Ed Rode/Getty Images for CMTEmbattled country artist Morgan Wallen shattered a Billboard chart record. With his sophomore effort Dangerous: The Double Album notching its seventh consecutive week atop the Billboard 200, his album is the only country outing to spend its first seven weeks at number one.
Wallen’s album continues to enjoy robust sales despite the ongoing controversy where the young singer was filmed shouting racial epithets during a party.
Dangerous was streamed an additional 110.7 million times the previous week and sold an additional 7,000 albums, which is 31 percent down from the previous chart.
With those numbers, the album is officially the first country album to notch seven consecutive weeks at number one — but it is not the only other country effort to spend seven weeks, albeit non-consecutively, at the top spot.
Garth Brooks’ EP, The Chase went to the top in 1992. Other acts include Billy Ray Cyrus, Taylor Swift and The Eagles.
Country music aside, Wallen accomplishes a feat not seen in almost five years. The last album to spend seven consecutive weeks at number one was Drake‘s Views, which reigned supreme in 2016 — spending nine weeks total at the top.
When looking at non-consecutive wins, only one other album notched at least seven weeks at number one since 2016 — which is Taylor Swift‘s Folklore.
Wallen’s controversy has proven to have no effect on his music’s success, even though he was swiftly condemned by his fellow country artists after a video surfaced of him last month hurling racial slurs. Big Loud Records and WME have since dropped him as a client.
Wallen has since addressed and apologized for the video in a lengthy video message, in which he instructed his fans to stop defending his actions and admitted he was in the wrong.
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