The Artist Section lists by artist name, alphabeticaly, every album that charted on Billboard magazine's Pop Albums charts from January 1, 1955 through December 31 , 2016. Each artist's charted hits are listed in chronological order and are sequentially numbered.
EXPLANATION OF COLUMNAR HEADINGS
DEBUT DATE: Date album first charted
PEAK POS: Highest charted position (highlighted in bold type)
WKS CHR: Total weeks charted
GOLD: RIAA-certified gold or platinum album
Label & Number: Original label and number of album when first charted
EXPLANATION OF SYMBOLS AND NUMBERS
2¹ Superscript number to the right of the #1, #2 or #3 peak position is the total weeks the album held that position
+ Beside debut date indicates that album peaked in a year other than when it first charted
[ ] Number in brackets after a label number indicates the number of records or CDs in a multi-disc set.
⬤ RIAA-certified gold album (500,000 units sold)
▲ RIAA-certified platnum album (1,000,000 units sold)
The recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) began certifying gold albums in 1958, platinum albums in 1976 and multi-platinum albums in 1984. Some record labels have never requested RIAA certification for albums which would otherwise have qualified for these awards.
A superscript number to the right of the platinum triangle indicates album was awarded multi-platinum status (ec.: ▲³ indicates an album was certified triple platinum).
UNDERLINED & SHADED TITLES
For any artist with 10 or more charted hits, the artist's highest charting title is underlined for easy identification.
All Top 10 albums are shaded with a light blue background.
SUBCATEGORIES FOR MAJOR ARTISTS
Many artists have their albums divided into subcategories. This makes it much easier to differentiate regular studio albums from greatest hits compilations, live albus, soundtracks, etc.
LETTER(S) IN BRACKETS AFTER TITLES (Sym column)
C - Comedy
E - Earlier Recordings/Releases
EP or M - 7" Extended Play or Mini Album (10" or 12" EP, lower-priced CD)
F - Foreign Language
G - Greatest Hits
I - Instrumental Recording
K - Compilation
L - Live Recording
N - Novelty
OC - Original Cast
R - Reissue or re-release of a previously charted album
S - Movie Soundtrack
T - Talk/Spoken Word Recording
TV - Television Program Soundtrack
X - Christmas
ARTIST & TITLE NOTES
Pertinen biographical information is shown below every artist name. Directly under some album titles are notes indicating quest artists, the location of live recordings, the names of famous producers, etc. Duets and other important name variations are shown in bold capital letters. We highlighted in bold type the names of artists mentioned in the artist and title notes of other charted pop album artists if they have their own album listing elsewhere in this book. All movie and TV titles, and other major works, appear in italics.