The album chart name changed from "Top Pop Albums" to "Billboard 200 Top Albums" on September 7, 1991. The highest-selling albums and EPs in the United States are ranked in the Billboard 200, which is published by Billboard magazine. In 1991, a total of 14 albums claimed the top of the chart. One of which, American rapper Vanilla Ice's To the Extreme started its peak on the issue dated November 10, 1990, and spent 8 weeks atop the chart in 1991.
Mariah Carey's self-titled debut album was the longest running number-one album of the year, spending 11 consecutive weeks atop the chart and was the best-selling album of 1991. Starting in 1991, Billboard began using Nielsen Soundscan data for its album chart, which provided more precise and accurate sales figures. The first date to use this methodology was the June 1, 1991 dated chart when the number one album was Out of Time by R.E.M., which topped the chart with sales of 89,000.