Music U2 album shatters a historic Billboard sales record No music group has ever done this before... By James Hibberd James Hibberd James Hibberd is the former editor at large at Entertainment Weekly. He left EW in 2021. EW's editorial guidelines Published on December 11, 2017 01:00PM EST Photo: Daniel Knighton/Getty Images U2 has toppled a rather impressive Billboard record. The Irish supergroup’s latest album, Songs of Experience, has hit No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard chart. That makes U2 the only group in music history to have No. 1 albums four decades in a row: The 1980s, ’90s, ’00s and ’10s. Now, a few solo artists have also pulled off having four consecutive decades of No. 1 albums –namely, Bruce Springsteen, Barbara Streisand and Janet Jackson — but not a music group. The Beatles come close to U2’s record, sort of. They had No. 1 albums in the ’60s, ’70s, ’90s and ’00s (the ’80s broke their streak). But unlike U2, The Beatles’ chart-topping albums in the later decades were obviously not new studio albums. Songs of Experience marks the bands eighth No. 1 album, but the first one this decade.Previously U2 had 2014’s Songs of Innocence (which wasn’t a Billboard hit since the album was rather infamously given away to iTunes users). Before that, U2 had No Line on the Horizon back in 2009. According to Billboard, Songs of Experience has sold 186,000 copies by the week ending Dec. 7. It’s also the biggest first week of sales for a rock band this year. U2 is, of course, going on tour. Here are the current dates: May 2 – Tulsa, OK – BOK CenterMay 4 – St. Louis, MO – Scottrade CenterMay 7 – San Jose, CA – SAP CenterMay 8 – San Jose, CA – SAP CenterMay 11 – Las Vegas, NV – T-Mobile ArenaMay 12 – Las Vegas, NV – T-Mobile ArenaMay 15 – Los Angeles, CA – The ForumMay 16 – Los Angeles, CA – The ForumMay 22 – Chicago, IL – United CenterMay 23 – Chicago, IL – United CenterMay 26 – Nashville, TN – Bridgestone ArenaMay 28 – Atlanta, GA – Infinite Energy ArenaJune 5 – Montreal, QC – Bell CentreJune 6 – Montreal, QC – Bell CentreJune 9 – Uniondale, NY – NYCB Live, Home of the Nassau Veterans Memorial ColiseumJune 13 – Philadelphia, PA – Wells Fargo CenterJune 14 – Philadelphia, PA – Wells Fargo CenterJune 17 – Washington, DC – Capital One ArenaJune 18 – Washington, DC – Capital One ArenaJune 21 – Boston, MA – TD GardenJune 22 – Boston, MA – TD GardenJune 25 – New York, NY – Madison Square GardenJune 26 – New York, NY – Madison Square GardenJune 29 – Newark, NJ – Prudential Cente