Prince’s new archival studio album Welcome 2 America arrives at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 chart (dated Aug. 14), garnering the late legend his 20th top 10 album. With the bow, he is now among a dozen artists to reach the milestone since the chart began in 1956.
Welcome 2 America was recorded in 2010 but not released until this July 30. It marks his first newly-released album to reach the Billboard 200’s top 10 since his death on April 21, 2016, at age 57.
Here’s an updated look at the artists with at least 20 top 10 albums on the Billboard 200, from March 24, 1956, when the list began publishing on a regular, weekly basis, through Aug. 14, 2021.
Most Billboard 200 Top 10s:
37, The Rolling Stones
34, Barbra Streisand
32, The Beatles
32, Frank Sinatra
27, Elvis Presley
23, Bob Dylan
22, Madonna
21, Paul McCartney/Wings
21, Bruce Springsteen
21, George Strait
20, Elton John
20, Prince
(Notably, The Kidz Bop Kids music brand has collected 24 top 10s, in 2005-16, with its series of kid-friendly covers of hit singles. The franchise’s early albums were performed mostly by anonymous studio singers, although later releases focused on branding named talent.)
Prince first hit the Billboard 200’s top 10 on the May 28, 1983-dated chart, when 1999, which was released in 1982, climbed from No. 13 to No. 9 (its original peak; following his death, the set re-entered the chart and hit a new No. 7 peak).
Welcome 2 America marks Prince’s first debut in the Billboard 200’s top 10 since 2014 and his highest entrance since 2009, when Lotus Flow3r/MPLSound/Elix3r debuted at its No. 2 peak. Here’s a recap of Prince’s 20 top 10 albums on the Billboard 200, listed by peak date.
Prince’s 20 Top 10 Albums on the Billboard 200:
Peak position, Peak date, Title
No. 1 (24 weeks), beginning Aug. 4, 1984, Purple Rain (soundtrack) (Prince and The Revolution)
No. 1 (three weeks), beginning June 1, 1985, Around the World in a Day (Prince and The Revolution)
No. 3, May 3, 1986, Parade: Music From the Motion Picture Under the Cherry Moon (Prince and The Revolution)
No. 6, May 9, 1987, Sign ‘O’ the Times
No. 1 (six weeks), beginning July 22, 1989, Batman (soundtrack)
No. 6, Sept. 22, 1990, Graffiti Bridge (soundtrack)
No. 3, Nov. 9, 1991, Diamonds and Pearls (Prince and The New Power Generation)
No. 5, Oct. 31, 1992, Love Symbol Album (Prince and The New Power Generation)
No. 6, Oct. 14, 1995, The Gold Experience
No. 3, May 8, 2004, Musicology
No. 1 (one week), April 8, 2006, 3121
No. 3, Aug. 11, 2007, Planet Earth
No. 2, April 18, 2009, Lotus Flow3r/MPLSound/Elix3r (with Bria Valente)
No. 5, Oct. 18, 2014, Art Official Age
No. 8, Oct. 18, 2014, Plectrumelectrum (Prince & 3rdEyeGirl)
No. 1 (one week), May 7, 2016, The Very Best of Prince (debuted Aug. 18, 2001)
No. 4, May 14, 2016, The Hits/The B-Sides (debuted Oct. 2, 1993)
No. 6, May 14, 2016, Ultimate (debuted Sept. 9, 2006)
No. 7, May 14, 2016, 1999 (debuted Nov. 20, 1982)
No. 4, Aug. 14, 2021, Welcome 2 America
Also, with Welcome 2 America’s debut, Prince now has top 10-charting albums in the 1980s, ’90s, 2000s, ’10s and ’20s. He’s just the sixth act to land top 10s in each of the last five decades, alongside Paul McCartney, Metallica, Ozzy Osbourne, Bruce Springsteen and James Taylor.
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. 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.
