Morgan Wallen’s ‘Dangerous’ is the first country album to spend 7 weeks at No. 1 on Billboard 200

Any press is good press, etc. Morgan Wallen has made chart history as his album Dangerous: The Double Album becomes the only country record to spend its first seven weeks at number 1 on the Billboard 200.

According to MRC Data, the record earned 89,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending February 25th. Dangerous first debuted atop the list six weeks ago (chart dated January 23rd). The only other country album to spend its first six weeks at number 1 was Garth Brooks’ 1992 record The Chase.

Only eight country records have spent at least seven weeks in total at number 1 since the chart’s inception in 1956. These include: Garth Brooks’ Ropin’ the Wind, The Hits and The Chase. Billy Ray Cyrus’ Some Gave All, Taylor Swift’s Fearless and Red, Eagles’ Hotel California, and now, Wallen’s Dangerous.

The last record to spend seven weeks in a row at No. 1, irrespective of genre, was Drake’s 2016 monolith Views, which spent its first nine weeks at number 1.

It’s a bizarre success considering the controversy that has shrouded Morgan Wallen over the past few weeks. On February 2nd, footage emerged of the 27-year-old musician shouting a racial slur to a friend.

In response to the video, touchstones in the music industry denounced Wallen, with a number of radio stations and streaming services removed his music from their playlists. 

Spotify removed Wallen from at least 14 playlists; including the Hot Country playlist, which has 6.239 million followers, and the Pop Rising playlist with 2.04 million. Wallen’s feature on the former was his main source of discovery on Spotify. Whilst Apple Music Wallen from at least 21 playlists, including Today’s Country and A-List Pop.

Wallen’s label, Big Loud Records, also announced that they would be suspending Wallen’s recording contract “indefinitely.”

This article originally appeared on The Industry Observer, which is now part of The Music Network.