The Billboard 200, published in Billboard magazine, is a weekly chart that ranks the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States. Before Nielsen SoundScan began tracking sales in 1991, Billboard estimated the sales for the album charts from a representative sampling of record stores nationwide, which was gathered by telephone, fax or messenger service.[1] The data was based on reports from record stores, who ranked the popularity of the best-selling records but did not provide an actual sales figures.[2] [3]
| Indicates best performing album of 1986 |
| scope=col | Issue date | scope=col | Album | scope=col | Artist(s) | scope=col | Label | scope=col class="unsortable" | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Miami Vice | Soundtrack | MCA | [4] | ||||||
| [5] | |||||||||
| [6] | |||||||||
| The Broadway Album | Columbia | [7] | |||||||
| [8] | |||||||||
| [9] | |||||||||
| Promise | Sade | Portrait | [10] | ||||||
| [11] | |||||||||
| Welcome to the Real World | Mr. Mister | RCA Victor | [12] | ||||||
| bgcolor=#FFFF99 style="text-align: center;" rowspan=7 | Whitney Houston | Arista | [13] | ||||||
| [14] | |||||||||
| [15] | |||||||||
| [16] | |||||||||
| [17] | |||||||||
| [18] | |||||||||
| [19] | |||||||||
| 5150 | Van Halen | Warner Bros. | [20] | ||||||
| [21] | |||||||||
| [22] | |||||||||
| bgcolor=#FFFF99 style="text-align: center;" rowspan=7 | Whitney Houston | Whitney Houston | Arista | [23] | |||||
| [24] | |||||||||
| [25] | |||||||||
| [26] | |||||||||
| [27] | |||||||||
| [28] | |||||||||
| [29] | |||||||||
| Control | A&M | [30] | |||||||
| [31] | |||||||||
| Winner in You | MCA | [32] | |||||||
| Top Gun | Soundtrack | Columbia | [33] [34] | ||||||
| [35] | |||||||||
| True Blue | Madonna | Sire | [36] | ||||||
| [37] | |||||||||
| [38] | |||||||||
| [39] | |||||||||
| [40] | |||||||||
| Top Gun | Soundtrack | Columbia | [41] | ||||||
| Dancing on the Ceiling | Motown | [42] | |||||||
| [43] | |||||||||
| Top Gun | Soundtrack | Columbia | [44] | ||||||
| Fore! | Chrysalis | [45] | |||||||
| Slippery When Wet | Bon Jovi | Mercury | [46] | ||||||
| Third Stage | Boston | MCA | [47] | ||||||
| [48] | |||||||||
| [49] | |||||||||
| [50] | |||||||||
| Live/1975–85 | & The E Street Band | Columbia | [51] | ||||||
| [52] | |||||||||
| [53] | |||||||||
| [54] | |||||||||
| [55] | |||||||||