Table 1.

Rank statistics of number one albums. Rank statistics for albums is making it to the top. Data for the Billboard album charts, as averaged over trailing 5-year periods (given is, respectively, the final year). Shown are the means for the entry rank (#1 first), for the second week position (#1 second) and for the exit rank (#1 exit). Also given are the number of weeks to climb to the top (#1 climb), the time at the top (#1 top), including interruptions, the number of weeks from top to exit (#1 exit) and the average number of number one albums per year (#1 albums). For comparison, for all albums the mean for the entry and exits ranks (all first/all exit) are given, together with the average album lifetime (all lifetime). It is indicated whether the data are for the chart rank (R) or the number of weeks (W). Note the order reversal of the first- and second-week ranks of number one albums between 1998 and 2005. Compare figures 5 and 6.

		1973	1978	1983	1988	1993	1998	2003	2008	2013	2018
#1 first	R	43.7	45.4	34.8	43.8	21.5	7.5	3.4	1.6	1.4	1.8
#1 second	R	17.6	22.1	20.2	26.3	10.1	6.3	5.0	4.4	5.0	8.1
#1 exit	R	91.7	86.3	89.5	93.6	92.2	93.6	91.9	89.9	85.1	74.9
#1 climb	W	5.4	7.1	7.2	11.1	6.3	2.9	1.3	0.4	0.2	0.2
#1 top	W	4.4	4.0	5.7	5.4	4.4	2.4	2.2	1.5	1.5	1.3
#1 exit	W	34.6	24.5	30.5	40.9	43.7	37.1	33.0	29.8	28.5	23.5
#1 albums		12.4	14.0	10.0	10.8	13.2	22.6	25.6	36.0	35.0	41.0
all first	R	78.6	83.9	80.1	81.7	71.5	57.9	52.0	49.3	51.5	50.6
all exit	R	90.2	84.9	86.4	91.7	92.2	90.3	88.1	83.0	76.3	67.6
all lifetime	W	16.4	12.9	14.0	16.9	14.8	11.7	9.2	7.0	4.9	3.5