Dangerous continues to break records

Morgan Wallen’s sophomore effort Dangerous: The Double Album tops the Billboard Top 200 chart for the tenth consecutive week, marking a new feat for the country superstar. According to Billboard, Dangerous earned 69k equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending March 27th which is down 11% from the previous week’s 78k.

Dangerous is the first album to spend its first ten weeks in the top spot since Whitney Houston’s Whitney logged 11 weeks in 1987. It’s the first album since Adele’s 21 in 2012 to string ten (out of 24 nonconsecutive weeks) in a row in the No. 1 position. The album continues to have the most weeks at No. 1 since Drake’s Views captured 13 nonconsecutive weeks in 2016, and surpasses Swift’s Folklore by two weeks for the most at the top spot in the past five years.

Dangerous is the latest of four country albums to have spent at least ten weeks at the top, not all consecutively. Wallen joins Garth Brooks’ Ropin’ The Wind with 18 weeks in 1991-1992, Billy Ray Cyrus’ Some Gave All with 17 in 1992 and Taylor Swift’s Fearless with 11 in 2008-2009.

Wallen continues to reign as the best selling artist of 2021, despite being blacklisted by the industry last month after video surfaced of him using a racial slur. The album debuted atop the Billboard list nine weeks ago and set the bar for country records by shattering first-week streams and on-demand Alexa requests. Upon its release, Wallen demolished first day streaming records, becoming Spotify’s biggest all-time first day stream record for a country album and setting the record for the biggest first day and biggest first week for a country album of all-time at Apple Music in just two days.

At least six of the chart-topping weeks have been without the help of any promotion after major radio chains, video channels, and online outlets pulled his music from its rotations and his label “made the decision to suspend Morgan Wallen’s recording contract indefinitely” after the video surfaced on TMZ. Many of the stations, including several we spoke with, said at the time that they did not have a timeline on restoring his music to its playlists, however, Cumulus Media and other radio chains have quietly began reinstating his music to their airwaves over the past week. More than two dozen country radio stations have been tracked playing Wallen’s music in recent days with additional conglomerates expected to follow with no defined timeline.

Wallen’s music surged by more than 300% in the wake of the controversy as fans clap back at cancel culture. Diehards have flocked to iTunes and other streaming outlets to backlash radio for its stance with many even defending his use of the slur.

A week after the incident, Wallen issued a five minute video apology, asking fans not to defend his ignorance. “I appreciate those who still see something in me and have defended me, but for today, please don’t. I was wrong. It’s on me to take ownership of this and I fully accept any penalties I’m facing,” he says.