Miley Cyrus Scores First No. 1 Album in Over a Decade as ‘Bass Persuades’ Tops Billboard

It took thirteen years, one wrecking ball, a full rock-and-roll detour, a very public divorce, a Grammy sweep, and a fiancé — but Miley Cyrus is back on top of the albums chart.

The 33-year-old singer’s tenth studio album, Bass Persuades, has debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard album chart, giving Miley her first chart-topping album since Bangerz all the way back in 2013. For an artist who has spent the better part of two decades shape-shifting in public — Disney kid, twerking provocateur, psychedelic experimenter, rock chick, country crooner’s daughter — this one feels different. It isn’t a reinvention. It’s a coronation.

And honestly? She earned it the hard way: by outselling everybody in one of the tightest chart races of the year.

A Photo Finish at the Top

Let’s talk numbers, because this week’s chart was genuinely dramatic. Bass Persuades moved 61,000 equivalent album units in the United States for the tracking week ending September 24, according to Billboard. That sounds modest by the standards of the streaming era — the days of million-selling first weeks are mostly behind us — but it was enough. Barely.

Right on Miley’s heels was country star Ella Langley, whose album Dandelion pulled in nearly 61,000 units of its own — remarkable for a record sitting in its 24th week on the chart. Then came Riley Green, whose new album That’s Just Me debuted at No. 3 with 60,000 units in its first week. The gap between Miley and Riley Green? Roughly 1,000 units. In chart terms, that’s a rounding error. In bragging-rights terms, it’s everything.

The rest of the top 10 reads like a snapshot of what America is actually listening to right now. Morgan Wallen’s I’m The Problem landed at No. 4 with 58,000 units. Olivia Rodrigo’s You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love took No. 5 with 55,000. Noah Kahan grabbed two spots — The Great Divide at No. 6 with 46,000 units and the seemingly immortal Stick Season at No. 10 with 34,000. Beabadoobee’s Pylon came in at No. 7 with 35,000, Jhene Aiko’s Westside Whimsy at No. 8 with 35,000, and Drake’s Iceman at No. 9 with nearly 35,000.

Look at that list again. Country heavyweights, pop royalty, indie darlings, a rapper who never really leaves the chart. And sitting above all of them: Miley.

The Rollout Was Already a Victory Lap

Here’s the thing about this No. 1 — it didn’t come out of nowhere. Miley spent the past two weeks throwing herself the kind of album rollout most artists only dream about.

On September 17, she hosted a star-packed release party at the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles, stepping out in all black at the legendary hotel. The guest list was pure 2026 pop culture: Chappell Roan, Paris Hilton, Lucy Dacus, Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Kyle Richards with her daughter Alexia Umansky, and Miley’s mom, Tish Cyrus. Her fiancé, musician Maxx Morando, was right by her side — fitting, since the party’s venue doubled as the filming location for the music video for her new song “Let’s Get Married,” in which Maxx makes a special appearance.

The 10-track album had already been building momentum before release week. And Miley isn’t done celebrating. She’ll perform the new music at two sold-out shows at the Hollywood Bowl next month, and demand has been so intense she’s openly teasing something bigger. “I would have to do a residency of 80 shows at the Bowl to satisfy the level of demand,” she told Apple Music. Eighty shows. At the Bowl. She’s not exactly thinking small.

She’s also been everywhere else. Miley recently fronted a new Peloton campaign, telling fans the fitness routine in the ads is genuinely part of her daily life. Say what you want about celebrity workout endorsements — the woman has always been disciplined about the unglamorous parts of the job.

Thirteen Years Between No. 1s

To understand why this chart-topper matters, you have to remember where Miley has been.

She started as a Disney Channel phenomenon — Hannah Montana made her a household name before she could legally vote. Then came the great shedding of the wig: Can’t Be Tamed, the 2013 VMAs performance everyone’s parents are still mad about, and Bangerz, the album that gave her “Wrecking Ball” and “We Can’t Stop” and her last No. 1 album. She was 20 years old.

What followed was a decade of deliberate left turns. There was the psychedelic weirdness of Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz, the stripped-back Younger Now, the full rock pivot of Plastic Hearts in 2020 — an album that finally let that raspy voice do what it was built to do. Then came Endless Summer Vacation in 2023 and its lead single, “Flowers.”

“Flowers” changed everything. The song — widely read as her answer to the end of her marriage to Liam Hemsworth — became a genuine cultural moment, and in 2024 it won her the first Grammy Awards of her career: Record of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance. She followed that up with another Grammy win alongside Beyoncé. After nearly twenty years in the business, the industry’s biggest prize finally had her name on it. Twice over.

So when Bass Persuades — her tenth album, a milestone most pop careers never reach — lands at No. 1, it doesn’t feel like a comeback. Comebacks imply you went away. Miley never went away. She just kept moving until the culture caught back up.

What’s Actually on the Album

Beyond the chart math, Bass Persuades is a deeply personal record, and fans have spent the past two weeks doing what fans do: decoding it.

The song everyone’s talking about is “Let’s Get Married,” a romantic track Miley wrote about her fiancé Maxx Morando. The couple has kept their relationship relatively low-key by celebrity standards, so a love song this direct — plus a music video starring the man himself, shot at the Chateau Marmont — feels like a statement. This isn’t a situationship single. It’s a save-the-date.

Then there’s “Innocent Ways,” which has sent the internet’s lyric detectives into overdrive. Plenty of listeners are convinced the song is about Miley’s younger sister, Noah Cyrus, also a singer, and the complicated dynamics of growing up Cyrus. Miley hasn’t confirmed a word of it, which — let’s be real — is exactly how you keep people listening on repeat.

That’s the Miley playbook at this point: give them just enough truth to argue about, and let the music do the rest.

What Happens Now

The Hollywood Bowl shows next month are the immediate next chapter, and if the ticket queues are any indication, they’ll be events. Nearly a decade and a half into a career that started on the Disney Channel, Miley is selling out one of the most iconic venues on earth on the strength of an album that beat the entire industry by a thousand units.

There’s also that residency tease hanging in the air. Eighty shows at the Bowl is obviously hyperbole — probably — but the fact that she’s even floating the idea tells you where her head is. She told Apple Music she’s learned that people will come to her now. She doesn’t have to chase the moment anymore. The moment comes to Miley.

Thirteen years ago, Bangerz topped the chart on shock value and pure pop audacity. Bass Persuades got there on something harder to manufacture: staying power. The wrecking ball swung, the dust settled, and Miley Cyrus is still standing — right at the top, exactly where she belongs.

Source: Just Jared