Skip to main content

Janet Jackson has still got it: Singer earns 7th No. 1 album on Billboard 200 chart

janet jackson instagram unbreakable
Janet Jackson
Janet Jackson has reached a familiar place: No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. This time, the iconic singer earned the spot with Unbreakable, her latest release, but she’s accomplished the same feat with six of her other albums as well. According to Billboard, Jackson is now one of just three artists who have managed to score a No. 1 album in each of the past four decades.

Unbreakable is Jackson’s first album since 2008’s Discipline, as well as her first to be independently released through her own label, Rhythm Nation, alongside distribution partner BMG. The seven-year span is her longest ever between releases, but clearly she didn’t miss a beat. After dropping on Oct. 2, Unbreakable sold 116,000 equivalent album units during the week ending on Oct. 8, according to Nielsen Music.

Recommended Videos

The pop diva has been promoting her album through her Unbreakable World Tour, which kicked off on August 31 and includes tour stops across North America, as well as in Asia and Europe. However, as Billboard pointed out, Jackson has been surprisingly quiet when it comes to talking Unbreakable up in the press. When you’re Janet Jackson, though, press interviews aren’t apparently all that necessary. After all, her career speaks for itself.

When Unbreakable‘s lead single, No Sleeep, featuring J.Cole debuted, it became Jackson’s 40th song to hit the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Jackson now also forms an elite group with Barbra Streisand and Bruce Springsteen; the trio are the only artists to have had a No. 1 album in each of the last four decades. With her seven No. 1 albums, only two female artists can claim more than Jackson — Streisand with 10, and Madonna with eight.

Jackson was recently nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s Class of 2016, in recognition of her amazing accomplishments.

Stephanie Topacio Long
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Stephanie Topacio Long is a writer and editor whose writing interests range from business to books. She also contributes to…
What is spatial audio? The 3D sound experience fully explained
Person listening to spatial audio using Apple AirPods Max headphones.

Since Apple added “spatial audio” to the Apple Music streaming service and the AirPods family of wireless earbuds and headphones in 2021, it feels like you can’t read about new audio products or services without running into that term. And just a few short years later, it’s seemingly everywhere.

This has led to a lot of misconceptions about what spatial audio is, how it works, and why you need to hear it for yourself. People often ask, “If Apple created spatial audio, why are other companies claiming they do it, too?” The answer is that Apple didn’t create it, and you certainly don’t need to own its products to experience spatial audio.

Read more
How to download music from SoundCloud on desktop and mobile
Soundcloud Interface on a Macbook.

If you’re a huge music fan, you’ve probably combed through the many playlists, artists, and albums of your Spotify or Apple Music subscription. But what about all the indie artists of the world? Some music-streaming platforms are better than others at celebrating the
‘unsung gem’ acts, but one of the most reliable forums for new, off-the-grid tunes is SoundCloud.

Founded in 2007, SoundCloud has always prioritized music that’s a bit under the radar. With over 320 million tracks in its library, the platform will even let you download a majority of its songs and albums.

Read more
The best kids headphones of 2024: for fun, safety, and sound
Two kids using the Puro Sound PuroQuiet Plus to watch something on a tablet.

Kid-friendly consumer tech is all the rage these days, so it’s no surprise that there’s an entire market of headphones designed exclusively for young ones. But when we think “kid-friendly,” sometimes we imagine products that are built to be a bit more throwaway than their adult counterparts. That’s not the case with the products on our list of the best headphones for kids, though.

We want our child-tailored headphones to include parental-controlled volume limiters, to ensure our children aren’t harming their eardrums. Pretty much every entry on our list checks this vital box, but we also wanted to point you and yours toward products that offer exceptional noise-canceling, built-in mics for phone and video calls, and long-lasting batteries for schooldays or a long flight.

Read more