Top Electronic Albums
Encyclopedia
Dance/Electronic Albums (formerly Top Electronic Albums) is a music chart
published weekly by Billboard
magazine which ranks the top-selling electronic music
albums in the United States. The chart debuted on the issue dated June 30, 2001. It originally began as a fifteen-position chart and has since expanded to twenty-five positions. Rankings are compiled by point-of-purchase sales obtained by Nielsen SoundScan
data and from legal digital download
s from a variety of internet music stores.
Top Electronic Albums features full-length albums by artists who are associated with electronic music genres (house
, techno
, IDM
, trance
, etc.) as well as pop
-oriented dance music
and electronic-leaning hip hop. Also eligible for this chart are remix album
s by otherwise non-electronic-based artists and DJ
-mixed compilation album
s and film soundtrack
s which feature a majority of electronic or dance music.
The first number-one title on the Top Electronic Albums was the original soundtrack to the film Lara Croft: Tomb Raider
. The longest stay at number one belongs to The Fame
by Lady Gaga
, which has topped the chart for 106 non-consecutive weeks.
Record chart
A record chart is a ranking of recorded music according to popularity during a given period of time. Examples of music charts are the Hit parade, Hot 100 or Top 40....
published weekly by Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
magazine which ranks the top-selling electronic music
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
albums in the United States. The chart debuted on the issue dated June 30, 2001. It originally began as a fifteen-position chart and has since expanded to twenty-five positions. Rankings are compiled by point-of-purchase sales obtained by Nielsen SoundScan
Nielsen SoundScan
Nielsen SoundScan is an information and sales tracking system created by Mike Fine and Mike Shalett. Soundscan is the official method of tracking sales of music and music video products throughout the United States and Canada...
data and from legal digital download
Music download
A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment...
s from a variety of internet music stores.
Top Electronic Albums features full-length albums by artists who are associated with electronic music genres (house
House music
House music is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in Chicago, Illinois, United States in the early 1980s. It was initially popularized in mid-1980s discothèques catering to the African-American, Latino American, and gay communities; first in Chicago circa 1984, then in other...
, techno
Techno
Techno is a form of electronic dance music that emerged in Detroit, Michigan in the United States during the mid to late 1980s. The first recorded use of the word techno, in reference to a genre of music, was in 1988...
, IDM
Intelligent dance music
Intelligent dance music is a term that describes an electronic music genre that emerged in the early 1990s. The genre is influenced by a wide range of musical styles particularly electronic dance music such as Detroit Techno...
, trance
Trance music
Trance is a genre of electronic dance music that developed in the 1990s.:251 It is generally characterized by a tempo of between 125 and 150 bpm,:252 repeating melodic synthesizer phrases, and a musical form that builds up and breaks down throughout a track...
, etc.) as well as pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
-oriented dance music
Dance music
Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement...
and electronic-leaning hip hop. Also eligible for this chart are remix album
Remix album
A remix album is an album consisting mostly of remixes or re-recorded versions of a music artists' earlier released material.One of the earliest remix albums was 1971's Aerial Pandemonium Ballet by Harry Nilsson, which was released by Nilsson after the successes of Everybody's Talkin and The Point!...
s by otherwise non-electronic-based artists and DJ
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
-mixed compilation album
Compilation album
A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
s and film soundtrack
Soundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
s which feature a majority of electronic or dance music.
The first number-one title on the Top Electronic Albums was the original soundtrack to the film Lara Croft: Tomb Raider
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (soundtrack)
- Original Motion Picture Soundtrack :Lara Croft: Tomb Raider is a 2001 soundtrack album to the film of the same name. The various artists soundtrack was released June 15, 2001. The Score was later released on June 26, 2001....
. The longest stay at number one belongs to The Fame
The Fame
The Fame is the debut studio album by American recording artist Lady Gaga. It was released on August 19, 2008 through Interscope Records. After joining Kon Live Distribution and Cherrytree Records in 2008, Gaga began working on the album with different producers, primarily RedOne, Martin...
by Lady Gaga
Lady GaGa
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta , better known by her stage name Lady Gaga, is an American singer and songwriter. Born and raised in New York City, she primarily studied at the Convent of the Sacred Heart and briefly attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts before withdrawing to...
, which has topped the chart for 106 non-consecutive weeks.