SZA’s sophomore album SOS has earned its ninth nonconsecutive week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, earning 93,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. this past week. That’s the most weeks atop the list for an album by a woman in nearly seven years, reports Billboard. The last record by a female artist to do so, Adele’s 25, clocked in with 10 nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1, the most recent of which was March 12, 2016.
Over the past 10 years, only three albums by women have spent at least nine weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200: SOS, Adele’s 25, and Taylor Swift’s 1989. In addition to that milestone, SOS also has the most weeks at No. 1 for an R&B album by any act since Usher’s Confessions, which ruled the charts with nine nonconsecutive weeks back in 2004.
SOS is SZA’s first-ever No. 1 album, surpassing her debut full-length Ctrl, which debuted at No. 3. It was the fifth largest debut of 2022, following Taylor Swift’s Midnights (1.578 million), Harry Styles’ Harry’s House (521,000), Drake and 21 Savage’s Her Loss (404,000), and Beyoncé’s Renaissance (332,000).
Currently, SZA is in the midst of her first arena tour, which is scheduled to wrap up on March 22. After performing “Shirt” and debuting “Blind” on Saturday Night Live at the beginning of December, she released music videos for “Nobody Gets Me” and “Kill Bill.” SZA was also tapped by Lizzo to join her on a remix of her hit “Special.”
Read about SZA’s debut Ctrl at No. 24 on Pitchfork’ list “The 200 Best Albums of the 2010s.”
