By Gary Trust, New York

As previously reported, Adele's "21" tops the Billboard 200 album chart for a 16th week, marking the survey's longest reign since the "Titanic" soundtrack also led for 16 frames in 1998.

Since the chart began appearing in each issue of Billboard magazine the week of March 24, 1956, just 20 albums have spent as many as 16 weeks at No. 1.

Here is a look at the elite albums boasting the longest Billboard 200 commands in that span (a list on which Vanilla Ice ranks back-to-back with Andy Williams).
 
 
Weeks at No. 1, Title, Artist, Peak Year
 
54, "West Side Story" soundtrack, 1962
The Leonard Bernstein/Stephen Sondheim songbook infuses the album that includes such standards as "America," "I Feel Pretty" and "Somewhere." (The figure of 54 weeks at No. 1 combines the set's time atop separate stereo and mono LP charts before the Billboard 200 became a singular ranking the week of Aug. 17, 1963).
 
37, "Thriller," Michael Jackson, 1983
The set that vaulted Jackson to everlasting superstar status became the first to yield seven Billboard Hot 100 top 10s. At 29-times Platinum, "Thriller" is tied with the Eagles' "Their Greatest Hits 1971-75" for the most certifications, according to the RIAA.
 
31, "Rumours," Fleetwood Mac, 1977
As "Wayne's World"'s Mike Myers (in character) once joked about the opus, "I think if you lived in the suburbs, they just issued it to you, man."
 
31, "South Pacific" soundtrack, 1958
 
31, "Calypso," Harry Belafonte, 1956
 
24, "Purple Rain," Prince and the Revolution/soundtrack, 1984
 
24, "Saturday Night Fever" soundtrack, 1978
An collection that defines the disco era, the soundtrack became the first of nine albums ever to generate four Hot 100 No. 1s: the Bee Gees' "How Deep Is Your Love," "Stayin' Alive" and "Night Fever" and the Bee Gees-penned Yvonne Elliman dance ballad "If I Can't Have You."
 
21, "Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em," M.C. Hammer, 1990
 
20, "The Bodyguard," Whitney Houston/soundtrack, 1992
 
20, "Blue Hawaii," Elvis Presley/soundtrack, 1961
 
18, "Ropin' the Wind," Garth Brooks, 1991
Brooks spearheaded country's early '90s popularity boom, thanks in part to this set that included the Country Songs No. 1 "The River" (which Scotty McCreery sang last year en route to his coronation on "American Idol"). With career U.S. album sales of 68.6 million, Brooks is the best-selling album artist dating to the 1991 advent of Nielsen SoundScan data.
 
18, "Dirty Dancing," soundtrack, 1987
 
18, "More of the Monkees," the Monkees, 1967
 
17, "Some Gave All," Billy Ray Cyrus, 1992
The album, which introduced the signature line-dancing anthem "Achy Breaky Heart," spent its last week at No. 1 the week of Oct. 3, 1992. A month later, Cyrus welcomed daughter Destiny Hope - aka, "Miley."
 
17, "Synchronicity," the Police, 1983
 
16, "21," Adele, 2011
Should "Set Fire to the Rain," which pushes 4-2 on the Hot 100 this week, reach No. 1 while "21" is atop the Billboard 200, the album would become the first to sport three Hot 100 toppers that reigned while their parent sets led the Billboard 200. "Rolling in the Deep" and "Someone Like You" previously dominated the Hot 100 while "21" ruled the album tally.
 
16, "Titanic" soundtrack, 1998
 
16, "To the Extreme," Vanilla Ice, 1990
 
16, "Days of Wine and Roses," Andy Williams, 1963
 
16, "The Sound of Music," original cast, 1960