Miley Cyrus' 'Bass Persuades' debuts at No. 1 — her first in 13 years

Miley Cyrus is back at the top of the Billboard 200 with "Bass Persuades," which debuts at No. 1 on the chart dated Oct. 3 with 62,000 first-week units. It is her first No. 1 album since "Bangerz" opened at the top in October 2013.

The win is also her first chart-topper on Atlantic Records, the label she joined earlier this year after spending most of the decade at Columbia. There was almost no runway for the rollout — Billboard's Kyle Denis notes just 17 days separated the album's announcement and its release.

The set already has two Hot 100 hits to its name: the title track, which debuted at No. 35 and sits at No. 52 this week, and "Let's Get Married" at No. 99. It arrives a little over a year after the May 2025 visual album "Something Beautiful" bowed at No. 4 — the shortest gap between Miley full-lengths since her Hannah Montana days.

Billboard staffers graded the comeback on a 1-to-10 scale and split between a 7 and a 10. Lyndsey Havens called it "a big deal for everyone involved," pointing to her "first No. 1 as Miley (no Cyrus) and her first No. 1 at a new label." Contributor Alicia Urrea went further, saying it is "refreshing to see her back at No. 1 after so much time."

The numbers behind the headline

The debut carries a caveat. Andrew Unterberger points out that 62,000 units is just over half of the 119,000 that 2023's "Endless Summer Vacation" moved, even though that album only reached No. 3 in a busier week. "It's all a tiny bit misleading," he wrote, while still calling it a big way to start on a new label.

Several panelists argue the quick return was worth it anyway. Denis said "Something Beautiful was a blink-and-you'll-miss-it era," and called the industrial textures of "Different Religion" a direction he wants to hear more of. Havens thinks fans simply showed up to support the creative detour. Next up are her Hollywood Bowl shows, which she calls "a step in the right direction."