Miley Cyrus's Bass Persuades Earns Billboard 200 No. 1

Miley Cyrus is back at the top of the Billboard 200 for the first time in 13 years. Bass Persuades, released Sept. 18 as her tenth studio album and her first under the mononym Miley, debuted atop the chart dated Oct. 3 with 61,000 equivalent album units earned in the tracking week ending Sept. 24, according to Luminate, as reported by Billboard on Sept. 28. It is her sixth chart-topping album overall and her 16th top 10 — but her first time back at the summit since Bangerz in 2013.

Pure album sales did most of the heavy lifting. Close to 47,000 of the opening-week units were traditional sales, enough to put the album at the top of Billboard's Top Album Sales chart as well, according to Billboard. Streaming contributed the rest — about 14,000 equivalent units, translating to roughly 14.22 million on-demand streams.

How Bass Persuades beat every forecast

The final tally beat every projection attached to it. Hits Daily Double had forecast an opening of 40,000 to 45,000 units, while the earlier estimate attributed to Nora Music Inc. was 46,000, according to chart-tracking site Ratings Game Music. It also topped her recent numbers: Something Beautiful, released in June 2025, opened with 44,000 units and peaked at No. 4 on Billboard's flagship albums chart.

It was also a genuine photo finish. Ella Langley's Dandelion finished as runner-up, just a few hundred units behind the leader, while Riley Green's That's Just Me landed third right behind her, as reported by Billboard. That razor-thin margin makes this one of the closest contests for the top spot in recent chart history.

Here is the context that makes the win unusual: her 2023 album Endless Summer Vacation opened with 119,000 units — almost double this week's figure — yet peaked at No. 3. Bass Persuades claimed the crown with a smaller audience because it landed in a softer week. On Billboard's flagship albums chart, timing is half the game, and this week the calendar favored her.

A new name, new singles, and what comes next

The rollout was a sprint. Cyrus announced the album on Sept. 1 and released it barely two weeks later, with the title track dropping Sept. 3 as the lead single. That song debuted at No. 35 on the Billboard Hot 100 — her 24th top-40 hit — according to Billboard, and the second single, "Let's Get Married," arrived with a Mert Alas-directed video on release day.

The 10-track set features Model/Actriz on "Different Religion" and Andrew Wyatt of Miike Snow on "Neon Signs," as reported by Ratings Game Music. Fans had an unusually long menu of ways to buy it: 16 vinyl editions — one carrying the bonus track "Smile" — plus nine CDs, six digital versions, and a cassette. During the tracking window, iTunes also carried exclusive instrumental, a cappella, and demo editions, including five previously unheard voice notes documenting her songwriting process, per music blog InMusic.

It is also her first release billed solely as Miley, the mononym rebrand she unveiled the same week as the announcement, according to Ratings Game Music. The single-name billing is the latest reset for an artist who has rebuilt her public identity at nearly every album cycle — and it is now attached to her first chart victory since Bangerz.

Cyrus is the third act this year to return to the top of the chart after a decade-plus absence, according to Parade, following Bruno Mars's The Romantic in March and A$AP Rocky's Don't Be Dumb in January. The picture was mixed overseas: the album entered at No. 2 in Australia but debuted at No. 13 in the UK — her lowest British bow since the 2019 EP She Is Coming. The split suggests the comeback narrative is resonating most strongly at home, which fits a U.S. opening driven overwhelmingly by dedicated buyers.

For fans, the takeaway is simple: Bass Persuades is streaming on every major platform now, and the limited digital editions that supercharged opening week are already off sale. An artist who has spent years shape-shifting — from Disney star to Bangerz provocateur to rock and country chameleon — just proved that a two-week announcement sprint can still deliver the top of Billboard's flagship albums chart in 2026.

Source: Parade, Sept. 28, 2026; Ratings Game Music chart breakdown; Billboard chart report via europeSays

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