LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 24: Olivia Rodrigo attends the Los Angeles premiere of Disney+ … [+]
Olivia Rodrigo is the reigning champion on the Billboard charts this week, achieving a semi-rare feat by securing the No. 1 position on both the Billboard 200 and Hot 100 at the same time. This impressive accomplishment is particularly notable for an artist of her age, as she’s only 20. Her sophomore album, Guts, has rapidly become another major win for the talented singer-songwriter, and it has also helped her to break a record previously held by the Dave Matthews Band.
Guts opens at No. 1 on this week’s Top Rock & Alternative Albums chart, a ranking that encompasses the most-consumed full-lengths and EPs in the U.S. categorized as either rock or alternative. Billboard combines these two genres for this specific tally. The title makes its debut atop the list with an impressive 302,000 equivalent units shifted.
That sizable figure represents the largest debut on the Top Rock & Alternative Albums chart since 2017, when Billboard made significant changes to how the ranking was compiled. Prior to this alteration, the list solely accounted for album sales. Since 2017, the chart has also integrated streaming data to provide a comprehensive overview of the most-consumed albums, not just the bestsellers.
With Guts, Rodrigo passes the Dave Matthews Band, who have had held the title for the largest debut at No. 1 on the Top Rock & Alternative Albums chart since June 2018. Five years ago, the band’s album Come Tomorrow launched with 292,000 copies, as reported by Billboard.
For Rodrigo, this marks her first time reigning supreme on the Top Rock & Alternative Albums chart. Her debut full-length Sour, which catapulted her to global stardom, wasn’t categorized as rock, and therefore, it wasn’t eligible for inclusion on this particular tally.
Both Sour and Guts have reached the top position on the Billboard 200, the all-genre ranking of the most-consumed albums in America. Guts begins its journey atop the Billboard 200 with the fourth-largest debut of 2023, trailing behind new releases from renowned artists like Taylor Swift, Morgan Wallen and Travis Scott.