List of Billboard 200 number-one albums of 2015

The highest-selling albums and EPs in the United States are ranked in the Billboard 200, which is published by Billboard magazine. The data are compiled by Nielsen Soundscan based on each album's weekly physical and digital sales, as well as on-demand streaming and digital sales of its individual tracks. In 2015, a total of 39 albums claimed the top position of the chart. One of which, American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift's 1989 started its peak issue dated November 15, 2014.^[1] 1989 was the longest-running number-one album of the year, staying atop the chart for six weeks and was the best selling album of 2015 before Adele's 25, which managed to surpass the album's sales but after the year-end cut-off.^[2] Canadian hip hop soul artist Drake's fourth commercial release, If You're Reading This It's Too Late, became the third best-selling overall album and top-selling digital album with 535,000 digital units sold, 495,000 of which consisted of traditional whole album sales.^[3]

English singer Adele's (pictured) third studio album, 25, was the quickest best-seller of 2015 by the year's end and stayed at the top slot on the Billboard 200 for the final three weeks of that year.

Other albums with extended chart runs at number one include To Pimp a Butterfly by Kendrick Lamar, Dreams Worth More Than Money by Meek Mill, Kill the Lights by Luke Bryan, Beauty Behind the Madness by The Weeknd, Traveller by Chris Stapleton and 25 by Adele; four of these albums spent two weeks at the top while the other two spent three weeks at the top position. Throughout 2015, only two acts achieved multiple number-one albums on the chart: Drake with If You're Reading This It's Too Late and What a Time to be Alive, and Future with DS2 and also What a Time to be Alive.

Albums that reached number one on the Top Album Sales chart (which takes into account purely sales and not streaming) but did not reach number one on the Billboard 200 include That's the Spirit by Bring Me the Horizon, Got Your Six by Five Finger Death Punch and Cass County by Don Henley.^[4]

Taylor Swift's 2014 studio album, 1989, was 2015's best performing album on the Billboard 200. It returned to the number one spot on the chart for six weeks in early 2015, accumulating 11 total weeks at number one.

Adele's 25 sold 1.9 million copies after two days of availability, and 2.3 million after three, becoming the fastest-selling album of the 21st century and the best-selling album of 2015.^{[2][5][6][7][8]} The album reached sales of 2.433 million early on its fourth day, surpassing the single-week record for an album since Nielsen Soundscan began tracking sales in 1991, set by NSYNC's No Strings Attached in March 2000 when it debuted with 2.416 million copies.^[9] By its fifth day, 25 had sold over 2.8 million copies, 1.45 million of which were digital sales, breaking the first-week record for a digital set.^[10] In total, it sold 3.38 million copies in the US in its first week, becoming the first album to sell over 3 million copies in a week, and only the second to sell over 2 million in a single week.^[11]

Since July 2015, the chart's tracking week began on Friday (to coincide with the Global Release Date of the music industry) and ends on Thursday.^[12] This change happened between July 25 and August 1.

Chart history

Rapper Kendrick Lamar (pictured) earned his first number-one album on the chart with To Pimp a Butterfly.

Country singer Chris Stapleton's Traveller topped the chart for two consecutive weeks.

Luke Bryan's third studio album, Kill the Lights, spent two weeks atop the chart.

Pop singer Selena Gomez scored her second chart-topper with her second studio album, Revival.

Canadian singer The Weeknd gained his first number-one album in the country with his second studio album, Beauty Behind the Madness.

Key

†	Indicates best performing album of 2015[13]

Issue date	Album	Artist(s)	Album- equivalent units	Ref.
January 3	1989 †	Taylor Swift	375,000	[14][1]
January 10			430,000	[15][16]
January 17			244,000	[17][18]
January 24			155,000	[19][20]
January 31	Title	Meghan Trainor	238,000	[21][22]
February 7	American Beauty/American Psycho	Fall Out Boy	218,000	[23][24]
February 14	1989 †	Taylor Swift	101,000	[25][26]
February 21			108,000	[27][28]
February 28	If You're Reading This It's Too Late	Drake	535,000	[29][30]
March 7	Smoke + Mirrors	Imagine Dragons	195,000	[31][32]
March 14	Dark Sky Paradise	Big Sean	173,000	[33][34]
March 21	Piece by Piece	Kelly Clarkson	97,000	[35][36]
March 28	Empire: Original Soundtrack from Season 1	Soundtrack	130,000	[37][38][39][40]
April 4	To Pimp a Butterfly	Kendrick Lamar	363,000	[41][42]
April 11			123,000	[43][44]
April 18	The Album About Nothing	Wale	100,000	[45][46]
April 25	Furious 7: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack	Soundtrack	111,000	[47][48]
May 2	Handwritten	Shawn Mendes	119,000	[49][50]
May 9	Sound & Color	Alabama Shakes	97,000	[51][52]
May 16	Jekyll + Hyde	Zac Brown Band	228,000	[53][54]
May 23	Wilder Mind	Mumford & Sons	249,000	[55][56]
May 30	Pitch Perfect 2: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack	Soundtrack	107,000	[57][58]
June 6	Blurryface	Twenty One Pilots	147,000	[59][60]
June 13	At. Long. Last. ASAP	ASAP Rocky	146,000	[61][62]
June 20	How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful	Florence and the Machine	137,000	[63][64]
June 27	Drones	Muse	84,000	[65][66]
July 4	Before This World	James Taylor	97,000	[67][68]
July 11	Dark Before Dawn	Breaking Benjamin	141,000	[69][70]
July 18	Dreams Worth More Than Money	Meek Mill	246,000	[71][72]
July 25			289,000	[73][74]
August 1	Black Rose	Tyrese	77,000	[75][76]
August 8	DS2	Future	151,000	[77][78]
August 15	Woman	Jill Scott	62,000	[79][80]
August 22	Descendants (Original TV Movie Soundtrack)	Descendants cast	42,000	[81][82]
August 29	Kill the Lights	Luke Bryan	345,000	[83][84]
September 5			99,000	[85][86]
September 12	Immortalized	Disturbed	98,000	[87][88]
September 19	Beauty Behind the Madness	The Weeknd	412,000	[89][90]
September 26			145,000	[91][92]
October 3			99,000	[93][94]
October 10	What a Time to Be Alive	Drake and Future	375,000	[95][96][97]
October 17	Fetty Wap	Fetty Wap	129,000	[98][99]
October 24	Unbreakable	Janet Jackson	116,000	[100][101]
October 31	Revival	Selena Gomez	117,000	[102][103]
November 7	Pentatonix	Pentatonix	98,000	[104][105]
November 14	Sounds Good Feels Good	5 Seconds of Summer	192,000	[106][107]
November 21	Traveller	Chris Stapleton	177,000	[108][109]
November 28			124,000	[110][111]
December 5	Purpose	Justin Bieber	649,000	[112][113]
December 12	25	Adele	3,480,000	[114][115]
December 19			1,160,000	[116][117]
December 26			728,000	[118][119]

See also

• 2015 in American music
• List of Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles of 2015