The data are compiled by Nielsen Soundscan based on each album's weekly physical and digital sales, as well as on-demand streaming and digital sales of its individual tracks.
In 2016, a total of 33 albums claimed the top position of the chart.
One of which, English singer Adele's 25 started its peak issue dated December 12, 2015.
[1] Canadian rapper Drake's fourth studio album, Views, became the second best-selling overall album with 1.04 million equivalent album units, selling 852,000 copies in its first week of release, and achieving over 245 million streams, more than previous record 115.2 million by Beyoncé's Lemonade.
[2][3] Lemonade is the third overall best-seller, incurring 485,000 copies in its first week (653,000 with additional album-equivalent units).
English singer
Adele
's (
pictured
) third studio album,
25
, was the best-seller of 2016 and continued its run at the top slot on the
Billboard
200 for an additional seven weeks as the calendar year had started.
Views
was the sixth number-one album in Canadian rapper
Drake
's career. It topped the chart for 13 weeks as the longest reigning number one album of 2016, and was the most consumed album of the year, and the second best-selling album.
Rihanna
gained her second number one album with her eighth studio album,
Anti
,
which spent two weeks atop the chart. It was the fourth most consumed album of 2016.
Beyoncé
's sixth studio album,
Lemonade
, helped the singer score her sixth number-one effort. It was the third best-selling album of the year.
Following his death on January 10, 2016,
David Bowie
's (
archived
) twenty-fifth and final studio album,
Blackstar
, released on his sixty-ninth birthday, two days before his death, reached number-one on the
Billboard
200, posthumously.
