Morgan Wallen is in an elite league of musicians. The Tennessee native’s latest One Thing At A Time album just garnered its 11th consecutive week on the Billboard 200 chart, an achievement that only select few other artists, including Stevie Wonder and Whitney Houston, have ever achieved.
Houston’s 1987 Whitney album, which included “I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me),” “Didn’t we Almost Have It All” and “So Emotional,” is the last album to spend 11 consecutive weeks at the top of the Billboard 200 chart. Prior to that, it was Stevie Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life, which included “Isn’t She Lovely” and “I Wish,” which spent 13 weeks at No. 1, in 1976 and 1977.
Wallen could also beat a record he set for himself. His 2021 Dangerous: The Double album, had 120 non-consecutive weeks in the Billboard 200 Top 10, second only to the 173 weeks with Original Cast Recording, My Fair Lady, back in 1956.
“These stats are all so humbling and being mentioned in the same sentence as Stevie Wonder and Whitney Houston is something I never could have imagined,” Wallen says. “But I’m most grateful to everyone who listens to my music. That’s the connection that means the most to me and it’s the best compliment out there – the fact that you guys like it.”
Wallen has already notched three No. 1 hits from One Thing At A Time: “You Proof,” “Thought You Should Know” and “Last Night.” Unfortunately, it will be a few more weeks before Wallen will be able to perform any of his new or old hits. The 30-year-old is a little more than two weeks into his six weeks of vocal rest, requiring him to cancel several of his festival dates, and postpone dates on his massive One Night At A Time World Tour.
“I got some bad news from my doctors at the Vanderbilt Voice Center yesterday,” Wallen said in a video shared on social media. “After taking ten days of vocal rest, I performed three shows last weekend in Florida, and by the third one, I felt terrible. So I went in and got scoped yesterday, and they told me that I reinjured my vocal folds, and that I have vocal trauma. Their advice is that I go on vocal rest for six weeks, so that’s what I’m gonna do. They want me not to talk at all, but they said if I need to, it’s okay for something like this.”
— morgan wallen (@MorganWallen) May 9, 2023
“I also tore my lat while we were in Australia,” says the singer. “I’ve been trying to work through that quietly, but this time off is gonna help me get that back right as well. We’re working on rescheduling all the dates during this time frame. We’ve almost got that done, but some of them are pending, so I’ll keep you updated. I won’t be able to make these festivals that I have during this time frame, but we are gonna make those right next year.”
Currently, Wallen’s next scheduled show is on June 22 at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois. All of Wallen’s music and tour dates can be found at MorganWallen.com.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of EB Media / David Lehr
