Nirvana’s ‘Nevermind’ Is the 9th Album to Reach Chart Record

Nirvana’s grunge era classic continues to chart at record levels more than 30 years after its initial release, becoming the ninth album to ever spend 700 weeks on the Billboard 200 chart.

Nevermind shot up the charts for album sales within months of its September 24, 1991 debut. By January, it had knocked Michael Jackson’s Dangerous out of the top spot on the Billboard 200.

Nirvana’s masterpiece remains in the Billboard 200 album chart even today. As of this week, Nevermind sits at 120 on the chart, sandwiched between Linkin Park’s Hybrid Theory and a 2002 album from hip hop artist Metro Boomin.

Taylor Swift’s latest, The Tortured Poets Department, tops this week’s list.

Nirvana Achieves Billboard Chart Milestone

The longevity of Nevermind‘s run on the Billboard 200 is rather remarkable when you consider the list is based on album popularity. Nirvana is currently ranked higher than releases from more contemporary artists such as Drake and The Weeknd.

Additionally, the genre-defining album also recently made history by making its 700th weekly appearance on the Billboard 200, an achievement only reached by nine other albums according to Billboard.

Earlier this year, Metallica’s iconic self-titled 1991 album (better known as The Black Album), became the fourth album to spend 750 weeks on the Billboard 200.

Other current entries on the Billboard 200 that have appeared for more than 700 weeks include:

• Bob Marley and The Wailers Legend: The Best of Bob Marley and The Wailers (865 weeks)
• Journey Journey’s Greatest Hits (835 weeks)
• Creedence Clearwater Revival Chronicle: The 20 Greatest Hits (724 weeks)
• Eminem Curtain Call: The Hits (714 weeks)
• Bruno Mars Doo-Wops & Holligans (706 weeks)

How Many Copies of Nirvana’s Nevermind Have Sold To Date?

In July, Rolling Stone released an updated list of its 500 greatest albums of all time. The list was originally published in 2003.

The first updated version of the list, which came out in 2012, had Nirvana’s Nevermind at No. 17. The most recent update moved the album up to No. 6 in the ranking.

“It thrusted grunge and alternative music into the mainstream like no album before it,” Rolling Stone‘s Brett Schewitz wrote as part of the album’s entry on the list. “It destroyed the dominant rock genre of at the time, hair metal. It stopped it dead in its tracks.”

Rolling Stone went on to note that Nevermind has sold more than 30 million copies to date worldwide. It has been certified platinum 13 times by the RIAA in the United States as of this December, indicating sales (and stream equivalent totals) in excess of 13 million units.