Megan Moroney caps a historic week on Billboard’s charts (dated March 7), thanks to the debut of her album Cloud 9.
Released Feb. 20 (via Megan Moroney/Columbia Nashville/Columbia/Sony Music Nashville), the set launches at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 147,000 equivalent album units earned in the United States in its opening week, according to Luminate. The Georgia native earns her first leader on the chart.
Notably, as Ella Langley’s “Choosin’ Texas” rules the Billboard Hot 100, she and Moroney mark the first women who primarily record country music to lead Billboard’s all-genre song and album charts simultaneously.
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The album’s strong opening week also sends Moroney soaring from No. 59 to No. 1 on the Billboard Artist 100 — where she likewise leads for the first time. The singer-songwriter, who made her Billboard chart debut in September 2022, becomes just the third woman to top the chart in its 12-year history sparked by a country album, following Carrie Underwood (one week at No. 1 in September 2018) and Taylor Swift (multiple weeks on top via her Taylor’s Version re-recordings).
On the March 7 Hot 100, Moroney places nine songs from Cloud 9, all debuts except where noted below:
Rank, Title:
No. 32, “Beautiful Things” (up from No. 58. new peak)
No. 39, “Medicine”
No. 41, “Wish I Didn’t” (reentry, new peak)
No. 58, “Wedding Dress”
No. 63, “Cloud 9”
No. 67, “I Only Miss You,” with Ed Sheeran
No. 68, “Who Hurt You?”
No. 83, “Stupid”
No. 97, “Convincing”
The album’s lead single, “6 Months Later,” reached No. 29 in January — Moroney’s highest-charting Hot 100 hit to date.
Cloud 9 also inducts Moroney into an exclusive club on the Billboard 200. She becomes just the 10th woman to top the chart with a country album this century, and the first since Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter in April 2024.
Here’s every country album by a woman or all-woman group to reach No. 1 on the Billboard 200 this century (per titles that have hit Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart):
Title, Artist, Peak Date:
Home, The Chicks, 9/14/02
Cry, Faith Hill, 11/2/02
Up!, Shania Twain, 12/7/02
Fireflies, Faith Hill, 8/20/05
All Jacked Up, Gretchen Wilson, 10/15/05
Taking the Long Way, The Chicks, 6/10/06
Reba Duets, Reba McEntire, 10/6/07
Carnival Ride, Carrie Underwood, 11/10/07
Fearless, Taylor Swift, 11/29/08
Keep on Loving You, Reba, 9/5/09
Play On, Carrie Underwood, 11/21/09
Speak Now, Taylor Swift, 11/13/10
Blown Away, Carrie Underwood, 5/19/12
Red, Taylor Swift, 11/10/12
Platinum, Miranda Lambert, 6/21/14
Now, Shania Twain, 10/21/17
Cry Pretty, Carrie Underwood, 9/29/18
Fearless (Taylor’s Version), Taylor Swift, 4/24/21
Red (Taylor’s Version), Taylor Swift, 11/27/21
Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), Taylor Swift, 7/22/23
Cowboy Carter, Beyoncé, 4/13/24
Cloud 9, Megan Moroney, 3/7/26
The Artist 100 measures acts’ activity across key metrics of music consumption: album sales, track sales, radio airplay and streaming. Using a methodology comprising those metrics, the chart provides a weekly multi-dimensional ranking of artist popularity.
