Could Drake beat a major Michael Jackson record on the Billboard charts?
On Thursday night (May 14), Drizzy made a surprise announcement during his Iceman Episode 4 livestream that he would be releasing three albums simultaneously: Iceman, Maid of Honour, and Habibti.
A tweet making the rounds on social media claims that Drake could become the first artist since Jackson to hold the top three spots on the Billboard 200 chart simultaneously, specifically referring to the surge in his album sales immediately following his death in 2009.
However, the tweet leaves out an important technical detail about how the Billboard charts worked at that time.
Following Jackson's death in June 2009, his albums Number Ones, The Essential Michael Jackson, and Thriller dominated U.S. sales rankings and occupied the top three positions on Billboard's Top Pop Catalog Albums and Comprehensive Albums charts.
However, at the time Billboard noted that Jackson's catalog titles were actually ineligible for the Billboard 200 because of chart rules excluding older albums once they met "catalog" status.
That policy remained in place until Billboard revised its methodology later in 2009, a move made in response to the overwhelming sales resurgence surrounding Jackson and The Beatles' reissues.
In other words, Jackson never officially held the top three spots on the Billboard 200 itself, even though his albums were outselling nearly every current release in the country.
If Drake debuts his three separate albums at No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3 simultaneously under the modern Billboard format, it would likely stand as a genuine first for the main Billboard 200 chart.
Other artists have achieved milestones without claiming the exact No. 1 through No. 3 sweep.
Taylor Swift placed multiple albums in the Billboard 200 Top 10 simultaneously in 2023. Two years later, Kendrick Lamar became the first rapper with three concurrent Top 10 albums.
Drake’s charting positions and sales for Iceman, Maid of Honour, and Habibti will be revealed by Billboard on Sunday (May 24).
