Bad Company joined an exclusive club on Saturday (Nov. 8), becoming just the 10th artist whose debut album had topped the Billboard 200 to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. The band’s eponymous debut album reached No. 1 in the issue dated Sept. 28, 1974, dethroning Stevie Wonder’s Fulfillingness’ First Finale, which had led the previous two weeks.
Three of the acts on this list reached the top spot with their first solo albums, after tenures with successful groups. Paul McCartney’s first solo album reached No. 1 in 1970, following six years of unprecedented success on the Billboard 200 with The Beatles. Stevie Nicks topped the chart in 1981 (following three studio albums with Fleetwood Mac), as did George Michael in 1988 (following three studio albums with Wham!).
As you look through this list of artists who topped the Billboard 200 with their debut album and were later inducted into the Rock Hall, you may be wondering where are The Beatles? The Fab Four’s debut Capitol album, Meet the Beatles!, did indeed top the Billboard 200 (for 11 weeks), but it wasn’t their first U.S. album release. Introducing… The Beatles, on Vee Jay, was released 10 days earlier. Introducing… The Beatles peaked at No. 2 — behind Meet the Beatles!
The Ink Spots and Nat King Cole, who were separately inducted into the Rock Hall as early influences in 1989 and 2000, respectively, deserve special mention. The King Cole Trio, a jazz trio that Cole led, was No. 1 on the very first Billboard album chart, a top 10 listing called Best-Selling Popular Record Albums, in March 1945. The Ink Spots topped that chart in September 1946. Both acts scored with eponymous debut collections. But both came years before the March 1956 inception of the Billboard 200, the first regular, weekly album chart in Billboard.
Here’s a full list of every artist in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame whose debut album topped the Billboard 200. They are listed in chronological order by the date their debut album reached No. 1.
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Elvis Presley
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}Debut album: Elvis Presley
Date reached No. 1: May 5, 1956 (10 weeks)
Pre-Hot 100 singles: “Blue Suede Shoes,” “Money Honey”
Year inducted: 1986 (posthumously)
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The Mamas & the Papas
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}Debut album: If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears
Date reached No. 1: May 21, 1966 (1 week)
Hot 100 singles: “Go Where You Wanna Go,” “California Dreamin’,” “Monday, Monday”
Year inducted: 1998
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Paul McCartney
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}Debut album: McCartney
Date reached No. 1: May 23, 1970 (3 weeks)
Hot 100 singles: none, though a live version of the album’s most prized song, “Maybe I’m Amazed,” was released in 1977.
Year inducted: 1999
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Bad Company
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}Debut album: Bad Company
Date reached No. 1: Sept. 28, 1974 (1 week)
Hot 100 singles: “Can’t Get Enough,” “Movin’ On”
Year inducted: 2025
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Stevie Nicks
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}Debut album: Bella Donna
Date reached No. 1: Sept. 5, 1981 (1 week)
Hot 100 singles: “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” (with Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers), “Leather and Lace” (with Don Henley), “Edge of Seventeen (Just Like the White Winged Dove),” “After the Glitter Fades)”
Year inducted: 2019
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Go-Go’s
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}Debut album: Beauty and the Beat
Date reached No. 1: March 6, 1982 (6 weeks)
Hot 100 singles: “Our Lips Are Sealed,” “We Got the Beat”
Year inducted: 2021
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Whitney Houston
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}Debut album: Whitney Houston
Date reached No. 1: March 8, 1986 (14 weeks)
Hot 100 singles: “Hold Me” (collab with Teddy Pendergrass), “You Give Good Love,” “Saving All My Love for You,” “How Will I Know,” “Greatest Love of All”
Year inducted: 2020 (posthumously)
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Beastie Boys
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}Debut album: Licensed to Ill
Date reached No. 1: March 7, 1987 (7 weeks)
Hot 100 singles: “(You Gotta Fight for Your Right (To Party!),” “Brass Monkey”
Year inducted: 2012
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George Michael
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}Debut album: Faith
Date reached No. 1: Jan. 16, 1988 (12 weeks)
Hot 100 singles: “I Want Your Sex,” “Faith,” “Father Figure,” “One More Try,” “Monkey,” “Kissing a Fool”
Year inducted: 2023 (posthumously)
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Guns N’ Roses
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}Debut album: Appetite for Destruction
Date reached No. 1: Aug. 6, 1988 (5 weeks)
Hot 100 singles: “Sweet Child O’ Mine,” “Welcome to the Jungle,” “Paradise City,” “Nighttrain”
Year inducted: 2012
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