The former No. 1 revisits the top 10 for the first time since 1969, following the album’s 50th anniversary reissue.
The Beatles’ self-titled album, often referred to as the White Album, re-enters the Billboard 200 chart at No. 6 following its 50th anniversary reissue on Nov. 9. The set climbs back onto the tally with 63,000 units earned (up 1,499 percent) in the week ending Nov. 15, according to Nielsen Music. Of that sum, 52,000 were in traditional album sales (up 5,596 percent).
The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units. Units are comprised of traditional album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). The new Nov. 24-dated chart (where the White Album re-enters at No. 6 and Kane Brown’s Experiment debuts at No. 1) will be posted in full on Billboard’s websites on Tuesday, Nov. 20.
The White Album, first released in 1968, was remastered and reissued in a variety of formats, including some with a bevy of bonus tracks. The set spent nine nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 between Dec. 28, 1968 and March 1, 1969. It’s one of the Beatles’ record 19 No. 1 albums on the tally.
Until this week, the White Album was last higher on the chart on March 29, 1969, when it ranked at No. 5 (the final week in the top 10 of its initial chart run).
The White Album isn’t the first Beatles album to revisit the top 10 decades after its release. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band also managed the feat, following its 50th anniversary reissue in 2017. The former No. 1 album re-entered the Billboard 200 at No. 3 on June 17, 2017 — nearly 50 years after it bowed in the top 10 (No. 8, June 24, 1967). The album racked up 15 consecutive weeks at No. 1 between July 1-Oct. 7, 1967.
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