Music

Chart Rewind: In 1956, The Billboard 200 Began, With Harry Belafonte at No. 1

On March 24, 1956, the legendary Harry Belafonte crowned Billboard‘s first weekly albums chart – then billed Best Selling Pop Albums in Billboard magazine’s pages – with his smash set Belafonte.

Sixty-six years later, the ranking now known as the Billboard 200 remains the chart of record for America’s most-popular albums each week, fueled by consumption tracked by Luminate, formerly MRC Data. Lil Durk’s 7220 launches at No. 1 on the latest, March 26, 2022-dated list.

As for Belafonte, aka the King of Calypso, 1956 was a busy year. He was already a Tony Award winner for his work in the 1953 musical revue John Murray Anderson’s Almanac and, after topping the albums chart with Belafonte, he notched a second No. 1 in September 1956 with Calypso.

Kept afloat in large part by its hit single “Day-O (The Banana Boat Song),” Calypso spent a staggering 31 weeks at No. 1. It’s tied with the soundtrack to South Pacific and Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours for the third-longest run on top in the chart’s history. The soundtrack to West Side Story is the all-time champ, with 54 weeks at the summit, and Michael Jackson’s career-defining Thriller is second with 37.

The Grammy and Emmy Award-winning Belafonte would continue to chart albums through 1970 and remain a cultural force, thanks, in part, to his social activism and philanthropy. Later generations would become familiar with Belafonte in striking ways: He helped organize (and sang on) the 1985 charity single “We Are the World,” a four-week Billboard Hot 100 No. 1, while “Day-O” was memorably mimed by the cast in the 1988 film Beetlejuice. In 2011, “Day-O” became a hit yet again, sampled in Lil Wayne’s top 10 Hot 100 hit “6 Foot 7 Foot.”

Belafonte, now 95 years young, told BET in 2011 that he appreciates the continued success of the iconic “Day-O”: “I’m just glad to see that the younger generations have picked it up and are carrying the song forward in their own way, just like I picked it up in my time.”

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