Morgan Wallen’s ‘Dangerous’ Album Sets a Billboard Record
Morgan Wallen has the No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 for a seventh straight week, something no other country artist had done upon dropping a new project.
Dangerous: The Double Album has spent its first seven weeks on top of the all-genre album chart. Garth Brooks also spent seven weeks at No. 1, but those were non-consecutive — his The Chase album spent six weeks at No. 1 in late 1992, then fell to No. 2 for two weeks before returning to No. 1 for a week, Billboard reports. Only six other country albums have spent a total of seven weeks or more at No. 1, including two from Taylor Swift, two more from Brooks and Billy Ray Cyrus' debut. The country record is 18 total weeks for Brooks' Ropin' the Wind album.
Streaming and sales for Wallen's second album have dipped in recent weeks, but has managed to hold off artists like Ariana Grande, Pop Smoke and Lil Durk. Luke Combs is the only other country artist inside the Top 10 on the Billboard 200. What You See Is What You Get is at No. 9, with approximately one-third of the equivalent album units as Wallen's album (28K to 89K).
Comparing albums from different generations is inexact at best, as demand for albums has softened in the past two decades and because streaming plays such a large role in the totals in 2021. Of the 89K equivalent album units (down five percent) for Dangerous: The Double Album, only 7,000 were album sales. More than 80,000 were streaming equivalent albums — a single SEA is equal to 3,750 ad-supported streams, or 1,250 paid or subscription streams. None of the other country albums to top the chart for seven or more weeks benefited from streaming.
Success of Wallen's new album comes as he's been banished from radio playlists, and until recently, streaming playlists. Spotify has started to populate popular country playlists with his songs again, but overwhelming demand is what has driven the totals since the album's early January release.
Wallen was caught using N-word on video on Jan. 31, and that video surfaced on TMZ several days later. Response from the music community was swift.
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