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 Taylor Swift's 1989 started its peak issue dated November 15, 2014. 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. 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.
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 #1 on the Top Album Sales chart but did not reach #1 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.
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. 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. 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. 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.
Since July 2015, the chart's tracking week began on Friday and ends on Thursday.

Chart history

Indicates best performing album of 2015

Issue dateAlbumArtist
January 31989 Taylor Swift
January 101989 Taylor Swift
January 171989 Taylor Swift
January 241989 Taylor Swift
January 31TitleMeghan Trainor
February 7American Beauty/American PsychoFall Out Boy
February 141989 Taylor Swift
February 211989 Taylor Swift
February 28If You're Reading This It's Too LateDrake
March 7Smoke + MirrorsImagine Dragons
March 14Dark Sky ParadiseBig Sean
March 21Piece by PieceKelly Clarkson
March 28Soundtrack
April 4To Pimp a ButterflyKendrick Lamar
April 11To Pimp a ButterflyKendrick Lamar
April 18The Album About NothingWale
April 25Furious 7Soundtrack
May 2HandwrittenShawn Mendes
May 9Sound & ColorAlabama Shakes
May 16Jekyll + HydeZac Brown Band
May 23Wilder MindMumford & Sons
May 30Pitch Perfect 2Soundtrack
June 6BlurryfaceTwenty One Pilots
June 13At. Long. Last. ASAPASAP Rocky
June 20How Big, How Blue, How BeautifulFlorence and the Machine
June 27DronesMuse
July 4Before This WorldJames Taylor
July 11Dark Before DawnBreaking Benjamin
July 18Dreams Worth More Than MoneyMeek Mill
July 25Dreams Worth More Than MoneyMeek Mill
August 1Black RoseTyrese
August 8DS2Future
August 15WomanJill Scott
August 22DescendantsSoundtrack
August 29Kill the LightsLuke Bryan
September 5Kill the LightsLuke Bryan
September 12ImmortalizedDisturbed
September 19Beauty Behind the MadnessThe Weeknd
September 26Beauty Behind the MadnessThe Weeknd
October 3Beauty Behind the MadnessThe Weeknd
October 10What a Time to Be AliveDrake and Future
October 17Fetty WapFetty Wap
October 24UnbreakableJanet Jackson
October 31RevivalSelena Gomez
November 7PentatonixPentatonix
November 14Sounds Good Feels Good5 Seconds of Summer
November 21TravellerChris Stapleton
November 28TravellerChris Stapleton
December 5PurposeJustin Bieber
December 1225Adele
December 1925Adele
December 2625Adele