Justin Bieber has just secured a name for himself in the music history books, smashing a record previously held by iconic crooner Elvis Presley for a staggering 59 years.
At just 25 years and 11 months old, Bieber has landed his seventh number one album in the US charts. The King of Rock and Roll ‘only’ reached the same feat, with Blue Hawaii, when he was 26 years and 11 months old, way back in 1961.
Bieber’s latest album Changes generated over one million unit sales in its first week across the globe. Bieber’s first album in over four years, this also marks his first number one album in the UK for eight years.
The album – released on February 14 via SchoolBoy/Raymond Braun/Def Jam Recordings – went on to pull in 231,000 equivalent album units in the US during the week ending February 20, as per figures from Nielsen Music/MRC Data.
Album sales were reportedly boosted by a concert ticket/album sale offer coinciding with Bieber’s upcoming tour, with many merch/album bundle offers sold through Bieber’s official online store, Billboard reports.
Bieber managed to beat out fierce competition to the top spot from American rapper A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie, Aussie psych-rockers Tame Impala, and K-pop group Monsta X.
Bieber’s very first studio album My World 2.0 debuted at number one in 2010, when he was just 16 years old. From then on, it quickly became apparent he was far more than just a floppy haired flash in the pan.
The Canadian popstar has since enjoyed remarkable chart topping success, with his four subsequent studio albums – My World 2.0 (2010), Under the Mistletoe (2011), Believe (2012), and Purpose (2015) all achieving number one in the US.
Two out of three of his remix albums – Never Say Never: The Remixes EP (2011) and Believe: Acoustic (2013) – also ended up topping the US charts.
Bieber’s most recent album reflects upon his years as a teenage pop idol, and also draws inspiration from his marriage to model and television personality, Hailey Baldwin.
Interestingly, Billboard noted that, if bands had been included in their calculation, each of the four members of The Beatles were even younger than Bieber and Presley when they reached their seventh number one album with Rubber Soul on January 8, 1966.
Ringo Starr – aged 25 years and six months at the time of the album’s release – was the eldest band member, with the youngest, George Harrison, being just 22 years and 10 months old.
Many congratulations to Justin Bieber on making some serious Changes within the history of popular music, all while still being a relative Baby.
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Jules studied English Literature with Creative Writing at Lancaster University before earning her masters in International Relations at Leiden University in The Netherlands (Hoi!). She then trained as a journalist through News Associates in Manchester. Jules has previously worked as a mental health blogger, copywriter and freelancer for various publications.