Looks Like David Bowie Will Get His First #1 Album
David Bowie has never had a #1 album in America. Say that out loud and then listen to the sound of incredulity echo through whatever room you’re currently sitting in. Fortunately, it doesn’t seem like that fact will linger there too long. Bowie’s final offering, his swan song ? (Blackstar), is headed for the #1 slot of the Billboard 200 chart after it was announced that the late, great musician passed away on Sunday. If this is true, ? will dethrone Adele’s 25, which has been sitting atop the albums chart for seven consecutive weeks. Bowie had seven albums in the U.S. top 10 in his lifetime, the highest of which was his penultimate LP The Next Day in 2013. The others were Let’s Dance, ChangesOneBowie, Station To Station, Young Americans, David Live, and Diamond Dogs.
Additionally, Michael Azerrad (a music journalist and the author of Our Band Could Be Your Life) pointed out yet another clue Bowie left us with, this time pertaining to the new album’s title:
OMG: a "black star" is a medical term for a type of cancer lesion. That is just staggering. #DavidBowie #Blackstar
https://t.co/kbrXjOKWT0
— Michael Azerrad (@michaelazerrad) January 12, 2016
UPDATE: Blackstar has indeed debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart, officially bumping Adele out of the top spot and making it Bowie’s first #1 album in the United States. And that’s not all — Billboard reports that nine other Bowie albums re-entered or debuted on the chart this week, with the 2002 greatest hits collection Best Of Bowie surging up to #4 and The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars making it to #21. The chart showing of both Blackstar and Best Of Bowie puts Bowie in the rare company of only a handful of artists who have had two titles in the top five simultaneously, including the Beatles in 1964, 50 Cent in 2003, and Adele in 2012.