Hot 100 No. 1 Songs That Share a Title With Unrelated Billboard 200 No. 1 Albums

Playboi Carti’s MUSIC, which enters the Billboard 200 at No. 1, has absolutely nothing in common with Madonna’s “Music,” which topped the Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks in September/October 2000, except for having the same title and the fact that they both reached the top of Billboard’s flagship charts.

Carole King, Madonna and Playboi Carti have all had No. 1 albums titled Music. King’s album had a jazzy title track, but it wasn’t released as a single. There is no title track on Playboi Carti’s new album.

This is one of 14 times that a No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 and a No. 1 song on the Hot 100 have shared a title – and nothing else. So, we’re not counting, say, “You Light Up My Life,” because Debby Boone’s No. 1 single by that name and LeAnn Rimes’ No. 1 album You Light Up My Life: Inspirational Songs are related. The title song of Rimes’ album is a cover of Boone’s smash.

Here are all the cases where a song that topped the Hot 100 had the exact same title as an unrelated album that topped the Billboard 200. We show the album, when it reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200, and how long it stayed on top. We also show the single, when it reached No. 1 on the Hot 100, and how long it stayed on top.

I’ll start off with 14 exact matches and, just for fun, follow it with a batch of 10 near-misses. The exact matches have the header “Shared Title:” The near-misses have the header “Near Miss:” Both groupings are arranged in alphabetical order.

Note: The Billboard 200 began as a weekly chart in March 1956. The Hot 100 originated in August 1958. This list doesn’t include songs that pre-dated the Hot 100 that would otherwise have made the list when coupled with like-titled No. 1 albums. That would have brought in “Because of You” (the title of a 1951 song by Tony Bennett and a 2007 album by Ne-Yo), “Cry” (the title of a 1951 song by Johnnie Ray & the Four Lads and a 2002 album by Faith Hill) and “Don’t Be Cruel” (the title of a 1956 smash by Elvis Presley and a 1989 album by Bobby Brown).

Additional research by Andrew Unterberger.