 21 (released via XL/Columbia Records) collected 24 nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1 in 2011-12. That 24 weeks in the lead for 21 were pieced together through 10 different stays atop the list, none of which were long enough to give XL or Columbia 16 weeks in a row atop the list.