SZA's SOS achieves most weeks at Number 1 in the US for a female artist since Adele

SZA's second album SOS has reached a major milestone on the US albums chart. 

In the works for more than half a decade, SOS was the follow-up to SZA's influential 2017 debut LP, Ctrl, as well as a series of EPs (S and Z) that made her one of the most need-to-know voices of R&B in the mid-00s. 

Now, armed with hit singles like Shirt and Kill Bill and featuring collaborations with artists as varied as Phoebe Bridgers, Travis Scott and the late Ol' Dirty Bastard, SOS' release saw it gain success over both sides of the Atlantic.

But while it has yet to peak at Number 1 on the Official Albums Chart, SOS has held on to Number 1 on the Billboard 200 (its equivalent album chart in the US) for nine non-consecutive weeks. 

MORE: SZA'S UK chart history in full

With more than two months accumulated at Number 1, SZA has now achieved the most weeks at Number 1 by a woman on the US albums chart in seven years, since Adele's 25. 

According to Billboard, Adele's blockbuster third LP (which was preceded by the US and UK Number 1 single Hello) was the last album by a female artist to spend nine weeks or more at the top of the Billboard 200 - sinking ten weeks at Number 1 in total. 

Meanwhile in the UK, SOS is currently charting at Number 6 on the Official Albums Chart, spending its full ten weeks inside the Top 10. It previously hit a peak of Number 2 - SZA's first Top 10 album entry here - and was held off the top spot by Eurovision hero Sam Ryder's debut album, There's Nothing But Space, Man!

The album's singles have had even more good news on the Official Singles Chart; SOS has so far birthed three UK Top 40 singles in total; lead Shirt (17) Kill Bill (3 - SZA's highest-ever peak as a solo artist) and Nobody Gets Me (27).

Kill Bill is currently a staple of the UK Top 10, currently sitting pretty at Number 4. 

Editor update: Sza's Kill Bill has recently been revealed by Official Charts as one of the UK's top songs of 2023 so far. Check out the full list.

And if we're lucky, there will soon be a lot more SZA on the way soon. After starring on a remix of Lizzo's recent single Special, speculation has now turned as to when we can expect the long-gestating deluxe version of SOS, featuring numerous fan favourite tracks like POV and Joni that didn't make the original release.