Top Country Albums

Top Country Albums is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States. The 50-position chart lists the most popular country music albums in the country, calculated weekly by Broadcast Data Systems based on physical sales along with digital sales and streaming. The chart was first published in the issue of Billboard dated January 11, 1964, under the title Hot Country Albums, when the number one album was Ring of Fire: The Best of Johnny Cash by Johnny Cash.^[1]

Johnny Cash had the first number one on the country albums chart.

The chart changed its name to Top Country LP's in the issue of Billboard dated January 13, 1968, Top Country LPs (with no apostrophe) in the issue dated May 31, 1980, and Top Country Albums in the issue dated October 20, 1984. The record for the highest number of weeks spent at number one by an album is held by Dangerous: The Double Album by Morgan Wallen, which spent a total of 97 non-consecutive weeks atop the chart.

Methodology

From its launch until May 1991, the chart was compiled based on sales reports submitted by a representative sample of record stores nationwide. In 1991 the sales reports were replaced by electronic point of sale data.^[1] Since February 2017 the chart has been "based on multi-metric consumption (blending traditional album sales, track equivalent albums, and streaming equivalent albums)".^[2]

Chart records

Albums with most weeks at number one

The two-longest running number ones on the chart are both albums by Morgan Wallen.

Luke Combs has had two albums spend over 30 weeks at number one.

The following albums have spent more than 30 weeks at number one, as of the chart dated December 6, 2025:

Weeks	First year at number one	Artist	Album	Ref.
97	2021	Morgan Wallen	Dangerous: The Double Album	[3]
87	2023		One Thing at a Time	[3]
50	1997	Shania Twain	Come On Over	[4][5]
	2017	Luke Combs	This One's for You	[4][5]
43	1987	Randy Travis	Always & Forever	[6]
41	1990	Garth Brooks	No Fences	[7]
37	2019	Luke Combs	What You See Is What You Get	[8]
36	1999	Dixie Chicks	Fly	[7]
35	2000	Original soundtrack	O Brother, Where Art Thou?	[9]
	2008	Taylor Swift	Fearless	[10]
34	1992	Billy Ray Cyrus	Some Gave All	[7]
33	1991	Garth Brooks	Ropin' The Wind	[7]
31	2010	Lady Antebellum	Need You Now	[11]

The figure for "Fearless" by Taylor Swift does not include the weeks spent at number one by Fearless (Taylor's Version), her 2021 complete re-recording of the album. Dixie Chicks and Lady Antebellum subsequently changed their names to The Chicks and Lady A respectively.

Artist with most number ones

The following acts have had more than 15 number ones as of the chart dated December 6, 2025:

Number ones	First year at number one	Artist	Ref.
27	1984	George Strait	[12][13]
18	1975	Willie Nelson	[14]
17	1990	Garth Brooks	[15]
	2000	Kenny Chesney	[16]
	1994	Tim McGraw	[17]
16	1966	Merle Haggard

Artists with most cumulative weeks at number one

Garth Brooks has spent a total of more than three years at number one.

The followings acts have achieved at least 50 weeks at number one, as of the chart dated December 6, 2025.

Weeks at number one	Artist	Source
214	Morgan Wallen	[3]
173	Garth Brooks	[15]
125	Alabama	[18]
101	Willie Nelson	[14]
	Taylor Swift	[10]
99	Kenny Rogers	[19]
97	Shania Twain	[20]
88	Luke Combs	[8]
85	Charley Pride	[21]
80	Randy Travis	[22]
76	Tim McGraw	[17]
	Waylon Jennings	[23]
73	The Chicks	[24][25]
61	George Strait	[12]
60	Buck Owens	[26]
57	Johnny Cash	[27]
51	Glen Campbell	[28]
	Merle Haggard
	Eddy Arnold	[29]
50	LeAnn Rimes
	Kenny Chesney	[16]

The total for The Chicks consists of 71 weeks under the band's previous name, Dixie Chicks, and 2 under its new name.

Artists with most consecutive number one albums

The following artists have garnered the most consecutive number one albums on the Top Country Albums chart.

Artist	Consecutive number ones	Source
Kenny Chesney	12
Carrie Underwood	9	[30]
Garth Brooks	8
Rascal Flatts
Taylor Swift
Miranda Lambert	7

See also

• List of Billboard number-one country albums