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Adele’s ’21’ Breaks Record for Longest-Charting Album by a Woman on the Billboard 200

Adele's "21" has surpassed Carole King's "Tapestry?" for the most weeks on the Billboard 200 chart for an album by a woman.

Adele‘s 21 surpasses Carole King’s Tapestry? for the most weeks on the Billboard 200 chart for an album by a woman, as the 2011 album notches its 319th week on the list dated April 15, beating Tapestry’s 318 weeks.

21 (which is No. 103 on the latest chart) has been on the tally every week since its No. 1 debut on March 12, 2011. The album spent 24 nonconsecutive weeks at the top.

Tapestry racked up 302 consecutive chart weeks from its debut on April 10, 1971 (at No. 79), through Jan. 15, 1977. It then departed, not returning until June 26, 2010. Since that chart, it has tallied another 16 nonconsecutive weeks. It was most recently on the list dated April 16, 2016. Among Tapestry’s weeks on the list were 15 weeks (all consecutive) at No. 1 in 1971. (Note: From May 25, 1991, until Dec. 5, 2009, older albums, often referred to as catalog albums, were generally barred from charting on the Billboard 200. Instead, they would chart on the separate Catalog Albums chart. Starting with the Dec. 5, 2009-dated Billboard 200, catalog albums returned to the chart, making it easier for titles to rack up significantly long runs on the list.)

Related

Among all albums — since the chart began publishing on a regular weekly basis ?in 1956 — Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon holds the record for the most weeks on the chart: 927. It’s followed by Johnny MathisJohnny’s Greatest Hits (490), the My Fair Lady original cast recording (480), Bob Marley & The Wailers’ Legend (463), Journey’s Greatest Hits (454), Metallica’s self-titled album (424), Guns N’ Roses’ Greatest Hits (393), Nirvana’s Nevermind (355), Eminem’s Curtain Call:?The Hits (334), the original London cast recording of The Phantom of the Opera: Highlights (331), 21 and Tapestry.